My many designs and experiments.

[Killkingkong]

What kinda high end LED's are those?

The 2 high quality LEDs that I bought most recent are these LED Link If you go back through this thread those were also the last LEDs I bought to upgrade my medium PC and they were the very first LEDs I bought and used in my bucket grow, years ago. When I first bought that LED is was $45 each, so i only bought 1 and put it in a 5 gallon bucket (no offense to the space bucket, but I did that first lol). now that exact same LED cost $19.50. I have 4 of those lights on the top of my medium PC and 2 of another brand on the bottom. The ones on bottom are on a much heavier heatsink. I hated having that heatsink on the top, so i moved them. my new light & fan setup should allow me to go up to like 80w without heat being an issue. However, I'd bleach my plants at that wattage, so 60-70w is the sweet spot and achieved by my variable wattage dc boost adapters (once again look at the prior pages).

Old Setup:


New setup:

 

[Jellypowered]

Hey thanks for the link! 20 per led doesn't seem to bad as long as you get the longevity out of them. Proper cooling will ensure that. I have much to ponder

 

[Killkingkong]

Things are moving along. The Big and Medium PCs are just putting on weight at this point. The small pc which is a week behind, had cheap LEDs & is the lowest powered (30w), so that one isn't very impressive, but I'll definitely get something from that one. I have 2 more variable wattage power supplies coming so I should be able to get the small PC up to 40-50w soon and improve the production from the small PC. I also want to bump the big PC from 50w to about 60-65w cause i feel like that's under powered right now. I'm currently currently the medium PC with the new LEDs at 70w. I have so many fans in the medium pc that 70w doesn't phase it at all.

In the next post I'll give a quick tutorial to how I make my own e27 high power LEDS. I forgot to take some pictures while I was building my most recent LED light. I didn't feel like taking that apart again to take the pictures, but the next day I ended up taking apart another of the old e27's i built for another reason so i took some pictures of that one, so don't mind that the parts change in the pictures, the procedure is the same.

Medium PC Day 42:


Small PC Day 35:


Big PC Day 42:


Closet Day 42:

 

[Killkingkong]

Take old CFL and separate the parts:


Take the base from the cfl to use for your new LED light:


Attach LED power supply to the wires from the e27 base. then attach the power supply to the LED, which should already be attached to a heatsink.


Zip tie that all together so it doesn't fall apart and you're done.

This is a picture from my most recent e27 which I took a high quality LED and put it on a giant heatsink. Since this heatsink was so big I added a 60mm computer fan (and the 12v power supply to cool it) all within the base of a old 80w CFL I had. The fan worked so well at cooling the 30w power supply that I ordered a 50w to see if that one also stays cool to the touch.

 

[Killkingkong]

Things are going well. I got the 50w led driver I was waiting for to finish building those diy LEDs. I put the 50w Driver in my high quality e27 with 1 LED diode. I then took the 2 30w drivers I have and put them in a LED base to go with the heatsink that has 4 low quality 100w LEDs. I wired 2 pairs of 2 of the lights together and power each pair by a 30w driver, so each diode is being run at ~15w. The high quality 50w light actually has a higher lux (according to the app on my phone at least), but i went with the lower quality 60w light cause it has a better spread of light.

I took the pictures for my computers at a different angle this week to give a better idea of the plant structure. The plant in the medium PC with all the high quality lights has some dense ass buds. The plant in the small PC with cheap LEDs is being run on a 30w driver until my new variable voltage driver comes in. The buds on that plant look sad. The Big PC is being run at 50w but I also plan on putting a new variable voltage driver in there to run it at like 70w. The plant in there is very bushy and branchy, but not nearly as dense as the medium PC with the high quality LEDS

The plants in my closet are in a transitional phase. The plant I was spraying with collidal silver grew balls, but they don't seem to be filled with pollen. Should I just keep waiting? has anyone else experienced a hermie plant not having pollen? I took a bunch of plants from outside on my balcony and put them in my closet for a little so they can get bigger, and I also added a new clone in there. The other plants i started for seeds are still in there, i just gotta figure out what's happening with the hermie. I don't really care about growing those plants big, i just want the seeds.

Medium PC:


Small PC:


Big PC:


Closet:

 

[Killkingkong]

 

[thenewstyle]

Hows this grow going?

The lights are looking sweeeet! Also loving the tiny dwc setups you have, id love to run something similar in my own grow.

 

[Killkingkong]

Hey guys, it's been a while. I've been lurking and keeping up to what people are up to and taking notes. People like Thenewstyle, Johhova & Lapides (from the LED section). It should be obvious what I took from each of them. Anyway. I've done most of my work in very small environments. Recently I've been using these LED strips (like I saw in Lapides thread) and put on the same heatsinks I was using in my PCs. I eventually converted all 3 of my PCs to those heatsinks and LEDs. then I got fed up with working with PCs. I so what Johnhova was doing with a closetmaid, and for $35 I thought it would be perfect for me to turn into a grow box. well i ordered the parts. nothing fit the way I imagined it in my mind. but after some thinking I came up with what I think may be a better way of positioning my lights, kinda like Thenewstyle. Anyway using all the stuff i learned from building stealth PCs, I came up with this.

Outside view with the doors open.


Close view of the entire setup.


Lock bought from home depot to add a false sense of security.


On the right the 12v 7amp power adapter for the fan, possible future fans and 12v air pumps for dwc system. On the left, the 600w adjustable amp and adjustable volt boost adapter that powers the LEDs. Not pictured is the 19v 3.5amp laptop power adapter that's on the floor cause the wire is short. that goes into the boost adapter.


to adjust the fan power I use 12v-24 led power adjusters. i solder the wires into the key, then taped it to the wall to say out of the lights way. I have 2 separate keys hooked up to the same 12v 7a power source. the other key is for possible future fans for inside the case. and then a 3rd wire for the 12v air pumps im gonna hook up. a 7amp power supply is more than enough to power all that 12v stuff

 

[Killkingkong]

The outside of the intake that's covered with a activated carbon filter tapes over it. I used the same saw bit that i did with the exhaust fan, so one that fits 80mm.


Inside the case I then shoved 4 circular cut pieces of filter paper into the hole to fill it in. this way clean air comes into the cab and I don't have to worry about the exhaust fan getting clogged so much.


2 hole drilled for the wires to poke out then i soldered on connectors to plug/unplug. I also taped over the wires on the inside to kill light leaks


Activated carbon dual exhaust fan

 

[Killkingkong]

How to make this scrubber:

 

[#1cheesebuds]

ur gardens look great. but just how many grow tents do u have?

 

[Killkingkong]

ur gardens look great. but just how many grow tents do u have?

This thread takes place over a few years. It's gone through many different 'designs and experiments'. I retired 3 PCs this week when the cabinet was completed. currently that's in veg with some clones/seeds/actual garden seeds. I still have my makeshift closet space that I will be running 1 more time to make some seeds, then that's also being retired leaving me with this 1 cabinet.



As you can see, the cabinet can hold far more than any pc or the makeshift space in my closet.

 

[Lapides]

I've been thinking a lot about side lighting. I spend a fair amount of time trimming off all the underbranches and suckerbuds, I'm curious if side lighting will eliminate this need.

Nice little cab!

 

[Killkingkong]

I've been thinking a lot about side lighting. I spend a fair amount of time trimming off all the underbranches and suckerbuds, I'm curious if side lighting will eliminate this need.

Nice little cab!

I forgot how long starting from seed take. For the last couple of years I've been using clones of Strawberry Dogshit x Critical Neville's Haze that's a sativa. I bought some Afghan Kush seeds and I can't tell if this plant is so short and bushy because of the indica vs sativa thing or is the side lighting hits the plant from so many directions forcing tons of side branching. Anyway I flip to 12/12 this Sunday, but I'll take a clone to use as a hopeful mother plant and the action should start around then.

I've had the same experience as you with those branches under the canopy. I played around with underside lighting before in my PCs, but given the small amount of space I had to work with in the PCs it was hard to tell if there was much of a difference (only about 6 inches of space considered 'underside' in the PCs). My logic with this new cab is that having these LED strips on the sides 'should' give me 2 more canopies making for nice and full buds up the entire branch and eliminate popcorn buds (except for the stuff in the complete center).

Oh and about those Afghan Kush seeds. I ordered them from Seedsman (a vendor that advertises on here) and that was the worst experience I've ever had purchasing seeds. I used their cryptocurrency promotion for 20% off. I placed my order within the time frame that the 3rd party vendor they use said (10 minutes). I get an email a day later saying that the order wasn't place in time so my order was canceled (but they had my money already). I contact the person from this site who I previously spoke to before placing the order (I contacted him in december, he told me the cryptocurrency system was down and would be up in a few days, so I wait 2 months to order to give them time.) and they tell me to contact someone else by email. I sent the email to get my refund and then they redirect me to the 3rd party vendors site where I have to fill out a form and give a whole bunch of personal information in order to get my money back (which is a huge problem). I begrudgingly do this in order to get my money since they refuse to send me my seeds even though they're in possession of my money. After doing this it took literally 3 weeks for me to get my money back after constantly emailing the support staff and letting them know how awful this 3rd party cryptocurrency vendor is and how when I go to their site now there's a huge message that pops up saying that my state has blocked access to this site for a breach of data and collecting personal information (no response to that). Seedsman is highly unprofessional and they they're in bed with a datamining company that pretends to be a cryptocurrency payment service in which you never get your product and they send you your money back weeks later after using it to make other investments (like a bank, but i didn't agree to this practice like you do when you sign up for a bank account. Plus you can actually take money out the bank account, they invest what you're not using and are backed up by the gov't in case their investments don't work out). I ended up ordering again through different means, but that doesn't change what happened before that. I'm highly dissatisfied with their service and will never buy from them again. I'm sure others have different experiences with them, but that was my experience.



inside the canopy with all the branching

 

[Killkingkong]

There's been some moisture on the leaves when I check them in the morning so I've turned my dual exhaust up to the highest speed. I'm thinking I'll probably need to add some fans inside the box if turning up the exhaust doesn't work, to prevent molding later into flowering.

Afghan Kush Flower Day 1


Afghan Kush Kratky Clones

 

[Killkingkong]

1 Week of flowering has passed. Leaves are kinda yellowing, but that was a user error. I spilled a shitload of epsom salt when trying to weight out dry nutes. Not wanting to waste things I still put it in the nute mix because scooping it out without taking other nutes seemed impossible. Anyway, that's what I attribute to the yellowing. I didn't make that mistake this time, so things should green up. This plant is definitely the most indica leaning plant I've grown, so I haven't been able to train it like I normally do sativas, but I'm sure it will work out fine. Oh, I'm currently running my cab at 70watts. I'm running this with a boost converter, so I can go up/down apparently up to 600watts, but I've only tested going up to 150w.

Day 7 Flower - Afghan Kush

 

[Killkingkong]

Hey Guys been a long time since I updated. Probably won't go back to updating regularly (too repetitive), but here's some picks to give you guys an idea of what I'm up to and some ideas you can borrow.

Veg/Clone/Mother PC Case:


Week 1 DIY Blurple PC Case


Week 1 Flower SIL 2'x1' Cab


Week 4 or 5 Diy Quantum Board With Side Lighting Cab


Week 6 or 7 Flower SiL 1'x1' Cab

 

[CarlOG]

crazy setups

 

[q3corn]

Nice to see you back in action! I ran through this whole thread again since I've been off IC for a few years. Starting to get my micro grows back in action again, and I really like what you're doing!


Keep it up dude!

 

[Killkingkong]

Hey, thanks for the replies guys. Since that last post I harvested the SiL 1'x1' Cab. Got 65g from 62w with 4x15.5 LEDs. I could have trained better and gotten slightly better result but anything above 1g/w is great. Today I harvested one of the plants in my bigger cases and I should get significantly more. I have 2 plants that should finish in about a month from now but the DIY blurple light was a failure, so I swapped it out with a warm white diy led strip which is far more efficient. I'm gonna finish running this plant then throw another clone in there to run with this better light from start to finish. The other plant I have finishing in a month is in a big case and this is by far the most even canopy I've ever gotten. However I wish it was 2-3 inches taller to complete max out the space. In best conditions I think i can get close to 2g/w. I also have a hybrid design for my big cases which I'm buying the parts for now. I'm going to put 10 SiLs on top of both cases, then 3 of those diy quantum boards (that I make for ~$30/each) as side lighting in each of those cases. 90w on top with SiLs, 65w on the 3 sides with CoBs for 150w/case and 4 directions of lighting.

CoB Veg:


1'x1' Cob Week 0 Flower:


Week 5 Diy Quantum board PC


Week 5 SiL (most even plant ever):