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PC Case Growers Club

Alanbrown88

Member
This is my Durban Poison full stealth pc grow !



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There's new budget led bars from Nutriculture and Secret Jardin. Looks kinda nice.
Nutriculture versions have even few different lengths. And not that bad on the wallet.

https://www.secretjardin.com/catalogue/lightings/tled/tled-26w-blooming/bl,product,152,0
http://www.nutriculture.co.uk/street-light-led.html

I was thinking here about odour control too, you could 3D print some nice housings for active carbon with ease and have them easily mounted to PC Fan (I'm going with Noctuas industrial versions and to chassis. Anyone seen good designs? Ones which does not use mats but granunal (?) charcoal.
 
Well, here is another stealth PC build with a HID lamp and carbon filter.

Basically, it is a separate airtight growbox integrated into a PC chassis. I believe there is no other way to prevent odor leaks in a PC. And building a box fitting into the PC was a main challenge in this project.

The outside dimensions are 47?57?24 cm (18,5x22,4x9,4 inches), internal: 33?31?20 (13x12x8 inches). That was a largest suitable PC case available. It is just fine for a nice one-plant micro grow. Everything is built of 4mm thick plywood, 15x15 and 15x30 mm boards and other materials found in a local DIY store. The floor square is 0.06m2 or 0.65 sq.ft, the volume is 20 liters or 5 US gallons. The plant's pot has capacity of 3 litres (~0.8 gallons).

Light: main light is a 35w ceramic metal-halide lamp from OSRAM (3000K, 3700lm) and auxiliary lights are 4 Philips 5w LEDs (6500K, 400lm each). I have an irrational passion for HID lamps despite their cons particularly for microgrowing purposes. Can do nothing with that )). The main lamp has its own light fixture with a ventilation (2x40mm Noctua fans), reflector and a light trap to prevent light leaks. At the beginning I was about throwing in a 70w lamp, but it appeared to be way too intensive for this tiny space and was swapped for 35w version.

The growbox has a carbon filter with 12h reserved power from a standard 18650 Li-ion accumulator. In case the main power is cut – there will be at least 12 hours before the box starts to stink. The capacity of the filter is 600 ml of charcoal and the charcoal layer thickness is 15mm. That is quite enough to coup with odors for about 6 months. The filter has an extra volume of charcoal on the top to fill possible gaps – it is important as the micro setups are being moved often and the charcoal will thicken creating a crack on the top. The filter is easy to recharge. All the growchamber ventilation job is done solely by the filter (passive intake). The filter fans are tiny 25x25x10mm Sunon 5v high rev (~10000 rev per min at 5V) with mag.lev bearings rated for 50000h lifetime. There is a mixing fan inside the chamber. It has 2 speeds for a small plant and for a mature one.

The door of the grow chamber has no hinges and is demountable which is more convenient and durable comparing to a classic door. It is locked in place by magnetic locks integrated into the frame. The grow chamber has a light trap on the intake.
The growchamber is painted matt white paint for windows durable and eco-friendly. The outside is panted black with matt facade paint to block any possible light leaks.
The growchamber can be installed on either side of the PC so that it was comfortable to use no matter the place you put this “PC” in.
The growbox has a number of electric and thermal cut-outs to prevent disaster and keep operation even if something goes wrong (say a short-circuit in the usb-ports).

The control panel has an electronic timer to control lamps and a set of buttons allowing to: turn on/off main light, lighthood ventilation, auxilary lights, mixing fan, filter, accumulator. It has a voltmeter glued to the timer showing current accumulator's charge.

The growbox is a stealth one by these means: it has no light leaks (it is literally invisible in a dark room even if you are standing right next to it), it doesn't smell MJ and it is quite (no louder than a regular computer). The only improvement I'd wish to make - is reducing noise even more. It is not loud at all, it is quitter than the previous growboxes, but it would have been nice to have it noiseless )) Although, as it requires a larger filter – it is not available in this setup.

The growbox has been tested with peppermint plants and they have grown pretty well – I had to remove them after two weeks because they were reaching the lights (no training though) and burning leafs. The temperature inside the box is typically +3..+5*C compering to the room temperature.

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Electric panel, vented lighthood and the filter.

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Lights and two thermal cut-offs for the main light.

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Fello

Member
Hey Strangevisitor, gratz for the job you did with that case, i'd like mine to be like yours :D
That said, let me introduce.
I am Fello and i come from the italian section, hoping to find an answer to my questions about pc grow.
I run my grow in a 52x51x22 cm (H*L*W) with 5 23w cfls and my room temps are someway between 20°-23°, basically it depends up to the heating system being on or off.
I have tried 2 different ventilation set-ups but both have failed:
1st) a passive intake and two exhaust, using 2xantectricool 120mm pc fan, dimmerable and rated at 33/54/79 CFM each with a diy 3d printed carbon filter, placing them on the rear and top of the case (see pics) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acsvzlUZv-s&t=1s)
2nd) stacking the two antec together and mount them on the top of the case using the same diy 3d printed CF and adding another diy carbon filter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6OWOCwJ8wo) with a centrifugal 12V blower rated at 32CFM.
Both set-ups don't allow me to have a DeltaTemp. lower than 5/6 ° and i guess that's due to the low static pressure of axial fans coz' if i remove the carbon filter from the stacked fans my deltaTemp. is around 2-2,5 degrees.
Thus i read a lot and i am trying to figure out a solution.
Axial Fan are definitely not enough strong, due to their weak static pressure (waiting for someone to contradict me).
The only ones that fit the purposal are the ones with like 200 CFM and high amperage, like Deltas or Noctuas, which are too LOUD for a stealth grow box.
My centrifugal fan, which is rated 32 CFM is BS...i tried to run it solo whilst shutting of the two axials and my temps raised at 39°.
I am also confused about the whole think (seems pretty clear LOL) cause i did some math and having, for example, 115W of lights will require me only 70 CFM more or the less to keep my room 3 degrees above room's temp.
Should i buy a duct fan? should i switch to LED (was mirin at a 75W cultilite or cultilite 90W cob antares)? Should i install a plexiglass panel under cfl ?
Sorry if i've mistaken sometimes at writing, but it has a while since i spoke/wrote in english and i am pretty rusty.
Cheers from Italy
 
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