Diary PCBuds mini-grow

[PCBuds]

This is ridiculous...

My meter appears to be defective?

Maybe it's sitting in a puddle? lol

 

[PCBuds]

The lights just came on.
(note the stripes in the picture from the SILs..)

 

[PCBuds]

 

[f-e]

The OG pot was orange, and 1K though wouldn't adjust down below 32 ohms. You fitted a 10K. These variables are in series with R40. The 1K+R40 wasn't quite enough resistance to lower the voltage. Ideally we should of pulled out R40 and stuck in something bigger. Perhaps you could up-end R40 so that only one end is in the board, then stick an extra resistor in series with it. Anything up to 1K. If you put a K in series with R40 and the orange, you will have something.88 volts as you max, and the VR will reduce it to the something.5 you want, and beyond. I suggest a resistor in the 500ohm region, but 100ohm would do. Anything from 100-1000 ohm added to R40

 

[PCBuds]

 

[f-e]

Well I wouldn't expect miracles overnight, but it's straightening out a bit isn't it?
60% is a fair target with over 70 a bit much. As later in life it won't be in that environment.
You could keep drilling holes, but it might be easier to tip it with a pencil under the rim. That's something you can adjust over time. Though I think you will out grow that bottle quite quickly

 

[Creeperpark]

That's a super idea! It looks like it's working well!

 

[PCBuds]

The OG pot was orange, and 1K though wouldn't adjust down below 32 ohms. You fitted a 10K. These variables are in series with R40. The 1K+R40 wasn't quite enough resistance to lower the voltage. Ideally we should of pulled out R40 and stuck in something bigger. Perhaps you could up-end R40 so that only one end is in the board, then stick an extra resistor in series with it. Anything up to 1K. If you put a K in series with R40 and the orange, you will have something.88 volts as you max, and the VR will reduce it to the something.5 you want, and beyond. I suggest a resistor in the 500ohm region, but 100ohm would do. Anything from 100-1000 ohm added to R40

I kinda forgot the details about when we were working on the power supply, but I found this post in my thread and it's coming back to me.

Well the blue resistor seems it just dropped the 12v down to power the LED. Nothing special at all. So a quick fact check.. yes it is a fancy resistor. How odd.
The VR1 isn't wired as expected. Just to be sure.. the two side by side pins were the track(physically beside R41), and the sweep the other end, at the front of the board. I have never seen a different arrangement. Presuming this is the case, then one end of the track, and the sweep, are connected to ground. It appears ground anyway, as the LED uses it.
In this configuration, There is a voltage present where R39 and R40 join. It goes off up the edge of the board to where it's watched. R40 bleeds this off, through itself and VR1, to ground.
Fully grounding R40 through VR1 is max output. Taking VR1 out the circuit completely gives you minimum.

I think as increasing the series resistance of R40 and VR1 has given the extra adjustment, I would carry on doing that. However, I would try to do this by increasing R40 and keeping the original VR1 as it's a quality part and simply fits the box better. Perhaps try changing R40 for a 5-10K

As this is a collection of pics, and I'm half stoned, It's possible I'm stood on my head, looking at it all backwards. So just to cover it again, it looks to me, that setting the VR to minimum resistance is max voltage. So you add more resistance for minimum voltage. Which I'm suggesting, should be achieved by increasing the value of R40

And I found the original potentiometer...

I think that I'm just going to cut the three wires going to the replacement potentiometer and solder the old potentiometer on to the wires with a 500 ohm resistor in series with it.

Then I don't have to open up my power supply and solder anything inside.

Now I have to remember my resistor color code so I can find the right resistor.
​​​​​​​

 

[PCBuds]

... 60% is a fair target with over 70 a bit much. As later in life it won't be in that environment.
You could keep drilling holes,..

Yeah, she's dripping with condensation...

I just want to give her a bit of help while she's young, but like you said she's not going to be in there for very long and I don't want her to get too used to it.

I put a bunch more holes in the dome.
That was easy enough to do. It's a plastic peanut butter jar. I just heated up a bolt on my gas stove and melted more holes in it.

 

[Itsmychoice]

I bet it takes off now, it will be warm and humid, getting just what it needs.

 

[PCBuds]

I bet it takes off now, it will be warm and humid, getting just what it needs.

I'm hoping that she is well established before she outgrows her dome.

I don't think I want to make a bigger dome. It would be in the way of the lights.

I'm thinking of just giving her an incubation period.

 

[PCBuds]

It Worked !!!

I soldered two 1,000 ohm resistors together in parallel to get 500 ohms.

Then I hooked up the yellow wire as well thinking it was grounded to the black wire on the circuit board anyway, but it stopped working.

I think if I had hooked up the resistors to the red wire instead, it would have worked?

So I just cut off the yellow wire.
It's working again.

Now I've got the potentiometer at just about half of its sweep to give me the 4.2 amp output and it adjusts really smoothly.

I can turn it down far enough to get no current flow and turn it up to 23.5 volts as well (but I don't need to turn it that high.)

It used to adjust 15% past 24 volts but not any more.

I unplugged the contactor to stop the output so I could take the picture without over amping my LED strips or power supply.

 

[f-e]

Occasionally while still filling the bottom net, I have used the top net to support polythene. We get 4m wide rolls for covering furniture. Thin as food wrap. Over the top and down the sides. Bagging the entire crop.

Perhaps you could bend some wire to make a frame like a light shade. Then bag that, or for the sake of the camera, you could use food wrap. There are various domes on the market with adjustable vents, if you find it's worth a little expendature. It does seem happier. If you grow a spliff a day and it saves you 3 days, then it's worth spending 3 spliffs on a dome. Recouped in one cycle.

Plant bells?
Edit:

 

[aliceklar]

Occasionally while still filling the bottom net, I have used the top net to support polythene. We get 4m wide rolls for covering furniture. Thin as food wrap. Over the top and down the sides. Bagging the entire crop.

Perhaps you could bend some wire to make a frame like a light shade. Then bag that, or for the sake of the camera, you could use food wrap. There are various domes on the market with adjustable vents, if you find it's worth a little expendature. It does seem happier. If you grow a spliff a day and it saves you 3 days, then it's worth spending 3 spliffs on a dome. Recouped in one cycle.

Plant bells?
Edit:

A 1 litre soda bottle with the bottom cut off and the cap removed would also work

 

[PCBuds]

A 1 litre soda bottle with the bottom cut off and the cap removed would also work

I just bought a 2 liter Pepsi and it turned out to be the same diameter as the peanut butter jar.

So I went to the dollar store and found this...
It's the perfect size. The lights just clear it and I even have room for another bulb in the middle.

I had the hygrometer sitting on the soil in the peanut butter jar after I had all the holes in it and I got a reading of 68%, then I raised it up above the soil about an inch and the reading dropped to 38%.

So it was reading the moisture evaporating off the soil.


Now I've got four holes in the top of the dome and an air gap at the bottom.
I'll add more holes if it gets too sweaty inside.

 

[exploziv]

A 5l bottle would work best, I guess!
Good luck with your new grow!

 

[PCBuds]

The RH looks pretty good and the plant looks happier.

 

[exploziv]

Man, your growroom is like the a diy research lab, always testing something! Nice one!

 

[PCBuds]

A 5l bottle would work best, I guess!
Good luck with your new grow!

I've never seen a 5l bottle here in Ontario.
We have 3 liter bottles but I haven't seen them around in years.

I ended up searching through the dollar store looking for something.

The "serving container" I ended up with fits nicely.
It's a really clear plastic but it sucks to drill through. The plastic cracks and crumbles easily. I'll melt holes through it next time if it needs more holes.

 

[PCBuds]

Man, your growroom is like the a diy research lab, always testing something! Nice one!

Thanks explosive

I was just going to stick a seed in the ground and watch it grow on the window sill, but f-e convinced me to put a dome on it.

It turned out to be simple and easy, and I don't need to keep removing the dome because I just add water to the tray.

The placement of the hygrometer makes a huge difference. It's a lot damper right at the soil.

I'm looking forward to having the roots grow into the tray. They're always interesting to look at.
I'm going to use peroxide in the water if it starts growing algae. I've got a whole gallon of it, so I might as well use it.