-
ICMag and The Vault are running a NEW contest in October! You can check it here. Prizes are seeds & forum premium access. Come join in!
Diary PCBuds mini-grow
- Thread starter PCBuds
- Start date
Bobby Boucher
Active member
You think about installing a high temperature shut-off controller?
That'd about solve the problem. 80 more bucks, but.. honestly with all those lights, it might save you from incurring a fire. Especially without an extractor that'll supply adequate negative pressure.
It is what it is.
Automatic sprinkler system, perhaps?
That'd about solve the problem. 80 more bucks, but.. honestly with all those lights, it might save you from incurring a fire. Especially without an extractor that'll supply adequate negative pressure.
It is what it is.
Automatic sprinkler system, perhaps?
q3corn
Active member
Blower looks worthy.
While not pretty, you could put that blower in a cardboard box, with just the duct spigot pushed out through the side. Then the fan will try to pull the vacuum of space within the box. Just before it implodes, catastrophically, you could cut a second hole in the box. Say... 5.75" for the inlet ducting.
It's much easier to attach ducts to a cardboard box, than to an awkward fan.
They are talking about efficacy. The lamp turns 15% of the power used into Par light. It's looking at efficiency from a different prospective.
PCBuds
Well-known member
So, ... I got some sleep and sobered up then reassessed things a bit.
Two of the three blowers weren't working.
The experimental one was simply worn out and is in the garbage.
The second one has an open line on the coil of wire and I'm not going to try to find the broken wire and fix it so I'm saving it for parts for the third one which is new and unused and has been sitting for over 5 years.
I also found these that are new and unused but have been sitting for over 15 years.
And this...
But it's a blower and all I want is a fan.
I might rethink my ventilation and install a fan/blower on the input of air instead.
It will push air through the filter and into the closet so any leaks will be clean filtered air leaking out.
That way I don't have to seal up my closet and can even put some holes up near the ceiling to let the hottest air out.
I don't care about light leaks much because I want to grow auto flowers anyway and the remaining White Widow photo seeds I have didn't mind the leaks and screw-ups I made. (I bypassed the timer a couple of times and forgot to switch it back on. The lights stayed on for more than 24 hours two separate times during flower.)
I got tired of waiting for my clone so I removed the humidome...
It's been 12 days... Good enough.
I don't care too much about the plant.
I think I'd rather grow from seeds.
Two of the three blowers weren't working.
The experimental one was simply worn out and is in the garbage.
The second one has an open line on the coil of wire and I'm not going to try to find the broken wire and fix it so I'm saving it for parts for the third one which is new and unused and has been sitting for over 5 years.
I also found these that are new and unused but have been sitting for over 15 years.
And this...
But it's a blower and all I want is a fan.
I might rethink my ventilation and install a fan/blower on the input of air instead.
It will push air through the filter and into the closet so any leaks will be clean filtered air leaking out.
That way I don't have to seal up my closet and can even put some holes up near the ceiling to let the hottest air out.
I don't care about light leaks much because I want to grow auto flowers anyway and the remaining White Widow photo seeds I have didn't mind the leaks and screw-ups I made. (I bypassed the timer a couple of times and forgot to switch it back on. The lights stayed on for more than 24 hours two separate times during flower.)
I got tired of waiting for my clone so I removed the humidome...
It's been 12 days... Good enough.
I don't care too much about the plant.
I think I'd rather grow from seeds.
PCBuds
Well-known member
It seemed like everything was all kinda going to shit for me and I was feeling a little depressed about it, so I decided to buy some stuff to make me happy again. Lol
Oddly enough, everything crapped out at post #666 in my thread.
It's kinda freaking me out.
I'm thinking maybe 111 more posts might change my luck around. Lol
Oddly enough, everything crapped out at post #666 in my thread.
It's kinda freaking me out.
I'm thinking maybe 111 more posts might change my luck around. Lol
PCBuds
Well-known member
I'm redoing my test and started off by turning down the ceiling strips to 600 mA, so lower than the 700 mA test current.
There is still lots of light coming off them but I haven't done any light meter measurements.
I should pull out my old 5-way splitter with the SILs and take some readings of it as a bit of a baseline for comparison.
I've got a light meter app on my phone that I haven't really used yet.
There is still lots of light coming off them but I haven't done any light meter measurements.
I should pull out my old 5-way splitter with the SILs and take some readings of it as a bit of a baseline for comparison.
I've got a light meter app on my phone that I haven't really used yet.
PCBuds
Well-known member
I've got one of these. It's a thermostat from a furnace.
I could wire it into the ceiling above the lights.
It's free and easy.
PCBuds
Well-known member
I did took some measurements with my phone app.
(It's the max reading of the screenshot)
The five SILs at 21", which is where I would set them above a seedling...
5 SILs at about 2" which is as close as I would put them...
The LED strips in the closet measured right above my struggling clone...
The strips about 3" from the ceiling...
And the strips as close as I can get them to my phone's light sensor...
I'm liking the way the numbers look especially since I turned the strips down for the heat test I'm doing now.
They still give off plenty of light, even when they're turned down below test current.
(It's the max reading of the screenshot)
The five SILs at 21", which is where I would set them above a seedling...
5 SILs at about 2" which is as close as I would put them...
The LED strips in the closet measured right above my struggling clone...
The strips about 3" from the ceiling...
And the strips as close as I can get them to my phone's light sensor...
I'm liking the way the numbers look especially since I turned the strips down for the heat test I'm doing now.
They still give off plenty of light, even when they're turned down below test current.
PCBuds
Well-known member
My overheat test went way better today.
I started with turning the ceiling strips down yesterday to 600 mA each so 2,400 mA for all four.
Then I unplugged the fan and kept track of the numbers but this time I kept turning them down to maintain the 2,400 mA.
After two hours, the hottest I read was 60°C.
So, I thought I'd turn them up to about 2,600 mA and adjust them to stay there.
Everything was fine and the hottest they got was 72°C after another hour.
I plugged the fan back in and the current dropped down pretty quick.
The whole "thermal runaway" thing that happened last time didn't happen if you dial down the voltage/current.
I can certainly see why a constant current power supply is better to have.
The current was really touchy to adjust. Just a micro-movement of the adjustment dial had a huge impact on the current.
The current ended up being at about 2,700 mA at the end of the test and then dropped to 2,345 mA with the fan on and door open.
I blew on the strips and the current would start dropping right away.
So I figure I found the sweet spot by setting the current with the fan off and the door closed and just deal with whatever light output I get when the fan is running.
I will probably have to do the test again in the summer when my house is much warmer with higher humidity and a big plant in the closet (but I don't want to cook a finishing plant for the sake of a test.)
I thought I'd do another measurement with the strips all cooled off.
Just above the clone...
As close as I can get my phone to the strips...
I started with turning the ceiling strips down yesterday to 600 mA each so 2,400 mA for all four.
Then I unplugged the fan and kept track of the numbers but this time I kept turning them down to maintain the 2,400 mA.
After two hours, the hottest I read was 60°C.
So, I thought I'd turn them up to about 2,600 mA and adjust them to stay there.
Everything was fine and the hottest they got was 72°C after another hour.
I plugged the fan back in and the current dropped down pretty quick.
The whole "thermal runaway" thing that happened last time didn't happen if you dial down the voltage/current.
I can certainly see why a constant current power supply is better to have.
The current was really touchy to adjust. Just a micro-movement of the adjustment dial had a huge impact on the current.
The current ended up being at about 2,700 mA at the end of the test and then dropped to 2,345 mA with the fan on and door open.
I blew on the strips and the current would start dropping right away.
So I figure I found the sweet spot by setting the current with the fan off and the door closed and just deal with whatever light output I get when the fan is running.
I will probably have to do the test again in the summer when my house is much warmer with higher humidity and a big plant in the closet (but I don't want to cook a finishing plant for the sake of a test.)
I thought I'd do another measurement with the strips all cooled off.
Just above the clone...
As close as I can get my phone to the strips...
Bobby Boucher
Active member
Admiring your frugality..
My puny little brain gets overwhelmed here trying to be frugal. I've always been a miser at heart, but these days, I'm just in too much pain to cut the corners cleanly.
Lately, I just order shit from amazon, on credit if need be, and return it to khols if I find I don't need it, or simply yell out my window at the delivery guy to refuse the package. Saves me a ton of time and stress just being able to bite every bullet and spit it out later if need be.
Anyways, good luck. All the best.
My puny little brain gets overwhelmed here trying to be frugal. I've always been a miser at heart, but these days, I'm just in too much pain to cut the corners cleanly.
Lately, I just order shit from amazon, on credit if need be, and return it to khols if I find I don't need it, or simply yell out my window at the delivery guy to refuse the package. Saves me a ton of time and stress just being able to bite every bullet and spit it out later if need be.
Anyways, good luck. All the best.
PCBuds
Well-known member
Hey, thanks Bobby. 
A big part of my decision-making process is frugality but most of it is based on safety.
I always envision a worst-case scenario where I burn to death in a fire. Lol.
I do worry too much but now I know my strips won't overheat, burn out or start on fire.
The fan that's in there now is adequate and I don't feel the need for more airflow.
In fact, I've got my wine bubbling away in the closet and I don't want to suck all the CO2 right out of the closet.
So with that being said, I want to try to figure out how much CO2 is being produced by my 5 gallons of wine.
A CO2 meter is a couple of hundred bucks as far as I could find so I have to try to do the chemistry to figure out how many moles are produced.
But I haven't balanced a chemical equation since 1983 and I forget how to do it.
So how many moles of CO2 are produced by 5 KG of sugar fermented to 14% alcohol??
I tend to overthink stuff. Lol
A big part of my decision-making process is frugality but most of it is based on safety.
I always envision a worst-case scenario where I burn to death in a fire. Lol.
I do worry too much but now I know my strips won't overheat, burn out or start on fire.
The fan that's in there now is adequate and I don't feel the need for more airflow.
In fact, I've got my wine bubbling away in the closet and I don't want to suck all the CO2 right out of the closet.
So with that being said, I want to try to figure out how much CO2 is being produced by my 5 gallons of wine.
A CO2 meter is a couple of hundred bucks as far as I could find so I have to try to do the chemistry to figure out how many moles are produced.
But I haven't balanced a chemical equation since 1983 and I forget how to do it.
So how many moles of CO2 are produced by 5 KG of sugar fermented to 14% alcohol??
I tend to overthink stuff. Lol
PCBuds
Well-known member
Well, I made up my mind.
I figure my closet is safe and good enough to go. (although I still have some changes I want to make.)
I do want to push the air into the closet to pressurize it but that doesn't matter until the neighbors fill the air with pollen mid-summer so I'll change things after this plant is done.
And I've got 25 more strips coming so I've got time to think about what I'm going to do with them.
I'm liking the SIP method and it seems to be working for the plant in the kitty litter container that's sitting in a kitty litter box.
It helps to have a cat. Lol
I switched my lights to 12/12 and it should be done in 8-10 weeks.
I figure my closet is safe and good enough to go. (although I still have some changes I want to make.)
I do want to push the air into the closet to pressurize it but that doesn't matter until the neighbors fill the air with pollen mid-summer so I'll change things after this plant is done.
And I've got 25 more strips coming so I've got time to think about what I'm going to do with them.
I'm liking the SIP method and it seems to be working for the plant in the kitty litter container that's sitting in a kitty litter box.
It helps to have a cat. Lol
I switched my lights to 12/12 and it should be done in 8-10 weeks.
PCBuds
Well-known member
