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Diary PCBuds mini-grow
- Thread starter PCBuds
- Start date
f2obsession
Active member
Yeah, i think she bounced back greatly. She looks gorgeous now.
What about the rooting little clone?
What about the rooting little clone?
PCBuds
Well-known member
The clone is doing okay.
She is green at the top and it looks like some new growth.
I did a lot of things wrong with it but I figure she's just going to be slow as a result, which is fine because she is either going to just remain as a window plant or get planted outside towards the end of May.
She is green at the top and it looks like some new growth.
I did a lot of things wrong with it but I figure she's just going to be slow as a result, which is fine because she is either going to just remain as a window plant or get planted outside towards the end of May.
SuperBadGrower
Active member
Yep looking good.. be careful in the windowsill, depending on your region it will start to flower and then reveg unless you give it a little extra light. Keep everything you flower alive until you smoke it because it might be the best plant you ever had. I have spent more than 2 years looking for something I have lost.
PCBuds
Well-known member
I've got the lights on all the time.
I could just have them on for a few hours in the evening but I don't want to bother with a timer.
The two bottom bulbs are helping to keep it warm.
I know what you mean.
This is a White Widow I grew about 2 years ago.
After vegging her for 2 months and flowering for two more, I just pulled it out of the ground.
I did everything wrong and she grew up in a swamp. Lol, I suck at watering.
I wasn't trying to grow an 8" plant and decided not to waste any more time on it.
I don't want to grow ten-gram plants.
I considered just throwing it out but stuck it in a jar and cured it.
It turned to be the best weed I ever grew or smoked.
Unfortunately, I have no real idea of how I did it other than just brutalized it and stunt the hell out of her. Lol
It was the same White Widow that I always grew and I'm used to it being 2'-4' tall.
PCBuds
Well-known member
Little clone looks like it finally rooted and is eating again.
Yeah, I've got a bottle of light nutes with some molasses for the clone and some plain bottled water for the just planted sprouted seed.
I put a small hole through the cap so I can squirt it into the soil.
Now as long as I don't get all drunkly or stoned and squirt the wrong plant with the wrong juice. Lol
PCBuds
Well-known member
Hey f-e...
I've got a question for you.
I found a hot plate that I thought I could use to warm up my clone and seedling a bit but it's 80 Watts and way too hot so I made a dimmable extension cord with a lighting dimmer.
(it looks like a regular switch but the toggle is variable.)
It says it's rated only for incandescent bulbs up to 400 Watts.
It worked but it could only drop the wattage down to 30 Watts and was still a bit too warm and I didn't want to waste 30 Watts.
So I thought I'd try it on my fan in the closet to see if I could make it adjustable.
It's a two-speed fan with a switch.
It draws 11.5 Watts on the low setting and 14 Watts on hi.
(which isn't much of a power difference considering how much faster it goes.)
It did work but I could hear the dimmer humming and buzzing and I don't know if that OK or not?
I know some motors lock into the 50/60 Hertz to control the RPMs and you can't reduce the voltage/power to control them but my fan did slow down.
So can I comfortably and safely "dim" my fan this way ?
I've got a question for you.
I found a hot plate that I thought I could use to warm up my clone and seedling a bit but it's 80 Watts and way too hot so I made a dimmable extension cord with a lighting dimmer.
(it looks like a regular switch but the toggle is variable.)
It says it's rated only for incandescent bulbs up to 400 Watts.
It worked but it could only drop the wattage down to 30 Watts and was still a bit too warm and I didn't want to waste 30 Watts.
So I thought I'd try it on my fan in the closet to see if I could make it adjustable.
It's a two-speed fan with a switch.
It draws 11.5 Watts on the low setting and 14 Watts on hi.
(which isn't much of a power difference considering how much faster it goes.)
It did work but I could hear the dimmer humming and buzzing and I don't know if that OK or not?
I know some motors lock into the 50/60 Hertz to control the RPMs and you can't reduce the voltage/power to control them but my fan did slow down.
So can I comfortably and safely "dim" my fan this way ?
The dimmer will probably fry before long.
The dimmer has no neutral. Which instantly interests me, but I have never actually looked them up. They must get the neutral via the load. Or some sort of voltage drop across themselves, to enable them to reach 100% on. In any case, they expect the load to be a connection to ground. When they turn off a spinning fan, the fan becomes a generating device. The collapsing field generating a backward flowing force, not ground. Just to really fuck with with it, this back emf as it's called, will itself set up another field. An apposing one. Until that two collapses, again putting a motive force upon the electrons, in the direction it all began. Which... sets up a field... which colapses.. emf... field colapse..force.. over in over and that's just in a coil that's sat doing nothing on the table. Not one spinning about with many other interactions going on. This is why the dimmer squeals. It's cry out at the frequency of the tuned circuit it makes, with it's own capacitance and the coils generation, charging it back n forth, when all it really wanted in life was some DC. Which is would get, if it could complete in half a cycle.
Let me try that again. A different story.
Did you know, that with 12v DC and a relay you can knock out radio and even get bitten?
Get one with normally closed contacts (typical spdt) and wire the relay so it's own coils power comes through the nc switch, such that the moment the replay operates, it turns itself off. Which lets the switch fall closed, powering the coil, that opens the switch, turning the coil off. Which lets the switch fall closed. Powering the coil, that opens the switch.... So you see where this is going? The relay buzzes like crazy.
So, as the coil is switched off, the magnetic field around it collapses, the lines of force crossing the windings, inducing power into the disconnected coil. So, what is power? watts? Ohms law familiar? watts is volts times amps. We have some watts. We don't have a circuit though.. no we don't have amps. watts is zero times something? the voltage present is infinity. Held back only by losses. Ouch! every tick of that buzzing relay, a crazy voltage spike. That's like an annoying motorcycle at the lights. It is sending the dimmer to an early grave
This lower limit of many lighting dimmers has proven a problem with LED lamps. We now have dimmers for the job though, that can get down to a few watts.
The dimmer has no neutral. Which instantly interests me, but I have never actually looked them up. They must get the neutral via the load. Or some sort of voltage drop across themselves, to enable them to reach 100% on. In any case, they expect the load to be a connection to ground. When they turn off a spinning fan, the fan becomes a generating device. The collapsing field generating a backward flowing force, not ground. Just to really fuck with with it, this back emf as it's called, will itself set up another field. An apposing one. Until that two collapses, again putting a motive force upon the electrons, in the direction it all began. Which... sets up a field... which colapses.. emf... field colapse..force.. over in over and that's just in a coil that's sat doing nothing on the table. Not one spinning about with many other interactions going on. This is why the dimmer squeals. It's cry out at the frequency of the tuned circuit it makes, with it's own capacitance and the coils generation, charging it back n forth, when all it really wanted in life was some DC. Which is would get, if it could complete in half a cycle.
Let me try that again. A different story.
Did you know, that with 12v DC and a relay you can knock out radio and even get bitten?
Get one with normally closed contacts (typical spdt) and wire the relay so it's own coils power comes through the nc switch, such that the moment the replay operates, it turns itself off. Which lets the switch fall closed, powering the coil, that opens the switch, turning the coil off. Which lets the switch fall closed. Powering the coil, that opens the switch.... So you see where this is going? The relay buzzes like crazy.
So, as the coil is switched off, the magnetic field around it collapses, the lines of force crossing the windings, inducing power into the disconnected coil. So, what is power? watts? Ohms law familiar? watts is volts times amps. We have some watts. We don't have a circuit though.. no we don't have amps. watts is zero times something? the voltage present is infinity. Held back only by losses. Ouch! every tick of that buzzing relay, a crazy voltage spike. That's like an annoying motorcycle at the lights. It is sending the dimmer to an early grave
This lower limit of many lighting dimmers has proven a problem with LED lamps. We now have dimmers for the job though, that can get down to a few watts.
PCBuds
Well-known member
I have another question...
I want to buy some small electric motor oil and I don't know what to buy.
They have this stuff for $5.50 but it's meant for quarter horse motors or bigger so I think it might be too thick for my little Motors and fans that I want to oil.
There is this stuff that is perfect but spending $41for 1 fl. Oz. would be stupid. Lol
So I'm thinking of this stuff.
It's 100% synthetic 0-W-20 motor oil.
$13 bucks for a full liter.
It may have some additives in it but that may not be a bad thing?
Any thoughts ?
I want to buy some small electric motor oil and I don't know what to buy.
They have this stuff for $5.50 but it's meant for quarter horse motors or bigger so I think it might be too thick for my little Motors and fans that I want to oil.
There is this stuff that is perfect but spending $41for 1 fl. Oz. would be stupid. Lol
So I'm thinking of this stuff.
It's 100% synthetic 0-W-20 motor oil.
$13 bucks for a full liter.
It may have some additives in it but that may not be a bad thing?
Any thoughts ?
PCBuds
Well-known member
I think you're right.
I checked the fan with the dimmer again and it would slow down a bit and then stall and sort of hum and pulse.
It didn't seem right at all.
I did take the fan apart to clean it a while back and as far as I remember, the slow speed just connected to different windings on the armature.
It didn't run through a resistor.
The dimmer switch is meant to replace regular light switches that don't have a neutral wire and is meant for a resistive load for old school incandescent bulbs.
I think it's just a Triac that reduces voltage ?
I know what you mean about the stored magnetic field.
We could get zapped in school from a 12 V relay.
(but it was no worse than a carpet shock like kids in the library who drag their feet. Lol. We had to take off our shoes to go into the library.)
I remember a documentary about a telescope where there were no gasoline engines allowed within miles of the telescope because of the EM radiation.
It wasn't an optical telescope, it was an EM telescope.
Only diesel-powered vehicles were allowed near the facility.
f2obsession
Active member
Woow, good job. I was sceptic, if it survives, and look at her, she is vital, stable, even the main line made it...
Definitely started to eat
Definitely started to eat
Good to see the cutting made it 
I wonder if you could use a mirror, or just white paper, to recover some light from your heaters. I have started watching the occasional youtube and a guy called Harley Smith is nailing unrooted cuttings with masses of light. Finding they will take a lot, a real lot, just as long as everything else is in place. Leading to the thinking that we have been nannying them too much.
If you have the typical 6" desk fans, it's usually the rear bearing that fails. There is not a great deal that can be done. I think it's a sintered bearing with a low grade lube that frys. Replacing it when new could be the answer. Using a degreaser, then soaking in something better. I have tried to fix a few but once seized any repair is short lived. Many of these fans refuse to spin up again after a power outage and melt the back covers. It's a good idea to just chuck them when they start to slow down.
The thinnest oil might be diesel. Sewing machine oil. PFTE based. Moving to machine oils like the 0-20
Another fan mod might be to increase the cooling airflow through the nacelle. Often they have vent holes, but but the low pressure behind the hub, might be little lower than behind the back cover. If the nacelle's front face was larger, to cover a little of the blade set, that might be the bit of gaffer tape that fixes the problem. I have looking at swapping from sleeve to ball bearings but the temperature range isn't much different. It's really about better lube and cooling. Though many are fried under HID's and that can't be helped.
I wonder if you could use a mirror, or just white paper, to recover some light from your heaters. I have started watching the occasional youtube and a guy called Harley Smith is nailing unrooted cuttings with masses of light. Finding they will take a lot, a real lot, just as long as everything else is in place. Leading to the thinking that we have been nannying them too much.
If you have the typical 6" desk fans, it's usually the rear bearing that fails. There is not a great deal that can be done. I think it's a sintered bearing with a low grade lube that frys. Replacing it when new could be the answer. Using a degreaser, then soaking in something better. I have tried to fix a few but once seized any repair is short lived. Many of these fans refuse to spin up again after a power outage and melt the back covers. It's a good idea to just chuck them when they start to slow down.
The thinnest oil might be diesel. Sewing machine oil. PFTE based. Moving to machine oils like the 0-20
Another fan mod might be to increase the cooling airflow through the nacelle. Often they have vent holes, but but the low pressure behind the hub, might be little lower than behind the back cover. If the nacelle's front face was larger, to cover a little of the blade set, that might be the bit of gaffer tape that fixes the problem. I have looking at swapping from sleeve to ball bearings but the temperature range isn't much different. It's really about better lube and cooling. Though many are fried under HID's and that can't be helped.
Sunshineinabag
Active member
Keep her off that window sill till may when temps smooth out?
PCBuds
Well-known member
She's fine...
She's been on the window sill most of her life.
I'm don't want to nanny her.
She needs to toughen up to live outdoors someday.
This is her and her mom visiting the great outdoors last month...
It was a warm day for February.
She gets some real sunshine in the window too.
I like that part.
PCBuds
Well-known member
Good to see the cutting made it
I wonder if you could use a mirror, or just white paper, to recover some light from your heaters.
I think I'm going to leave it until the sprout has a couple of leaves then remove one of the extenders from each "heater" and get the bulbs above ground.
My fan in the closet is working pretty good and the blade spins freely.
I had taken it apart just as regular maintenance. I found it full of dust which clogged up the vents pretty good and it wicked the oil out of the bearings.
I'm going to get some 0-W-20.
I can use it for lots of things that need to be oiled.
I've got some regular engine oil but the 0-W-20 sounds really thin so it can creep into where it needs to be, like a bicycle chain.
My little fan doesn't get hot and it isn't working very hard.
The shroud is removed and it's not "boxed in", so there's very little pressure on it as it just blows through an open hole.
