Diary PCBuds mini-grow

[PCBuds]

Personally I would cut my losses and top that plant below the rotten section. Better to have a short bushy half a plant with no systemic rot than to fight infection on a weak stem.

I'm gonna give it a few days and see what happens...

Sorry about your lady, it's always frustrating to deal with setbacks like that.

Don't worry about it.
I don't really give a shit about the plant. Lol

I'm not going to smoke it anyway.

 

[PCBuds]

So she's looking like shit again...








So I thought I'd seal it up again.
This time I used plumbers grease. It's goopy and food safe.

The experiment continues... Lol









I'm figuring that as the leaves transpire, they pull water up from the roots but she was sucking air because of the lack of a seal.

This otta do it. Lol


It may turn out to be a slow and painful autopsy. Lol

 

[PCBuds]

My closet plant is looking great...







I broke up the soil a bit on top.

I'm going to try my hardest to not mess with this plant. (but booze and weed always happens so ya never know. Lol)

 

[PCBuds]

... Definitely no DIY procedures on the cat lol.

Actually, when I got my cat she was 8 weeks old and had fleas, ear mites, and worms.


I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg for the Vet. so I googled it and bought flea shampoo, Worm Away, and mineral oil.

I shampooed her every few days and put the oil on a Q Tip and cleaned her ears a bunch of times. (all kinds of brown shit)

The pills got rid of the worms, the Q Tips got rid of the ear gunk and after another month I could give her drops for her fleas.


She's a pretty damn happy cat now and I think she's as tough as nails.
(she's a bit of a puss though, but that's OK, she's a cat and a girl. Lol)

 

[JustSumTomatoes]

That sort of thing is fine, no worries if your cat doesn't have other health issues that might interfere. I used to work at a pet store and they pretty much had everything over the counter for parasite/flea treatment for cats and dogs. Worms and shit are pretty common, especially in ferals. Glad your cat found such a loving owner. I keep mine indoors, even though he recieves treatments he still gets the occasional flea if he wanders outside.

I'll leave spay/neuter procedures to the vet though, passed my level of expertise lol.

 

[PCBuds]

... they pretty much had everything over the counter for parasite/flea treatment for cats and dogs. Worms and shit are pretty common, especially in ferals.

They used to sell Worm Away at Walmart but then it was taken off the market.
I guess a few really sick and weak cats died?

So I tried Diatomaceous Earth and worm pills from China but it didn't work so I thought I'd spend a few hundred and take her to the vet.

They gave me a pill for $28!!

It worked and she hasn't had worms for three years now.


I buy the special drops online that treats everything to keep her parasite free.

,.. I keep mine indoors, even though he recieves treatments he still gets the occasional flea if he wanders outside.

I let my cat out.
I want her to have a full life and experience her world.
She always comes home so I know she wants to be here with me.

I'll leave spay/neuter procedures to the vet though, passed my level of expertise lol.

Yeah, no shit!
I wasn't going to do surgery on my cat. Lol

When she was about 8-9 months old, she started to go Fricken Nuts and literally started climbing the walls.

She was so damn horny she sounded like she was in pain!


So I spent the $350 and got her fixed.

 

[PCBuds]

... I used to work at a pet store and they pretty much had everything over the counter for parasite/flea treatment for cats and dogs.

I remember walking in to the pet store and said "My Cat Has Worms".

The manager was standing behind the till and had just taken a big sip of coffee.

She burst into laughter and almost sprayed a mouthful of coffee all over the till.
Her cheeks bulged out trying to hold the coffee in.

I wasn't trying to wreck her till.
I just wanted worm medications. Lol

 

[PCBuds]

I shampooed her every few days...

This was one of her first baths when I got her.









This is the box I brought her home in.








She's not too keen on having a bath...

 

[JustSumTomatoes]

I showed my girlfriend your cat and she nearly fainted from the cuteness lol. My friend had this awesome cat named Milo that would follow us on our late night fishing adventures and back home again. He lived kind of in between the city and countryside on this road that wasn't traveled a whole lot, especialy at night. Milo would lay out in the road at night under the streetlight and just roll around and play. Sadly, this habit didn't end well when a car finally nailed him. Wasn't even my cat and I was heartbroken.

So I try and make sure my kitty stays inside with me where my heart won't break and my wallet won't either from the vet bill. He comes outside with me while I do yard work sometimes but there are usualy a few ferals that just kick it in the yard all day that I feed, so I sort of have outdoor cats too. The ferals are general hardasses and have street smarts so I tend not to worry about them doing dumb stuff like that. Indoor kitty loves people but has the worst social skills with other cats and comes in immediately when he sees one of the ferals so for the most part, the great indoors are his favorite refuge. Picked up a container of wheat grass for him cause of his hairballs and he refuses to eat it. Won't touch plants at all, just too well behaved for a cat.

Aww man, too many funny ass stories from the pet store to even recall. One time this old dude with a puffy jacket walked in and stuffed a 40 pound bag of dog food under it and walked out with it while proclaiming "the dog food you have here is poison!" The store had a strict just let'em take it policy and all I could do was laugh my ass off at the whole thing. Or when the parakeets would escape everyone would have to chase them around up and down the place with fish nets lol. Then there was this huge hamster that was meaner than all hell and people would want to see it all the time. So everytime without fail I would reach in and the bastard would bite and never let go. No one ever wanted it and despite my warnings I would still have to reach in and show them in hopes the fucker would find a new home. Nope never did lol. One time I went through this like 5 times in 1 day hahaha.

Probably the best running joke at the place was about me and this chinchilla lol. Whenever I would be reach in its enclosure to feed it, water it, and such my hand would immediately become prime-breeding target material every damn time without fail! Couldn't possibly get to it without being molested by the worlds softest animal lol.

Sorry for all the anecdotes, these Orange Grove edibles are doing me well tonight.

 

[PCBuds]

Well, she's croaking...







I chopped it...

There, ... she'll still fill in I think.

 

[PCBuds]

... Then there was this huge hamster that was meaner than all hell and people would want to see it all the time. So everytime without fail I would reach in and the bastard would bite and never let go...

I had a bunch of hamsters when I was a kid and only got bit once when I woke it up and startled it.
I lifted my hand up and it just held on. It was hanging by its teeth.

They have huge teeth like a beaver or one of those tools you use to remove staples. Lol

 

[PCBuds]

That sounds crazy. Why are you buying those if they pose that problem? A normal led driver will never set anything on fire.

I missed this question from a couple of weeks ago.

The only real reason I'm using a regular power supply is cost.
My power supplies only cost $42. When I looked up 500 Watt 24 Volt LED drivers at Digi-Key they were almost $400 and a lot of their drivers were constant voltage.
Some were constant current and some had both.

My set up isn't too bad and I have three ammeters/voltmeters running all the time to keep an eye on things.

I should only have to adjust them this summer when the house temperature rises.


I could very well be worried too much about any fire potential. Chances are that the strips will just burn out if they overheat.
I didn't want to sacrifice a strip to find out however.

I'm running my strips at test current and keeping a close eye on the temperature.
I also got rid of the exhaust fan and I am just running a circulation fan.
I'm pretty sure that fan can fail without any real danger of fire or even burning out any strips.

There's an opening at the top of my closest and a big 20" X 20" furnace filter at the bottom so it should breathe nicely with convection providing airflow.

I've got a pail of wine in the closet bubbling away making CO2 so I don't think I need that 15 air changes per minute or hour or whatever.

 

[PCBuds]

My new window plant is looking kinda stretched so I screwed in two more bulbs.
So 30 watts with 2,400 lumens total as well as some sunshine coming through the window.











I'm trying to keep her short and bushy so she doesn't outgrow the window sill.

 

[SuperBadGrower]

No mate, a 94.5% efficient 600W driver, the most expensive one, is about $180. 320 watts models are $80. 240W is $60. All dimmable & they are protected against everything that you worry about such as over voltage and overheating. Plus they have no fans. You don't really want to be using CC (assuming CC = series connected). High system voltage in DIY lights is the real danger. E.g. a 700mA 240W driver can push out 350 volts, not something you want to get zapped by.

Those drivers listed as CV are often CV/CC, they operate in CC mode when the max voltage is not reached.
Lets say a 20V driver gives 10A. It will have a 15-20V CC range.
Put 15 strips on it in parallel they are at ~666mA
At ~666mA the EB gen 2 2ft don't require 20V but less
The driver does not need to supply 100% of voltage, so it works in CC mode
The driver supplies the full 10A
The strips receive ~666mA each

Anyway in practice that doens't even really matter^

Meanwell's HLG series is still #1 for DIY. For voltage reasons these modules like strips and cobs are best used in parallel connection. Series connections are best left for individual high power diodes, or low power builds (<150v) Thermal runaway may be an issue in other designs, but with meanwell hlg drivers in a proper build it's just mumbo jumbo.

I guess your systems are not that high voltage since you are using multiple drivers. But when I see that you are worrying about fans, volts, amps, fire, having to do this and that in summer... Well, I and most ppl never worry about that shit at all, just run them at 100% for years on end.

 

[PCBuds]

No mate, a 94.5% efficient 600W driver, the most expensive one, is about $180. 320 watts models are $80. 240W is $60.

When I first went to Digi-Key I was completely lost and couldn't figure out how to work a search and get some results.
I could barely find the EB gen2 strips and there's something like 1000 Meanwell drivers to sort through plus all the other brands.

All dimmable & they are protected against everything that you worry about such as over voltage and overheating. Plus they have no fans.

I'm not too worried about heat and fans and failures with my power supplies.
The first one I bought was a 24 V adjustable power supply but it wasn't until after it was on its way that I realized they are only adjustable by 10% and I needed to bring it down to 19.5 from 24.
Luckily, it would adjust down to the 19.5 my strips required.

The power supply has this printed on it too but it's a bunch of BS.
The fan is always on at full snort and draws dust into itself that would eventually lead to problems.









Interestingly, the supply is roughed in for Current Control but I didn't research the fully controllable model.


All my drivers are both fused and thermally protected as well and I'm running them at less than 50% output.

I'm pretty sure that if they were inclined to burst into flames, they would have been taken off the market.
Crapping out is a different thing and a few people commented that their power supplies stopped working running a 3D printer.

But that's different.
You're supposed to throw it away and buy a new one.
It's good for the economy.

You don't really want to be using CC (assuming CC = series connected). High system voltage in DIY lights is the real danger. E.g. a 700mA 240W driver can push out 350 volts, not something you want to get zapped by.

Yeah, I went with parallel and my whole closet is running off 19.5 V.

If I went with series, with my 24 one-foot strips and my 4 two-foot strips, I'd be pushing around 400 Volts, and I wasn't about to do that.

Those drivers listed as CV are often CV/CC, they operate in CC mode when the max voltage is not reached.
Lets say a 20V driver gives 10A. It will have a 15-20V CC range.
Put 15 strips on it in parallel they are at ~666mA
At ~666mA the EB gen 2 2ft don't require 20V but less
The driver does not need to supply 100% of voltage, so it works in CC mode
The driver supplies the full 10A
The strips receive ~666mA each

The problem with CC and my setup is that the current would be shared between the 24 side strips and the 4 ceiling strips.

The ceiling is the hottest and can start to hog current from the other lower and cooler strips and thermal runaway can still happen when things go crazy.

Anyway in practice that doesn't even really matter^

Agreed, ... I love to overthink stuff and worry about burning alive in a house fire. Lol

I just have to dial things in a bit and stop worrying. Lol

Meanwell's HLG series is still #1 for DIY. For voltage reasons these modules like strips and cobs are best used in parallel connection. Series connections are best left for individual high power diodes, or low power builds (<150v) Thermal runaway may be an issue in other designs, but with meanwell hlg drivers in a proper build it's just mumbo jumbo.

I remember standing in my closet (before I cut the hole in the top of the closet) to work on it and it was hot as hell at the ceiling.

I guess your systems are not that high voltage since you are using multiple drivers. But when I see that you are worrying about fans, volts, amps, fire, having to do this and that in summer... Well, I and most ppl never worry about that shit at all, just run them at 100% for years on end.

I've got the ceiling strips on one driver and the wall strips on the other.

Both drivers are the better ones with voltage dials and built-in digital voltage displays as well as fans that only come on when they get warm.

We got snow here 2 weeks ago and today and for the next few days, it's over 30°C.
The fan on the left driver has been cycling on and off occasionally but only runs for about 20 seconds.


It's putting out ~50Watts right now.

My house temperature rose to 26°C up from ~20°C last week.









The walls are turned way down right now (18.1 V) because I want her to stretch and the ceiling is at test current.


The driver on the left is running the ceiling and the driver on the right is running the walls.








The right-hand driver is split at its output
12 strips on each meter and wire... the rear and right-hand walls are running through one set of wires of equal length and the other wire is running the left wall and the strips on the door.
Interestingly, the one wire is drawing quite a bit more current even though everything is balanced.




Perhaps the way the circulation fan is blowing crossways is making the difference and wouldn't have the same impact when they get turned up?


So right now, I have 1000 Watts available that cost me $84 but they are a pain in the ass and last time I measured (wattage from the wall vs. wattage at the strips), I was at 85% efficiency.


Over time the cost of extra electricity, as well as the replacement cost of replacing a cheap Chinese power supply, would pay for a quality Meanwell driver that I wouldn't have to worry about.

 

[PCBuds]

I've got 24 one foot strips (5000 K), and a driver and I don't know what to do with it all.


I could throw them in the closet, say, half on the ceiling and half on the walls.

Or, I could build a speaker grow, or build a veg cab.
But as it stands right now, I've got enough half-decent weed to last me 2-5 years so I think I'm going to focus on my closet?

I don't know what to do?


I'm old and kazy and lazy and don't really wanna build a speaker grow especially because it's going to be tiny.

I'm aiming for 5' tall and 3' wide.

Maybe a tent or just in a corner of my house.

I'm going Autoflower now so I shouldn't have to worry about light leaks.
Only light intensity?

 

[PCBuds]

My chopped outdoor plant looks fine.
(I think I'll refer to her as the car plant now.)

My cat just walked on by, so if the plant gets eaten, it won't be her.
(unless she's jealous for attention and kills it. Lol.)

 

[PCBuds]

She plays rougher than I do... Lol









I don't clip her nails because she needs to climb trees. Lol

 

[PCBuds]

I decided to plug in my Wattmeter for the entire grow...









So only 86.3 Watts right now but the wall strips are almost off.


I was pulling 220 Watts last plant with it turned up.


That's only 220 Watts of a maximum of 1000.


I'm wanting sunburnt stems with this grow too. Lol


I'll wait a bit before I crank it.
She's just tiny now. Lol

 

[PCBuds]

I gave my new window plant more light.

I want 1mm nodes.

50 Watts otta do it. Lol