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Q3corn's dank mini adventures
- Thread starter q3corn
- Start date
q3corn
Active member
Lol nope I ain't payin for no blurple lights!
It was about $170 total with shipping. Three Solstix X2 2700k strips plus driver and housing, pretty good deal. Potential power of over 150w, so it should be expandable to something like a 2x2 if I ever decide to upgrade my space.
Should be a week turnaround to get the new power supply, I just shipped it back to them
It was about $170 total with shipping. Three Solstix X2 2700k strips plus driver and housing, pretty good deal. Potential power of over 150w, so it should be expandable to something like a 2x2 if I ever decide to upgrade my space.
Should be a week turnaround to get the new power supply, I just shipped it back to them
q3corn
Active member
Chuy x Purple Goat plants got chopped last night. Gave them an h2o2 bath as well and now they're off to the drying rack.
Smells range from citrus to sour funk. These plants packed on some good weight and #2 has the best trichome production out of any plant I've grown this year. I'm really happy I got a clone of it rooted, that one is gonna be a keeper for sure.
BBG's have dried slower than the JHxPG did, which is good. I think they'll hold their diesel funk smell a lot better with a slow dry.
I haven't opened the JHxPG jar in a week. I'm gonna try to ignore it for as long as possible to get the best cure out of it. It's moisture content dropped to quickly in the first week of drying and I think I lost a lot of terpenes that way. Best to seal it and ignore it to let the rest get maintained while the flower cures.
Pics to come some time
Smells range from citrus to sour funk. These plants packed on some good weight and #2 has the best trichome production out of any plant I've grown this year. I'm really happy I got a clone of it rooted, that one is gonna be a keeper for sure.
BBG's have dried slower than the JHxPG did, which is good. I think they'll hold their diesel funk smell a lot better with a slow dry.
I haven't opened the JHxPG jar in a week. I'm gonna try to ignore it for as long as possible to get the best cure out of it. It's moisture content dropped to quickly in the first week of drying and I think I lost a lot of terpenes that way. Best to seal it and ignore it to let the rest get maintained while the flower cures.
Pics to come some time
q3corn
Active member
Been a little while since I've been on here, sorry!
BBG's and CxPG's are drying. Humidity went up where I am so it slowed the process down, and I'm very happy for that.
My new *correct* power supply came in yesterday, which has both dimming options, voltage and current. I'm not sure which one is the best to use or if it even matters, but it definitely gets really dim at the low end, so I'm happy to know that it'll hit the ~85 watts I need it to hit when I'm in flower.
I smoked a small sample of the JHxPG again the other day and it didnt really have any aroma to it. I'm a bit worried that the fast dry killed all my terps! But the smoke was super smooth and I got a decent high, something more in the clear-headed and motivated section. It was just a few hits, so I didn't give it a full test. I'll be leaving it for another few weeks before I decide to break into it.
Still too lazy to move pics over to my computer. Quarantine has got me really lazy...
BBG's and CxPG's are drying. Humidity went up where I am so it slowed the process down, and I'm very happy for that.
My new *correct* power supply came in yesterday, which has both dimming options, voltage and current. I'm not sure which one is the best to use or if it even matters, but it definitely gets really dim at the low end, so I'm happy to know that it'll hit the ~85 watts I need it to hit when I'm in flower.
I smoked a small sample of the JHxPG again the other day and it didnt really have any aroma to it. I'm a bit worried that the fast dry killed all my terps! But the smoke was super smooth and I got a decent high, something more in the clear-headed and motivated section. It was just a few hits, so I didn't give it a full test. I'll be leaving it for another few weeks before I decide to break into it.
Still too lazy to move pics over to my computer. Quarantine has got me really lazy...
PCBuds
Well-known member
The current is the most important.
My power supply only has adjustable voltage and the current just keeps climbing as the LED strips and closet warm up.
Setting a current limit can pretty much prevent thermal runaway.
PCBuds
Well-known member
I just checked my strips and at the test current they are at 19.3 volts.
Then I turned them up to max (which is double the current) and voltage only went up to 20.4 volts.
A small increase in voltage has a huge increase in current and if I would have left them at max, they would start drawing more and more current with the voltage staying the same.
Then I turned them up to max (which is double the current) and voltage only went up to 20.4 volts.
A small increase in voltage has a huge increase in current and if I would have left them at max, they would start drawing more and more current with the voltage staying the same.
PCBuds
Well-known member
It's more like the other way around.
You turn the voltage up to higher than what the max of your strips are then slowly increase the current to the brightness you want of the strips or to the maximum current listed for the strip.
The voltage will settle in to whatever it needs to be to maintain the current.
My one-foot strips are listed at 350 milliamps each at 19.5 volts but the voltage at my power supply is only at 19.3 volts at the test current and it doesn't even list the voltage at a maximum current of 700 milliamps.
If your voltage is set too low, then it won't be able to push the current through the strips and the current limiter won't kick in.
PCBuds
Well-known member
Pretty much, yes, but dial the voltage back to just over the voltage the strips need at maximum current for your strips.
The strips will need a bit more voltage when they are cold than when they are hot so setting up your driver when they are first turned on is best.
The current limiter will keep the current constant regardless of the temperature of the strips.
PCBuds
Well-known member
Keep the whole series/parallel thing in mind.
I have four two-foot strips on my ceiling hooked up in parallel so I add all the currents together.
So 700 milliamps (the test current for the two-foot strips) times four is 2,800 milliamps for my driver running the ceiling.
I've found that my strips without heat sinks, won't overheat at the test current but I will probably have to dial back the voltage in the hot summer weather heating up my closet, to maintain that current.
You won't have to worry about it because your driver will self adjust.
I have four two-foot strips on my ceiling hooked up in parallel so I add all the currents together.
So 700 milliamps (the test current for the two-foot strips) times four is 2,800 milliamps for my driver running the ceiling.
I've found that my strips without heat sinks, won't overheat at the test current but I will probably have to dial back the voltage in the hot summer weather heating up my closet, to maintain that current.
You won't have to worry about it because your driver will self adjust.
PCBuds
Well-known member
More like an ammeter.
You don't want to go over the maximum current for the strips.
I can't go past the test current with my strips because they will overheat.
Perhaps checking the temperature of your strips is a good way to eyeball them.
That's what I do. I just keep an eye on the strips temperature as my "gauge".
PCBuds
Well-known member
I tried to look up your strips and found this.
It looks like your strips are 24 volts and if your driver is also 24 volts then you are probably safe with turning it up to max.
I'm sure there are lots of people who have strips but don't have the tools or know-how to measure the current or voltage.
The strips and driver are probably matched so that you can crank them, which I'm sure many people do.
Just keep an eye on your temperature of both the strips and the grow cab itself.
Your cab may get too hot if the strips are at maximum, especially with the summer weather coming.
It looks like your strips are 24 volts and if your driver is also 24 volts then you are probably safe with turning it up to max.
I'm sure there are lots of people who have strips but don't have the tools or know-how to measure the current or voltage.
The strips and driver are probably matched so that you can crank them, which I'm sure many people do.
Just keep an eye on your temperature of both the strips and the grow cab itself.
Your cab may get too hot if the strips are at maximum, especially with the summer weather coming.
q3corn
Active member
Yeah this driver was picked specifically for the light strips I have, since it all came from the same manufacturer. I have 3 SolStix X2's on a 150w power supply at 24 volts.
So with all that said, its still a better idea to control current rather than amps when dimming? The driver allows for both.
So with all that said, its still a better idea to control current rather than amps when dimming? The driver allows for both.
PCBuds
Well-known member
It's better to control current than voltage.
(current is amps).
I tested my strips when I got them and turned off my exhaust fan and watched what would happen.
My voltage was locked in by my power supply and my strips started to warm up which warmed up the closet which warmed up the strips even more and everything started to snowball and thermal runaway set in.
My strips heated up to 90° C and they have a maximum rating of 80° C.
The whole time the voltage stayed the same but the current just kept climbing and climbing uncontrolled.
So in your case with a current limiter, the current can never go past where you set it, so thermal runaway is way more controlled.
You could potentially have an exhaust fan failure and your strips could still overheat but at least they won't start drawing more and more current to exacerbate the situation.
In my case, everything went to shit in a matter of an hour or two so if my fan were to fail in the middle of the night, I'd be in big trouble before morning.
That's why I'm running at the test current. It's much safer.
(current is amps).
I tested my strips when I got them and turned off my exhaust fan and watched what would happen.
My voltage was locked in by my power supply and my strips started to warm up which warmed up the closet which warmed up the strips even more and everything started to snowball and thermal runaway set in.
My strips heated up to 90° C and they have a maximum rating of 80° C.
The whole time the voltage stayed the same but the current just kept climbing and climbing uncontrolled.
So in your case with a current limiter, the current can never go past where you set it, so thermal runaway is way more controlled.
You could potentially have an exhaust fan failure and your strips could still overheat but at least they won't start drawing more and more current to exacerbate the situation.
In my case, everything went to shit in a matter of an hour or two so if my fan were to fail in the middle of the night, I'd be in big trouble before morning.
That's why I'm running at the test current. It's much safer.
q3corn
Active member
It's been a while, but here's an update!
DWxCONs are at day 58 of flower and are fattening up pretty well. They both smell almost exactly like dogwalker. I have a clone of one of them but it's not doing too well. Hopefully it stays alive!
Conifers are in open-pollination right now. 2 males and 3 females in a 1x1 cab. Pollen just started releasing on friday. I'll let that go for another week to ensure full seed production before I let the dudes die off.
SUV plants are large enough that I can take clones, so I'll be taking those today. After a week or so I'll repot the plants and flip to flower. I'll cull the males since I don't need seeds this round.
Remember my Gelato33 x Purple Goat plants? Well, they're gonna be finally put into flower next week, too! These plants took a long time to reveg, and I didn't wanna flower them until they recovered from that flip-flop on their schedule. I wanna see how they stretch and their natural bud development. I've got a clone of each female, so I have backup of my favorite.
I also have a bunch of clones of my female conifers, and I'll be flowering some of those in a week as well. That way I have plenty of seed-free smoke to test my favorite females to select for my f2 run.
new LED light won't go in until I flip the mega cab to flower (its a 2700k light, so it's not ideal for veg). I'll post updates on when that goes in. I'm excited to see my cab get an extra 3+ inches of grow space.
My finished plants from the 1x1 grow all are dried and in jars. Final weights:
JHxPG: 6.3g
BBG-4: 6.9g
BBG-5: 7.1g
CxPG-1: 6.0g
CxPG-2: 6.5g
That brings my total to over 32 grams! But since the JHxPG was done a month+ before the other plants, it doesn't quite qualify for the same harvest, so if we drop those 6g out of my total it makes it 26 grams in a 29watt cabinet. Pretty damn good!
And I think that's all I have for updates. I keep promising pics, but I also keep getting distracted/lazy, so we'll see what happens.
DWxCONs are at day 58 of flower and are fattening up pretty well. They both smell almost exactly like dogwalker. I have a clone of one of them but it's not doing too well. Hopefully it stays alive!
Conifers are in open-pollination right now. 2 males and 3 females in a 1x1 cab. Pollen just started releasing on friday. I'll let that go for another week to ensure full seed production before I let the dudes die off.
SUV plants are large enough that I can take clones, so I'll be taking those today. After a week or so I'll repot the plants and flip to flower. I'll cull the males since I don't need seeds this round.
Remember my Gelato33 x Purple Goat plants? Well, they're gonna be finally put into flower next week, too! These plants took a long time to reveg, and I didn't wanna flower them until they recovered from that flip-flop on their schedule. I wanna see how they stretch and their natural bud development. I've got a clone of each female, so I have backup of my favorite.
I also have a bunch of clones of my female conifers, and I'll be flowering some of those in a week as well. That way I have plenty of seed-free smoke to test my favorite females to select for my f2 run.
new LED light won't go in until I flip the mega cab to flower (its a 2700k light, so it's not ideal for veg). I'll post updates on when that goes in. I'm excited to see my cab get an extra 3+ inches of grow space.
My finished plants from the 1x1 grow all are dried and in jars. Final weights:
JHxPG: 6.3g
BBG-4: 6.9g
BBG-5: 7.1g
CxPG-1: 6.0g
CxPG-2: 6.5g
That brings my total to over 32 grams! But since the JHxPG was done a month+ before the other plants, it doesn't quite qualify for the same harvest, so if we drop those 6g out of my total it makes it 26 grams in a 29watt cabinet. Pretty damn good!
And I think that's all I have for updates. I keep promising pics, but I also keep getting distracted/lazy, so we'll see what happens.
q3corn
Active member
So I spent about a month away from most of the internet, and it did me pretty well. Sorry for stepping away unannounced, but I bet nobody really noticed 
Anyway, news to keep everyone updated!
Mega cab still has the SIL fixtures up, haven't taken the time to put the new light in, but it should be going in this weekend. That cabinet is nearly 2 weeks into flower and has:
6x Conifer
5x SUV
2x G33xPG
Temps are staying under 88 even with some really warm days. Those numbers will come down with the new light since the power supply is outside the cabinet. I don't have a way to measure the power output after the dimmer, so I'll have to guess, and I'll probably just base it on ambient temperature. If anyone has any recommendations that would be much appreciated.
My Conifer F2 project is in full force. The seeded plants are at day 58 and they'll be done in a few more weeks for sure. They got underfed a bit, but they're surviving and I'll have a bunch of seeds to dig through. I have clones of each of the 3 females, so I can continue to flower those until I figure out which one I like best.
The Chuy x Purple Goat #2 clone is barely hanging on. No real growth even after 2 months of reveg time. I'm really curious if this thing is just in some weird stasis, or if there's something wrong. Either way, it's not dead yet, still sucking up water.
I collected a bunch of seeds and figured my next project would be to make myself a little seed bank of old school strains. So I'll be popping seeds from one strain and open-pollinating them to preserve what I have. Most of them are nearly IBLs anyway so I'm not super concerned with selection of males and females.
Time to catch up on all the other threads! See y'all around
Anyway, news to keep everyone updated!
Mega cab still has the SIL fixtures up, haven't taken the time to put the new light in, but it should be going in this weekend. That cabinet is nearly 2 weeks into flower and has:
6x Conifer
5x SUV
2x G33xPG
Temps are staying under 88 even with some really warm days. Those numbers will come down with the new light since the power supply is outside the cabinet. I don't have a way to measure the power output after the dimmer, so I'll have to guess, and I'll probably just base it on ambient temperature. If anyone has any recommendations that would be much appreciated.
My Conifer F2 project is in full force. The seeded plants are at day 58 and they'll be done in a few more weeks for sure. They got underfed a bit, but they're surviving and I'll have a bunch of seeds to dig through. I have clones of each of the 3 females, so I can continue to flower those until I figure out which one I like best.
The Chuy x Purple Goat #2 clone is barely hanging on. No real growth even after 2 months of reveg time. I'm really curious if this thing is just in some weird stasis, or if there's something wrong. Either way, it's not dead yet, still sucking up water.
I collected a bunch of seeds and figured my next project would be to make myself a little seed bank of old school strains. So I'll be popping seeds from one strain and open-pollinating them to preserve what I have. Most of them are nearly IBLs anyway so I'm not super concerned with selection of males and females.
Time to catch up on all the other threads! See y'all around
PCBuds
Well-known member
If you can measure the power going into the power supply/driver, then you will have a really good idea of what your output power is.
As you dim the lights, you will draw less from the wall outlet.
q3corn
Active member
