ReikoX's Workshop Rebuild 2020

[bsgospel]

Still my favorite build for 2020. I'm going to be sad when it's totally completed (even though the best is yet to come.)

I have a newbie question- referring back to your light build post #111. Each CB3 strip is 700ma and each driver maxes at 700ma. How do you run two strips to each driver? Have I misremembered and you're under driving by a bunch? Not just a little, but by half? I'm trying to make some decisions on drivers and possible outputs but I haven't worked with electricity in over a year. Not that my knowledge was stellar to begin with... If you have a minute can you brush me up on matching watts, mA, ac/DC?

 

[ReikoX]

So each level has two strips run in series, which adds voltage and keeps current constant. So each strip is run at 19.5v and 700mA. That gives me a total of 27-watts per level.

 

[ReikoX]

The Ghost Rose (Ghost Toof x Sugar Black Rose) autos were getting a little leggy so I transplanted them into 16 oz. cups. Each plant has two cups, both cups have drainage holes, but the inner cup has been cut down the middle. When it comes time to transplant them into the 3-gallon pots, all I will have to do is remove the inner cup and it should open right up.

My bonsai mothers needed trimming, so I took some clones. Will have to see if the paper pots work as well for them as they did for the seedlings. Back left in the rapid rooters are Jabba's Stash I had to get back from my brother, back right are Skywalker Kush (HDR Cut), front left Zak Haze, and front right Cherry Tart.

Still fighting with these thrips. The sponosad is keeping them in check, but as soon as I ease up on that, they come right back. The bottle is about empty and three years old, I just ordered a new one. They got a foliar with spinosad, aloe, and a drop Dr. Bronner's soap anyway.

 

[ReikoX]

Had a setback in the workshop last night. The night before, I had tested the PWM on my Emerson boards connected directly to the controller. No problem, so I decided to test out the wiring harness I made for my remote drivers. My multi-meter battery gave out on me, so I just wired it up anyway. I turned it on and one of the boards was flickering. Next thing I know the board LDD driver on the board is smoking. I turned it off. I disconnected the PWM and plugged everything in again, and again the LDD started smoking. I tried to clear out a piece of wire that seemed stuck in the connector and plugged it in one more time with the same results. I'm still trying to figure out what happened, but with a broken multi-meter I couldn't really get any info. My best guess is I got positive voltage on the negative pin somehow, apparently that will fry these units. I tested the other board and the PWM controller and they both appear to be working. The driver is surface mounted, but I may be able to solder it on myself. The driver is only about $5 plus shipping, compared to $80 for the whole new board. What do you sparky's think? Is it even worth my time?

I also got my new bottle of Captain Jack's Dead Bug Brew I went ahead and mixed up a foliar spray and gave all the plants in there a good soaking. I then removed any damaged leaves and left them in the dark for a few hours to dry off. While spraying I noticed the Jabba's Stash cutting had roots!

 

[zif]

Looks very doable!

You might check your wiring first to see if it’s you, or a defective board. If the latter might be even easier to see if your source stands by their products. =)

I’d probably order a replacement along with a new meter either way - why not at $5?

 

[Palindrome]

What he said ^^

 

[Guest]

 

[ReikoX]

I got my new multi-meter and the LDD drivers drivers today. First thing I did was clip off the old driver and clean up the burn marks. I plugged it in and the other driver was working fine.

Unfortunately I broke off the pad on the VIN - pin. I didn't notice until I put the first driver on, so I clipped it off and scraped off the leads so I could solder a bridge to the pin. Glad I bought two now.

The second time it worked fine. I then figured out I indeed swapped the - and + channels on the PWM. I'm not exactly sure how it was working before.

 

[zif]

Nice save!

Looking forward to seeing those in action. =)

 

[ReikoX]

Still doing a bit of bench testing of my lights. I did some measurements to get the light layout. Then I installed a couple of wood strips to the ceiling. The strips are nailed to the studs in the ceiling so I can put a hanger at any location I need. I will paint them and begin installing some hooks next.

I also got all my cameras installed and working. I now have eyes on the veg room (upper left), lung room (upper right), flower room (lower left), and quarantine tent (lower right). Please excuse my mess, construction is still in progress.

 

[ReikoX]

Last week I was working the exotic spectrum boards and I couldn't get the PWM connections to fit in the connector. I got frustrated so I quit before I broke something. A couple days late I looked closely and noticed the connector was soldered shut. I ended up having to solder the connections. I also made some wiring harnesses and confirmed that all four supplemental boards will work off a single power supply.

Today I made six more harnesses and wired up the three lights. I then connected the three sonoff controllers to the network then hooked the drivers up to them. Finally, i connected all the 2700K and 5000K drivers to the remaining two channels of my Bluefish controller.

I have a single LED diode out. I had some water damage in my old storage cab, basically the remaining diodes just get more power.

 

[Guest]

Awesome

 

[zif]

Was wondering about the different seeming color temp in the middle panel....

I thought maybe it’s binning variation, but then noticed a run of eight or so LEDs looks off on the second strip from the top.

Any idea what’s going on there?

Looking so good overall. Really curious to see how the next-level control tech treats some plants!

 

[zif]

Oh wait - so that whole ‘block’ of LEDs is being affected by one that’s out? I can’t work out why they’d be dimmer? If you jump over/bridge out that bad one, will they light fully again?

So the overall temp difference is just older strips vs newer?

 

[ReikoX]

So each light has 6x 2700K (yellowish) strips and 3x 5000K (blueish) strips. Now, the middle one actually has 6x 3500K strips, so they aren't quite as yellow looking. If that's what you are talking about, good eye.

As far as the bad block, its likely due to the series/parallel configuration of the board. I could probably jump the bad diode, but for now I'm not stressed about it.

 

[zif]

Nice - I was thinking they really need to up the consistency in the 2700Ks!

 

[ReikoX]

The good news is, I have a very biologically active soil; the bad news is, the paper pots decomposed faster than I could get roots, so they got tossed into the worm bin. I may try the paper pots again with newspaper. I found that the newspaper lasts longer in the worm bin than the paper bags. I may try filling it with just peat, or even coco instead of the recycled soil I usually start clones in.

My Juanita La Lagrimosa mother is getting leggy again, so I took two clones and put them in RR. I transplanted the two remaining rooted Jabba's Stash clones to 10 oz. cups and moved them onto their own shelf. The Ghost Toof x Sugar Black Rose on the top shelf finally started some growth above the soil. I have slowly been increasing the top light's midday value. Right now, they are up to 80% of the max intensity. Sorry for the webcam photo, I forgot to snap one with my phone.

I cleaned out my dirty concentrate containers with ethanol. I then rinsed all my rosin bags in the same ethanol. I stuck the alcohol in the freezer for a few days so it can winterize. I'll then filter the solidified waxes and evaporate the last of the alcohol. I'll use this for cooking and capsules.

I have been hearing about the calyx concentrate containers on Hash Church. They are stack-able, can be opened one handed, and have a FEP anti-stick liner for the lid. When I looked them up, they only sell them by the box of 250, so I bought a one. I pressed out some rosin to test them out. So far I am enjoying them. Here is the Butter Cookies rosin for your dome!

 

[ReikoX]

Now that I got the wiring harness bench tested, I installed it to the ceiling. In retrospect, I should have painted the wood strips. That's okay, I'll just tape it up, nobody should be looking at the ceiling anyway.

I drilled a hole between the flower and veg room for the conduit and ran the wire for the lights. I plan to have a wood door on a hinge for the drivers. The drivers will be mounted to the front of the door and the wiring hidden nicely behind it.

 

[ReikoX]

I ordered up a small 12"x12" wire rack for the veg room. I needed somewhere to organize my grow stuff.

The autos on the top shelf are finally getting some steam going. Next shelf down are some Jabba's Stash clones that just got transplanted into 10 oz. cups. Next down are a couple Juanita la Lagrimosa cuttings waiting to root. Finally, on the bottom, my bonsai mother plants.

 

[ReikoX]

Got quite a bit accomplished in the workshop this weekend. First, I installed a GFCI outlet in the veg room. This is the plug I'll use for the lights in the flower room.

My plan is to make a cabinet for the drivers. The drivers will be mounted to the front with the wiring behind. This should keep the rats nest of wiring looking nice and tidy. I got the frame and the door cut out and primered.

Finally, I painted the wood strips on the ceiling and hung all the lights. I still have a few adjustments to make, but everything pretty much fits.