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220w pl-l coco scrog cupboard

ScrubNinja

Grow like nobody is watching
Veteran
Thanks all for looking in! Yeah, I wasn't very confident the magnets would work but they sure do.

Cheers Irie, I had that as my backup plan but I got 'er done with this different brown rubber weather stripping, sort of like a fridge seal. So I have one side as the foam strip, and the other side this new stuff. Looks hella professional and works 100%. :yes: So the doors are officially light proofed. Feels good.


After several monumental blisters-on-my-scissor-fingers sessions, the carpet has finally been laid upstairs (surprisingly neatly). It's worked probably slightly better than I was expecting! I also put a layer of carpet around the fans and duct taped them. I need to build a muffler now for the rear fans, but that should be pretty easy/cheap.


I totally changed plans for grow style. I have a bunch of old seeds that I want to try to grow before they're completely unviable. There's a good chance hardly any or none will come up so I've soaked 24 total. 12 x aussie blue, and 12 x aussie blue x shiva skunk.

I want to have 4 final plants, arranged around a vertical 45w CFL in the centre, just for kicks. In good old 100% coco with hydro nutes. LST'd not scrogged.

You think this would work with all 4000k bulbs in the hood, and then the vertical 45w warm white cfl in centre, and a 13w warm white fluoro tube? I found the 18w philips aquarelle tube (10,000k) at a store but they had run out of the um, holdy thing, base. And then I realised it wouldn't fit anyway. Gahhh!

All going well really. Slowly but well. :)

Edit: Forgot to mention, that hole you see is to access to vacuum all the carbon dust that spills through, and to remove a cover I'll have over the fans, then it'll be sealed.
 
T

texsativa

The CMH is vegging and flowering alright at 4000K. Pretty sure it throws out a lot of lumens, too.

Scrub your cab is looking great. I really like how you are setting up your exhaust. But I'm concerned about your carbon set up. Have you used anything like this before?
 

ScrubNinja

Grow like nobody is watching
Veteran
Hi Tex, I have used the same basic setup before and it works fantastic. This one is made out of an even larger "rubbermaid" so it should function even better, having a larger surface area. Some may scoff but I used non activated carbon last time and it's fine for one grow (confirmed by two other clean noses and my own).

I did start noticing some tiny wifts of smell near the end, but I found out that was from the big pile of leaves I trimmed off and left sitting in the room, as those smells remained even when the plants were gone. This time round I plan on mixing a little activated carbon in but primarily non activated. I estimate it'll take around 9 or 10 kg of carbon if I give it a thick layer.

Thanks for the light info. I didn't buy the 3000k pll bulbs as they were ridiculous cost at the lighting store. I found a few online stores selling them but I haven't contacted them yet. Peace.
 
T

texsativa

I hope it will work out. You could hook up a scrubber and I believe it would work well for you in your rubbermaid, dampening the sound of the exhaust. I'd be concerned about growing strains such as skunk or cheese. I'll be real interested to see what you can do in a 2x2 with pl-l, if I remember correctly.
 

ScrubNinja

Grow like nobody is watching
Veteran
Yes Tex it's roughly 2 x 2 :) Let me just say, I welcome your concern! Thanks for chiming in. I can safely say there's not a worry on my mind at all. I'll explain, but it'll get long, sorry.

This post outlines how I made this same design filter for my last grow, first of all. That was a 60 litre container. This new one is 120 litres. Note that I didn't have to change the carbon like I planned to at that stage.

Now, the carbon scrubber in any setup usually, is going to be the number one blockage to the flow, right? And it is a big blockage usually. Any increase in efficiency we can get from that scrubber is going to be extra great because that is almost guaranteed to be the bottleneck.

The new one has a surface area approx 42cm x 66cm. If we consider a more regular commercial scrubber, if you ripped it apart and got the inner "tube", and pushed it out flat, this is the same area we are comparing. So if my calculations are correct, my surface area is equal to a purchased "tube" scrubber, where the inner diameter is 125mm and the length is 70.5cm.

So in that sense I have more area this way, than I would if I squeezed in a regular filter. Not to say that's a bad idea at all about the regular scrubber, it's brilliant! :D

So yeah, I'm sure I was leading to something....oh yeah, basically the greater efficiency lets me pile it thicker than needed maybe? Greater area = less restriction = air moves slower and gets treated better = less fans power needed = etc etc etc. Basically there are no bad points, it's multiple win. It would be even more win with activated carbon but trust me, don't go there. (lol). Had issues obtaining some. I'm rolling with regular carbon but if anyone wants to try this filter at home, by all means use activated, it would be better and safer and longer lasting - no question.

My landlord actually lives on this same city property in another house about 15 metres away and also hangs out in the pool directly between the houses. He maintains all the gardens even close around my front door while I'm at work and there isn't a single solid door in my house, it's like a lockable lattice gate at the front (with my own lock, heh). So he's been like 15 steps from my grow with no doors between. Point being that if there was any grow smell worth a damn, he, his teenage kid, his very dodgy tenant, a few friends of his, the meter man, several jehovah's witnesses or me, or my two friends that I told, would have smelled it. :)

ScrubScrubber™, the one you can trust. Hehe, thanks again mate, I hope some of this made sense.
 
T

texsativa

Yeah that calculation is right for the scrubber dimension. I see what you're saying but if you look at that calculation for the Dutch Breeze being sold online, it's double what you're talking about but I think it's only about 1.5' x 6.5". Plus you already know this can work, so if you need it in the future it will be there for you.
 

mjconfid

New member
Hi ScrubNinja,

Good job on the cab. I have a very ghetto cab with the 24w plls and to help remove the heat, I have gaps in the reflector above each lamp.

So, I think you could drill a row of holes in the reflector, along the length of each lamp. Putting the fans above these holes, at the hottest end?, would assist in drawing air upwards and away from the canopy.

My reasoning is that the the light that would be lost by having the holes in the reflector would be minimal, as normally most of this light/heat gets reflected back at the lamp, causing more heat to your canopy.

mjconfid
 

ScrubNinja

Grow like nobody is watching
Veteran
Hello guys, all wicked ideas. I came close to doing your idea mjconfid. I think it could work better than how I approached it, and might even erase the need for the 80mm fans blowing on the bulbs. Do you have any pics up?

Well, I just got done with glueing the insect screen in - one of the final steps of the filter! Made even more testing by the fact that the sides are now carpet. You really have to take this slow and have a good glue and pokey bits so you acheive a good seal, so no air leaks through without going through carbon. It's a pain in the ass but not impossible, just labourious. I "smooshed" the glue into the carpet and insect screen, then put tape over it so I could press it in firmly without my hand getting stuck.



I've been constructing the muffler too. I used an old ice cream container as the base to glue the carpet to. I'll get better pics when it's complete. I have a feeling it'll work well.



I'm getting doubtful these seeds will sprout. I have some other, much more viable crosses I made but they won't be "all that" as they were made with outdoor in mind, and I'm not a skilled breeder by any stretch.

I'm thinking of running 1 each of the Pure and Shiva Skunk again, and battle on and try to get some seeds up to give me two other females, whatever they'll be.

Adventure! :woohoo:
 

Spicoli

Client of Wu-Tang Financial. You need to diversify
Veteran
nice looks great scrubninja...did you use the carpet as sort of a muffler??...if so where did you get it???...keep up the great work...Peace
 

ScrubNinja

Grow like nobody is watching
Veteran
Yeah mate, we have a store here called Bunnings, it's a clone of Home Depot. Five bucks AUD a square (50cm x 50cm). 8 squares gave me enough for everything plus leftovers. It's just generic rubber backed short carpet. They're approx 5 or 6mm thick total.

The muffler itself is essentially some square ducting made out of carpet with the fuzzy side inside. I may even glue fluffy polyester filling inside the muffler. And yes, the carpet is used to muffle the sound anywhere it's been used. It works well but if you have the cash, I'd say go with the stuff Irie suggested - it's made to stop road noise leaking inside to your car and stuff like that. $100AUD for a 2 door kit. It's also sticky and moldable so easier to apply to a surface like a rubbermaid. It wouldn't be too useful for a muffler though. Cheers :rasta:

Edit: Now that I think of it, this muffler is based on Cozy's DIY Micro Muffler.
 

Spicoli

Client of Wu-Tang Financial. You need to diversify
Veteran
Cool thanx for the info Scrub...keep up the great work
 

ScrubNinja

Grow like nobody is watching
Veteran
Will do :)

Well I finished the muffler! It works quite well considering it's so micro. It brings the rear fans down in line with the general noise emanating from the filter box, so I can't ask for more. The pics are fairly self explanatory.



Any questions let me know, or see Cozy's original design (I kind of modified it a few ways). The only problem is that I did all this on the fly without planning, so when it was all done, the inner core is only approx 10cm diameter. I have a more solid, larger plastic container which would be much better so I may do that. Choking the flow right at the end point would negate all my airflow work. PS It's only temp mounted as I have to take it off to get the cab through the doorway to where it'll live.

Here's how I've handled the power.


My trusty digital timer I've had since day 1 crapped out the first time I tried to use it on this :( Do I need a heavy duty timer or was it just luck? It's like a year and a half old.

Here is the layout I have for the fans. Still not happy with it. I think once I get a feel of the plants being in there, I may rearrange.


No seedlings yet. No cuttings in my possesion yet :( ...(tomorrow I hope). Gonna wash the carbon and apply the intake foam filters tonight....and smoke a bunch of homegrown hash :smile: Peace out.
 

ScrubNinja

Grow like nobody is watching
Veteran
:woohoo: I washed the carbon and put it in damp. 4kg and that makes it approx 2cm thick. I'm observing where it dries first so I can sprinkle extra carbon on there, as that will be the thinnest bits. Washing it is awesome because I didn't have to deal with the dust!

The temp barely moved. 0.2 degrees F in fact. I can barely notice any drop in the flow out the back. If I didn't know the carbon was in there, I would say it's the exact same flow.

On the one hand I'm extremely happy about that because I wasn't planning on poor results after all this work, but on the other hand, it may mean there's a leak because I didn't think it would be that good.

An incense test will tell no lies when the carbon is dry.



Edit: forgot to mention, I'm putting it in thin because not much is needed for veg. The benefit of this system is it's easy to adjust the carbon layer thickness as needed.

Edit edit: It has risen a bit over time. In all, the filter caused a 1.1 F increase.
 

ScrubNinja

Grow like nobody is watching
Veteran
Thanks Hydro!

Well, I did an incense test and sad to say this does not pass. :( I'm certain it's leaking through the carpet edges or something so.... sigh... I think I'll rip the whole filter apart and redo it differently.

Spent the night reading about stacking PC fans directly on each other and a lot of people seem adamant it doesn't work and can even be detrimental! Less flow/efficiency, more noise, lessened bearing life. The first thing I did when I tried my fans was obviously putting them together and there was only a slight noise increase - everything else worked as it was meant to and seemed to have increased pressure.

I wonder if this is outdated knowledge? Have fan manufacturers allowed for this in their newer designs or something? Did I just get lucky? Nevertheless, it's got me thinking now that I could get the job done better with half the fans, or spacers between the fans, or something. I can agree with the science saying it's innefficient, but it still seems to work pretty not bad?

So I will redesign the whole filter/fan unit in another box. God dammit. Still going to get this grow on the road regardless. To tell the truth, I'm also not too sure about the carpet being above all the electrics...seems a bit risky. Will probably make a heavy wooden box, the right dimensions for my holder screen.

What did you notice if you have stacked fans together in the past?
 

ScrubNinja

Grow like nobody is watching
Veteran
4 x TFD's The Pure cuttings :D

One 55w bulb, exhaust fans only, very low speed.



I think I'm going to drill the reflector right above the tubes. I have a 6mm drill and I worked out if I drill one hole every 1cm, directly above each tube (4 bulbs = 8 tubes), I'll end up gaining the size of a 120mm hole, approximately, and it should open the flow a lot and I'm confident I won't need fans cooling the bulbs then.

If anyone thinks this could be a bad move, please let me know your concerns, I thank you. :cool:
 

Aerohead

space gardener
Veteran
Spent the night reading about stacking PC fans directly on each other and a lot of people seem adamant it doesn't work and can even be detrimental! Less flow/efficiency, more noise, lessened bearing life.

I agree with this, In the past stacking fans never worked for me for cooling PC's. I also did lots of reading about stacking fans years ago and most agreed it doesn't work. Some had some very detailed scientific explanations as to why and it made sense at the time.

I don't think there is anything manufacturers could change to allow them to work together stacked, it's more of a physics problem, super airflow science crap.. Anyway, I'm certain if you unstack those fans and use them some other way, they will perform much better.
 

ScrubNinja

Grow like nobody is watching
Veteran
Interesting, thanks a lot Aero. I've started work on the new filter and will try unstacked! Still push/pulling. Only problem then is, I'm only using two fans for exhaust. But if indeed they weren't at full efficiency earlier, this could well work.
 
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