Can you grow with cold cathode computer lighting?

[apples]

fans are in, sounds like a jet engine on full throttle but is like a whisper on low. Running the cab right now to see what kinda speed I need to keep it cool and make sure it doesnt blow up.

Anyone else notice these lights are noisy? When they're warming up they make a high pitch sound.

 

[ST8DunWSociety]

Ok so basicly what your saying is when you had it on the 10A setting it was reading .5 (or 500 mA. That may be as good as it gets with your meter because your highest low setting is 200 mA, i didn't notice it the last time with your picture. So for shits and giggle we'll just say it's 600mA just to have some wiggle room. Some math will be at the bottom of this thread. hey man i thought being that you use the metric system day in and day out you would know sorry being cheeky. that m stands for milli, just like millimeters, milliamps, milligrams, what have you, that u stands for micro. so 1000 mA gets you 1 amp, don't worry about microamps, it's going to be useless under your situtation. You meter isn't half bad though it can test transistors (thats what that PNP or NPN stands for on the left FYI)

Bootz' advice is half way reasonable, but what we're trying to do is figure out how much exactally you need so you can figure if you can use one PSU, or if you need more, correct?

SO! with 600mA at 12 volts and you probably have a max 28A load on your PSU. I'll be back later on to tell you what you should do. I need to work some big numbers and figure out exactally how it needs to be wired

 

[ScrubNinja]

lol awesome bro. Yeah, at this point I am very happy for any safe figure, as long as this thing is not overloaded, I'm happy. I will buy a psu if needed. I will buy anything. I will kill. Anyone. Just say it, it's done.

Edit: btw on your post I see "07:39 AM " my time, so that is why we never meet up

 

[apples]

Box is running at around 76º-77º with the fan just barely turned up from its lowest setting. No fires or sketchy business.

I just need to get a timer and a latch for the door.

and here is a little bud shot because this thread is lacking in that dept.

3-4 weeks 12/12....I lost track.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Excellent apples. In keeping with the "f*cked up shit* tone of my earlier posts, I would like to add that the two seedlings that sprouted got munched last night and are gone. Had em on my landing and something snipped em off clean. BUT, the third seed had sprouted later so I now have one seedling. I'm thinking I may make a temporary small wattage seed raising cabinet. Lets not even discuss the root aphids that are about to envelope my crops.

Is that one molex string now dead for ever? Was it my fucking about that did it? I'm pretty sure I had both strings hooked up earlier and they both worked. Goddddd. God save us apples, god save us. I'm glad you can get started. I hope safely!!

also st8 (or whoever) I am a little unsure that the .4 to .5 reading means anything? I mean, the bulb was only half lit and obviously something up with that. I want to cut up the working line and give you a better reading (and the startup reading if you still need that) but I am scared the same thing will happen. So just let us know what you need done and I can accomadate. No rush at all. Let's do this right. Thanks. My other PSU/computer is inside a cab and it's lights off but I will take a look at the specs in half a day.

 

[apples]

lol yeah, this has been fun and educational but really I don't think its gonna be worth the effort for others in the end. I feel much safer with CFLs. Your setup will prob do better since everything is so compact. Time will tell, time will tell...we might get crazy trich production or something.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Root aphids huh, so thats what those blobs were in your soil. The soil I purchased was loaded with fungus gnats :/ Pearlite to the rescue.

Anyway, we are almost there. but that little SOB Dragon is awfully quiet!!!!

 

[ScrubNinja]

Yep it's the quiet ones you gotta watch out for What up Stealth D!

Apparently this root aphid shit is one of the most hardcore persistent things you can get. I am buying some really noxious toxic shit today if I can find it. Otherwise it seems like a rip everything out situation and hope that it deosn't reoccur. And it will, it just will. Bayer is the same guys who make fly spray and I'm really quite sad the more I read. I made up some tobacco juice so maybe I should try that and just keep em under control somewhat. Once I have my femmed seed, I'm outta here, if ya know what I mean. No more indoor bullshit and no clones to carry the bugs to my new situation. And then I will go full living soil organic and hope that keeps things healthy.

 

[StealthDragon]

I got some containers today, won't be long now.

So I was thinking, I have a few extra switches and I was wondering if I could use them as a kind of ghetto speed control using the 2 different currents I have on my dc adapter. The switch has 3 leads and I'm thinking if I hook the 5v+ to the middle and the 12v- on one side and the 5v- on the other, the switch will change the voltage between 5v and 7v utilizing the 7v mod discussed earlier by drunkenmessiah. Or would it be the other way around, constant negative and switching between the 2 different positive voltages? would that even work, or just work to start a nice fire? :
just an idea I was bouncing around. I probably wouldn't even do it if it was possible because it would probably screw with the 12v current and that is what I'm running my tubes off of. Temps are only +6 ambient anyways

sucks about the bugs Scrub, I like neem oil myself but I don't know if that kills those things. It seems to work for just about everything though.

...and are you hinting that you're going to stop doing indoor? That would make me sad, I like to watch you build.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Interesting thought mate. I'd imagine it could be done somehow.

I'm not sure what I'm gonna do really. Still gotta finish the epic thread and I'm still early in, but I know that Phylloxera is what I have and I know it's almost impossible to eradicate, even with a year long systemic (enters the plant and stays there) miticide or whatever the hell it's called.

My only real hope is that these guys are exagerating, and it can be lived with/controlled without sacrificing the health of the herb. But it's clear they're not exagerating. When I harvested the toking tent (which had plenty of "strange" issues I couldn't work out) I left the pots with wet coco sitting around for a long long time. Then when I dumped the coco it did have some of this clustery shit on the roots, but it wasn't like, life threatening to the plants by the looks. So I dunno. I will still grow in the 'pod, just I'm not feeling too great about it. And If I get my femmed seed and move house, I can't take any plants or coco etc, so that's about the size of that. :/

If you're in soil, I pray that you guys all study the organic soil forum like I do. More and more I'm learning that the best approach is the organic approach. Tipping organic nutes on your miracle grow potting mix (for example) will not cut it. Another thing I can suggest is to read up on basic nursery hygene.

Just like was recommended to me and I ignored.

So, I will force a smile and say let's get it popping! Sorry to be a debbie downer. The grow goes on.

 

[canna cola]

I got some containers today, won't be long now.

So I was thinking, I have a few extra switches and I was wondering if I could use them as a kind of ghetto speed control using the 2 different currents I have on my dc adapter. The switch has 3 leads and I'm thinking if I hook the 5v+ to the middle and the 12v- on one side and the 5v- on the other, the switch will change the voltage between 5v and 7v utilizing the 7v mod discussed earlier by drunkenmessiah. Or would it be the other way around, constant negative and switching between the 2 different positive voltages? would that even work, or just work to start a nice fire? :
just an idea I was bouncing around. I probably wouldn't even do it if it was possible because it would probably screw with the 12v current and that is what I'm running my tubes off of. Temps are only +6 ambient anyways

sucks about the bugs Scrub, I like neem oil myself but I don't know if that kills those things. It seems to work for just about everything though.

...and are you hinting that you're going to stop doing indoor? That would make me sad, I like to watch you build.

It can be done but you need to know what contacts on the switch are for what function.

You also need to make sure that it is the break before make type where it breaks the contact of one connection before it makes contact on the other connection or you will fry your PSU.

You can use a light bulb or LED and a battery to check this easily and safely, try all combinations and write down what each does.

ScrubNinja:
I tried posting this last night but my internet crapped out:

In that last picture of your meter you have the lead connected correctly for the low range reading you just need to set it to 200m, the one just above the 10A red setting you had it on for the first test.

However, it looks like from the reading you got on the 10A range that the current draw is 400 - 500mA (0.4 -0.5A) which is way above the range of your meter when set to the 200mA setting I mentioned above.

If you connect the meter when set to 200mA range then it will either give an out of range error, typically either ERROR, ERR or ----, the other thing it could do is release the magic blue smoke, the problem with that is once you let it out you can't get it back in.

You have 2 options:

1: Get another meter that has more ranges between 200mA and 10A.

2: Measure more lights at once.

Option 2 is the cheapest and easiest but not as accurate although I don't think you need to go to the nth degree on accuracy here.

Try connecting 2 or 3 inverters in parallel and repeat the test on the 10A range, whatever reading you get there you just divide by the number of inverters.

Going by the ~ 500mA* reading you got before don't connect any more than 20 inverters at the maximum, keep it to 15 maximum and see what reading you get though I would say that 10 inverters is plenty for an accurate enough test.

*actual current draw could be higher due to the low resolution of the reading, might be 450 - 500mA because it was flickering between 0.4 and 0.5 but I would err on the side of caution and consider that the current might go as high as 600 - 650mA (weren't there specs showing that much current earlier in the thread?).

So to keep it simple don't connect any more than 10 inverters at once until you have a reading from that, divide the reading by 10 (if using 10 inverters) and then work out how many you can go while staying under the 10A limit of your meter.

If you were in SA this would be much easier, my meter will do it accurately with just 1 inverter as it is an analogue (needle display) type and it has enough resolution on the 10A range to read it, it also has a 500mA range.

I do have a digital one somewhere that may be accurate enough, I don't use it though so I can't remember how accurate it is.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Oh man isn't there crazy weed laws in SA now? I read something on the oz forum here. Anyways, thank you sir. Sadly I'm embroiled in soil aphids so I can't devote any time to this today. But "Measure more lights at once" is a stroke of genius

I think I will be ok with the plants. I'm gonna nuke em with imidacloprid and forget this ever happened. It works 100% apparently. Gets used on tobacco of all things, so possibly not too bad. Cheers.

 

[StealthDragon]

Scrub if you wouldn't have started this thread, that picture wouldn't exist.

 

[apples]

Yep it's the quiet ones you gotta watch out for

You were right scrub...he beat us to the starting line!


Well done dragon

 

[oldbootz]

hehehe im enjoying this

 

[ScrubNinja]

Man

This show is finally on the road! Congrats!

 

[apples]

so one thing im unsure of, Id like to clean up my wiring by binding all + to + and all - to - from the inverters but im unsure of what wires I would attach those to on the molex connector.

Judging by this pic from scrub I guess I would go red to yellow and black to the black next to the yellow

 

[StealthDragon]

Yes apples, your inverters for your lights will connect to the yellow and the black next to it (12v+, 12v-) that's how mine are hooked up. The red and the black next to it are the 5v+ and 5v- respectively, which is what I hooked my 2 fans up to and it seems to be all running fine.

The fans are so quiet off that 5v line that I have to put my hand over them to see if they're running. With luck the temps just happened to work out right, I'm glad I went with dual exhausts. Don't mind the ice and +80 temps, I made a dumb mistake and didn't realize one of the fans was off when I did the 5v test. those magnets are working great I think.

here's a picture of the superskunk that's in there.
That's at day 51 under 52watts cfl. finishes in about 60-65 days under cfl.

I plan to add the other 6 lights I have in a few weeks after the roots take to the soil and I do some lst training. Once the other lights are added I will begin 12/12.

 

[apples]

thanks dragon!

nice bud there!!!

 

[ScrubNinja]

oh my fucking gaaawd!

Seeing that diagram made me realise I wired them up wrong on the "faulty" molex string!!! That's why it was half lighting! I got mixed up and just went black to black and red to red - didn't even think about it!

I'm so glad you posted it, man. Obviously, disregard the earlier figures, sigh. I can't believe what a tool I am sometimes I worry about myself!

 

[apples]

lol!!!!

Glad I could help.

Ran my cab again all nicely wired and put into the closet for about 5 hours. The temp stopped around at 78º with room temp being around 75º. I did krazy glue the velcro to the walls but I didnt krazy glue it to the lights so some of them are falling off :/ I'll have to fix that b4 I put my girl in there.

I also scored a nice little nightstand from my father who is moving. I think once these girls are done I'll reveg and that will be my clone chamber. I'll post some pics tomorrow.

and if you wanna make a º symbol instead of a * hold alt and push 1 6 7 on the number pad on the right side of your keyboard. º¿º

and I'm stoned... ô¿ô