Can you grow with cold cathode computer lighting?

[ScrubNinja]

LOL dude stop messing with my mind! I do that and it loads the homepage. I tried 22 times!

Hey I was thinking about the velcro issue. If I were to rely on the velcro, I think I would first scrub the glue off with a solvent and apply my own good glue. But then I was at the hardware store last night (oz style home depot clone) and they had all kinds of cool velcro options. You can buy them like the ones we have but it looked like much better quality, or you can buy squares of it unglued, or big long rolls unglued. I dunno about yours but even the hook-and-loop system of the velcro itself is just lame. I was actually looking for magnets but couldn't find them. I also bought a big runoff catcher from a larger pot, for the pod.

 

[grow1620]

LOL dude stop messing with my mind! I do that and it loads the homepage. I tried 22 times!

turn numlock off. º.ô ▄ ñ ¿como?

Scrubninja, if you happen to have any old hardrives...they have big neodymium magnets in them...then you can break them up into chunks. Hardrives can be a pain to get opened though. just be careful! powerful magnets can be dangerous, especially if they have sharp edges.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Buncha frickin' geniuses around here I swear.

All my drives are filled with porn and grow videos, lºl

 

[OMJebus]

haha this thread rocks.. nuff said!

î¿î

 

[ScrubNinja]

Hehe yes, it's slowly starting to deliver! Well guys I got a surprise for you. I connected this shit without blowing up my multimeter!!!! This is all on the 10A setting of course, and I am going to give the highest number it flickered to:

1 inverter and 1 bulb - .34
3 inverters and 3 bulbs - .96

.96 divided by 3 = .32

.32 times 12 (bulbs and inverters) = 3.84A draw for my lights. Correct?

Please just say yes even if I'm wrong. Thanks!

 

[grow1620]

yep that math sounds right to me.

 

[canna cola]

Hehe yes, it's slowly starting to deliver! Well guys I got a surprise for you. I connected this shit without blowing up my multimeter!!!! This is all on the 10A setting of course, and I am going to give the highest number it flickered to:

1 inverter and 1 bulb - .34
3 inverters and 3 bulbs - .96

.96 divided by 3 = .32

.32 times 12 (bulbs and inverters) = 3.84A draw for my lights. Correct?

Please just say yes even if I'm wrong. Thanks!

Correct.

46.08 watts draw from your PSU, you could double the number of lights and still be safe.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Well why didn't you just say that like, a week ago?

Thanks, I'm so glad we got there! I'm going to try learning more tricks with the multimeter now that I understand it a little better. I just set up the old toking tent:



That filter is kickass. It barely restricts a thermaltake sfII, if at all, and it's going through 1.5 inches of carbon. Oh yeah and nevermind the wire that's fallen down in the pics, I just set it up and took pics quickly.

 

[apples]

Scrub I'm wondering if the numbers are similar with 2 bulbs in the inverter like mine and dragons.

 

[ScrubNinja]

I will try to get a number on that bro, next coupla days (pulled apart my test station). At some stage I have to meet up with my bro too, so I will take some bulbs and inverters etc with me when that happens, and see if he can shed any useable info.

 

[canna cola]

Well why didn't you just say that like, a week ago?

Thanks, I'm so glad we got there! I'm going to try learning more tricks with the multimeter now that I understand it a little better.

No numbers to crunch.

[Fifth Element moment]
ScrubNinja, multimeter
[/Fifh Element moment]

 

[ScrubNinja]

No numbers to crunch

Haha, I very nearly hit you up with a calculation here the other day. I knew if anyone could do it, it was you But I think I got it worked out. I had to convert an imperial dose of one strength (%) into metric of a different strength, then into drips. Yes drips! It took me 3 or 4 hours by the time I triple checked it. I hate numbers.

 

[ST8DunWSociety]

Well people like me hate people like you have hating numbers

Your 3.84 total amp drawl is pretty much correct, but what I have for you guys today is the actual break down on how it works!



I kind of forgot about being able to add together amps in a parallel circuit, BUT I do have sound math proving that if you wired all 12 of yours inverters together parallel (as in pos - pos, neg - neg) now if you look at the picture
(1) Is your given, you know you have 12 volts
(1a) Is what you want, 12 inverters at .34 amps
(the small 2a) Is a break down of how much resistance one inverter has.
(2) Is your resistance equation and that neat circle in the upper right coners is how I get all those equations to find Volts, Amp, or resistance
(the big 2a) Is the first break down of resistance for one set of inverter (2), each other equation down is the break down in the below pyramid

After the equations is your total amp per circuit (which when calculated this was is actually 4.16amps) and finally all the way at the bottom is the pyramid on how to calculate the resistance correctly with your total circuit resistance being over to the right top of the pyramid with a total resistance of 2.88 Ohms

Now this is why you can add amps together in a parallel circuit (and is what I forgot, and why this is the only way you can get all 12 inverters with a 12V input voltage) With a parallel circuit current flows like a multi lane highway. Each happy electron will flow down it's own path to each load, pretty much if one of your inverters fail, all the other ones will keep on truckin. When these electrons are flowing, that means there is current. So look at each branch's amp drawl is like looking at a metaphorical highway that is 12 lanes wide and counting how many cars are passing by each lane, which will tell you your total volume of traffic, or aka amp drawl.

This isn't the case in a series circuit, the happy electrons aren’t as happy because each load is like traffic, and they have to go through each one, so if one fails, traffic stops on that circuit. So each load has a voltage drop (this is where you get this term, voltage drop is the messurement of voltage at a load or section of a circuit, a large voltage drop indicate a large drawl, or alot of resistance, a small voltage drop indicates a small drawl, or little resistance. This is why reading a DMM correctly is important while checking for voltage in a circuit if your measuring between two point and there is no load what so ever between those two points (like a testing a wire for adnormal resistance) your DMM will read 0V (it's the difference between the two points on the circuit, source is you total voltage on the circuit and on your circuit it's 12, so the difference between 12 and 12 is 0. Keep this in the back of you mind while using your multimeter is may save your butt a couple times)

The reason why you can only wire up your inverters this way is because each one needs 12 volts, in parallel each branch had equal voltage (this will make wiring really easy, pos-to-pos, neg-to-neg)

You add together amps just like you would add together resistance on a series circuit (remember other diagrams I gave you "sums of each loads resistances equals total resistance") So your sum of each loads current drawl (amps) is equal to the total current drawl.

Sorry for the late post and figures! But hey i'm you could add on another 12 CCFLs and have an 8 amp current drawl!!! let that sink in as the aliens implant information

 

[ScrubNinja]

Wicked bro! Thanks for that. Well, I actually got back into this today and I came up with some good ideas. Only got the lights half wired but I put my (crazy stretched) seedling in there from now on. I may put more in.

Ok so I can get back to asking dumb questions now st8 is back

I am using those 10 amp terminals for all the wiring. Like these:



On each side of the pod I have 6 inverters and they all run to one of those terminals. Like this but 6:



I twisted all the wires then stuck em in and screwed down but it doesn't hold safely. Are there any options for that kind of thing in an electronics store or what have you? Or do I just have to use lots of terminals and break the lines down slowly?

 

[ST8DunWSociety]

Shit dude. Make it easy on your self if your good with your hands and a soldering iron you can just solder half those wires together. What you could take the wire pairs and lay them and route them the way you want them. They do make these really cool crimp splicers, and from there you could tape the wires route them the way you want them and mark where you want these connectors

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/st...toreId=10001&catalogId=10001&productId=140717

now these do have a downfall. If they are played around with too much they can break the connection, also sometimes you may have to strip the wires back a little, some automatic strippers work nice for this, and then push them in with a screwdrivers if the automatic crimp doesn't take bite (using pliers for this helps alot). Or if you feel you are good enough, you can route and mark your wires and then strip them, get some heatshrink and solder where you marked your wires, will look real professional - IMHO

If you do it this way, all your wires will have ties every couple inches depending on where yours splices are and you cut off any excess, all your wires should idealy lead into one neg and one pos lead and then into the powersupply.

The not so neat way is to just take all the wires, cut off all the connectors and crimp / solder all the leads too the two PSU wires. Each which way, the use of the orginal plugs may be a little complicated. Or you can also use these plugs instead



You can find these on almost any RC car, or at similar hobby stores that sell battery powered hobby planes, boats, ROFLcopterz, and cars / trucks. You get the point. Hope this helps

 

[ST8DunWSociety]

More and more I'm learning that the best approach is the organic approach.

Hey more love for you in a different format. If you have the space to use one of these
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=116431&highlight=OBBT

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=130800&highlight=OBBT

If you can set one of these up it's nearly close to be drive in auto pilot if you want it too, be warned LadyL's way of doing it is pushing the evolope on her grow, so you can tone it back, and just some salt fertilizer in flowering, and have a pretty easy going system, oh yeah, it's hydro/soil, best of both worlds.

 

[ScrubNinja]

It does help a lot bro, cheers. I hope I can find my solder. The plant seems to be doing well even under half lighting. I just had my crappy cheap webcam turn up so I'm going to try rigging that up in there. lol it says "quite clear" as their big selling point on the box. I have a knack for buying cheap shit.

Dude, you are just a day or two late on the OBBTs, heh. I've been wanting to try it forever and finally getting it together. Got my bucket idea sorted and all the plumbing fittings and pump. Should be able to make 2 of 'em but it's really hard to get the organic supplies needed around here. Once I get the hang of it, the 'pod may get converted. I would like to do it this time but just too confusing with such an already elaborate system, lol. Man, while I was typing this my jumbo bottle of guano turned up - sweet.

Oh yeah I have heat shrink stuff. Is a hair dryer ok to shrink it? Never used it.

 

[ST8DunWSociety]

A hair dryer might not be able to cut it, but a lighter from a distance (and com'mon who doesn't have a lighter at hand around here? ) will do the trick. Hey, yeah i just saw i was like to late on the trigger, i did suggest people look at it on my CFL thread and I understand about the complexity of the OBBTs, i've read up and down those threads too many times over. I have most of the materials needed, but i want to get my vertical CFL tubes done to try something different.

I was also thinking today, and an idea came out of no where and attacked me. You could almost make a half way moble system, considering your lights run on a 12 volt circuit, you could easly tie this into a car, for lets say if your traveling alot, or if your career requires you to move. Not an idea that would be good in this day in age, but maybe in the future, moble cultivation....

 

[ScrubNinja]

Haha! I remember probably over a year ago there was a guy asking about growing in the trunk of his car. I have one of those aluminium suitcases, like a box for storing video cameras or whatever in. That would be cool too. You could fit a motorbike 12v battery in for your walk to work.

Oh I remembered something - I'm gonna have to go with the 12v timer. So that will be interesting.

Any idea what guage normal 12v computer wiring like this stuff is? I found some connector things on ebay but I don't think they're suitable. They say butt splice.

 

[ST8DunWSociety]

The ones i linked too, 22 awd - 18 awd should be kosher. Lower the number the smaller the wire