Help me design my new grow cab

Dawn Patrol · Jan 22, 2016

Heat reduction is the main reason. I can mount the drivers on the outside of the cab and minimize the heat output from lights on the inside. I thought about HID inside but that would require even more fans and cooling for that hood so I figured I'd try the wave of the future with LEDS. Just gotta hope I figured correctly :biggrin:

Dawn Patrol · Jan 28, 2016

Got the control panel done and mounted

Got the control panel done and mounted

Now I just have to build the lights and wire them up

A little explanation: top left is where the main power comes in to the board. Two timers in that outlet box, one for the main lights and one for the supplemental far red lights that will run on a different time schedule.

Two large drivers are for the COBs and are each dimmable, the two drivers to the right are for the far red LEDs (the black driver) and the white one runs the fans on the heatsink of each COB.

I left myself some room for additional lights if I eventually need them, that is why there are so many outlets and the extra bare space on the board.

Dawn Patrol · Jan 31, 2016

Slow week

Slow week

Tons of shit going on at work, not much time to work on this project which just pisses me off, but that's the way life goes. I did manage to fabricate half the light frames, the other coolers should be here early next week and then I can finish up the main lighting and move on to the far red lights.

Aluminum stock and self tapping screws kick ass!!! I'm not much of a metal worker but this was dead simple!

This quartet will have two different style coolers and fans as I'm reusing some existing hardware. The other light will have the same CPU coolers and fans. I'm still itching to add another 4 COBS, but I'll hold off until I see how these do.

LakeEffect · Jan 31, 2016

lookin great

Dawn Patrol · Feb 1, 2016

Thanks LakeEffect, more pics to come shortly, I had a fairly productive weekend.

Dawn Patrol · Feb 2, 2016

One more time

One more time

Looks like (8) 2.5 gallon pots fit pretty well so one pot per COB is where I'll start and see where that goes.

Dawn Patrol · Feb 2, 2016

Lights not finished yet

Lights not finished yet

But this gives a general idea how the lights will spread out to begin with.

Dawn Patrol · Feb 2, 2016

These won't be the first

These won't be the first

to get flowered in this cab, but this strain is the reason for building it.

GrownOuts Triangle Trips - the stinkiest strain I've ever grown!! Put all my eggs in one basket this fall and my keeper turned out to be a male. Kept a couple clones in case I find the killer female but hopefully out of these seedlings I'll find a couple worthy girls to fill this box up.

jikko77 · Feb 2, 2016

great work! thanks for share this with us!

Dion · Feb 2, 2016

huh? how did this happen?

you are going to run 8 cxb3070s only?

Dawn Patrol · Feb 3, 2016

jikko77 said:
great work! thanks for share this with us!

Welcome to the thread!

Dawn Patrol · Feb 3, 2016

Dion said:
huh? how did this happen?

you are going to run 8 cxb3070s only?

To start with until I can get a feel for heat build up in there and how well the A/C works in this space.

Dawn Patrol · Feb 9, 2016

Life gets in the way sometimes

Life gets in the way sometimes

Best intentions to keep the press on this project and then life goes and throws you a big ol sloppy spit/curve ball.....

Got one light rig done and burning in, working on the next one tomorrow and then the supplemental far red bars.

LakeEffect · Feb 9, 2016

How is the plumbers putty working on your cable penetrations? Think it will remain soft and pliable or dry out and need to be cracked to remove?

Morcheeba* · Feb 9, 2016

things are looking good w/the build bro and you got more TT's getting ready for the cab.......nice

peace

Dawn Patrol · Feb 10, 2016

LakeEffect said:
How is the plumbers putty working on your cable penetrations? Think it will remain soft and pliable or dry out and need to be cracked to remove?

It does dry out but it takes some time (maybe a year or more), fairly sure I'll be opening that hole to change something before that happens and maybe by then there will be a better answer. It will be all taped up on the outside.

My bigger issue appears to be sealing the doors better, I have air gaps and light leaks to deal with. The scrubber should handle the smell, but if I can't get the doors sealed any better, I can probably give up on thoughts of running C02 down the road.

Morcheeba* said:
things are looking good w/the build bro and you got more TT's getting ready for the cab.......nice
peace

Thanks Cheeb, the "Mother" I had chosen turned out to be male/hermie so it's back to the drawing board. Still had only about 50% germination on the beans I made so keep that in mind.

Dawn Patrol · Feb 10, 2016

Lights are done and burning in

Lights are done and burning in

Still have to clean up some wires, but all appears well (crosses fingers) so far.

Now on the to far red fixture, that ones gonna take awhile. I have the bar stock cut and drilled but mounting and soldering 40 3W LEDS is not going to be fast.

LakeEffect · Feb 10, 2016

Dawn Patrol said:
My bigger issue appears to be sealing the doors better, I have air gaps and light leaks to deal with.

I recently discovered using bicycle inner tubes for this and I'm a big fan.
Being free is a nice perk too.

I dig the lights :good:

ChasingGreen · Feb 10, 2016

Dawn this is a bad ass build. I'm very excited to see how your temps turn out!!!! This would be the ideal Florida box for sure

Dawn Patrol · Feb 11, 2016

LakeEffect said:
I recently discovered using bicycle inner tubes for this and I'm a big fan.
Being free is a nice perk too.

I dig the lights

I have slightly heavier EPDM roof barrier that I was going to try, but thanks for the suggestion, that stuff may be too thick for certain areas and inner tubes come in varying thicknesses.

Also Have to get a helper and get inside and tweak the brackets/boat hooks to help get a tighter seal. I was just eyeballing it during construction.

Dammit now that I think of it I really wish I had done that before I wired up the lights. I do have connectors so I can take them out but thats gonna be a pain in the ass.

ChasingGreen said:
Dawn this is a bad ass build. I'm very excited to see how your temps turn out!!!! This would be the ideal Florida box for sure

Thanks CG, if it works it's ideal - we'll see when the heat gets here. Haven't figured out yet what I'll sacrifice during the summer in case it doesn't. Other idea is just to use it as a seed/clone veg box during june/july and move stuff outside to veg further once it's big enough or to finish if it's not too stinky.

Lots of things to think about....

Help me design my new grow cab

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