10 GRAND, 10 LIGHTS, NO TIME!

[Guest]

I'd start smaller, go for four 600s at most, get that up and running and working right before you even think of going bigger. Only visiting every 3 days isn't going to work until you have the grow well established and everything running just right.

 

[smurfin'herb]

Getting the grow together isn't the hard part.
It'll likely take you a year to dial in, since you're not familiar with the setup already, and aren't a master grower,(your questions clearly show this,no offense!) so be prepared with backup capital (another $5K,imo,is a place to start) and plenty of time-$10K ain't sh*t,my friend,with all the fresh overhead and "unforseen expenses".
Really.
Also,not "looking in" for three days at a time in a new grow is a recipe for disaster, I suggest thinking along different lines,or be ready to eat sh*t with a spoon.
Factoid: Grow houses that are not lived in get busted rooughly 10x more than houses with inhabitants.
Also,you must grow a single strain/clone if you're gonna' run a commercial Op,it's simply not efficient any other way.

All the Best.


My C99:

whats up rez! good to see ya come over! well i do have 100 cuts rooted right now of 3 diff lui phenos. As far as backup for cash... pff! lets just say its all good over this way bro! But i would like to do this specific grow with 10 or 12 g's, is it possible..? also, i have coco in pots that i handwater and leave for 3 days on end all the time!! i come back back and everthing is same or better than i left it! hell at the right stage of growth i could leave for 5-7 days (def. pushin it tho) (usually at beginning of flower after a recent transplant, when the roots have not yet expanded fully throughout the medium, therefore the coco will hold water longer. I will show pics eventually, but need to get batts for my camera and a laptop of my own so i can load the pic program! I actually have a pick of one of my lui phenos that looks identical to that second one u posted! thx agin res!

 

[smurfin'herb]

Im thinkin i should turn that main room into 2 seperate ones with 5 lights in each on a flip to keep a constant draw. Hey DB wirenutz, didnt u tell me that there was somethin special u had to do in order to make digital ballasts work on a flip? somethin about timers i think... Will i still need a relay to turn on 5 240volt 600watt lumateks?


A 5 ballast flip/loadcenter is what you need. Two seperate AUBE timers, one for powering off and on digital ballasts, other timer for 12/12 flip cycle. If you want one built, let me know.


Best Regards

DB

I see. If u have to put the ballasts on a timer which will shut them off and then restart them, then wont that create a spike? i thought flip/flops where made to keep an even flow of electric by keeping the ballasts on constantly and just switching which light they power.. correct me if im wrong please... thx DB!

 

[REZDOG]

Cool.
As long as backup $ isn't an issue,imo you can probably pull it off within budget.
6kW at 12/12 is a nasty,big-ass electric bill,check and make sure it won't set off any bells at your local co. cuz' imo a "ranch" with 6kW (+ Mucho a/c,+veg lights,+fans,+++) is gonna' be over the top.
Also,check the wiring in the house,or have it checked by a pro if you don't know how.
A burnt rental is a sure way to land in jail and lose all your shit in a matter of minutes.
Afom had a fire in a lived-in rental op,and he was lucky to be there when it went up-he moved everything out just before the FD arrived,but missed a few leaves. F*ck,eh?
Hi-power a/c units are 1200-2500w they'll kill an electric meter nasty quick.
Of course,you're doing a legal med grow,right?

 

[REZDOG]

I see. If u have to put the ballasts on a timer which will shut them off and then restart them, then wont that create a spike? i thought flip/flops where made to keep an even flow of electric by keeping the ballasts on constantly and just switching which light they power.. correct me if im wrong please... thx DB!

Or, you can set up,on independent circuits,220v multi-light relay boxes on independent timers.
When you use those,you can run flip,or any time you like,safely.
I always try to run lights at night,it's always cooler and more efficient that way,I've found.
The boxes run about $225USD each,and have to be hardwired in by a pro. They're made by Green Air and many others,I've used them for years and had a box of them converted for use where I'm now based.
They're very safe,but impossible to uninstall in any hurry,take note.

My .02

 

[DB2004]

I see. If u have to put the ballasts on a timer which will shut them off and then restart them, then wont that create a spike? i thought flip/flops where made to keep an even flow of electric by keeping the ballasts on constantly and just switching which light they power.. correct me if im wrong please... thx DB!

The ballasts turning off, then back on, happens over a period of about 5 to 10 seconds. As for the spike, it's only a problem if you have a pole meter attached to monitor your usage. If that's the case, the spike will mean nothing, the over 5KW of power being drawn 24/7 will get you investigated faster than spikes in voltage. You're meter only measures KW/hrs, not spikes in voltage or amperage. Newer smart meters can be set-up to log all the power usage every minute of every day. Attached is a pic of a 6-240V ballasts and 4 120V circuit timed load-center with time delays for the ballasts, using a Siemens PLC. There are two AUBE digital timers, one switches 2 x 240V ballasts for veg and the other digital timer switches 4 x 240V ballasts for flower. These 4 ballasts are time delayed power on and power off.

Best Regards

DB

 

[smurfin'herb]

REZ, how do i find out stuff like what triggers alarms at my power company without sounding suspicious? or can i just look it up on the net?

YAMAHA, so how much is your bill on average and @ what rate do they charge u at? i have heard that electricity costs decrease in the late hrs and then go back up in the daytime. Is this true for all power companies? anyone..?

 

[REZDOG]

Well,you don't,exactly.
Compare with what someone not in your shoes pays,if possible. Power companies are in the business of selling power,they don't look,but they don't protect you,either. Back along,we sorted out that one might easily get away with "residential" grows using 4000w flower @ 12/12 and the aux. equipment you need to maintain it,IF it's efficiently set up,under most any N.A. wire,the B.C. area's 2kW,max.
A ranch is usually really small bro,got a ft2 of the property,ie. the size of the casa?
A tiny hut with a +$1000 electric bill is not a good idea unless there's property and a shop attached,imo.
Greed KILLS,every single time. Flip this op into a bigger one after you sort out all the nuances of scale ops,it'll be more profitable that way in the long run,I promise.

 

[Mr B.]

.
Factoid: Grow houses that are not lived in get busted rooughly 10x more than houses with inhabitants.

I'll second that.

There has been over 40 growhouse busts around up here where i live since x-mas. That's due to neighbours that sees folks comming and going some where in the weeks and a house "empty" just stands there with windows coverd and stuff. Mostly vietnamees.

 

[smurfin'herb]

Oh, and does anyone think it would be more wise to split the room in two and flipping flopping it to keep a constant flow of 3kw in the flower room? seems like it would be way more expensive that way tho(each room needing its own in/out fans,scrubbers etc.., and plus the window ac unit would have to cool both rooms through a lung room and then i couldnt aim for the day/night temps that i want for each room specifically. Any comments on this?

 

[REZDOG]

I think you should address the issues I posed to you before considering 6kWs.

 

[smurfin'herb]

Your right REZ, maybe greed is getting the best of me. The only way that i can possibly blow this grow is by juicing it too much. so do u think i should try to run 4000watts in flower instead of 6000? Dont gotta worry bout neighbors where im at MR B. The ranch has gotta be under 1000 sq.ft. and no less than 800 is my estimate.
thx for all this help from everyone btw. I realllllly appreciate it!!!!

 

[00420]

I will be running all 10 lights on a 240v line.

more then likely not....... unless u gonna flip it

4k max on a 30 amp line

i have coco in pots that i handwater and leave for 3 days on end all the time!! i come back back and everthing is same or better than i left it!

not under 6k u dont....... maybe under a 600...... but not 10 of them


i say it can be done.........go for it....
2 weeks is pushing ordering shit takes a week atlest

id get a 25,000 btu a/c and 2 8" fans n duct the hoods its summer time

 

[00420]

Your right REZ, maybe greed is getting the best of me. The only way that i can possibly blow this grow is by juicing it too much. so do u think i should try to run 4000watts in flower instead of 6000? Dont gotta worry bout neighbors where im at MR B. The ranch has gotta be under 1000 sq.ft. and no less than 800 is my estimate.
thx for all this help from everyone btw. I realllllly appreciate it!!!!

ar u going to sog,scrog,trees what style u gonna go?

if your sog id say 400 or 600's n go with 4 ballast to start if u wanna go 1k's id stay with 2-3 untell u learn a lil more.... once u get past 3-4 k is when u really have to know what your doing in a room and cost go's way up

 

[REZDOG]

4kWs sorts out fine.

 

[Headless Hornet]

I'd listen very closely to RezDog on this one, Smurf...

 

[smurfin'herb]

I do scrog lst. I seem to find it less traumatizing to the plants and you can spread the plant out across 2x3 fencing very nice so that all parts are lit. that means it reduces trimming (which probly causes more stress also) the plant as much as you would as if you had chopped the tops off of it. I see ppl chop every leaf under the fence with topping scrogs, but i leave 50%(8-10 inches) of the plant below the fence. I dont veg into the net, but instead, put them in flower when they are maybe an inch under the fence, flip the 12/12, and let em rock out and stretch thru the fence 4-6 inchs later (usually by the or 7th to 10th day of flower after using liquid light) i just pull the whole plants back down under the fence and wedge them under, promoting side shoots to grow. Then another dose of liquid light and im good to go! They go in at 1 foot and comes out 1 1/2 2 ft. (LUI indica). I promise i will post pics when i get my own comp fixed.

Ok REZ i def look up to ya man, so im goin with what u say. From now on the flower room will be 4,200 watts (7x600's).

 

[Daemon]

I design growrooms in my sleep... this shit isn't rocket science.

Agreed. If one has a fundamental understanding of electricity, air flow, heat dissipation, etc; then it;s really not all that hard. The key is to think think think, and plan everything out very well.

GL

 

[Guest]

You mention you wanted to run 3 4x8 tables, don't know if your still firm on this or not, but kinda hard to divide 3 into 7(600's).You could run 2 600's per table, watts/ft would be 37.5 might be a bit low to get the most out of a hydro setup and in my opinion you would need to run a mover over each table, running simple batwings.If your running LUI you can probably get away with this as indica's seem to be able to get away with less intense light.You could run this for a few crops then maybe step it up to 3 600's per table which I think would be much better @ 56 watts/ft.You could just start @ 3 per table, 9x 600 =5400 watts, depends on area though, there is a bit of piece of mind that comes from ramping up your power over a period of time.

I wouldn't worry about running flip-flops to keep the draw steady unless your on a digital meter (you aren't on a digital meter are you?).5400 is about what a clothes dryer uses, but the 12 on/12 off + a digi meter may be trouble.Run your lights at night this will take advantage of the cool night air, save some power and skip the a/c, unless your running a sealed room with co2 and air cooled lights, this is a expensive setup and takes alot of skill and dialing in to get right.IMO your better off spending money on better ventilation running a 12" can fan (ho), there are better fans out there, just the kind my friend uses due to local availability+ can 150 filter per 4k (5k max) keeps things cool running at night even during the summer (where my friend is anyway).

Personally, I'd set it up with the 9 600's over three tables (leaving 18" walkway between on either side of the middle table),maybe pull the tables back a foot from the wall on the one end, or not depending on where the door is.Hang 2 12"cans above the walkways, this might be a little bit of overkill on the ventilation for 5.4k and in the winter you most certainly would only have to run one of them, but on those warmish summer nights a bit of extra vent surely won't hurt.Just my 2 cents anyway.

I wouldn't consider staying away for 3 days at a time on a regular basis your better off going there everyday, keep a schedule...maybe park a old car there and move it around every day.Give the place that "lived" in feeling.

 

[smurfin'herb]

Im only gonna start with 4200watts. Ya, since i decreased lighting i was def thinkin 2 4x8tables with 2 lumatek 600's on each with hortilux on light movers. And the third 4x8 could have 3 600's over it! Ill tell ya what tho, im runnin a couple 240v 600watt purple lumateks with hortilux super hps in daystar a/c hoods, best combo ive ever experienced! Although, i have a stanley blower i rigged for cooling the hoods and i cant put the lights closer than 12 to 14 inches without seeing heat stress. Anyone think a stanley blower not enough to cool those hoods sufficiently? If i added more cfm's could i put lights closer?