150w HPS Club and Resource Guide......

[BC Chronic]

Thanks StoneElemental for your fast reply...I wish I could move the ballast but its a one piece thing...good airflow is important for sure too...
It was another member who said I should ask you all here on this thread if I need so many fans up top..I really enjoy this thread too so I'm in!!!
I should explain my setup first...I have the 1- 150 watt HPS SunMaster light with ballast built in and the 4-24 watt 6400k full spectrum...my total wattage is 246...with 24,982 lumens in a 2.88 sq. foot space..
I just need some feedback on my setup and if its right so this is the right thread to ask!!!
I have a Trainwreck seed 1 week old in it to and what I want to do is scrog the heck out of it...one of the best smokes by far in my opinion!!
here is a link to my thread if anyone wants to check it out
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=183150
thanks

 

[onelung09]

ffof is to strong for some seedlings period i could name about 8 strains that will scream if put in ffof off jump street i use light warrior ffof mix for the youngins i knw that was a while back but had to say something peace

 

[OrgAeroMan]

BC, you can still remote the ballast using a heavy duty extension cord between the ballast and the lamp/ reflector. Simply make the connections to the socket longer, and ground to the hood if no place for the green ground wire.

 

[AcroPhobic]

Clean setup. I went to your thread in link .. Looks like you need more intake holes .. 2x - 3x intake over exhaust is the general rule.

If you want to remote ballast your 150.. thats up to you. There are links in this thread that provide the info on how to do suck a task. It's fairly simple. Just read and be careful!

 

[blwd67]

do you have just the one plant in that soil bed?

Your whole set up looks really nice, man, good job.

 

[piosh]

my small harvest - one plant , 150W , 18L pot , 44 days flo - mould attack forced me ....
anyway - resinous ,huh?

 

[StoneElemental]

Sure looks purdy Piosh, sounds like you need to dial down the humidity, how long did they have to go? By the way I've only ever had 1 plant and a couple clones that got moldy and I immediately cut em down and tossed 'em for health concerns, was pretty sad but I felt better safe than sorry. Hope everything else goes your way for now bro take care and stay safe!

-S.E.

my small harvest - one plant , 150W , 18L pot , 44 days flo - mould attack forced me ....
anyway - resinous ,huh?

 

[blwd67]

nice plant piosh, sucks about the mold.. but seriously nice buds from the survivor.

I ended up shutting off my hps

temps were just way to high, and apparently I completely missed the mark with my ventalation. I threw in some cfls for now.. sucks, but these young ones are looking better and temps are down to mid 70s from low 100s.

 

[OrgAeroMan]

Nice play piosh, that girl looks killer. What's your ambient RH? You could be pulling that moist air into your cab. Just a thought.

blwd67- What kind of fan are you using to ventilate your cab/grow?

 

[blwd67]

There is a little more that three cubic feet of space inside the cab; I am using a 80mm pc fan as active exhaust, this mounted over a four inch circular hole. Two four inch holes for passive intake. Originally I had a nine inch desk fan blowing directly at the light, which was mounted on top of the cab. When I switched to CFLs I placed the fan behind the cab so it was blowing towards the intake. Cab is in a closet close to the air conditioning vent.

I wired the pc fan up to a regular 12v adapter, but it seems to be running a little slow. I still need to read the ventalation 101 thread, but any obvious mistakes I made that you can see from my quick outline would be welcome.

 

[OrgAeroMan]

Do you keep the door of the closet closed?

 

[OrgAeroMan]

I use an ~80cfm pc fan for my 18x18x24 vert 150 set up with 8 2" holes for intakes and it keeps my cab ~78 I also use the bake a round cool tube method though.

 

[blwd67]

no, the door to the closet is closed, but it is a walk in with its own air conditioning vent... ambients are at or lower than the rest of the house.

I wasnt using any sort of cool tube or plexiglass barrier or anything, but I think I am going to when I set it back up.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Your fan may not be doing what it can. Not only do you need to match the voltage when using an adapter to power a DC fan, but you also need to match the amps.
Some adapters may push out 12voltsDC at .5 amps, and some may push out 12voltDC at 1 amp. If you fan is rated at 1 amp, and you are powering it with a .5 amp adapter, then the fan will run slow and it's output compromised. The adapter will tell you on it what it pushes out.

And the fan directing at the intake hole would be much better for you inside the grow circulating air. You are helping it do nothing by blowing it at the intake. The intakes will take care of themselves and draw air in just fine.
Not sure how you are set, but the intakes should be in the bottom of the box, and the exhaust towards the top. And the exhaust really needs to be going somewhere other than back into the ambient air to be sucked back into the grow.

*NOTE
A DC adapter can be used if it is oversized with no worries. In other words, if you fan is rated at 12voltsDC@1 amp, then using a 12voltsDC@10 amps is fine to do and the fan will only use what it needs.
When you use say a .5amp adapter for a 1amp fan, the adapter will do it's best to give the fan what it is asking for, but it can't accomplish the task. The result will be the adapter heating up and actually melting out on you.
This situation can be one of the few very unsafe things we do in a grow. The mis-matched AC/DC adapter can be the cause of a fire, and that aint no shit and nothing to play around with just hoping you will get by and things will be fine. They won't.

If you get serious, try canning the PC fan idea. It works, and many use it. But if you get serious, you need a fan...a real fan.

 

[OrgAeroMan]

Hmmm, I would have never thought of that Hoosier, good to know. You're a treasure trove of useful information. You were the primary inspiration for my vert 150 setup, and I look up to you, thanks! Anyhow, blwd67 I wish you the very best of luck on figuring out your temp problem, hopefully it's just the adapter! Happy and safe growing to you and everyone else.

 

[blwd67]

Good point about dumping the air back into the room, just to be taken back in. I need to go shopping for the necessary supplies to build a carbon filter, I'll look at new fans also. The only thing is it needs to be able to mount on the back of the cab, I dont have a shelf to hold it up or anything. I think this is possible with inline fans? Then attaching filter and fan to ducting and running that out of the room. Like I said, I need to really reread the ventalation thread. For right now, though, temps are fine and air flow is acceptable.

The fan blowing towards the intake is more for drawing the cooler air from air conditioning than blowing air into the cab. I cant fit that one inside, I need to pick up some of those smaller 3-4 inch guys.

I will immediatly check the adapter when I finish this post, hope this isnt the case, but thank you for bringing it to my attention. 80mm should be sufficient exhaust with no filter for a 3sqft area?

Here are some pictures, just for the hell of it. The first one is the Safari Mix, middle is both in cab, and last is the Ice. Right now they are 2 nodes larger with new growth visible. The Ice is about one node behind the Safari.

 

[jpizle]

Cant see the pics dude

Just throwin this out there since I dont know what I'm doing, but wouldnt the hot exhuast air coming from the top of your cab want to rise towards the ceiling? And then be cooled back down as it falls/gets recirculated through the AC in the room? So you wouldnt be pulling in stale air from your intake at the floor. Curious since I have my exhaust just blowing into the ambient closet air. Using a window unit for AC in the main room with closet door open. Suppose it would be different if I had central AC with the floor/ceiling vents though...

 

[blwd67]

can you see them now? I dont know.. they were showing up on my browser before, but I re-did them.

 

[AcroPhobic]

^ Check to see if your album is private or public.

On a side note - Looking good Piosh! Sucks about the mold/harvest early.

 

[OrgAeroMan]

Yeah dude, in-line fans come with mounting hardware, but you should put rubber grommets or some sort of shock absorber under them as they tend to get a little loud. If worse comes to worse, you can put a 4" flange on either side of the cab wall so you can connect the ducting from your cool tube to the inside wall, and the in-line fan to the outside one. Drawing air out of the cab and into your scrubber, which is in my experience quieter. Good luck buddy!