220w pl-l coco scrog cupboard

[ScrubNinja]

Yeah man it really saved the day. I had to bolt the fans on and provide an airtight seal. But with an airtight seal, I couldn't bolt the fans on. And with the fans bolted on, I couldn't make a reliably airtight seal. Catch 22. So this just lets me bolt the fans on, put the filter in place, and tape up the small gap between the collar I made, and the cab.

Random question: Does water based paint dry quicker than oil based? The oil based I'm using lists 16 hrs minimum before recoat. Thnx!

Oh yeah and a random tip: if you're building a cab and using paint, make sure you install the ventillation system first. It sucks out the fumes when you're painting so your head isn't in an enclosed box of fumes. Still need to open your windows etc but it helps a lot.

 

[irie4i]

Looking clutch SN! I really like the PL-L using CPU fans; is this maintains fair temp I will be inspired ! As far as painting plastic, I usually use a platic bond paint and 3-5 layers of thick latex ontop; also KILZ is great for priming on lightly marred plastic. Lightproofing clear plastic sucks, but remember that if you fill the space with carbon - light cannont escape through even a small layer from the leak source. Personally, the most creative idea I have ever had reguarding large space echo is Dynamat, this is an acoustic soundproofing product intended for cars. Using any sound-proof board intended for car audio is probably the best method of keeping a tight chamber quiet.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Lightproofing clear plastic sucks, but remember that if you fill the space with carbon - light cannont escape through even a small layer from the leak source.

Hey irie thanks! Yeah I just have to worry about that lower level below the carbon. I'll be going to a car audio place soon, that's a wikkid tip, thanks! I now have this Dynamat stuff on my list I won't rest until this is all 100% light proof. And hopefuly close to that in terms of sound proofing.

About the fans, this has just got to work, lol. The 4 fans stacked in line is going to kick serious butt. I mean, even stacking two is a huge improvement so yeah, four, woah One thing I would have liked to have done is some real calculations to see exactly how many fans I needed and what speed etc. Point being that even though the thermaltakes are rated as great pressure fans, that's at full speed. I'm totally guessing here, but I reckon I would achieve mo' betta results using less hardcore fans, that are pushing what I need, at the decibels I need, as standard. As against throttling down relatively hard core fans.

Another thing I'm not too sure about here is that the two sets of stacked fans are different specs. Not hugely different, but I'm pretty sure it won't matter as they are either side of the carbon layer. If it is an issue, I can attach the speed dials to the orange higher powered fans and dial them down in conjunction with the adjustable power supply (once, and then not touch it).

Gotta go paint now!

 

[cork144]

looking great man, cant wait to see that hood in action lol, how does air enter it?

 

[Elephunk]

Nice hood. It's called a Star Light for everyone else wondering what/where to get it. Only places I've seen them are on UK sites, but they offer a two bulb and a 4 bulb.

And sorry about linking- mods you can remove this if you need to, but this is the link to one of the places.

http://www.growell.co.uk/p/1500/Bright-Wing-Mother-Clone-Light.html

 

[ScrubNinja]

G'day Cork, thanks. Wow, that is a hard question to answer briefly because there's no point X where it enters. Basically the hood has little air grills cut all around the edge but I'm also going to cut the reflector panel slightly shorter to encourage most of the air to flow past the lamp bases. There will be a fan or two blowing along the length of the bulbs too, towards the bases.

Elephunk, thanks for posting that link! Even though it is the same thing really, I noticed my dimensions are 1 or 2 cm's different and that one *just* wouldn't fit in my cab by ~5mm, it's that tight. I notice they even mention micro flowering with it, cool.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Btw here is the simple google sketchup file for this project. It's not 100% accurate but pretty close and gives a good idea of the workings. The carbon filter was just thrown together quickly to show you guys, it's not to scale at all really, but close enough I guess.

It's hosted on mediafire and I've anonymized the referral link, just so you know.

http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?ltgmg200gyf

I propose for ICmag to allow .skp attachments! :friends:

 

[Elephunk]

No problum mon. Just do me a favor and hurry up with getting started will ya . I don't know how much more suspense I can take. Nah jk, take your time with the build and make it really nice. I just can't wait to see this get underway. I'm very curious to see how more watts of PL-Ls affects growth/formation.

I have the same PC cases that aerohead has x2. It was originally for a double wide 150w hps +100w cmh cooltube design I had awhile back that failed miserably due to heat. sigh... talk about going way too gun-ho on the lighting. But now the new design will use 4 80w PL-Ls with these really nice MIRO reflectors made for the PL-Ls. Hoping your results can give me a better idea of what to expect.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Top notch, that sounds fantastic! Are the 80s the same length as the 55s? That's so much light my brain is struggling to compute.

I should have some cool update pics in 48hrs. Watching paint dry is about as interesting as watching paint dry.

I also need to post an embarrasing question here tomorrow about tube fluoros, when my head is clearer and I can include some pics. Please check in then if you know about 'em, cheers.

 

[Elephunk]

The 80 watters are 22.5" in length. Each puts out around 5400 lumens I think? I just figured, I could fit 3 55w per case like aerohead did, but the reflector would be pretty inefficient. That's why I opted for the 4 80w with the MIRO reflectors so a lot of the light wouldn't be wasted like it is with the flat topped reflectors.

Only thing is the ballasts I'm looking at are like $50 a pop. Totally sucks. Although I am pretty terrible with the whole electrical deal. I'm thinking there has to be a way to run 2 80w PL-Ls off a different ballast that is rated for a higher output? That way I don't have to buy 4 individual ballasts. I could buy two ballasts and run the 4 bulbs. Someone that's good with this stuff must know...

And if anyone wants to see what reflectors I'm talking about they are located at the link below. Hopefully this will help people with design concepts that are looking into PL-Ls. (Not that this is the only way of course)

http://www.ahsupply.com/36-55w.htm

 

[Mk3Jetta]

scrubninja,

Your box looks like it can produce some WEIGHT! Nice design and it looks like its been a while in the making to perfect your cab.

I will be pulling up a chair and following your grow. I cant wait to see it packed with budssss!!!!! Nice job on the reflector btw.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Elephunk, have you seen D.I.trY's pll reflector thread (in his sig)? It's right up your alley. Next time round, I think I'll dispose of the hood and use the fittings to mount the bulbs however I want them, with a custom built reflector from one large sheet of reflector metal, ala D.I's plans. Sorry but I know sweet FA about ballasts and stuff (which I'll demonstrate in a moment, hehe) but I hope someone can offer you help.

Mk3, thanks buddy, good to have you on board There actually hasn't been that much planning in some ways. I'm amazed how sizes and stuff just all seemed to fall together. I work at a junk store and get my pick of a new cheap cupboard or wardrobe every day if I want, so I just hung loose for a few weeks and finally bought this cupboard on a whim that my buddies light would fit in there. I had to unscrew the bung/plug where the power cord enters the hood just to fit it in but it's perfect size otherwise. And the way 6 pvc elbows *just* fitted so neatly. All that stuff.

Okay, my fluoro problem. The problem is that I'm thick and just can't understand fluoro tubes at all. So many lengths, so many types, T-this, T-that... I've never had to deal with them in a household or grow so they're completely foreign to me - apart from putting an aquarium light in my last grow with some weird ass purple light.

I obtained this other old light and it has no real identifying stuff. I've googled a few of the codes on it but I don't seem to get anywhere. The daylight bulb in it says "osram l" 13w/25. Obviously it's 13w but:

• How do I buy a new bulb or identical fitting as this? Do I look for "13w/25" on the boxes?
• Is this a T5?
• I was thinking about buying a second old-school fluoro tube for the other side of the pll hood, so there's one each side. Should I get one like I have, or is there a better type I should get? The footprint I have available for each light is 45mm x 570mm and the one I have fits quite nicely.

The bulb is 53cm from tip of pin to tip of pin, and about 16mm diameter tube.

Thanks for reading.

 

[AP KUSH]

coming along very nicely.. bookmarked

 

[ScrubNinja]

Cheers Kush

I've always used chemical nutes with 100% coco and been very happy, but lately a few ideas like dwc, hempy buckets, and organics have been on my mind. I've found an experimental method which satisfies my lust to try a few of these things, at the same time! Seriously, this is every method I know and trust, mixed with proven methods I've always wanted to try.

It could be a bit hard to understand. There is one diagram in the whole thread, lol. But it's basically an organic hempy bucket, with a bubbler in the bottom. This is a real scary move for me as I'm not an accomplished soil/organic grower, pretty crap actually. But DrunkenMessiah is an incredibly knowledgeable, helpful chap and is even wordier than me! So I shouldn't fuck anything up too badly. Check it out guys:

Organic Bubble Bath Tubs

 

[Elephunk]

Yup, I checked his reflector out. In the end I still opted to go with the other reflectors because I felt they would work better. So instead of 6 55w which is not only more watts, but probably more heat also I'm just going to use 4 80w with efficient reflectors. I guess I'll just have to see how well they really work.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Cool, I wish you luck. Really hope you can document it for us too!

I forgot to mention there will be one more mod to the reflector here. It's sort of an easy compromise between the current inefficient reflector design, and a truly efficient design. I'll try to sketch it up tomorrow because it's too hard to describe in words.

 

[jlasjl]

Hey, nice lamp you got there, how much space is there between the tubes?









peace
jlasjl...

 

[ScrubNinja]

Howdy jlasjl, well, there are 3 gaps between the 4 bulbs. The centre gap is 50mm and the other two gaps are 45mm. I'm just using an old tape so it's not exact.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Okay, we have some progression!

I'm not going to bother with the reflector mod I just mentioned, but here is how I've modded it so far, with more to come

Here's the bit I cut out near the bases where I want most of the flow


There's also a small gap at the other end, standard


Note the grille things on the sides. I think I might tape them off


A closer look through the gap, at the base mount bits


I weatherstripped the top of the hood so there's no rattling and to give me practise before I do the doors with it


Turned the cab upside down and bolted it in (and the one fluoro tube).


Then I turned it rightside up, located the air filter, and sealed the fore mentioned gap.


Put in the reflector


Chucked a few 4000k's in


Niiice


Not much light leaks out into the carbon filter area


I was so excited I forgot to put the fluoro tube in. I still have to mount the bulb-cooling fans and complete the scrubber internal and seal it's lid before I can accurately do heat tests.

The air flow flows nicely over the bases like I was hoping, but it's not a lot of flow compared to how much is exhausted into the scrubber box. So I think too much air is getting sucked through the side grilles, running over the ballasts, then out without cooling the bulbs.

What I'm really aiming for with this is most of the flow getting sucked thru the bases, and a small amount leaking thru the gap at the opposite end to flow over the ballasts. Then some fans blowing right along the length of the bulbs and getting sucked up into the main vacuum I've created near the bases.

These fans may be an issue as they're probably gonna block a lot of light. I thought about mounting 40mm fans right in between the bulbs but those fans are piss-weak. The Coolermasters I had intended are black/translucent grey, so not really the best fan for the application. I may use those 2 or 3 clear 80mm fans since they're smaller and clear.

After running the pll's for the first time since I bought them, There is a lot more heat than I thought! Aero and someone else I think, you were right, 6v is not gonna cool this imo.

Till next time

 

[jlasjl]

Howdy jlasjl, well, there are 3 gaps between the 4 bulbs. The centre gap is 50mm and the other two gaps are 45mm. I'm just using an old tape so it's not exact.

thanks, more then enough info there mate!


nice update by the way..









peace
jlasjl...