Diary PCBuds mini-grow

[PCBuds]

She's really taking off...

 

[PCBuds]

The window plant reservoir had its PH too high, so I flushed it with water, then with weak nute solution.

I ran the nute solution through the plant a few times, and had to keep adding PH down until the PH finally dropped to around 6.0.

 

[PCBuds]

Looking good...

 

[PCBuds]

 

[PCBuds]

OK, this is fricken stupid...

 

[PCBuds]

I transplanted it...

 

[PCBuds]

She's coming along nicely...
She's almost as big as the window plant now.

 

[PCBuds]

why are you using such weak power supplies ?
costs ?

power supplies are usually placed outside the room.





They have good products but

Typical : minimum :

1230 : 1107 + typical => Fv : power: and lm/W :

Under table :

+- 7% flux :

My point of view : =>

Without measurement data of specific pieces, I never trust anyone. a kind of lesson from life.
Maybe it's true or not, they are relatively cheap and good, but I do not trust 100%

https://cdn.samsung.com/led/file/res...0_Rev.10.1.pdf

bin:

VF and flux : b strips ?

smd2835 in b. strip => sorted somehow and selected? real parameters. I don't believe in anything. I assume it might be - but I don't believe it ... such a nature, unbeliever




Panel manufacturers often cover the LEDs with something like you

My voltage supplies were about $45 each.
They are 500 Watt supplies running at about 50% maximum.

A proper 500 Watt LED driver was hundreds of dollars.

I didn't do very much research on LED strips before making my purchases and like you said, you can't really trust the manufacturers to provide reliable information.

I believe that I'm better off with 3 times as many strips for the same money as better quality, more efficient strips, with higher CRI ratings.

I may be wasting some electricity, but it doesn't add up to too much in my small grow.

 

[exploziv]

I used to do tests on similar supplies for a big project and found out they are most efficient when load is 80-90%. Yours might be the same, meaning you burn some electricity at 100% loss because you don't optimise load.

 

[PCBuds]

I used to do tests on similar supplies for a big project and found out they are most efficient when load is 80-90%. Yours might be the same, meaning you burn some electricity at 100% loss because you don't optimise load.

I could run all my strips off of a single power supply but I was worried about driving the supply too hard.

I figure it's like streo components that I was into years ago.
They always seem to fail when driven hard.

I even leave my power supplies on and running all the time, and switch the output on and off instead of shutting the power supplies off.

So I'm wasting power by having them running all the time, but they only draw about 10 Watts each when idling.

We learned in electronics class that things tend to burn out when you first turn them on, and they tend to last longer if they are left on all the time, even if they end up running a lot longer.
(just like the old school light bulbs that always seem to fail when they are first turned on.)



When I checked the reviews for the power supplies on Amazon, a couple of people wrote in that they only lasted a month before they failed.
The one guy was running a 3D printer and I assume that the supply was driven close to maximum.



They supplies do have thermal protection, overload protection, and a fuse, but they seemed to completely fail for a few people.

They also have a thermally controlled two speed fan that doesn't even turn on that often, so the supplies aren't getting very warm at all.

I also have a third spare power supply in case one of them fails, so I will be able to keep growing if one of them fails.

 

[exploziv]

I've used good quality supplies and never had a problem from normal usage. I even have a passing light in a hallway that is run by sensor and it stays on juat for 5 seconds after detecting movement. It's over 10 m of rgb strip driven from a psu that is shut off by solenoid relay after each activation. Has 3 years already and still works. So it's probably not generally a rule they will break from too much on and offs.
Also, what I was saying is that in my tests, a psu loaded at 40-60% had about 15-20 W extra power draw compared to output. At 80 to 90% it was less than 10W (8 I think). So there you go, 10 W less and one psu instead of 2. We had tens of psus running in that project so 10W per piece made for a hefty montly economy. For you it may not matter, but I shared this to you in case you might care.

 

[PCBuds]

I just did a quick search of digikey and found 6 drivers that would work for me.

I had a really hard time surfing through the listings when I first went to digikey to look for a driver.
There are over 4,700 LED drivers to pick from.


These aren't that expensive.
I may consider getting a MeanWell driver if my power supplies fail.

My power supplies are kind of a PITA.
The dial to turn them up and down is REALLY touchy.

The slightest movement of the dial has the current shoot right up.

The voltage will only go up by 0.1 Volts, but the current will double.

I would hope to get a Consant Current LED driver instead of a Constant Voltage driver.

Hopefully it will have both.
(I just looked at my post and they are all both CC and CV.)

 

[PCBuds]

I've used good quality supplies and never had a problem from normal usage. I even have a passing light in a hallway that is run by sensor and it stays on juat for 5 seconds after detecting movement. It's over 10 m of rgb strip driven from a psu that is shut off by solenoid relay after each activation. Has 3 years already and still works. So it's probably not generally a rule they will break from too much on and offs.
Also, what I was saying is that in my tests, a psu loaded at 40-60% had about 15-20 W extra power draw compared to output. At 80 to 90% it was less than 10W (8 I think). So there you go, 10 W less and one psu instead of 2.

Wow, OK.
I didn't know that.

I just checked and my supplies are drawing 8 Watts each at idle with the outputs shut off.

And then there is another 10 Watts each wasted when they are running with the with the outputs on.

I think that I will switch everything over to a single supply.
That will give me 2 spare power supplies in case of failure.

I may still leave the single supply running all the time, but f-e, who was helping with my switch to LED strips, said that leaving them running was unnecessary.
He had never heard of it.

I suppose my cheap Chinesium knockoff power supply may be an issue, but perhaps not.

The guy that wrote in saying that his power supply failed, may have just blown his fuse.
You have to open up the case to replace the fuse, and most people don't know how to do that sort of thing.

It would be easy enough to switch things over, but I definitely need all four Ammeters for a constant reading.
The voltage is almost irrelevant.

I'm going to have to do some math on all my strips, especially since I just added 12 more.

I don't want to go past about 90%.

When I checked out what I thought was the exact same power supply on Amazon, it was now listed as 400 Watts instead of 500, so they were probably fudging their numbers and had to reduce the number because of too many failures ??

We had tens of psus running in that project so 10W per piece made for a hefty montly economy. For you it may not matter, but I shared this to you in case you might care.

Yes, I do care, and thank you.

I like to be well informed but I have a problem with getting lost in all the science, math, and numbers.
I've flung off on a tangent with many things with my grow.

I like to learn as much as I can, then try to bring it back to something simple, and just keep the things that seem to matter most.

 

[PCBuds]

My new closet plant...

 

[PCBuds]

Closet plant...

Window plant...

She's drawing nutrients out of her cotyledons, but that may have been from before...

I'm going to LIFTA...

 

[PCBuds]

My closet planter was pretty much dry with only 1/2" of water on the bottom, so I decided to water it with a light nutrient solution.

It might be a bit early, but I think she'll be OK.

I tested the water at the bottom of the cooler, and it was at 7.1 PH, so I mixed up my solution to 5.9.

I decided to put my window plant in the closet, where it's warmer and has more light.

The closet plant is bigger than the window plant even though the window plant is 18 days old and the closet plant is 8 days old.

I started two seeds when I started the seed for the closet.
One went into the closet, and one went into a planter that I put in my parts car.

The one in the parts car didn't make it.
It didn't get frost in the car, but it was pretty cold, and it went close to freezing for a few nights.


I intend to put the window plant in the planter outside when it's warmer out.

I didn't want to bring the planter inside the house for fear of bringing bugs in.
I reused my coco coir/perlite mix from last year which was stored in the garage.

 

[Aby Z G³ow±]

Nico grow man you use a carbon filter?

 

[PCBuds]

Nico grow man you use a carbon filter?

No.
Just a regular furnace filter to help keep dust out of the closet.

My plants don't smell too much and it's legal for me to grow 4 plants, so I don't care if anyone smells them.

I did grow a plant a while back that did smell quite strong.
The smell got a bit nauseating after a while.

 

[PCBuds]

My two seedlings are doing ok.

The closet plant is way bigger and happier.

They both have their third set of leaves starting.


The closet plant...

The window plant...

She is really drawing from her cotyledons. They are completely yellow.
I want to give her some nutes, but I'm afraid of making her too wet.

She is in seedling starting mix which can get too wet and drown the roots.

I'm going to LIFTA for a few days until she dries out more .

I drilled holes through the yogurt container so she can hopefully breathe and dry out faster.

I think that she'll be fine.
I figure that I'm just hardening her off before she goes outside.

 

[exploziv]

Looks like overwater or overfert or both.