JMD's #2 Indoor grow (hydroponic)

heavy "shit"...

There's just flowers popping up everywhere now.. Still wondering if I should trim some of the lower leaves or not.

PetFlora said:

Listen to that voice in your head, at last as it related to removing the lower shade leafs. I remove all below 3rd set as the plants grow

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I'm just torn.. On one hand I want to see how she will do if I do as little as possible, and on the other hand I want to get the best possible yield.


Small update on the 200W lamps! I'm about to start the design phase of the electronics! I will also design the circuit to be in compliance with EN55022 for the quasi peak. EMC measurements will be in the range from 150 kHz to 30 MHz.

She's just about 7 weeks old now, which would mean that there's roughly 2-3 weeks left.

She is getting more and more frosty each day. Roughly 2 weeks left.

Very nice JMD!!........for your first time in hydro, everything looks stellar and healthy. You should have seen my first time going hydro, scary shit:O , worse than my organic runs.....lol

+ rep and keep it green grower

PSUAGRO. said:

Very nice JMD!!........for your first time in hydro, everything looks stellar and healthy. You should have seen my first time going hydro, scary shit:O , worse than my organic runs.....lol

+ rep and keep it green grower

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Thanks mate! I'm glad you like it. I have a very scientific approach to everything I do (due to my education), so it haven't been that difficult to control so far. I'm sure this strain is very forgiving as well.

I forgot to mention that the growth has more or less completely stopped now. So after about 7 weeks of growing at an incredible speed, she is now focusing purely on the buds.

In the voice of Yoda: Frosty, she is!

Hi, it seems I can only upload pics directly in threads. So here they are. 20$ on ebay . Drilled holes and threads and put screws in where i will place the 30W cobs, its not finished because the drill broke and i have to get a new one tomorrow. 400W that sounds nice. I guess the space between the cobs i will plaster with 3W...660,630,B,CW,WW salvaging my old DIY panel.

Hey Lax.....got a link to those ebay heatsinks?

unfortunately i dont. I was just patiently watching auctions of used stuff...and finally got lucky and it was even much cheaper than i would have spent on it, luck. "new" i found they r quite expensive in that size. Its about 30x33x3cm. Its a part of a former charging device.

I asked the seller for the former device data. From what he gave me and regarding Efficiency its about dissipating 430Watts... so your guess was pretty darn Close

lax123 said:

I asked the seller for the former device data. From what he gave me and regarding Efficiency its about dissipating 430Watts... so your guess was pretty darn Close

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Hehe nice! It might not always seem like it, but mostly I know what I'm doing
The performance can be improved, for example by forcing air over or through the entire heatsink.

You just need to get started It's fun building your own lamp, and personal reward is great when you see it's working and you get good crops.

Im planning to put two 140mm fans on it. That will cover almost every one of the fins (300mm width). I think the best Investment was buying that thread-drill lol. Its so much fun Drilling holes and putting a thread in. Allowing to easily attach anything i want like hooks, angles, distance holders on the led side and other funny pieces of metal. Also i found that M3 is the ultimate screw Edit:

for example by forcing air over or through the entire heatsink

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Yes it was 430W utlizing two fans, but idk which size. Jmd another quick one: a 3 pin PC fan (3rd is Speed adjust/or rpm idk). Just using +- will it work on just like 5V or does it Need a Speed Signal to run at all because it Needs pmw?

lax123 said:

Im planning to put two 140mm fans on it. That will cover almost every one of the fins (300mm width). I think the best Investment was buying that thread-drill lol. Its so much fun Drilling holes and putting a thread in. Allowing to easily attach anything i want like hooks, angles, distance holders on the led side and other funny pieces of metal. Also i found that M3 is the ultimate screw Edit: Yes it was 430W utlizing two fans, but idk which size. Jmd another quick one: a 3 pin PC fan (3rd is Speed adjust/or rpm idk). Just using +- will it work on just like 5V or does it Need a Speed Signal to run at all because it Needs pmw?

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M3 screws are indeed great If I were you I would flip the fan and force air into the heatsink. Pulling air through the heatsink is great if you can utilize the entire area, by for example covering it with a plate with a hole cut for the fan.

3-pin consists on plus, minus and RPM output. 4-pin is as 3-pin, but with added PWM input.

Thank you,
so 3pin with just using +- should work fine.

Can you give me a very rough estimation how much better cooling would be doing it the way you suggested?
Because cutting a metallsheet and getting those "fan holes" inside probably requires a lot of probably not cheap new Tools :-/

Another one: I have 2 different types of chinese Drivers. IP66 and IP65, they both a have yellow ground?/earth-wire. The IP65 has that wire moulded inside the Driver. The IP66 has +- moulded in and the yellow cable is just hanging in the air at the Output not connected to anything.

Do I Need to connect these yellow cables at all when they are ip66/ip65? or can I just cut them/ leave them unused? I mean the casing of the drivers is metall, but the inside is moulded in epoxy - at least i hope lol.

lax123 said:

Thank you,
so 3pin with just using +- should work fine.

Can you give me a very rough estimation how much better cooling would be doing it the way you suggested?
Because cutting a metallsheet and getting those "fan holes" inside probably requires a lot of probably not cheap new Tools :-/

Another one: I have 2 different types of chinese Drivers. IP66 and IP65, they both a have yellow ground?/earth-wire. The IP65 has that wire moulded inside the Driver. The IP66 has +- moulded in and the yellow cable is just hanging in the air at the Output not connected to anything.

Do I Need to connect these yellow cables at all when they are ip66/ip65? or can I just cut them/ leave them unused? I mean the casing of the drivers is metall, but the inside is moulded in epoxy - at least i hope lol.

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It's difficult to give a rough estimate of the increase, but considering that you don't have easy access to the tools, it might not be worth it.

The IP code tells you how well the product is protected against dust and liquids. You can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code
As for the earting wires.. you don't have to connect them, but it's a good idea - it's for your own safety.

Looking forward to see your completed setup

Thx a lot. Yea i checked those IP codes, so i was wondering why the heck would i have to "earth" them, if I could "drown" them in water. But you say its for my own safety - I still dont get it. If they are fully encapsuled in epoxy or similar in which case could that protect me? The outer Metall encasing would never be "dangerous". Or where am I wrong in that? Im just asking because i mostly have only mains power connectors left that have no 3rd wire/earth. I could aquire some "pc atx cables with "earth", but as I said i dont get it Bonus question lol: im sure its ok but better to ask than to be sorry (for myself because something bad happend). There is no Problem connecting several N & L (e.g. 4 Drivers ->1 mains socket)into two wires that go to one "mains" power socket with a Switch (as Long its below the Switch max 2A @230V), is there?

I tried the 140mm noctua fan found it didn't move much air compared to my 120mm fan. I ended up using 2 120mm staggered with a little overlap to cool all fins. Worked a lot better. A lot of the bigger fans don't spin as fast, gotta closely look at their cfm rating