pc micro growers: what are your case temps?

shap3less

Active Member
as the title states, what are you temps inside your case with lights on? i know it should be 72-76*F, but i can't get mine close. ambient room temps are around 68*. i was running some tests and with my thermometer's outdoor sensor hanging in the middle and the thermometer one on the 'floor'. 'outdoor' peaked at 98*; sitting on the floor, it peaked at 86*. i'm running four 23 watt bulbs (3 6500k and 1 2700k for veg, switch for flower) in a box with dimensions of: 13 1/4" x 6 7/8" x 13 7/8" (on the small side, i know, but it was around). i have a 92mm case fan for exhaust (119cfm, loud as balls though :/) and other 80mm (84.1cfm, also loud as balls) that i had put in, but took out since i thought the 92mm could handle it . there's also another 80mm fan inside moving air, but passive intake. is it possible that it's because i'm using a windshield sun reflector that's insulated? if i just got mylar film and not insulated, would that work better? i started germinating yesterday, so i need to sort something out. running without the side on isn't much of any option, but any suggestions?
 

2supra4u

Well-Known Member
if you have somehing in there that insulates, then try without it and see what your temps are.
chances are thats your problem because with 119cfm (is it a tornado? I have one too for my grow) you should be fine in a pc case.
im runnng mine at 4v (its a 12v 1amp) and its keeping my tub cool at 28.5c with 3 30watt 6500k cfls and a diy filter. ive had four in it with a 80mm fan for exhaust and it still did ok
my ambient is about 68-70

grab some flat white spray paint and paint the inside quicker and easier then mylar
 

shap3less

Active Member
yeah, it's a tornado. got the 92mm and 80mm. i have the 80mm hooked up to a 5v ac/dc adapter for an old phone, that's much quieter. and then the 92 is hooked up to a fan controller so i can adjust the speed on that.

ripping out the insulation and seeing how that goes.

oh yeah, i forgot the main reason i did that, now i remember. between the back panel and front panel, there's a lot of holes. i needed to cover them up. might just leave some of it up on those panels and then spray paint the rest
 

2supra4u

Well-Known Member
either get liek alum duct tape and seal all the holes or use cardboard or laminated board to seal the ends (cut to size) then glue them in (after you cut the fan holes).

then paint the inside flat white. or you can do mylar or whatever the paint will be like 5-6 bucks
 

shap3less

Active Member
i was using the chrome duck tape (the brand, i know it's duct tape ;)) anyways..and i was going to use it but i just ran out. thanks for the help
 

shap3less

Active Member
so some pics. before, with the windshield reflector. i guess it would've been okay if it wasn't one of the ones with insulation. and after, spray paint and white duct tape. temps are stable and where they should be. the fan on the rack i might end up taking out..we'll see. and 1 of the seeds i germinated has a root starting to poke out from the shell, and looks like another 2 or 3 are just about to split. just waiting on them now, everything else is good to go.

oh, and 2supra, thanks for the help. i don't know how to send rep/thanks, i guess i might not be able to yet?
 

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2supra4u

Well-Known Member
temps stable with side closed?

no prob dude. no worries I dont really care about that stuff.

but fyi, its at the left bottom of evey post in a thread, little star lookin thing......also if you hover you cursor anywhere in someones post, you will see a "like" appear at the right bottom of a post...above where it says reply ort reply with quote....that is how you like peoples posts aside from rep if you didnt notice it already.
 

shap3less

Active Member
well, it's at least a lot lower then they had been. i gotta get the fan speeds right. trying to find the right combination of noise level and temp control. the 92mm was set at a pretty low speed, i left it running all night with the lights on and it got up to 82*, which i suppose isn't bad. but if i have it at full throttle, it'll keep it temps lower; it's so friggin loud though. i'm using an old cellphone charger to the 80mm fan that's 5v/700mA, i think i need a tad more volts or amps to get that guy a bit faster, so i can turn down the jet engine. i have a 12v/1amp adapter (the 80mm fan is 12v/0.9A) so that's running it at 100%; aka 'prepare for take off.' dunno, just kinda trial and error now. thanks for all the help. i might just run 3 bulbs instead of the 4 i was planning..who knows. still got a day or so til the seeds are ready
 

Frawsti

Active Member
I'm on my phone so I can't copy+paste, check out my topic. I had a bitching time with the temps, it was frustrating as all hell.
 

shap3less

Active Member
no copy+paste? what kind of phone do you have? i had read through yours..several times haha. it is a pain. i think i've got it near perfectly dialed in. just loud. i'm thinking i'm gonna drop down to 3 bulbs so i can run the fans quieter.

oh yeah, something i found at radioshack..it's a multivolt ac/dc adapter. came with like 6 or 7 different 'tips', but i cut the end and hard wired it to the 80mm fan. the plug has a switch to choose 3, 5, 6, 7.5, 9 or 12 volts (at 2500mA, 9 & 12v are 2000mA). the fan is a 900mA fan, so it will only pull 900mA, but the variable voltage allow you to change fan speed. 12 volts = 100% and everything else is lower from there. kind of pricey, ~$35, but it works if you need it
 
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