Custom growbox and progression using CFL's

GrowTech said:

things are looking interesting in here

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Got any thoughts on my growing fun?

no offence but if you cant control the temps in a cfl box you dont stand a chance with a 400 w hps...............

bigd921 said:

no offence but if you cant control the temps in a cfl box you dont stand a chance with a 400 w hps...............

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Not even if the HPS is air cooled?

Plus at the point I get an HPS, I'd have a good exhaust set up for the grow box (in addition to the air cool fans attached to the HPS' cool tube) . Right now, the grow box doesn't have exhaust for ventilation to remove stale hot air.

UPDATE:: Today I got my box rigged a little better, installed a thermostat controlled space heater to help regulate temps, repositioned lights and fans etc. We'll see how my temp monitoring goes now with the temps outside dropping and this heater...

I had everything turned on, it works but...when the heaters heating element comes on, you can hear the circulation fans slow down (not much...just a little). This scares me...I don't want to burn the building down by running to much juice....this ALSO scares me to get an air cooled 400w HPS...maybe I should get a 250w HPS instead...or just stick with this current setup and tweak things....ehhhh...decisions.

AT MINIMUM I need to exhaust hot air from this box while the lights are on. I need to read up on how many watts/volts (whatever???) are able to safely run on a receptacle. I have split my gear out between 2 receptacle's for now...not sure if that helps (can these electric lines catch fire????). Anyone know? Help.

I plan to update with pics soon.

Thanks again all.

I did a little research...and the recommendation is that you do not exceed 80% capacity of an electrical circuit. Apparently, for a 15 amp circuit 80% is around 1800 watts. I believe I have a 20 amp, but even that isn't much higher. I'm going to add all my gear's watts and figure out what I'd be running if everything ran at the same time. I do NOT think I'm up around 1800 watts, but I know some of these space heaters can suck up a lot of watts, some 1400 watts or more (mine is very cheap...bought at wally world, hopefully it is lower than this).

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/On_a_15_amp_circuit_how_many_lamps_can_you_have_and_do_you_just_add_up_the_wattage_of_the_bulbs_to_get_the_proper_wattage_for_that_circuit

Pics still to come...

It looks like the space heater I bought has a low and high setting. The low runs at 1000w and the high runs at 1500w. I'm ok for now, but when I build/upgrade my box to HPS...increased ventilation...etc, I may need to figure out another way to heat the box. 400w HPS+wattage of circulation fans+wattage of HPS air cool fans+wattage of ventilation fans=a lot of watts...if I add this space heater at a 1000w (low setting)...I'm sure I'll be getting darn close to the 80% capacity of a 15 amp circuit (if not exceed it).

I'll figure it out...I just hope all this helps someone.

Update: Well, I fixed the heat problem/variable temps (as long as the temps stay the same or go lower outside). I made a trip to the grow box this morning and the temp was 73 degrees. It's 40 degrees outside, so this is a HUGEEEE improvement from the past few days (temps had been high 80's and even low-mid 90's at times...there was one day where it went to 98 and I FREAKED out).

Next thing to add is a fan to bring in fresh air. I also want to build a door set on a lock and hinge.

I'm happy right now . Hopefully things will start to progress faster and I get a decent yield. This plant is very very bushy...I hope she's a good girl .

Pics still to come.

i have the same temp problem. my grow is in a building and its getting to the freezing point outside.

so far, i havent dropped below 50 (for when the plant thinks its night) but i'm getting concerned. Your last post says you fixed this problem w/o a heater. HOW?

and your right about the 80% thing. is there a different circuit (in the area) that you could power your heater on?

FLOWER PIMP said:

i have the same temp problem. my grow is in a building and its getting to the freezing point outside.

so far, i havent dropped below 50 (for when the plant thinks its night) but i'm getting concerned. Your last post says you fixed this problem w/o a heater. HOW?

and your right about the 80% thing. is there a different circuit (in the area) that you could power your heater on?

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Actually I fixed the problem WITH a heater. Here's the one I bought: Walmart.com: SLIM PROF HEATER FAN: Appliances

My new problem is I'm working on reaching the 80% capacity of my line. I'm fine for now, but I'll need to address it in the future if I upgrade my gear. Or I'll need to find another way to heat things up during winter (1000w heater is killing my wattage use).

As far as the circuit, there is a main line that runs to the building, and then it's split out to multiple receptecles/lines (I think 3). I am running the heater on a different receptacle than the receptacle the lights/fans are using. I don't know if it helps, but I know the fans seem to not slow down as much set up this way.

mary.chiva said:

Actually I fixed the problem WITH a heater. Here's the one I bought: Walmart.com: SLIM PROF HEATER FAN: Appliances

My new problem is I'm working on reaching the 80% capacity of my line. I'm fine for now, but I'll need to address it in the future if I upgrade my gear. Or I'll need to find another way to heat things up during winter (1000w heater is killing my wattage use).

As far as the circuit, there is a main line that runs to the building, and then it's split out to multiple receptecles/lines (I think 3). I am running the heater on a different receptacle than the receptacle the lights/fans are using. I don't know if it helps, but I know the fans seem to not slow down as much set up this way.

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Lets see. It might be a good idea to find out whats going on for fire hazard reasons. Just my opinion.

Does the main line running into the building enter into a breaker box of any kind? If not, its most likely that the outlets are ganged to together. Which do not offer the wire any relief.

OR- what is the size of the breaker that shuts off the building electric? If its 20amps (as I think you mentioned above) your good to about 80% of normal use. Which is 16 amps or 1920 watts.

How far does the electric run from the main breaker box to the building? (if this is a large number, I would back that off to 75%) again just my opinion.

Dont forget to include any lights in the building that actually light up the building or other utilities consuming power.

Electric fires are way common. even more common if the wiring is old.

now, i'm gonna check out that heater.

FLOWER PIMP said:

Lets see. It might be a good idea to find out whats going on for fire hazard reasons. Just my opinion.

Does the main line running into the building enter into a breaker box of any kind? If not, its most likely that the outlets are ganged to together. Which do not offer the wire any relief.

OR- what is the size of the breaker that shuts off the building electric? If its 20amps (as I think you mentioned above) your good to about 80% of normal use. Which is 16 amps or 1920 watts.

How far does the electric run from the main breaker box to the building? (if this is a large number, I would back that off to 75%) again just my opinion.

Dont forget to include any lights in the building that actually light up the building or other utilities consuming power.

Electric fires are way common. even more common if the wiring is old.

now, i'm gonna check out that heater.

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Dude, your awesome. These are some really good electrical 101 tips.

I suspect the electric run goes to the main breaker box because I know who ran the line. Unfortunately, I can't ask them because I don't have a way to contact. Either way, I need to figure out if it is run to a breaker and what size the breaker is. I already looked at the box, but it isn't labeled, so I'm going to have one my my friends go out to the building and tell me when/if the lights go out when I flip the breaker. Also, the wiring is no more than 6-7 years old.

I'd say the run is about 150-250ft? Is this long enough to scale back to 75% consumption?

Right now, with everything on, including the heater, I'm running at about 1400watts. There are 3 other bulbs that light up the building, but not all come on at the same time (different light switches). In fact, they usually are OFF when the grow box lights are on because I usually go to the building all stealth like and don't turn the building lights on.

I'm glad you told me to check if it's run to a breaker or not...if it isn't, then I'm going to get a professional run done with a big ol' fat breaker. I am not trying to burn anything down. Plus, I have future plans for this building outside of my grow box (requiring more electricity). I may even consider a 2nd additional line...money money money.

I hope this baby starts flowering soon. It's taking forever to start. I need better air exchange (I hope to fix that this weekend) and I need to check my PH.

I have a breaker in my (house) breaker box that controls the building electric along with the upstairs lighting. So that is 4 light fixtures in the house, 8 light fixtures in the building, 4 receptacles, and 1 grow. Bottom line… way, way, way to much on one circuit. Not to mention the wiring is so old the insulation is easy to crumble just by rubbing it between your fingers. By the way this is all controlled by a (new) 20amp breaker. All the upstairs lights and other stuff remains off all the time now that I’m growing. I’m in the process of acquiring the necessary materials to supply my building with its own small breaker panel. This will allow power tools and lights, outlets, a grow, etc. I’m going to supply it with a 240 VAC at 60 amps.
250 feet is fine with new wiring.
Check to see if the other lights go off along with the grow receptacle when you switch the magic breaker off.
With your current 1400Watt load it isn’t so important to introduce any new wiring changes. However, if you plan on adding additional circuitry let me know, I would be glad to discuss this further with drawings and more technical mumbo jumbo. Changing the other lights to CFL’s will help reduce the wattage as they consume much less than incandescents. Sorry to take up so much space, I hope it was useful.



flowering really tests your patience. I'm in like day 3 or 4 and every day i'm like why not?

FLOWER PIMP said:

I have a breaker in my (house) breaker box that controls the building electric along with the upstairs lighting. So that is 4 light fixtures in the house, 8 light fixtures in the building, 4 receptacles, and 1 grow. Bottom line… way, way, way to much on one circuit. Not to mention the wiring is so old the insulation is easy to crumble just by rubbing it between your fingers. By the way this is all controlled by a (new) 20amp breaker. All the upstairs lights and other stuff remains off all the time now that I’m growing. I’m in the process of acquiring the necessary materials to supply my building with its own small breaker panel. This will allow power tools and lights, outlets, a grow, etc. I’m going to supply it with a 240 VAC at 60 amps.
250 feet is fine with new wiring.
Check to see if the other lights go off along with the grow receptacle when you switch the magic breaker off.
With your current 1400Watt load it isn’t so important to introduce any new wiring changes. However, if you plan on adding additional circuitry let me know, I would be glad to discuss this further with drawings and more technical mumbo jumbo. Changing the other lights to CFL’s will help reduce the wattage as they consume much less than incandescents. Sorry to take up so much space, I hope it was useful.



flowering really tests your patience. I'm in like day 3 or 4 and every day i'm like why not?

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No need to be sorry, the information you provided really helped me. I'm sure this thread is going to help a lot of people in the future as well. A lot of great info has already been covered.

I think I may add a small breaker panel to my building as well, that's an excellent idea. Good idea on changing the incandescents...duh (haha!)

Amen on the testing your patience...I've been reading some things online today about slowness of flowering. I'm probably fine...it's probably just a slow to flower strain...and the plant probably wasn't ready to flower yet...even though it was switched to 12/12. I just not to long ago (during 12/12) had "alternating nodes"...apparently this is when a plant is mature enough to flower.

Joy.

Whats the point of having the netting on top of the plant? All you're doing is diffusing the light that is above the netting....... I would assume.

Oh, and your box looks like a homeless dude's house. hehe.. Whats up with the blankets on top of it? Its going to insulate the heat into the box.

icurbyou said:

Whats the point of having the netting on top of the plant? All you're doing is diffusing the light that is above the netting....... I would assume.

Oh, and your box looks like a homeless dude's house. hehe.. Whats up with the blankets on top of it? Its going to insulate the heat into the box.

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The screen is so I have don't to cut the plant and make it shorter. It should grow fine along the screen (we'll find out). I got the idea from the Screen of Green.

As far as it looking like a homeless dude's house, yeah, I guess it does...but a homeless dude's house doesn't smell as good as mine does...haha! I just happened to have the wood laying around pre-cut to the same size, so I built this el-cheapo box. The blankets and such are to keep the heat in the box because the grow box is in a non heated, non AC'd building and needs to be self insulated. The temps in the building are the same as outside basically...minus the frost and wind. I need the heat to stay in the box during the winter time, not leave. In the summer, I have a portable air conditioner. My big problem with removing heat is because I need an exhaust fan (temps are pretty much under control finally because temps outside are dropping, my heater kicks on if temps go below 70). I open the door for air exchange right now...but the box needs more.

Eventually, when I have the money and my electrical concerns are addressed, I plan to build a killer set up. This current box will probably be used for a veg box in the future.

Here's a link to the real way of doing the screen of green (ScrOG):

- ScrOG (Screen of Green) Marijuana Growing

I didn't do it right, but that's alright, it should hopefully still be ok.... I plan to have a NYCD/Lowryder grow going soon...I'm not even remotely worried about plant height when I start that grow.

BTW, after reading through the above tutorial, it looks like icurbyou might be right about me losing some light below my screen. The type of screen the ScrOG method uses is WAY more open then the roll of screen I bought at home depot (ScrOG actually has plants grow THROUGH the screen...see pics in tutorial). I'll just leave what I have for now, but I may change it to poultry netting, we'll see. I didn't train my plant for ScrOG...so following the tutorial at this point seems silly.

This ScrOG method looks like you can get some incredible yields if you do it right. I just had a problem with plant height, so I had to do something about it. We'll see what happens....

temps are dropping like crazy around here at night. they were at 26 last night.

i also just added a 400 watt hps to my setup. guess what... 89 degrees inside. it looks like i found my heater. and not to mention a ton more light output.

oh, and i have that same green misting squirt bottle.

Yeah, temps are dropping here too. It was 31 when I went out to the box, and it was a nice 75 degrees inside the grow box. My heater wasn't running either, which means it probably doesn't run very much because of how well the grow box is insulated.

Just keep monitoring your temps . You still might want to think about a space heater while the lights are off though. That way the temps don't get to lower during "night time".

I think my PH is to high and not acidic enough, I have a PH around 7.5. I may add some bloom ferts to increase the acidity and hopefully help with flowering. That, air exchange, and possibly a new screen soon.

mary.chiva said:

I just wanted to show you all what I've been working on the past month or so. Let me know what you think.

I built a 4x4x4 (roughly) box out of 3/4 inch plywood and separated it down the middle (see pics). One side can be used for veg and the other used for flowering. Right now, I just have one plant in flowering cause the 2nd plant turned out to be male :: shrug ::

Right now, I'm using 1 60w 6500k, 4 40w 2700k, and 1 17w grow bulb (mounted to side, see pics). I have more I will add, but not much since it's a small space and it seems to be growing VERY well.

I used all organic soil and fertilizers, using a mix of moisture control potting mix mixed with mushroom compost and earthworm castings.

The pics I uploaded show the grow box construction and progress since 9/4 when I transplanted the plant to the inside. First pic was taken 9/4, the 2nd sometime last month, and the last 3 pics were taken today, 10/12. She has been into flowering for 17 days and is just now starting to show female preflowers. Hopefully she'll start taking off real soon.

BTW, this is also my first grow, so let me know what you think. The biggest two things I think I'd do different is use a slightly larger pot with a bigger base for support, the other, not prune and just let it be.

Suggestions are welcome.

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Do you have any fans or anything in this box?

growman89 said:

Do you have any fans or anything in this box?

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Yes there are two fans on the bottom circulating air.