JP's cabinet grow: Planning stage

IT's worth a shot mann in my opinion. I really think that's where the problems' at.

Man it hurts after all that work to pull the reflectors down. Oh well no one ever said it would be easy.
I removed all of the reflectors and its still 90+ degrees in there. I guess the reflectors were not the problem after all. Oh well, was worth a shot.

Anyone have any ideas as to how i can cool my cabinet?

to recap i have two 120 mm cpu fans in two 3 inch holes i cut in the back. I have two fans inside the cabinet blowing on the plants.

I'm not giving up just yet. I plan to grow the plants i have now despite the heat. I am pretending I'm growing outdoors in the summer. Its always above 90 degrees here.

Welcome to Hell Box 2010


We have three plants braving the extreme heat produced by having two 42 watt bulbs in a small cabinet. I am continuing to research cooling and venting threads.. The answer is probably staring me in the face. I wish i had the room for an inline fan and duct work but its a small two shelf cabinet. whatever i do has to be on the outside of the box basically which kills any hope for stealth.

Fedex delivered my ir blocking tape to some one else apparently damn it! checked with the office and no packages for me.
So i am kinda stuck on how to light proof it. The doors are the only things still light proofed. i need to keep some sort of stealth, how ever slight.


Thanks for reading about the continuing adventures of HELL BOX 2010!!

So the reflectors were what you mean by the "insulation?"

Reflectors wouldn't be causing the heat problem, I was kinda figuring you were like throwing towels over your box to keep out light.

List the specific about your box.
Dimensions, materials, equipment like lights fans etc...
what did you use to construct your box. what did you use to seal it against light. what did you use inside for reflectivity.
where are your fans located. How many.

We're gonna figure this out, I swear it!!! =P

Yes the car reflectors was what i meant by insulation, its been removed though, all but the doors. So the thing glows like a lantern on the top and sides and still temps are at 92 degrees.

I have a sterilite 2 shelf cabinet http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-2-Shelf-Storage-Cabinet/8206250

I cut two 120mm holes in the back of the unit. One at plant level, one up high. The one up high i turned the 120mm fan around to make it an exhaust. the lower one is pointed in, supposedly drawing in cool air.

the fans are silentx 120 CPU fans hooked up to a speed controller (yes checked the setting on the controller)

the lights are two 42 watt CFL bulbs inside a stealth hydro reflector. That is hanging on yo yo connectors and hangs from the top of the cabinet.

I have a clip on fan which is blowing on the plants, and a small box fan sitting on the light reflector acting like a "cpu fan"

any ideas are helpful, i appreciate the effort!

HELL BOX 2010

We continue our story as new pictures has been attached. the plants are growing quite well. I seem to get a little cooler if i remove the exhaust fan. it makes no sense to me but today is a cool day so i'll just be happy and shit the fuck up hehe

pic one, bag seed
pic two, bag seed different angle
pic two, short rider

Enjoy

lookin good bro, i know ur worried about the temps but growth doesnt seem to slow, how many days is it now?

How much air do your fans move in cubic feet per minute, thats a value that can help us to help you. Aim for 0.5-1 cfm per watt imo.

These comp fans do not "suck" very well, i do not think i have room for a inline fan so maybe a small vortex fan or something as an exhaust. I need to find something besides comp fans, they are not getting the job done.

The largest plant is 20 days into vegging. the others are younger than that. I have no idea the growth rate since the largest is a bag seed. I plan to veg till they are a little larger then switch to 2700k bulbs and go 12/12. I'm limited on space so i have to flower kinda early.

thanks for the positive words, I'm going to keep working on this box. stay tuned!

hey man, woah you replied fast to that, thanks.

saw your post in mikey peens thread n thought i would mention his plexiglass idea, if i had a reflector and bulbs like yours i would buy a picture frame n use the glass to make a sealed hood which you could make air cooled aswell.

ps is there a button i press so i can get reminded of where this thread is and wen its updated, i really wana hit tht button

+rep to JP from PJ

+REP

If you go advance when replying you can change the subscription setting and that way your emailed when some one posts. That's how i replied so fast.

If i give the measurements could someone tell me the rough square footage of my small cabinet? its 25-3/4" L x 19" W x 35-3/4" H

my noctua fan puts out 54.32 CFM. not sure about the other 120mm fan. I think you may have hit the nail on the head. I need to do something about the reflector and the power of the fans. Thanks a bunch! I will work on that this coming week and see what i can do.

hope you get ur problem sorted, as i hoping to pinch your idea for my new grow box when i move house.
got everything else bt the intake and outake
good luck!!!!

thanks a bunch! I will get it worked out sooner or later. I've decided to make this thing work no matter what. When i go to the hardware store to get some screws i think i will look for a clip fan that might work as an exhaust. If i mount it on the outside of the box and just stick the ass end in the hole i cut, it should exhaust better. I have Ona gel in the cabinet just in case there is a smell during veg.

Im thrilled at the growth so far given the temperatures, I'm hoping for at least one female out of the three plants i have. The two largest plants have roots in the water. I added a gallon of plain water today, It's been a week and the ppm is right on track for veg.

As an experiment, I made both holes into exhausts using the 120 mm comp fans. Temps are holding at 88 for the moment. I will see what it does today. I will need to find replacement fan, I feel i can make it cooler in there if i just increase my exhaust somehow.

I'm still waiting on the IR blocking material, but that's what i will use to lightproof the box. While i am waiting i am researching fans. I found an online calculator and i believe i have 4.5 cubit feet of space to exhaust so it shouldnt be too hard to find a fan that can handle that.

I ordered a 250 mm 100 CFM fan which should do the job very nice. It will be the exhaust fan and i hope plenty to vent the HELL BOX 2010

largest plant is bag seed
Second largest is short rider
third is a bag seed

a 250mm fan will have the added benefit of being virtually silent!

Im really rooting for you man, pun intended.


I hope you can get some of those bigger bulbs you invested in running at lower temps.

I looked at the noctua fans because there decibel rating is really low but the draw back is they dont move alot of air.

the kaze jyuni 120mm fans move a good amount of air too, about 89cfm but they're loud.

Thanks for the advice on posting man, scribed to this thread.

So much for noctua fans, i already broke it. It slipped and one of the blades broke off. My 250mm fan should be here in a few days. Temps are still holding at 88 degrees. I think this proves that a larger exhaust force is needed.

I am encouraged by the temp drop, I am getting close to having the kinks worked out. Just a few more points and ill be happy.

justparanoid said:

So much for noctua fans, i already broke it. It slipped and one of the blades broke off.

Click to expand...

Lol, superglue works wonders, exact same thing happened to me.

low power fans might be useful in a drying box so dont chuck em out, get some glue!

im lookin forward to seeing how this turns out for you, im confident that you will have things dialled in to the number soon.

make sure you got some scales and understand the drying and curing process, i cant wait to know the dry weight!

I'm still hoping for females and spend most of my time on that and vent issues.. but i will make sure i have a full report by the time this planning stage is over. I call this the planning stage since i still have kinks to work out. Temps are still holding at 88, raises to 90 if i use third bulb so i'm using 2 42 watt bulbs right now at 24 hours a day.


the two exhausts really seem to make a difference so my hopes are high the 250mm 100CFM fan will solve this heating problem once and for all.

wow the 250mm fan is huge...It's very quiet. Right now i just have both fans pointed out and temps are holding at 88 with 32% humidity.

I am getting close, just about 8 degrees over ambient. If i could figure out how to enclose my reflector that would really help. Anyone happen to know a diy thread on enclosing a CFL reflector?