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tobh's troll cave

Dirtbag said:
Sounds like you need a cheapo 400w HPS bud.
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that's been on my mind too. or, just finally bite the bullet and pick up one of the $100 1000w gavita DE CMH that are all over the local classifieds. if i went that route it would open up the QB boards to getting the microgreens or other indoor gardens going.
 
tobh said:
that's been on my mind too. or, just finally bite the bullet and pick up one of the $100 1000w gavita DE CMH that are all over the local classifieds. if i went that route it would open up the QB boards to getting the microgreens or other indoor gardens going.
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1kw DE in that tent?
I like you man, you're crazy, but I like you...
 
Dirtbag said:
1kw DE in that tent?
I like you man, you're crazy, but I like you...
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haha that's the whole reason i haven't done it yet. unless it's dimmable i'll be frying the plants. even the LED lighting is different than HID, if I can bleach the plants with all 720w of LED, 1kw will definitely wreak some kind of havoc.
 
430w Son agro would be great in a 4x4 tent, I'm not a fan of dimming HID lights as it throws the spectrum out of whack. But a 400 or so HPS with some supplemental LED or even T5's would be awesome, and warm.
 
Dirtbag said:
430w Son agro would be great in a 4x4 tent, I'm not a fan of dimming HID lights as it throws the spectrum out of whack. But a 400 or so HPS with some supplemental LED or even T5's would be awesome, and warm.
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i'll take a look at what's out there. if i can find a hood that would fit between two of the racks in there now that'd be great. the added heat would be very welcome right now, too. mid 60s to low 70s is no way to grow quality cannabis.
 
tobh said:
i'll take a look at what's out there. if i can find a hood that would fit between two of the racks in there now that'd be great. the added heat would be very welcome right now, too. mid 60s to low 70s is no way to grow quality cannabis.
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It's not, no.
I'd also add, a batwing reflector on an HPS would allow you to go horizontal without too much of a hotspot. That's the main thing I dont like about HPS running horizontal, is they can throw wicked intense hotspots without a light diffuser or a really well designed reflector.
 
Dirtbag said:
It's not, no.
I'd also add, a batwing reflector on an HPS would allow you to go horizontal without too much of a hotspot. That's the main thing I dont like about HPS running horizontal, is they can throw wicked intense hotspots without a light diffuser or a really well designed reflector.
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that was a primary reason i went LEDs when I got back into this hobby. In college I can't tell you how many reflectors I tried, eventually just wanting to go vertical because of how much a PITA the hot spots can be.
 
but a batwing, if sized right, could fit pretty nicely in there and won't compromise height restrictions too severely. time to start lookin i guess
 
I'd honestly consider just tossing a 150w Halogen floodlight in there. Maybe not pointed at the plants, but at the bottom of the tent near the air intake. Would give you decent reflected light and likely bump the temps up just enough for cheap.
Have to be careful not to overheat the root zone though. But if you point it right at the incoming air, could be just the ticket.
 
What if you hung a small umbrella light in there? The bulb would be vertical and eliminate the hotspot issue. You could supplement with LED's if you got a small enough umbrella.
 
Rootsruler said:
What if you hung a small umbrella light in there? The bulb would be vertical and eliminate the hotspot issue. You could supplement with LED's if you got a small enough umbrella.
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primary concern is still height. I haven't measured, but the QBs are currently about 28" above canopy if I had to guess. These plants are leggy, too, so gotta be very cognizant of the height for obvious reasons.

Dirtbag said:
I'd honestly consider just tossing a 150w Halogen floodlight in there. Maybe not pointed at the plants, but at the bottom of the tent near the air intake. Would give you decent reflected light and likely bump the temps up just enough for cheap.
Have to be careful not to overheat the root zone though. But if you point it right at the incoming air, could be just the ticket.
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i might give that a go. In fact, part of my problem is possible the air intake being forced via a second ACI T6 that runs at the same speed as the exhaust fan (both on the same controller). So, not only is the cold air coming in from 4" above the concrete floor, it's being pulled in at roughly the same rate as the exhaust is being pushed out so the tent runs only about 3F above ambient with the LEDs running at 85%.
 
Dirtbag said:
Honestly, a 400w HPS won't come close to the performance of a 700w LED.
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so, i'm running six QB boards that total 720W, each running 240W at 100%. I don't hit 100% ever because, well, no CO2 and that's a fuckton of PPFD (brighter than sunlight on a clear day). the lighting performs great, but doesn't offer enough heat in this new space. Definitely see a lot of value from replacing one set of QBs with a HID, at least for winter months.
 
tobh said:
so, i'm running six QB boards that total 720W, each running 240W at 100%. I don't hit 100% ever because, well, no CO2 and that's a fuckton of PPFD (brighter than sunlight on a clear day). the lighting performs great, but doesn't offer enough heat in this new space. Definitely see a lot of value from replacing one set of QBs with a HID, at least for winter months.
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Ahhh, well then yeah, a 400 in a batwing with a couple QB's for supplemental. Maybe even set one up for underlighting.
 
now you got the gears turning.

swap out the center set of QBs with a 400w HPS, and could likely dial back the other two sets of QBs to 40-50% and still push enough PPFD while getting the heat up a bit. might try the halogen thing first but it makes me nervous as there's not a lot of room under the platform which is built with wood and plastic -- flammable shit.
 
Rootsruler said:
What if you turn off your intake and allow more heat to stay in the tent for longer? It may not take it where you want it but it may warm it up a bit without having to do anything other than turn a fan off.
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i was thinking about that too. the primary reason for the intake is to prevent sucked-in sides on the tent. to keep humidity in check the fans run at 70%, but if i can work out a reasonable way to keep the sides from going tweeker-cheek style, turning down the intake fan would be great to free up a little amperage on the circuit.
 
Dirtbag said:
Or put a fan speed controller on it.
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it's on a speed controller, runs on the same controller the exhaust fan does. can't run different speeds, though, and my dumbass threw the second T6 controller away because my previous smart thoughts were "i'll run em together, will never need a separate controller!" fuckin stupid past tobh. he was probably shitfaced when he did that too.
 
tobh said:
i was thinking about that too. the primary reason for the intake is to prevent sucked-in sides on the tent. to keep humidity in check the fans run at 70%, but if i can work out a reasonable way to keep the sides from going tweeker-cheek style, turning down the intake fan would be great to free up a little amperage on the circuit.
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Bro? What size exhaust fan you have and how hard are you running it?

Sounds like you need to open the bottom flaps to get more intake CFM so that you don't collapse the walls.
 
Rootsruler said:
Bro? What size exhaust fan you have and how hard are you running it?

Sounds like you need to open the bottom flaps to get more intake CFM so that you don't collapse the walls.
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ACI T6 on both intake and exhaust. rated for 420CFM.

i don't open the vents because i don't like light being visible outside the tent. it's an opsec thing, especially given one neighbor basically has line of site through a window into my garage from their front yard, and the sheriff lives with direct line of sight to the garage door windows (albeit frosted now) from his shop, where he parks his patrol unit.

that's where the intake fan comes into play. it keeps things balanced so the walls don't collapse and offers the side benefit of making some air movement under the canopy.
 
Didn't realize you had a fan on the intake too.
Doesn't have to move a lot of air for a tent, a single exhaust dialed way down is all I used in my tent with no "tweaker cheeks" 😆
Maybe just rig up a light trap for the intake?
 
After i find some curtains i like for the garage, and I get some privacy hedges planted on the property line the opsec issues won't be issues anymore. for now i'm still gotta operate full gorilla though.
 
tobh said:
ACI T6 on both intake and exhaust. rated for 420CFM.

i don't open the vents because i don't like light being visible outside the tent. it's an opsec thing, especially given one neighbor basically has line of site through a window into my garage from their front yard, and the sheriff lives with direct line of sight to the garage door windows (albeit frosted now) from his shop, where he parks his patrol unit.

that's where the intake fan comes into play. it keeps things balanced so the walls don't collapse and offers the side benefit of making some air movement under the canopy.
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Gotcha!! (y)

Then a speed controller set a lower speed to keep the walls from sucking in...

 
tobh said:
After i find some curtains i like for the garage, and I get some privacy hedges planted on the property line the opsec issues won't be issues anymore. for now i'm still gotta operate full gorilla though.
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Limo tint the windows????
 
Dirtbag said:
Didn't realize you had a fan on the intake too.
Doesn't have to move a lot of air for a tent, a single exhaust dialed way down is all I used in my tent with no "tweaker cheeks" 😆
Maybe just rig up a light trap for the intake?
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tried that before, 420 CFM is pretty hardcore for a 4x4. if it weren't for the humidity i'm battling i would turn the fans down. with the garage at a steady 30%RH the tent still sits mid to high 60% almost consistently. that's even with the dehuey exhaust pointed right at the intake inlet. can't wait for the second defoliation, i'll be able to manage RH better again.

all these microclimate issues are the whole reason for the plans to build a dedicated space for this crap. not only is a PITA getting dialed in a new place, but when you're dealing with 16sqft of surface area, the swings in heat and RH are crazy difficult to get right. Doesn't help the garage is close to 350sqft if i had to guess, so for a dinky little space heater and 70 pint dehuey, it's a lot of space to heat while battling leaks through 1/2"-1" gaps around the garage doors.
 
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