Planning out my big stealth box... need advice!!!

[TheJiveTurkey]

What up all... so im thinking my stealth box out. definitly the dementions are going to be 4x2x3. I was planning on either putting two 400 watt HPS/MH setups in there, or one 1000 watt HPS/MH setup. I was going to seperate the grow area and the lighting area with a sheet of glass that will be air tight, and vent the grow area and the light area seperately. I was gonna have a small cfm fan for the grow area, with a passive intake, just to keep fresh air in there. And i was going to have a slightly bigger fan as an exhaust for the lighting area with a small portable air conditioner(about the size of a computer tower) outside the box with aluminum ducting pumping cold air into the light area. The only reason im making the seperate ventilation is because i realize its alot of watts in such a small box. Do you guys think this vent idea is neccary? and this brings us to my second question. Im doing a soil grow, so theres no electirc parts to my grow method. Im using, like i said, either 800, or 1000 watts of lighting. Im using the small air cooler(if you guys think its neccary) And finnaly my exhaust fans(roufly 50 cfms for the grow area and 100 cfm for the light area exhaust<<<subject to change if u guys think thats not the right cfms) as well as the timer and thermastat. with all of that said could i plug this entire box into a normal wall jack? i know thats alot of watts, but seeing as how this is sapose to be a stealth box i cant really dedicate a fuse box to the fukin thing.

So after reading all of that...
1. Do you guys think its neccary for me to seperate the lighting and grow area with the glass, and vent them seperatly, using an air cooler as the intake on the lighting area, and a passive intake on the grow area.
2. Am i going to be able to plug all the electrical shit from this box into a normal wall jack, or am i going to have to use some other method because of its high wattage? if i have to use another method what would that be?
EDIT(added question) 3. Also... ive been doing some thinking here. If id be pumping in cold air, ruffly around 60-65 degrees into the lighting chamber, would a tempature difference like that cause the bulbs to crack... common sence sais u take a hot peice of thin glass and cool it down quickly itll break, but would that be the case here???
any suggestions will help, thanks

[AbLivaSpade]

hey whats up dude?

i have little experience with this (on my first grow as it is) but my good friend has a 400W hps/mh set up in his closet. his closet is about 10' high, and then maybe 2x3 length and width. we sawed holes in his closet door and have 3 computer fans for ventilation (one intake, two exhaust) and we still cant get the temperature below 95 degrees in there. so, based on the fact his area is bigger with the same light, i would say (if its possible) to try to vent the light straight up like you were sayin.

and yeah the ballast has a 3 prong plug that you just plug into the wall. im interested to see what the veterans here say about how to dissipate all that heat.

good luck!

[TheJiveTurkey]

Thanks alot man, that pretty much awnserd my 1st question... the seperate ventilation system is absolutely neccary. and my question wasnt can i physicly plug this system into the wall, i understand i can do that. im worried im gonna plug it in and so much wattage on a normal wall jack is gonna start a fukin electrical fire or something. i wanna make sure this amount of wattage can be handled by the standard wall jack. im totaly and completely iliterate to electricity, so i really need a good solid awnser on this one.

[AbLivaSpade]

i hear ya man, i am by no means an expert on electrical shit. a good example of that would be the computer fan that exploded when i tried to wire it to an old extension cord lol.

based on what i know, i would think if you had a surge protector you should be fine. just make sure theres no fingerprints on the bulb or anything (the oil from our skin on the hot bulb can cause it to explode) and DONT put the hot bulb on the ground or youll have a hole melted in your carpet like i do lol. when i first started (im only using 250W hps) i was real worried about that. i didnt even wanna leave the light on while i wasnt home. but you gotta remember, these lights are also meant as outdoor security lights that can run all night day in day out, theyre built pretty soild.

[AbLivaSpade]

by the way, electrical fires go out if you turn off the power.

[TheJiveTurkey]

Originally Posted by AbLivaSpade

by the way, electrical fires go out if you turn off the power.

Haha... well id rather just do the electrical right, then take the risk.

[InferiorWang]

Originally Posted by TheJiveTurkey

So after reading all of that...
1. Do you guys think its neccary for me to seperate the lighting and grow area with the glass, and vent them seperatly, using an air cooler as the intake on the lighting area, and a passive intake on the grow area.
2. Am i going to be able to plug all the electrical shit from this box into a normal wall jack, or am i going to have to use some other method because of its high wattage? if i have to use another method what would that be?
EDIT(added question) 3. Also... ive been doing some thinking here. If id be pumping in cold air, ruffly around 60-65 degrees into the lighting chamber, would a tempature difference like that cause the bulbs to crack... common sence sais u take a hot peice of thin glass and cool it down quickly itll break, but would that be the case here???
any suggestions will help, thanks

1. In a box that size, I would definitley suggest using a cool tube or a glass pane to seperate the lights from the plants. Heat will build up fast. Use active exhausting with passive intake. Let air come in through the bottom of the box and up and out near the time after taking the heat from the bulb. And you definitely only need a 400w in that box. Anymore is overkill.

2. You should be able to plug the stuff into the wall, but figure out how many amps you're going to be pulling and make sure you don't overload the fuse.

3. the bulb will be fine. i've never seen anyone with a problem like that.

[TheJiveTurkey]

Originally Posted by InferiorWang

1. In a box that size, I would definitley suggest using a cool tube or a glass pane to seperate the lights from the plants. Heat will build up fast. Use active exhausting with passive intake. Let air come in through the bottom of the box and up and out near the time after taking the heat from the bulb. And you definitely only need a 400w in that box. Anymore is overkill.

2. You should be able to plug the stuff into the wall, but figure out how many amps you're going to be pulling and make sure you don't overload the fuse.

3. the bulb will be fine. i've never seen anyone with a problem like that.

1. When i was first planning the box out, 400 watts was my first instinct. However I saw a guy name I and I on the overgrow forums who had a 2x2x3 grow using a 400 watt. He was testing out the theory of using 100 wats per squr foot, then the normal 50 watts everyone else bides by. In like his first 3 grows with 100 wats per, he saw almost a 50% increase in his yeilds. He said the only problem with using 100 wats per was the heat, which is y im gonna add in the air cooler. I definitly want to at LEAST use 600, perferably use 800, and possibly use 1000 watts in this box.

2. how do i figure out how many amps im pulling haha(im totaly illiterate when it comes to electrical shit like this)

[mad4reef]

Hey TheJiveTurkey. I hate to see a fellow 'burgher with bad spelling skills. I think you meant "Light Weight"

How many plants are you planning on growing? You may not need a full 400 watts. You may be able to get away with 250. Just a thought.

Good Luck!

[TheJiveTurkey]

Originally Posted by mad4reef

Hey TheJiveTurkey. I hate to see a fellow 'burgher with bad spelling skills. I think you meant "Light Weight"

How many plants are you planning on growing? You may not need a full 400 watts. You may be able to get away with 250. Just a thought.

Good Luck!

Im DEFINITLY not lowering to 250. Like i said i wanna put at least a 600 in there... thats the minimum. I was planning on either putting 2 plants in there, and expecting around 330 grams a peice off of them(thats with the 100 watts per foot) or possibly 4 plants. id of course be doing a scrog. And keep in mind this box is 4 wide 2 deep and 3 high... 250 would definitly not be enough, in my opinion

[InferiorWang]

Originally Posted by TheJiveTurkey

He was testing out the theory of using 100 wats per squr foot, then the normal 50 watts everyone else bides by. In like his first 3 grows with 100 wats per, he saw almost a 50% increase in his yeilds. He said the only problem with using 100 wats per was the heat, which is y im gonna add in the air cooler.

2. how do i figure out how many amps im pulling haha(im totaly illiterate when it comes to electrical shit like this)

The few examples I've seen at overlighting didn't yield quite that big of an increase. And you're still paying twice as much for light to get 1.5x back in weight. Plus extra cooler costs. It's not as incredibly efficient, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do if you need to fit all that in somewhere.


amps = watts / volts. Volts should be 120.

[sarhou]

Oddly, im doing almost the exact same thing.
I have a 3x2x4.5 box with a 400 watt MH. Look at my post "400 watt too big, too hot" for my vent details (4" passive intake with 250cfm exhaust duct fan). I CANNOT get the temp below 96.

Also, the stealth box concept is hard to pull off. If you know how, i'd like your advice. I have a large box from ikea that i put 1.5" wood trim around the inside, weather stripping and then caulked it. Then I have my passive intake hole with is 4", and that lets some light escape to the wall behind it. I've thought about buying some dark gray/black fish tank carbon filters to staple over the holes to dull the light and possibly remove odor (anyone tell me if this is dumb). Not to mention that the light just plain shines through my airtight seal. Maybe its the white weather stripping? With all the fans in there, it's kinda loud too.

You should do a little research on lumens and how many the plants can utilize, cause not only do i think you'd have a HUGE heat problem with any light over 400 watts in that small of a space, but i don't think the plants can use that much.

What kind of glass are you going to be using for the seperation? Maybe that's all my box needs?

Hope this helps...

[TheJiveTurkey]

Originally Posted by sarhou

Oddly, im doing almost the exact same thing.
I have a 3x2x4.5 box with a 400 watt MH. Look at my post "400 watt too big, too hot" for my vent details (4" passive intake with 250cfm exhaust duct fan). I CANNOT get the temp below 96.

Also, the stealth box concept is hard to pull off. If you know how, i'd like your advice. I have a large box from ikea that i put 1.5" wood trim around the inside, weather stripping and then caulked it. Then I have my passive intake hole with is 4", and that lets some light escape to the wall behind it. I've thought about buying some dark gray/black fish tank carbon filters to staple over the holes to dull the light and possibly remove odor (anyone tell me if this is dumb). Not to mention that the light just plain shines through my airtight seal. Maybe its the white weather stripping? With all the fans in there, it's kinda loud too.

You should do a little research on lumens and how many the plants can utilize, cause not only do i think you'd have a HUGE heat problem with any light over 400 watts in that small of a space, but i don't think the plants can use that much.

What kind of glass are you going to be using for the seperation? Maybe that's all my box needs?

Hope this helps...

Im not sure what kind of glass ill be using, but here is the consept. Link

My idea to stealth this box is not to make the box look stealthy at all, but to simply hide the box. I have a double sized matress loft in my bedroom. The space between the floor and the bottom of the matress is roufly 5 ft. what i did to it was box the entire bottom part of the loft in with wodden studs, and wooden paneling. then put a built in dresser, and a small closet into the paneling. If you can understand what im saying theres a 2 1/2 ft space between the closet and the dresser in the loft. I put hinges on this peice 2 1/2ft wood, and a lock that u cant see, so u cant even tell its a door. So the box rests sideways between the closet and the dresser underneath the loft. To take it out ill just have to is open the little door, and slide the thing out, and no one knows its in there. You could say this is the best under the bed grow ever hahaha. If you wanted to you wouldnt even have to install the dresser or closet at all, and the entire space underneath the loft could be your grow room. I decided to add the closet and dresser because its a little more stealthy(i live with my parents haha)

[sarhou]

Lol nice plan. I'm not that crafty. Your parents won't notice the small a/c unit? Speaking of which, where can you get something this small, and how much does it cost.

I think the kind of glass you have seperating the compartments is pretty important, as most glass doesn't contain heat. Could someone knowledgable about this tell me what glass/clear material i should buy to seperate or enclose my fixture?

[TheJiveTurkey]

Originally Posted by sarhou

Lol nice plan. I'm not that crafty. Your parents won't notice the small a/c unit? Speaking of which, where can you get something this small, and how much does it cost.

I think the kind of glass you have seperating the compartments is pretty important, as most glass doesn't contain heat. Could someone knowledgable about this tell me what glass/clear material i should buy to seperate or enclose my fixture?

Im getting my glass at a local glass factory, right down the street in fact. I already called and all they need is the demensions you want, and they have it ready for u in a few days. Idk if theres anything like this near you, but id check the yellow pages. And the its not an ac unit. They call them air coolers. Its basicly the same system as how u cool a refrigerater. The one i bought is not much bigger then a server box, so ill simply mount it to the side of the box so it slides in and out right along with the box. You can buy them at your local Home Depot... or possibly even walmart. The key thow is finding one that has a fitting for ducting for the output, so u can hook it up to the box. The one I found was at Home Depot, and ran me like 150 bucks i think. The only problem with it is it regulates heat according to the tempature outside of the box, so i need to figure out how to wire the thermastat on the thing so it reads the temp inside the box