HEY ALL!, First of all i would like to say hello/thank you for letting me join the community, i had a little trouble trying to find introductions section to say hi/let myself be known but couldnt so thought i would just share some possibly helpful info Ok on to the DIY WINE FRIDGE to STEALTH BOX FOR SEEDLINGS conversion, THINGS YOU WILL NEED: 1 x Wine fridge (working or not) 1 x Electric or heavy duty battery drill 1 x Hole-saw (same size or JUST bigger then Light fitting you will be using may vary) Reflective Lining or white paint (IF NEEDED may vary based on internal colour of fridge) 1 x Light fitting for desired light 1 x Bulb to suit your needs (in my case a 2400k CFL Horticulture light) 1 x Adapter for light fitting (so can plug straight into wall not ballast) 1 x Sunon 22w fan (may vary based on your lighting choice) 1 x small internal fan 1 x seedling heat mat (if required) 1 x tray for catching water inside of said fridge. 1 x standard size phillips head screwdriver 1 x fan wall mount speed dial (optional) I managed to get my hand on/find in trash collections from an old business 2 x old wine fridges, 1 x still working the other just a box. (70cm x 46cm x 46cm) and (50cm x 46 cm x 46cm) are the dimensions of the 2, both had no visible branding so i took them home with an idea in my head and managed to whip this up as follows. Firstly i set up drill for whole sawing through top of the biggest of 2 fridges to place my cfl where i wanted. Now after doing this i did find i pretty much ruined the teeth on my hole - saw and had smoke coming out due to foam internal lining of fridge starting to get to hot from drilling but went through a- ok After doing this, i went to the back of the fridge to find there was an enclosed area for all the cooling/ electronic part of the fridge, (please note pics of the smaller fridges electronics as both pretty much the same and i got excited and started building and forgot to document so i did on the smaller one.) removed the the casing with a screw driver to reveal its electronics board and wiring to which i started to remove via screws/cutting wires until i had an empty square section giving meaccess to the inside of the fridge. Once doing that you will have access to the fan that originally blows cold air from cooling element into fridge, and use screwdriver to also remove that. Once that is removed you should be able to look clearly straight into your fridge, now we fit the SUNON 22w fan (sucking air out from inside fridge not blowing it in) as we will be using this as our DIY extraction, easily re installed using the screws you just removed from other fans. once you have done this, slightly bend 1 or 2 of the grates along back side of fridge so you may neatly feed through the power cord for your SUNON fan,Once you have done this the back of your fridge should look rather neat. THIS STEP IS NOW OPTIONAL I DID BUT ITS NOT NEEDED: now is you have 1 lying around or bought a fan control speed and power switch you can take one like so: (please note mine is this switch BUT is in its own enclosed unit i can screw to something, i am not using a wall mounted 1) take the screws keeping the front part of the box off, it would remove the fan dial and some other loose bits, then remove to expose internals. Now you have done that, 3/4 of the length down the power cord for you SUNON fan, Cut it straight through the cords to expose both your power/earth wires, and install like so ( PLEASE NOTE THIS IN AUSTRALIA not sure if different wiring or what not over seas) (again sorry for lack of explanation on this step as i got excited, rushed in and realized i hadnt been takign photos) and then start to close box up again so no exposed wiring is shown. Now that that is done, insert the Light fitting into where you have cut your hole like so. now screw in your light. Now plug in and close to test heat/fans/lights and all that fun stuff,adding a fan internally on the floor of fridge to move air if needed. NOW, after a good 3 hrs of testing for heat, air movement to make sure it meets your needs/requirements...... insert the tray of choice to act as a your flood tray/water catcher/run off thing or whatever, insert your plants/seedlings and away we GO! ^^ Now (being i am not running AC at the moment) i have added a small fan to the above fridge i use for seedlings, and applied the same steps pretty much for the small fridge to be used as my Clone box and added a small seedling heating tray to combat the heat when lights are off/temp drops regardless here are some pics to show you size difference. Now keep in mind i missed photos on steps as i was excited and charging through it, any more questions or info you need feel free to ask i will help where i can, Again, thank you for letting me join the community i hope to learn heaps and help where i can! Mr_Tryx
Now both ontop of each other, hidden under a window and between my cloths rack, way better use of my space for seedlings/clones
Very cool, brother. I spent forever trying to figure out what to use as a stealth grow box but finally ended up sloping together one out of a cardboard box and Styrofoam. I just started my first grow in it if you feel like checking things out. What I'd really love is one of those big home stereo speaker cabinets... I'm a big audiophile so it wouldn't stand out at all. But for now my cardboard box will have to do, haha. Anyway, great idea. I'd love to see some growth in that guy so keep us posted.
i will have to show/update and take photo's of the new box i have for seedlings/veg as i stopped using this for seedling and am goign to try using it to raise clones in the big one and get rid of the smaller one. decided to bite the bullet and get tent instead of small box so dont want to have the big one go to waste lol