2 Vertical 24" Floresent Bulbs with Homemade LED Lighting in a 17X15.5X32in Grow Box

Hello,<o></o>
I am a semi experienced grower, but this is the my first vertical lighting system. I am excited to start this project and appreciate any advice or comments if anyone has any. I read a thread relating to LED systems and decided to try a homemade LED system of my own. I choose to use LED grow lighting because of my limited space issue and the fact that LED's are small and can go anywhere. Here is some of my starting supplies.<o></o>
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Setup Specs:<o></o>
Floro Lighting : 2X 24" Grow Lights<o></o>
LED Lighting : 20X 5000MCD Blue LED's<o></o>
20X 1000MCD RGB Changing LED's<o></o>
40X 10,000MCD Red LED's(Installing Later, Just before Flower starts)<o></o>
Ventilation : High Flow Fan Fitted with exhaust tubing(Dryer Vent Tubing)<o></o>
2X 80mm PC Fans<o></o>
Power Source : AC -- Floresent Bulbs, ATX Power Supply, Hydro Pump, and HF Fan<o></o>
DC -- LED's, 80mm Fans, and Load Cooler(Power Terminal)<o></o>
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Project One: The Power Source, turn a ATX PC Power Supply into a DC Lab Station with 3.3v, 5v, 12v, GND, -12v, and -5v connections
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In order to use LED's you must first have a DC power source, I recommend 150W but I'm going to overkill and go with a 600W unit so that I can run it as a lab station too. To start the project the following is needed(All can be found at Radio Shack).<o></o>
1X ATX Power Supply<o></o>
1X 24 Pin to 20 Pin Adapter(Optional)
1X Radio Shack Project Box
1X Blank Project Board
1X 20mm DC Fan<o></o>
1X 10Ohm 10W+ Resistor<o></o>
1X Packet of Heat sink Compound<o></o>
6X Binding Posts<o></o>
1X Package of Heat Shrink Tubing(Multi-Size)<o></o>
1X Spool of 24AWG Insulated Copper Wire<o></o>
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Tools: Soldering iron or station, electrical solder, and Dremel<o></o>
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Making the Power Controller:<o></o>
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Step 1: Preparing the harness<o></o>
Cut the wires from the 20PIN end and label the wires(note: if wires are grouped into one PIN on the 20 PIN side then remember to keep them grouped and connected to each other), use chart below.<o></o>
<table border="1" cellpadding="2"><tbody><tr><td> Pin 1 </td> <td> Pin 2 </td> <td> Pin 3 </td> <td> Pin 4 </td> <td> Pin 5 </td> <td> Pin 6 </td> <td> Pin 7 </td> <td> Pin 8 </td> <td> Pin 9 </td> <td> Pin 10 </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 3.3V </td> <td> 3.3V </td> <td> Gnd </td> <td> 5V </td> <td> Gnd </td> <td> 5V </td> <td> Gnd </td> <td> P_OK </td> <td> 5VSB </td> <td> 12V </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Oran </td> <td> Oran </td> <td> Blk </td> <td> Red </td> <td> Blk </td> <td> Red </td> <td> Blk </td> <td> Gray </td> <td> Purp </td> <td> Yell </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Oran </td> <td> Blue </td> <td> Blk </td> <td> Green </td> <td> Blk </td> <td> Blk </td> <td> Blk </td> <td> White </td> <td> Red </td> <td> Red </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 3.3V </td> <td> -12V </td> <td> Gnd </td> <td> P_ON </td> <td> Gnd </td> <td> Gnd </td> <td> Gnd </td> <td> -5V </td> <td> 5V </td> <td> 5V </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Pin 11 </td> <td> Pin 12 </td> <td> Pin 13 </td> <td> Pin 14 </td> <td> Pin 15 </td> <td> Pin 16 </td> <td> Pin 17 </td> <td> Pin 18 </td> <td> Pin 19 </td> <td> Pin 20</td></tr></tbody></table><o></o>


Step Two: Prepare the dummy load<o></o>
Using the soldering iron wire the 10Ohm Resistor to some copper wires and heatshrink all the way to the resistor.<o></o>
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Step 3: Solder Time!<o></o>
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Part A: Solder your wanted voltages to the Blank PCB (ie 3.3v, 5v, 12v, GND, -12v, and -5v)<o></o>
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Part B: Trick the system and supply your dummy load.<o></o>
In order for the power supply to kick on we need to trick it to make it think that a computer is attached. To do this we need to connect the dummy load on 5v Source by soldering the resistor to an extra 5v wire and an extra GND wire. The next part has two options; <o></o>
Option 1 - Solder the green wire to a ground making the power supplies main switch the only on/off switch. <o></o>
Option 2 - Solder a Switch to the green wire and GND making an alternative power switch. (Note: The Purple 5v will still be active)<o></o>
Last of all solder your 20mm DC Fan to the board with about 8in of wire length<o></o>
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Step 4: Close it up!<o></o>
After soldering all the wires make sure to cap, tape, or heatshrink any loose ends so as to prevent shorts. <o></o>
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Part A: Solder Wires to Binding Posts tabs.<o></o>
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Part B: Dremel Project box for binding posts.<o></o>
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Step 6: Cool your Load.<o></o>
The dummy load that is connected to your project will emit a lot of head so a cooling system is derived by wrapping 6 wraps of aluminum foil around the resistor and connecting it to the project box metal as a heatsink making sure to use heatsink compound to seal the deal. After that use some type of plastic housing to house your heatsink and fan.<o></o>
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Final Step: Screw, seal, and dremel it all together.<o></o>
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Here is a peek at my partly finished LED Board:<o></o>
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Check this Video Out to see the project in action.
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I will be posting more Info on the LED Board at a later time.<o></o>
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Does anybody have any experience with vertical grow lighting?<o></o>
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Note: this thread was moved

Prior Post Below
Yes I will only be housing one plant. But the concept of my creation is that LED lighting is very expandable in endless ways. I have even thought about wiring enough boards to fill the small Grow Box's walls, but decided against it for budget reasons. <o></o>
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Thanks for the support,<o></o>
-RGNG<o></o>
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Heat Sink Video - I'm thinking of maybe changing design though.
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Well I think its about time too add to the newly moved journal. What I am about to tell you next might deem me as an idiot but here it goes. During the day that I was going to decide what seeds I wanted to use I had found a fat black seed in the corner of my box where I keep my roaches, so I picked it up and headed to my stash of seeds and sat and pondered for a minute. I realized that I had some old sour diesel seed in a bag so I grabbed one old sour diesel seed, one pineapple seed, and my mystery black seed and put them into germination and decided that whichever one sprouts first is my winner. Well the results are in after 3 days the only one to germinate was the mystery seed. So I'll leave it in fate's hand and grow it to the best of my ability.

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Journal Log 1
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Out of three seeds only one germinated.
Seed Strain : Unknown
Germination : 3Days
Soil Type : Schultz Potting Soil Plus (Yes I know its a SIN to use a Pre-Mix but I am on a budget)
Fert type : : 5-3-3 DD(Double Dosed to a 10-6-6) Plant-tone Plant Food
Plant Height : N/A
# of Tops : N/A
Height/Length : N/A


The sinful pre-mix that I will be growing my green in.

Here is the Nutrient Info on the Soil.


This is the Plant Food I will be using to keep my plants fed.



The photo below shows a ready to use peat pellet.


Now it is time to prepare the pot(and yes this includes a smoking to get the creative juices flowin). Do to my budget issues I am using a green bowl that I drilled holes in an a fruit tray to make a pot and tray setup. I also drilled holes in the rim of the bowl so that I can LST. I hot glued the Tray to the bowl and we now have a homemade potting setup.

The 5th Gen Joint that gets the mind a Flowin.


The Homemade Pot


Fill the Bottom with some rock/marbles/plastic chunks to help drainage(Sterilize whatever is used).


Fill In soil and place seeded peat pellet into soil so that it is flush.


Well thats all for today. I will try to answer questions to the best of my ability but what I could really use is some words of wisdom in Vertical Floro lighting and LED Grow Influences, but I'll take any words of wisdom if it will help me.

 

No, I am using a light watering nutrient too every time I water. Those are the only two nutrients sources I'm using for this grow because of the budget.

Grow Cab Begins later today

 

Fellow Growers,
You must please excuse me during this post today. I am just getting to the PC after working a double and finishing the foundation of my grow box, then I smoked some fine white rhino that my buddy had saved for me as a project well done with him, and now I'm here with my last ounce of half ass functionality to share my creation. I am also going to apologize now because I am really, really F-in high.....and tired, so in short I may ramble and not make sense to those who don't speak "nerd" lingo, but I'll do my best make my word sensible to everyone.

UrGrBestFear,
That information was very insightful, more than you know. The problem I have with moving to 115v DC is that my PS only support up to 24v(to those who don't know how I obtained 24v, I simply use a +12v as the(+) and the -12v as the (-), think about it as a number line). I am confused to your statement about the heat issue though, my LED's run no more than 10degrees hotter than the surrounding air temperature. The LED's I'm running are 3.6v max but I am only running them a 3.3v for simplicity issues(No resistor soldering because I get a regulated 3.3v from my power supply). I metered the LED's and got 4988MCD out of a 5000MCD LED so the LED's are running prime. If you were in my shoes how would you run 50 3.6v LED's with the following power available 3.3v, 5v, 12v, GND, -12v, and -5v . I am very limited in budget so buying more than 20 resistors is out of the question, but I do have some electrical supplies laying around. So feel free to give me two examples one on how you would do it on my budget and one on a more generous budget. I thank you very much for your incite it seems you are also very knowledgeable in electricity and electronics as well.

-RGNG

DJNecro,
I had the same question myself, the dummy load itself does not keep the PS running but more or less keeps the PS running at a more stable and accurate voltages when only a light load or no load is on the PS. 90% of all PS have a sensor that feel the load that is drawn to the Mobo(MotherBoard) and when that Load is not present the PS does a quick reset. In a normal operational occurrence it would mean the Mobo is malfunctioning and would cause the PS to turn off leaving only the Purple(5v) standby active, but since we hard wired the PS it automatically kicks back on, this cycle occurs so fast that you only notice this by the occurrence by measuring the voltage fluctuation and abnormally low voltages from all terminals. But your question also got me to thinking, since I have the LED's and a Few Fans wired in maybe that will be enough to keep the load sensor happy, but if not a voltage spike above 3.6v on the 3.3v line would fry all my LED's and I do not know if I want to take that risk. Thank You for the inspiration, I may try to test to see if just the few fans would keep the sensor happy and if they are then hook up the LED's.

-RGNG

Blood_On_Snow,
Thanks for the cover removal tip, but in order for me to do that I will have to change my current mounting ideas. I got it, I can dremel out some of the plastic, It will have to be a project for later, I appreciate the tip. Here is a video of what I got done after work.

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I will add to this post tomorrow by just editing it, so recheck this post. As for now, g-night and peace its time for me to get some sleep before I have to take my g-friend to work in...damn..2hrs, so maybe not tomorrow, but soon.

-RGNG


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Journal Log 2
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Plant Height : 4.25cm
# of Tops : N/A
Top Height/Length : N/A


Building the Grow Box.


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Well Hello again, good news is that the Box is now finished. Lucky news is that I almost fucked the whole project but didn't thanks to precautionary measures I had taken earlier. Heres the story, I got a careless and didn't label the wires to the terminal block and wired the 12v to the 3.3v terminal and visa versa, then when I connected the wires I heard POP.POP I immediately turned the switch off. I had realized what I had done before I checked the damage but lucky I decided to turn off the actual switch on the board so it only made the activity LED's explode. So everything is a-ok now, I will not be getting to in depth with this LOG, do to time issues but for the most part the videos and pics explain most of it.

My Grow Box at 90% completion.



This is the video of the Grow Box Electrical controllers and Venting(Top[intake], bottom[exhaust]). I will go more in depth later About this.
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Peace out,
-RGNG

 

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Journal Log 3
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Grow Day: 4
Plant Height : 6.5cm
# of Tops : 1
Top Height : .75cm
Leaf Width: .35cm
Hood Height from Top of Plant: 17cm



Well its on the 4th grow day and the LED system seems to be a decent success, due to the LED hood preventing most of the light from the florescent lighting I know that most of the growth is due to the LED lighting. I do notice a little stretching of the plant. But at the moment I am not to concerned. Since I have an 80mm fan In place blowing directly on the plant I'm banking on a strong supportive stem.

Does anyone happen to have weekly height logs I could use as reference to other forms of growing (ie. week 1 - 7cm, week 2 - 12cm, ect...). I have been looking through grow journals but I haven't seem to find any weekly height logs or reports. I could use all types of lighting as a comparison, so any height logs will work.


Video of Current setup and Hood Height.
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The Images Below shows really how much actual florescent light gets under the hood.




I look at this setup and think to myself that this is just not to efficient does anyone have any ideas?

I thank all of you guys for the support.
-RGNG

 

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Journal Log 3
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Grow Day: 5
Plant Height : 6.75cm
# of Tops : 1
Top Height : 1cm
Leaf Width: .55cm
Hood Height from Top of Plant: 15cm



Today I made some adjustments to the setup. I first moved the fan to the top of the box(it was dumb of me not to do that in the first place), I remove the light bar covers advised by Blood_On_Snow, and I angled the light bar orientation to maximize light distribution.

Angled Light Orientation:




New Fan Setup:


All comments and Questions Welcome,
-RGNG

 

I look at this setup and think to myself that this is just not to efficient, does anyone have any ideas?