Dusting off and updating my stealth cabinet. ****** CHERRY PIE GROW JOURNAL INCLUDED ******

Hello all im new to this forum and a novice at growing. But I decided to pull out my grow cabinet, clean it up, and update it. Hoping the bad juju on my green thumb is gone. The cabinet i got is 67" tall, 11.5" deep, and 14.25" wide. So far ive taken it apart, sanded all old paint off with 80g paper. And repainted most of the cabinet with acrylic flat white. I also bought new white hardboard backing to replace the old backing so i can reposition my intake vents, fans, and add some electrical outlets with trip control in the chambers.

For ventilation ill be using one Delta 120mm fan and with zens diy carbon filter. Ill give the fan a good cleaning before it goes in. For the fans power source. ill be using a laptop charger ( 12v 5amp output. The fan really pushes some air with this power source. Ill be adding onto the back of the cabinet to give the fan some space and routing the ventilation structure and electrical wiring.

I plan on making a seedling/veg chamber 15" in height, 11.5" deep, and 14.25" wide. Lightning may consist of two 300w cfl tube bulbs. Might go a lower wattage cfl seeing the grow space isnt that big. Or i may do 2 - 3 18w full spectrum led screw in bulbs.

The flower chamber will be 28.75" tall, 14.25" w, 11.5" D. I want to go with a low budget led grow light for my flowering chamber but im not sure which one is suitable for the grow space. If i cant go led then ill go with cfl.

Both chambers will have a bubbleponic systems w/ 1 gal resivors, 10" bubbler stone, and an air pump for each reservoir.

 

Yes id rather diy. Most times it cheaper in the long run. Plus it keeps ke busy lol. Ill check out your cob led

 

Got majority of the cabinet put back together, and sealant around all the joining points inside of it. Still have to put in some shelves.
Also got my fan taken apart ready for cleaning

 

I have a some questions about the ventilation holes. The exhaust fan hole is a 4.5in hole ( Already cutout ). Should i make the others the same size, or go smaller? 1st pic is a mock up of my blueprints, of the ventilation system. The black styrofoam circles are the intake and the black square foam and fan are the exhaust.

The second question refers to the dimensions in the 2nd and 3rd pic for the exhaust fan. If i add the backing on with just 2" for deepth, will the fan work against its self or would it be fine? Its only 2in deep where the fan is at, and 3in deep the rest.


And speaking of the styrofoam sheets. You can get them at walmart in the craft section or school section. They are cheap and can be used for noise isolation. I cut some out for my fan and carbon filter adapter ( aka drain grate ).

 

Sounds good. I was going to seal everything off to be safe.


Ive changed up the vent routing a little. Ill be able to add electrical outlets and not have to worry about the gang box blocking or taking up air flow space. And the exhaust fan has the same 2in depth but a 6" exhaust port instead of 4". The outlet will go to the left of the fan and wont interfere with with air flow. Unlike in the 1st routing pic.

 

Zen Carbon filter will go on the inside of box. It will block out light. Im also sparying the whole back with flat black hoping to dim any unwanted light.



********UPDATE**********

I got the 4.5in holes cut out and the boards for the ventilation system held in place by 2 or 3 screws for mock up. I think im going to roll with this setup.
Next up is to get some outlet gang boxes and install them

 

Got the gang boxes installed. Had to add some wood so i could mount them. I put liquid nail around all yhe gang boxes and there mounts. I also went around the whole back side with liquid nail. Thats all i got done for now. Time to let the liquid nail to set overnight.

Next on the to do list will be get a 20ft extension cord with 14ga wire, chop it up, and run all the electrical wiring. I want 10ft of cord coming from the back of the cabinet so it doesnt have to sit next to an outlet in a room. The other 10ft will be enough for the electrical wiring for the cabinet.

 

Question on electrical wire size. In the beginning i stated i wanted to do 14awg wire for the outlets and cord. Do you think it will be safe with 16awg instead of 14

 

I seen that while researching. But then the thought came to mind...... How many of us micro grow people threw some cfl bulbs on a 16awg power surge, and connected it to another 16awg power surge along with all other electrical components and didnt burned the house down or have electrical issues. Not saying it cant happen though. That was the reason for the question. Now if i was building a room and adding new outlets then i wouldn't have asked.

 

Lights will be screw in full spectrum led bulb or cfl/led bulbs from the hardware store

 

Lol neither am i. Thats why i asked hoping someone with more knowledge could help out. But i think 16gauge will be acceptable for what i will be running. Just want to double check