wat up everybody. im about to start an indoor grow in a small wooden cabinet i have in my room. its about 3 ft tall and 2 ft wide. i was wondering if i can just cut in some holes for ventilation or is a fan necessary? i will probably only be growing one plant at a time in there, possibly two. any info is much appreciated.
My box is about the same size as yours. Here is what you can do cheap and easy: Pick up a few ball-bearing computer fans. You can get great fans at a great price from tigerdirect.com. Fans like this one: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3478786&CatId=494 ... ... You need to find out how many amps they draw. If it doesn't say on any of the packaging, go down to Radioshack and find one of comparable size (120mm) and see what the amperage is. Then, go down to Radioshack and purchase an a/c to d/c power adapter. It just looks like a cell phone adapter. It's like $20: ... ... http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2190632&cp=2032056.2818119.2818335&allCount=45&fbn=Type%2F12V+or+less&f=PAD%2FProduct+Type%2F12V+or+less&fbc=1&parentPage=family ... ... Make sure you get one that is big enough to support your fan(s). If each fan requires .5A (or 500mA) then get something that will handle it. For example, if two fans draw 1amp (or 1000mA) total then buy a power adapter that can handle 1.5A (or 1500mA) and you'll have more then enough. Then, while you are there, purchase some "butt" connectors. You can ask them for help if needed. They look like this: ... ... ... ... Cut the end off the power adapter. On both the adapater and fan(s) strip the plastic off the last inch of all wires. If you don't have any tools you can do it with a knife if you are careful. They make a tool just for this, which helps a lot. Once you have about an inch of bare wire, slip the adapter end into one side of the connector pictured above and slip fan end into the other. Crimp (compress) the connector down with some needle nose plyers. If your fans have three wires, a yellow, red, and black, splice the yellow and red together. The yellow is a switch wire and can be used to turn your fan on and off, but that won't be an issue for you. If you aren't sure which wire is positive on your adapter, touch the wires together while the adapter is plugged in (be careful). If the fans turn in the correct direction, you are good to go. If they turn in the opposite direction of what they are supposed to then you have it backwards. Once everything is crimped you should be good to go . It will look something like this. Notice the little connectors at the bottom of the picture and how the red and yellow are spliced together: ... ... ... ... ... ... You can kind of see what I did for intake in the picture below. I just cut two holes using a circular drill bit and used some black pipe. You can find the pipe in the plumbing section of any hardware store. ... ... ... ... ... ...
Hey Azureblue, that's some very helpful info you've put out there. Figuring out how to wire the pc fans is one of my last obstacles to getting started. What size off butt connectors do you reccomen? Thanks!
Thanks! I believe it was either 16 or 18 gauge. Most likely either would work fine. I picked up an assortment pack that had both from Radioshack for a buck or two. Glad I could help!
You can ditch the yellow cable coming from the fan. It is only a rpm feed. You might be wasting power by plugging the yellow lines to a power source. Cut them off.