12 volt dc micro grow. brainstorming/discussion

**carpetflier07** · 03-13-2013, 07:26 AM

Hey guys I'm thinking on my next grow journal I wanna do a 12 volt only setup. Pc power supply, automotive hid headlights, automotive leds, and pc fans for ventilation. I plan to do 12/12 from seed and I would like to use both the flowering spectrum and the vegetative spectrum of light simultaneously. Any input? Good idea, bad idea? I really do think it will work great, it will save me power and the lights and such are fairly cheap. And before I get a stupid response, let me clarify ( I WILL NOT BE USING HALOGEN BULBS) (XENON GAS HID LAMPS)

**sadmandome420** · 03-13-2013, 01:30 PM

a cheap way to do it is go to the pet store and buy a reptile lite... works great for using 2 spectrums...

**growone** · 03-13-2013, 03:30 PM

interesting, i once considered a similar idea with deep cycle batteries/inverter and cfl's
but the lighting tech has moved along, curious on some of the hardware available and its specs

**carpetflier07** · 03-13-2013, 05:04 PM

Originally Posted by sadmandome420

a cheap way to do it is go to the pet store and buy a reptile lite... works great for using 2 spectrums...

I'm going to add a reptile lite to my current grow, I also heard that using a uv bulb more than necessary is detrimental to yield. Idk I'm no expert, but I've read that in so many places. I just wanted to do a 12 volt grow to save electricity, and it will run a lot cooler than this massive hps.

**SnotBoogie** · 03-13-2013, 05:06 PM

Xenon headlights are actually very small Metal Halides. The Xenon gas is only used to ignite them rapidly.

Theres a thread around for it which im sure you've seen, he had good results despite being a total mouthbreather

**carpetflier07** · 03-13-2013, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by growone

interesting, i once considered a similar idea with deep cycle batteries/inverter and cfl's
but the lighting tech has moved along, curious on some of the hardware available and its specs

Look it up there's bulbs and ballast kits for 100 bucks, any spectrum, and all ya gotta do is use a pc power supply, plus on my electric bill it will look like a pc running basically. Idk, but I'm gonna try it.

**carpetflier07** · 03-13-2013, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by SnotBoogie

Xenon headlights are actually very small Metal Halides. The Xenon gas is only used to ignite them rapidly.

Theres a thread around for it which im sure you've seen, he had good results despite being a total mouthbreather

Actually I haven't seen it, but ever since I put those bitches in my car I've been fascinated, ill never use halogen bulbs again. What do u mean by mouth breather? Was he just full of shit? I guess ill search for it.
Ill be sure to take some pics once I get this shit going. But all I can say is its going to be legit as all hell.

**growone** · 03-13-2013, 05:21 PM

if your motivation is energy savings, i don't believe this will help
a power supply will consume some energy in converting line power to dc
though you can setup a micro grow, which may give you a good crop, but it will be smaller

**carpetflier07** · 03-13-2013, 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by growone

if your motivation is energy savings, i don't believe this will help
a power supply will consume some energy in converting line power to dc
though you can setup a micro grow, which may give you a good crop, but it will be smaller

Well right now between my fans, and lights I'm pulling about 1200 watts, and I figured I could power my whole grow using dc lights and fans and only use a 500 watts power supply. This is a rough estimate, but its less than half of what I'm using now.
Good point, and my definition of micro is less than 5 plants. Because I've never grown more than a few at a time.