285w LED box

apoulin

Well-Known Member
I started germinating 6 seeds last night, placed them in a moist paper towel and put it in a ziplock bag, placed it under my home theater receiver and waiting for them to pop. They are all a real nice dark color and looks like no duds (knock on wood).
I figured I already have a tub top for 6, so worst case scenario I have 6 females (lol worst case scenario I have 6 girls) and have a super tight 12/12 grow, but I'm factoring in the male error here. Two of the seeds are Kandy Kush seeds I bought and the other 4 are bad seed from some nice stuff I got my hands on. So I can remove the males as they rear their ugly balls and still have some hope for a crop.
So I'm starting with 6 and can cut down or move to another box accordingly.
I was thinking of setting up a smaller box and putting my unused CXA3070 and my 4 vero 10s as a mother/clone box, that way I can get a small perpetual grow going.

Veg box - cxa3070 3k, 4 Vero 10 5k
Flower box - (4) cxb3070 3k

This would eliminate the extra time to start from seed and would allow me to pick 2 or 4 solid clones for that Flower box and really fill them out, it would also eliminate the male population.


bongsmilie:peace:
 

apoulin

Well-Known Member
6/6 ain't bad :bigjoint:

They are going into jiffy pellets under a dome until they poke through the surface.

I usually only use a cfl until I see the first set of true leaves, then I put them under the leds and we are off to the races.

I am still finishing little spots on the box, everything should be finished and the babies should be in it by the end of the weekend.

bongsmilie:peace:
 

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apoulin

Well-Known Member
So all plants sprouted and they are all about 2" tall. I was finishing the box, had the res set up and pumps running. My next step is to get a circuit set up to dim the driver to help control heat as well as light intensity.

I added a larger CPU fan and also added a duct to exhaust the hot air from the growing area out through an exhaust vent I made in the back of the cabinet. So the hot air is sucked up through the top of the growing area (by lights) and sent through a duct to exhaust out the back.

I wanted to just set something up real quick so I can get the dimmed lights running and check temps. I built my circuit consisting of 90k worth of resistors connected to 10k pot. I was testing the circuit and all seemed to be going well, up until I saw some smoke.......

One of my LEDs came off of the heatsink and the heat (100% power) started to burn the adhesive up and started to smoke and smell terrible. I immediately shut the LEDs off, I checked and sure enough the led is completely removed from the heatsink. I am not sure how the LED lifted off of the heatsink, but it was only running for a second or so before being shut off. I do *NOT* think there is any damage as of now.

I used stiff wire for my 4 CXBs as well as for my Vero 10s and I believe this was a mistake. I broke the (-)pad on one of my Vero 10s (will need to get the pico connectors now) AND it seems that the tension from the wires pulled the CXB LED from the heatsink over time. I will be buying flexible wire and changing all of the wiring before I continue, I like to save money where I can but this is *NOT* a money saving corner to be cut. It was a good thing I was here to see this, it could have been a disaster otherwise.

I also will be taking a drug test tomorrow, so *IF* I am able to successfully substitute with synthetic, I might be scrapping these plants. I will be out of state training for the next two months, however during that time I will be building some BIGGER panels and preparing for the next grow.

Just wanted to give the updates.

bongsmilie:peace:
 
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