Let there be white: mc130p's horticultural adventure continues

mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
Hey everyone, since I've put a new batch of seeds into wet paper towels for germination, I decided to finally start a new thread:)

Grow Space: ~2x3 ft^2 Closet grow tent (modified 3'x3' Secret Jardin tent)

Ventilation: S&P TD Silent TD100 XS

Temperature: controlled 76-80 degrees F range, 78F average with Johnson Controls A419 Temperature Controller

CO2: optional-will be adding at late veg

Lights: CXA3070 3000K driven at 1.7A
CXA3070 5000K driven at 1.7A
CXA3590 2700K driven at 1.05A
Coming soon: CXA3590 4000K driven at 1.05A

All the lights are mounted on copper CPU heatsinks(similar to Noctua NH-D14) with the Ideal COB holders.

No pics yet, the tent is a wreck from the last grow and I need to clean things up a bit...regular updates coming soon though!!
 
FrozenChozen

FrozenChozen

Well-Known Member
Why Cree over Vero/Bridgelux? Those Vero 29's are looking awesome these days.... I have even seen arguments about them beating out the cxa3070s..... I bet you could ask SupraSPL about it, if you're interested....
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
DonPetro said:
Well hurry up would ya!!!
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Haha, there's not much to see yet, but here you go:)
todayspic.jpg

FrozenChozen said:
Why Cree over Vero/Bridgelux? Those Vero 29's are looking awesome these days.... I have even seen arguments about them beating out the cxa3070s..... I bet you could ask SupraSPL about it, if you're interested....
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Hey man, thanks for stopping by:) So, tbh, I'm happy with the CXA's I have so I hadn't really even looked at anything else. That's pretty much the only reason. I think once I get the 4000K 3590 in there, the only lights I'll need to add are some 730nm flower initiators. That was the plan anyway...unless you think there's something else I'd need...I'm estimating about 300W over a little less than 6 ft*ft with the additional 3590 at 1.05A.

My goal is to just get something that works well, and use it for a long time while I work on my growing skills:) I'm not sure if I can get the quantities I need from this space, but I haven't had what I consider to be adequate lighting until now though. So, once I max things out, I might have to add another tent, and grow fewer plants in larger pots....I really like the variety!
 
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Abiqua

Abiqua

Well-Known Member
Is it the Noctua NH? or is a knockoff heatsink with a side mount? Guess I am curious if you are mounting with other than a vertical mount [like the Artic 11's]?
Definitely interested if you are :peace:

That noctua is topshelf, but damn the $$$
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
Abiqua said:
Is it the Noctua NH? or is a knockoff heatsink with a side mount? Guess I am curious if you are mounting with other than a vertical mount [like the Artic 11's]?
Definitely interested if you are :peace:

That noctua is topshelf, but damn the $$$
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One is a Noctua, I got it on ebay for a decent price, but still a lot more expensive than an Arctic 11. It keeps the COB very cool, even at 1.7A. I'm not doing anything fancy to hang them...unfortunately, I still havent figured out the best way to do it, but I really haven't put a whole lot of thought into it either because I've been super busy with several projects at work. So in the meantime, I'm just using some safety wire connected to small holes I drilled to hang them from the top of the tent.

Everything is kind of a bit cobble jobbed right now...eventually everything will be done nicely. Right now, it's safe and won't catch on fire or shock anyone, but it's not pretty, haha. I have plans in the works to build a fan-ventilated enclosure for my power supplies. I'd like jacks on the outside to plug the lights into for quick-disconnection, and built-in timers and relays on din rails I think.
 
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mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
Positivity said:
Sounds good to me mc...can't wait to see it in full swing!

The LEDs should enjoy the top shelf cooling...the extra bulk of a larger cooler than a arctic 11 may offer more insurance in case fans go out. I was surprised mine peaked at about 80*c with the fan off
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Thanks man:) Me too!!


I'm driving them a bit harder than a lot of you guys, so I wanted to make sure that they can be cooled well, even if the fans go out. I tested it by turning the fans off, and after an hour they get warm, but you can still hold your finger on the metal right behind the cob. I have lots of air blowing around the tent, so that probably helped the passive cooling too. The heat sinks weigh about 1kg each.
 
Abiqua

Abiqua

Well-Known Member
mc130p said:
One is a Noctua, I got it on ebay for a decent price, but still a lot more expensive than an Arctic 11. It keeps the COB very cool, even at 1.7A. I'm not doing anything fancy to hang them...unfortunately, I still havent figured out the best way to do it, but I really haven't put a whole lot of thought into it either because I've been super busy with several projects at work. So in the meantime, I'm just using some safety wire connected to small holes I drilled to hang them from the top of the tent.

Everything is kind of a bit cobble jobbed right now...eventually everything will be done nicely. Right now, it's safe and won't catch on fire or shock anyone, but it's not pretty, haha. I have plans in the works to build a fan-ventilated enclosure for my power supplies. I'd like jacks on the outside to plug the lights into for quick-disconnection, and built-in timers and relays on din rails I think.
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Awesome....and like you said, you want something long term as you up your gardening skills. Hell yeah. Nothing wrong with going with the best :leaf:

but I wasn't clear, I am interested in the horizontal mounting of the fans....I guess that's why I was asking. The artic's as I am sure you are aware, has a vertical fan placement and you have to think that even drawing in side air horizontally lower in the air column is more efficient that drawing it from the top where more of the the heat is likely to congregate.

I myself have been looking at beefier coolers than the Arctics and really latched onto to Dynatron's....like this
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
Oh, I see, I did misunderstand. Yes, the fans are blowing the air horizontally through the heat sink fins like the pic of the cooler you posted. I agree that it is a better design for air flow around the metal. The Arctic11 is more of a brute force method than a well-engineered method...there's nothing wrong with them though and the price is right, that's for sure. One thing I really like about the sinks I got is that the fans they came with are all very quiet computer case fans. Seems like the 60 and the 90 mm fans are have too much of a high pitched whine for me....I can hear it above pretty much any other type of noise haha.
 
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ReeferDance

ReeferDance

Well-Known Member
Looking at covering the same footprint with 4 CXA3070's at 1.4a.

Just picked up this little box of digikey, 9"x4.5"x2", gonna cut 2 ~3x3 holes in it and fit some Arctic 11's in there. Already has some holes in it so I figured it would be an easy hang-up and position. Now that I have it in hand I think a bigger one may be more accommodating for 2. They are about $20-30 once you get up to the bigger ones, but definitely a cheap solution to a light panel :-D


Only problem I have now is figuring out how to make the precision cuts.
 
vitamin_green_inc

vitamin_green_inc

Well-Known Member
I'm subbed. What strains are ya running? What is your current plan of attack as far as vegging to uppoting for flower? I know us small-spacers have to worry about pot size and training
:bigjoint:
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
vitamin_green_inc said:
I'm subbed. What strains are ya running? What is your current plan of attack as far as vegging to uppoting for flower? I know us small-spacers have to worry about pot size and training
:bigjoint:
Click to expand...

So, I got the seeds in the dirt this morning. The strains are HSO Trainwreck, Barney's Farm LSD and Liberty Haze, and three freebies: HSO Ewe2, Lemon Kush Headband; and Sweet Seeds Green Poison.

Much like the party cup comp, my plan is to grow as big of a plant as possible in those little 6 inch clay pots, with no repotting into larger containers. I'm want to veg for less than 4 weeks....so, I plan to hopefully get three toppings in that time for each plant, and I will put them into flower as soon as they have enough structure to fill up the space....I guess kind of like a scrog, but without the screen. It's a tough call with things always changing so much lately-strains, lights, etc., so I'm going to pretty much just go with the flow. I have an idea of how I want it to go, but as you know, that's usually not how it turns out:)

.
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
Woot, it's a good day! I got the 4000K 3590 put together and installed, and we have 100% sprouting of all 6 seeds:) I have the lights spread out around the perimeter, aiming towards the opposite side of the floor. I figure this is will give maximum side lighting for the lower buds, since the lights will not be directly overhead of the plants and it will give a relatively even intensity over the grow area. The lights are driven a bit harder so that I can keep them high in the tent, which I feel aids in "mixing," though this is less of a problem with emission over a wide spectral range as is found in the COBs. I think that this is a major advantage over "panel" based designs that emulate older styles of monochromatic LED panels, where the light angles are not adjustable and everything is pretty much concentrated in the center of the grow area being illuminated.

Only the 3000K and 5000K 3070's are on in this pic, but you can't see the 3000K because it is off the bottom edge:
todayspic.jpg

Got a new cutting from a spider fern(?) in there mooching off the warmth while there's still room:)
 
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