Perpetual Dual Cab, 400x250w MH,Aurora B x The Pure x Dank Bagseeds. Enter The SOG...

glad to have you SICC. your party cups were the inspiration for this grow. glad to have you aboard!
not looking so nice today tho... just checked on em and some of the leaves looking like over ripe bananas.... these bitches are fickle, in there little pots. sigh. thinking P def, mebbe iron as well. worried i over watered em the other night and now my ph is going to be all fuckered up for the rest of the grow.

Damn thats shitty.
Im sure you will get it under control, It can be a bitch some times when you run into problems in small containers.
The party cups were a success, but it was alot of work.

ah, but i just made a salad j from one of the pure popcorn buds and one of the aurora b popcorn buds.
its easily 2-3 weeks to early but me and the gf just got fucking ripped, and were both heavy duty all day tokers, lol!
im excited now... so i'll tell you my secret speed drying technique. it works wonders, even removes quite a bit of the 'grass' taste.
at stores like walmart, kmart, target they have these electric candle warmer things that are like a miniature hotplate, except they just get hot enough to melt candle wax.
still to hot to place a bud directly on it, however, what i do is i cut up my fresh sample into 1/4-1/2 thick slices with a pair of sharp scissors, and put it on this cheap little wooden tray, and then put the tray on top of the candle warmer. it takes about 25-40 mins depending on how wet the bud is. i keep a close eye on it, and kind of stir it and move it around so that it gets dried evenly about every 5-10 mins. sometimes i take the tray off to let it cool down so that it doesnt get too hot and start vaporizing the good shit. works like a charm if you do it right

Looks like a nice easy set up.
Do you hand flood the trays? or do you have a submersible water pump and res?

I'm a little confused about how you get a relay to act as a timer... I thought relays control breakers by picking up the inductive current passing through the wired circuit with out actually physically being connected to the circuit. Then the relay current is what determines if the breaker trips. You describe your relay as 24V DC, so im assuming its connected to a 15A 120V AC line. I think you are just using this 24V DC power to run FPGAs/Micro-controllers that act like timers, but the relay is not an actual timer.

I'm not an electrician, but I do have a BS in Electrical Engineering w/ emphasis on power. And I've never seen a relay being used as a timer.

What year GTO you got? I got a 67' fastback mustang I've been building up for 10 years now. Its a 289 with 4 bar. carb. 4 speed manual with rear end posi traction and 3.5" rear axels. Does 0 to 60 in first gear in about 4 sec... dont even have nitrous stages on it yet.

Copycat said:

Looks like a nice easy set up.
Do you hand flood the trays? or do you have a submersible water pump and res?

I'm a little confused about how you get a relay to act as a timer... I thought relays control breakers by picking up the inductive current passing through the wired circuit with out actually physically being connected to the circuit. Then the relay current is what determines if the breaker trips. You describe your relay as 24V DC, so im assuming its connected to a 15A 120V AC line. I think you are just using this 24V DC power to run FPGAs/Micro-controllers that act like timers, but the relay is not an actual timer.

I'm not an electrician, but I do have a BS in Electrical Engineering w/ emphasis on power. And I've never seen a relay being used as a timer.

Click to expand...

ah, with a BS then you will understand this then-
the system is fully automated, besides watering. i prefer to do that myself, as the plants being in such small pots, there nutrition requirements change on a daily basis. using an automated feeding system would just cause me to have heavy defs or burning; depending on what stage of the growth cycle im in. if i had bigger pots, or was running true hydro or hempy, auto feeding would be a cinch, just a matter of rigging up a drip system or e&f on a cycle timer. but since there in soil, it gets complicated, if i dont monitor how much moisture the soil is getting, i run into crazy ph problems very quickly. ive already learned this lesson the hard way rather recently, lol. so for now, untill i get this cab setup more dialed in to a specific strain, im hand watering. its not that hard, and water is like 6 feet from the cab, so carrying the stuff is not a hassle at all.

now i dont use micro controllers or any solid state/digital devices. just good old fashioned relay logic! i think what you misunderstood about the way i use my relays is that like i mentioned above, the system is fully automated. a single timer turns it on, and relays acting as a logic gate actually run the grow. pretty much using voltage sourcing to control the relays that in turn control line voltages; so when the 120v timer changes state to active, it supplies power to my 120vac primary/24vdc secondary power supply. the 24vdc positives on the control circuits are routed through various normally closed load sensors, (ct's) ,heat sensors, smoke detectors and the like before activating the relay coils that actually switch the line voltage to do what i want. i have a couple of heat sensors that are set as overrides for the lights, if temps get above a certain level (right now i have it set @ 86f) they force a relay to activate that in turn drops the coil voltage to the lighting contactor, and overrides the fan controls in a manner so that all fans kick on full blast, cooling the cabs to below the setpoint on my temp sensors. once the setpoint is reached, the heat sensors have a 5 min delay before changing state, allowing the lamps to cool down enough to avoid hot starts.. each cab has its own massive line voltage industrial control cabinet cooling fan acting as an air curtain, running at at least 100 cfm, lol, yeah there a trifle loud, and a 24v mini cabinet fan to cool the lamp directly. but my temps have not risen above 83f, so they work.
i have some serious lamp wattage in a very small space, so heat is definitely my biggest concern. i also have another temp sensor that monitors ambient temp, if it gets above 74f, it kicks on the room a/c.
if i had my way, i would have just used an allen bradley compact block PLC, but im too cheap to pay for a software license to configure it.... and with any PLC, if you lose power, you can be fucked royally if you didnt configure it right to begin with.
disclaimer to anyone reading this post-
cramming 1000w of HID into a typical off the shelf walmart pressboard cabinets is NOT something you should attempt, for ANY reason whatsover. Its VERY dangerous to have that much power and heat in a confined space where there are flammable materials present. I would like to say again, i have decades of experience with electrical systems, construction in general, control systems, fire alarm/life safety systems and fire protection, and carry both factory and manufacturer certifications AND state licenses that say I can do such things, at my own risk. Building a cab with this much wattage, heat, and electrical controls is something that takes a very in depth understanding of all principals involved, and attempting to build something like this on your own without those skills is a risky venture that will end up with you either getting hurt, burning your house down, ruining your crops, or any combination of the above.
leave the professional builds to the professionals, or be prepared to accept the risks that come with a steep learning curve. and that curve is very steep. over the course of the years i have witnessed horrifying things because of people 'playing' with electricity didnt know what they were doing. from scraping burnt off fingertips from electrical panels, to helping rescue workers get a dead body out of a confined actic, i have been there, done that, and got the t-shirt.

Copycat said:

What year GTO you got? I got a 67' fastback mustang I've been building up for 10 years now. Its a 289 with 4 bar. carb. 4 speed manual with rear end posi traction and 3.5" rear axels. Does 0 to 60 in first gear in about 4 sec... dont even have nitrous stages on it yet.

Click to expand...

oh man.. you messed up and asked me about my babydoll.
ok, so one day i got a hair up my ass, was tired of building and repairing my rides. i wanted something with a warranty. so i talk to my banker, and she says (get ready for this one, cause it sure floored me) heres a cashiers check for 20k. go buy yourself a nice car! so i went shopping right then and there. on the way home, theres a carmax. the check is burning a hole in my pocket, so i pull off to see what they got. i didnt want a used one, but sometimes carmax does have great deals, so i checked it out. well on the lot, they had this pretty lil silver GTO. one of the newer ones that came out a few years ago. i check the mileage, its got 15k... im like..hmmm.... mileage is waaaaay low. something must be wrong. so i go over this car with a fine toothed comb, bumper to bumber. nothing wriong, its immaculate. as close to showroom as a used car can get..i mean not a scratch one, interior is mint, one owner car. i pulled a carfax, one recall, suspension issue. previous owner handled it. so i buy the car. and im driving it home and i notice WOW, this thing has got waaaaay more power than it should. then things get funny, lol, but in a very very good way.
2 weeks later i get a letter from my ins carrier saying that there was a mistake in the original quote, my rate needs to go up if i intend to keep them as my insurance carrier. turns out the dealer did not enter the complete VIN number... he left out a very important code, that means 'concept package'. i didnt know this at the time, all i knew was my ins company was tlelling me my VIN did not match the VIN on the car, so im in panic mode, thinking what type of mexican rebuilt total loss/flood car did i just blow 20k on... so i go straight to GM. and thats where i hit the jackpot.
here's the scoop-
due to shitty advertising and even worse sales tactics, the new gto's when released (2004) were not hot sellers as predicted. the production factory did a limited run on the 2004 model to compensate for this, and because of the limited run, they had quite a few spare chassis leftover. in the meantime, GM decides to tweak the design a little bit, make the exhaust better or something like that. No gto's will be massed produced for production year 2005. but dealrs still have orders coming in, if not very many. so to compensate for the delay, GM decides, hey, lets revamp the design a little bit and sell concept packages for 2005, will get GM performane on it and make something special... and i got one of those cars! my 2005 GTO was hand built by GM performance, has Z06 suspension, an all aluminum LS1 346cu block, LS2 aluminum heads also built by GM perf, true dual 2.5" flowmaster exhuast, catback, c4 vette transmission, suspension dampers, limited slip electronic rear end, and a shitload of other goodies, including a banshee induction hood. 100% stock. i put it on a dyno and it was rated @ 427bhp and 430 flb of torque... GVW 1600lbs. the beast flies! ive had it up to 170 and had 3.5k left in RPM. i love this car, lol! i beat the fuck out of most vettes, stage III rousch mustangs, and just about anyone thats dumb enough to pull up next to me and start revving up even juiced a state trooper a few months ago... he clocked me going 120, i saw him flip his lights on as i went past, so i punched it, hopped off the interstate up a few exits, and i never saw him again.... its quicksilver metallic, 1 of 114 built.

Dear God does that sound like quite a find. Congrats
Daniels

that sounds awesome iamstoned, gave me goosebumps at the end hearing you talk about it!!

been trying to catch up on your thread. pretty nice grow, gonna follow this one through. what kinda noise does your ballast make? i am thinking 150watt cmh. u think the ballast will take away stealth?

well its not the ballast thats noisy, its the fans. the ballast hums a little bit, but the heat the HID lamp creates in such a small space is alot to deal with, so you end up having to have alot of air movement to keep temps optimum. if i didnt have the fans and lights on temp controlled sensors, the plants would burn up to a crisp in prolly 10-15 mins if the fans were not running... when i finished the build i fired up the lamps for 5 mins with no fans and the temps were already @ 110f on the lower cab and 114f on the upper cab when room temp was 70f...lol but that is mainly because i have a 250w on top, and a 400w down low, the overall height of the cab is 74", the upper is 35", and the lower 39" tall, roughly 28" deep, and 36" wide. so not alot of air volume at all. if i had a bigger space, like a 6'x2' closet, i wouldnt be scared to use 150w with a very small fan, maybe just a pc fan or 2, because the closet has more air volume to dissapate the heat.

K I think I understand now. You use a timer as a switch to turn you system on and off. But you have your system already setup to do many things.

And Yes your 350 Chevy motor in a tiny new 2005 GTO would smash on my old mustang... Thats like bringing back the whole put the biggest engine you can fit into a car motto. My mustang only has a 289 in it, but I could fit a 428 in it.

Did you piece together your automated system or did it come put together already?

no, i built it from scavenged parts.

hey, a 289 is one badass motor as well! very good power to weight ratio. imho theres nothing like old school detroit muscle. i used to have a chevele with a 283, it was very fun.
at least you can fix any dents, lol... i gotta buy replacement parts

Is your GTO manual transmission or automatic? or does it have one of those electronic transmissions that are capable of both manual and auto?

the way i understand it, the harness is there for the paddle shift, but its not being used. right now its strictly a 4 speed console shifter

Aside from being extremely flammable I wonder what kind of effect Nitrisoxide would have on plants??? Probably way to dangerous to even experiment with. I can just imagine what the gas would do when it came in contact with a 1000W bulb. KABOOM!!!

maybe dissolved into water it could be safer.

lol dont think it would do much besides put a dent in your wallet.

clean the dead leaves out of the dirt for me. this invites pests and fungis!

my favorite time, reaping the rewards.
i didnt bother weighing any wet weights, so it'll be a quess to what i got. a qp was my target weight. enough blabbing, on to the pics of the ladies waking up for the last time.
there currently hanging in a warm dark dry place with plenty of air movement. i like to leave the plant intact for the first 36 hours of hanging. just the way i like to do it, no reason. then i manicure and hang the individual buds and colas. ill post pics of that after i do it...

nice and fat colas. the aurora b is on the left, and the pure is on the right. there is one local yocal in there as well on the far right front row-


the line up-


a few aurora b colas-




a couple of the pure colas-



the lone local yocal, it could have gone a few more days but itll still be just fine-



both the pure and the aurora b were showing 50/50 milky/amber trichs, the local yocal was still milky.

cant wait for this stuff to dry, and cure; i already got a few of the popcorn buds on my lil speed drying tray.

WOW- those ladies are clutch!
The AB looks a lot fatter than the Pure too- are they IRL too?

Man, I hope my Pure cola fills out like yours!!

NICE NICE NICE!

I think you got a QP there for sure.