Building single-plant growbox, I want your opinions!

Fractus

Well-Known Member

• Jul 5, 2009

• #1

Ok this is my current project, and I'm seeking advice from anyone and everyone who might be able to shed some light on my design. I was aiming for inexpensive, small, and effective - something that can be in an apartment building! This is what I have come up with:

The container I decided to go with - A styrofoam cooler, air tight, spacious, easy to work with, inexpensive, and already white!

The red squares are where I intend to install my fans. Later on, when I need it I want to install a carbon filter on my exhaust fan.
The black circles are where those light fixtures are going to be mounted horizontally, I think all of the lights together will give an even and adequate light distribution for my plant.
The lights consist of 2 pairs of soft white CFL's, 1600 lumens/23 watts (=100 watt incandescent)

The cover to the box - that is a 3300 lumen soft white CFL @ 55 watts (= 150 watt incandescent). I plan to have this mounted in such a way that I can adjust the height of it to sit just over the plant at all time. (And when the plant is too high, I have an extra cooler, and will set one bottom piece inverted on top of the other and remount my dome light)

All advice & criticism is welcome, I'm a newb

 

weed78138

Active Member

• Jul 5, 2009

• #2

the lights might be alittle to hot for styrofoam.

 

Fractus

Well-Known Member

• Jul 5, 2009

• #3

I actually took that into consideration, but those bulbs really don't produce much heat at all, I could have one turned on in my pants all day long and it probably wouldn't bother me What are your thoughts as far as design goes?

 

R

Rauffle

Member

• Jul 5, 2009

• #4

Really interested as to how well this works out.

You should do a test with the lights to make sure heat isn't an issue.

 

Fractus

Well-Known Member

• Jul 5, 2009

• #5

Funny you should say that, right now I have two of the lights turned on and just laying on the bottom of it, (closely monitored, mind you! I don't want my place to burn down) I've had them there for 30 minutes now and still not even getting warm. I wonder if anything higher than 23w would get much hotter..? CFLs are pretty damn efficient as far as heat/light ratio goes

 

Fractus

Well-Known Member

• Jul 5, 2009

• #6

Still no issues, and aside from my experimental observations, a little research taught me that the melting point for polystyrene (styrofoam) is approximately 240 degrees celcius, a temperature that no CFL would ever reach. So as far as safety and melting, it checks out! Good question though, it's something I didn't really think about when buying my supplies. (Stoned...)

 

R

Rauffle

Member

• Jul 5, 2009

• #7

Awesome. I'm going to go pick up some supplies tomorrow and try a similar setup for my first grow. Worst case scenario I ruin an $8 cooler.

 

Fractus

Well-Known Member

• Jul 5, 2009

• #8

Haha that was my perspective on it too, if you don't spend much money you can't risk wasting much money Plus I'm pretty confident it's going to have great results, I'll be posting more pics as I progress.

 

thatdjsnow

Well-Known Member

• Jul 6, 2009

• #9

my 26w cfls run hotter than my 42w...

also, just to be safe... there are lots of fire-retardant spray "paints" on the market you could use... i used to work in the oil field and covered all my clothes in them before going out.

Also, if you monitoring the cfls, then the lid is probably off.... shut the lid for a good while, let the heated air not escape, and see how much hotter those cfls can get

Not a problem with the fans you plan on installing.... bur what if they stop working?? Not raining on your parade, just prying to get you to test a bit more - I'd hate to see your next post be about you setting your apartment complex on fire while you were at work!

 

D

Da Superman

Member

• Jul 6, 2009

• #10

I like the setup nice and clean and pretty much anyone can do it.

 

Fractus

Well-Known Member

• Jul 6, 2009

• #11

thatdjsnow said:

my 26w cfls run hotter than my 42w...

also, just to be safe... there are lots of fire-retardant spray "paints" on the market you could use... i used to work in the oil field and covered all my clothes in them before going out.

Also, if you monitoring the cfls, then the lid is probably off.... shut the lid for a good while, let the heated air not escape, and see how much hotter those cfls can get

Not a problem with the fans you plan on installing.... bur what if they stop working?? Not raining on your parade, just prying to get you to test a bit more - I'd hate to see your next post be about you setting your apartment complex on fire while you were at work!

Click to expand...

I appreciate your concern, and I posted this here to get all the criticism I can, if something is going to not work, I would like someone to point it out before it's too late lol. But like I previously stated, CFL bulbs won't ever go above 240 degrees celcius so heat/fire won't be an issue whether my fans decide to quit or not, the only possible firestarter would be something shorting out, which is equally risky to all indoor growers I think.

 

thatdjsnow

Well-Known Member

• Jul 6, 2009

• #12

Fractus said:

I appreciate your concern, and I posted this here to get all the criticism I can, if something is going to not work, I would like someone to point it out before it's too late lol. But like I previously stated, CFL bulbs won't ever go above 240 degrees celcius so heat/fire won't be an issue whether my fans decide to quit or not, the only possible firestarter would be something shorting out, which is equally risky to all indoor growers I think.

Click to expand...

Yeh but it would be hard for that to happen on a set-up your size - so looks like you're good to go! Good luck

 

Fractus

Well-Known Member

• Jul 6, 2009

• #13

Thanks dude! In the morning I'm going hunting for a couple more parts that I've decided I should invest in, and hopfully constuction+transplant will be done by tomorrow night, and I'll post some pics here for the public, maybe I'll inspire others

 

thatdjsnow

Well-Known Member

• Jul 6, 2009

• #14

cool man - im about to start my box, we can look at what each other does and learn of each other.

 

Fractus

Well-Known Member

• Jul 6, 2009

• #15

Edit: Posted same thing twice :/

 

Fractus

Well-Known Member

• Jul 6, 2009

• #16

Today I got all the rest of my supplies and built my box and transplanted into it, Let me know what you think! Total cost start to finish was under 120$.

Beginning constuction: I drew an outline of the fans on the outside of the box.

Step 2: Cut out holes where fans are going to be installed.

Step 3: Cut holes where you plan on putting light fixtures in. I decided not to go with the round light on top, too complicated. Instead, two more 1600 lumen 23 watt CFL's are going in, on another y-splitter.

Step 4: Screw fan in place. (This one is my intake)

Step 4 (2): Fan from the outside.

Step 5: Screw other fan in place (exhaust).

Step 5 (2): Exhaust fan from the outside.

Step 6: Those fans run on 12v DC so you can't just plug it into the wall, I spent $11 on this adapter 120AC -> 12DC 1000mA, Cut off the tip because you don't need it, I wired it directly to the +/- of my two fans in parallel (Optional: if you want con control your fan speed, spend a couple dollars and pick up a dimmer switch)

Step 6 (2): Pic of the whole setup so far.

Step 6 (3): My sexy blue fans all wired up (Note the wires held in place by thumbtacks lol)

Step 7: I know I skipped a couple steps, but all you after your wiring is stick your light sockets in the holes and plug them in, and transplant into the box.

Step 8: My 6-bulb CFL stealth-box With my little 2 week old plant, I'm expecting it to be a little stunted from the transplant, but with my good soil/perlite mix and lighting and ventilation, it will hopefully take off! In each y-splitter there are two 1600 lumen bulbs, one 2700K and one 6500K, I think taking a couple colours out of the spectrum might be beneficial

Step 9: Finished product, all plugged in, hiding in my closet - as you can see there is also a timer hooked up that controls my lights, right now it's set at 19/5 for my veg. I don't have a thermometer in it yet, but my exhaust is warm and inside the box is cool, so my fans are working great

 

R

Rauffle

Member

• Jul 6, 2009

• #17

Looking good man, keep us updated =]

 

S

SmokaJoka

Active Member

• Jul 6, 2009

• #18

that looks excellent man! well done where did u get the box from?

 

Fractus

Well-Known Member

• Jul 6, 2009

• #19

Thanks man, pretty much every part used in this came from Canadian Tire, except the adapted and fans, they came from Future Shop. 18$ per fan and 11$ for the adapter, and I'm really impressed with the performance of the whole system in general! Can't wait to let it work for a few days and see how my plant responds

 

GypsyBush

Well-Known Member

• Jul 6, 2009

• #20

that is ... original... I must say that...

May I suggest the exhaust should be on top , I would think the lid would be the best place... as heat rises...

And I would use both fans as exhaust, leaving the bottom hols as a passive intake...

I believe that will give you the best ventilation possible, given your set up...