Lighting suggestion for stealth cab grow

Sup people,

So i finished my weed a couple of months ago. Sad. And i want to go the stealth micro cab route this time.

Basically i'll be getting wood planks 10x24 inch and make a sort of squareish cabinet that would fit just right under my pc table. Initially i started out modding my mac pro for a pc grow box but i think a wooden box would give better space and a tighter air control.

So my cab dimensions will be 10" x 10" base with 24" height (total wood planks 5 US$27). I could go with 12x12 it just costs $2 extra per plank.

I'll put in a high RPM server rack fan (these work on AC so no need to get those small power adapters etc) 7 US$

I already have quite a bit of carbon filter sheets from y last grow so ill just make a makeshift "pipe filter" with some wire hangers i think.

Now i planned to go with a big 100W cfl but the stuff available here is crap. the only good cfls here are philips or GE and those dont go over 26W.

So i am thinking of getting a 50W or 70W HPS. My problem is considering the cab size i will have which / what lighting should i go with. Power here is free and so is cooling so i dont have to worry about bills n stuff.

Ill be growing some bagseed (i am guessing its orange crush) in soil.

So, any lighting suggestions? CFL/HPS, and wattage?

Oh and i will have a USB webcam installed inside so i wouldnt have to open it up to check on the girl.

Thanks for the help in advance

SB1

Well realistically $27 buys you a 24"x24"x48" in good straight plywood in 1/2" sheets if you look for the prime cuts at say your local Menard or Lowes. The 2x4s are $5 and the 2x2 end cap boards are $3. I even have mine sitting on 2" locking rollers. If power consumption is no issue I'd say 250w MH/HPS Ballast and porper cooling and ventilation. You could do a 150w but I think the 250w would make the best use of the space and you won't need a cooltube with a good exhaust setup.

Problem is buddy i live in the middle east so no lowes etc. And yea my last 2 grows were in a proper wardrobe cabinet. Really decent weed. But I guess i want to have a low profile that just fits under my table that can be covered, sort of.

I can get a 8x4 sheet and cut it up. They go for about 35$ here. I could go that route as well.

Wouldnt a 250 or even a 150 be too much for such a small cab? I mean heat would be the first problem. I used to struggle with my 26w x 12 cfl setup. No way i could close the door during lights on.

I guess ill go with that 8x4 sheet and build a 16x16x22" cab. exact size for my spot.

Still need to workout the lights. Lets see.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

SB1

Was kind of in the same boat as you friend. I started out my microcab with 144W of cfl (24W x 6), upgraded to 240W cfl (40W x 6). Nice, but hot, inefficient - half the light was aimed at the ceiling of the cab. After 12-18 months I switched to pll fluro tubes - 36W x 4 = 144W - I couldn't run them vertical so never got the best out of them - again as I had them top mounted only the bottom half of the tube was directly visible to the plant.

After a 3 years of pll fluro growing I wanted to upgrade. If you want to do it right I recommend DIY LED my friend - low heat, efficient, customizable to your space, scalable, cheap.

Look at the Bridgelux Vero (or Cree CXA) emitters specifically. Big, easy to use, bright white lights - the manufacturer has gone to the trouble of sticking like 40-50 LEDs together in a single LED to make mounting simple. I researched the hell out of this last year and decided on 2x Vero 18 in my micro cab, each pushing out up to 50W (100W total). LED $17 each, Driver $32 each (one per LED), a heatsink is $10-$20 delivered worldwide on ebay, add a few dollars for extra parts (cooling fan, wire, dimmer, sockets, switches, thermal goop, etc - $20-$40?). For me it was worth shipping drivers and LEDs from the US - a few dollars extra in freight was worth it, the local distributors were charged obscene prices.

Vero have a wiring harness available which just plugs in, you can build a whole LED light now without having to solder if you don't want to.

You could use more of these LEDS, or less. Or decide to run them harder (more light and heat, better canopy penetration - but less efficiency), or gentler (less light and heat, less penetration - more efficiency) - depending on what works for your cabinet/budget/whim.

This thread here is pretty useful - https://www.rollitup.org/led-other-lighting/764779-cree-bridgelux-comparison.html - the poster decides on a really simple Vero 18 and driver combo. So simple it's brilliant.

This thread has lots of more advanced analysis of big COB leds like Vero and Cree CXA https://www.rollitup.org/led-other-lighting/743645-cree-cxa-analysis.html

Cheap Chinese cob leds on ebay will also work - but wont be as efficient.


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Now before thinking of led know that if you could find a cheap local 100-200W HID light that'd be another good option - maybe a security light or store light you could find and convert. They will put out more heat, but grow great buds. I never found the right one for me and my cab. There are some great micro growers who use HID and cool tubes.

Hey smokey,

Personally i prefer LED's but as you said they are crazy expensive here. HID's are kinda cheap so i think i'll go that route. Have to try to know. I think i'll go with a 100W HPS. If this works out, i'm good.

But yea, LED is something i want to try out. Maybe a DIY setup to test. Lets see.

SB1

Check around for CCFLs - theyr'e smaller than a CFL or normal tube flouro, and are quite powerful for their size.
I'm going out next monday to buy a heap of them - it's around $15 for a pair with inverter, in australia that is. (For comparison LED equivalents are about $45 or more here!)