MINI BUDGET GROW CHALLENGE
Waffledick420
Active Member
Do you know the wattage of your bulbs? Like total watts used in your grow?
Waffledick420
Active Member
Nice! I've got a bunch of led house bulbs without diffusers that all together pull just over 200w. I just need like 15 a19 sockets because we can't afford to have insurance and if I wire something wrong or it shorts, I have nowhere to live. I'm hoping I can find some free lamps or something on Craigslist so I can recycle them. Until I can find somewhere to get super cheap/free sockets, im stuck running like 30w of cheap Chinese blurple
Waffledick420
Active Member
Wow. All mine are just 3000k (all they had in packs of 4 at the dollar store) and I have one 16w, 4 12w, 3 10w, and a bunch of 9w. can't wait to get it going with a cheap cardboard grow box with a diy carbon filter
KrazyG
Well-Known Member
Waffledick420
Active Member
I was going to do that, but i can't find anything with the dimensions I want that would work where I want to put it. I'll either do thick cardboard and make sure there's lots of airflow and good exhaust, or I'll try to get scrap wood and build a mini box with a sliding door. I wanna do it in between my bed and the wall, and I have maybe 1.5x3 area
printer
Well-Known Member
Maybe go to Home Depot or somewhere and get some aluminum flashing and stick it to the top of the box. The Aluminum will spread out any localized heat and keep the cardboard cooler.
I screwed up, I guess I missed a watering day or two and did a 'shit'! The soil contracts from the cup walls and there is a lot more surface area to loose moisture. The plant is coming back, I decided it was time to put it in a pot. It is probably time I added some more lights also. I was hoping to get a Led package in the mail courtesy of China, looks like it was put on a slow boat.
I screwed up, I guess I missed a watering day or two and did a 'shit'! The soil contracts from the cup walls and there is a lot more surface area to loose moisture. The plant is coming back, I decided it was time to put it in a pot. It is probably time I added some more lights also. I was hoping to get a Led package in the mail courtesy of China, looks like it was put on a slow boat.
Waffledick420
Active Member
That sounds like a good idea. I'm also thinking if it's cheaper, just get some of the super cheap 20w cobs on eBay and wire them together on a sheet of aluminum as a heatsink. Do I need a driver for those $2 cob chips, or will I be fine for a few grows just plugging them directly into the wall?Maybe go to Home Depot or somewhere and get some aluminum flashing and stick it to the top of the box. The Aluminum will spread out any localized heat and keep the cardboard cooler.
I screwed up, I guess I missed a watering day or two and did a 'shit'! The soil contracts from the cup walls and there is a lot more surface area to loose moisture. The plant is coming back, I decided it was time to put it in a pot. It is probably time I added some more lights also. I was hoping to get a Led package in the mail courtesy of China, looks like it was put on a slow boat.
too larry
Well-Known Member
I grow on the cheap. I paid $450 for a huge dumptruck load of mushroom compost. A shovel cost about twenty dollars. Sun, seeds and pots are free. I use 5-10 gallons of compost and make 2 -4 ounces per plant so maybe ten cent an ounce. Not counting my time of course. Then it's too expensive by far. I spend way too much time growing.
Waffledick420
Active Member
I love spending time with my plants. If I could, I would turn my whole house into grow areas where I can just enjoy being around these magnificent plants
printer
Well-Known Member
As a heat shield the sheet from HD should work, as a heatsink for a cob you will need something thicker, maybe 1/8". A few 20W cobs on a plate would be interesting. In a cardboard box I would do a cob with a microprocessor heatsink with fan and a12V wall adapter. My buddy got one of the full spectrum on board driver cobs and he says the plant he has under it is doing great.
KrazyG
Well-Known Member
Waffledick420
Active Member
I've decided to build a free diy space Bucket. Pulls 52w (1 16w led, and 4 9w LEDs soldered together and mounted with just chicken wire I had) been running two days non stop and no issues other than the fan I'm using doesn't want to stay taped up. I will redo it with PC fans but I want to get one more light built first so I can have two boxes, one veg and one flower. The flower will probably use twice the wattage. Or should I just do three space buckets around 50w each?
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JonathanT
Well-Known Member
Hlg 100v2 $0. Still setting up for my low watt grow off.
120 real watt blurple, traded some beans for it. $0
Seed stock has all been from giveaways/contests. $0
Timer from the 80s $0
Super old power strip $0
Won some Ratchet ropes $0
Won some fabric pots $0
Won a ton of organic dry nutes $0
Won some tie downs to attach my scrog $0
Wish.com tennis net scrog $1
Discount 4x8x6 tent was discontinued. $130
Having entirely too much time on your hands, priceless.
120 real watt blurple, traded some beans for it. $0
Seed stock has all been from giveaways/contests. $0
Timer from the 80s $0
Super old power strip $0
Won some Ratchet ropes $0
Won some fabric pots $0
Won a ton of organic dry nutes $0
Won some tie downs to attach my scrog $0
Wish.com tennis net scrog $1
Discount 4x8x6 tent was discontinued. $130
Having entirely too much time on your hands, priceless.
Waffledick420
Active Member
Sounds like you've got a really nice setup for super cheap! I would love to see what you can pull with 100w
printer
Well-Known Member
Just wanted to update on my 50W Ebay blurple that came in the mail. I stuck it on a Pentium heatsink and it seems cool enough in free air so the on board drivers keeps the specified wattage flowing. the heatsink is warm and the end fins are not as warm as they could be. That means the thickness of the mounting side is not thick enough to transfer the heat to the ends. A bit of a shame as it would run the chips cooler but what do you want for nothing? So the 50W cob cost $5, the heatsink and fan I will have to look up at an E-waste recycling place in town as I had these laying around, the 12V adapter powering the fan was $4 at a thrift store.
