Im a bit iffy regarding the one balast, two lights thing. It means putting relays and switching on the dc side and usually the dc spec of the relay will not accommodate too much voltage. Also it could be argued that using the ballast for 24 hours a day instead of 12 is going to half its life ; youll still (on average) going to be going thru the same amount of drivers over long term.
Ya I get you about the single ballast vs double ballast. But I've seen the price of those high voltage contractors come way down and availability go up in the last couple of years since a lot of those are now used in electric vehicles. You don't get any more life out of the ballast but the upfront cost for your setup is significantly reduced plus I always liked the idea of all the ballasts mounted in one place (preferably out of the grow room) I may actually go this way on my next build. Will see what lights i end up with and go from there.
I didn’t see what you finally used for sealing that empty between the rooms that all the cables ran through but I’m sure it was something good. If you’re looking for something that would be perfect for that check out roxtec. They make a modular rubber block system that would bolt into the hole then all the cables get ran through a rubber sealing port and when you tighten is all down it sealed it up air tight. They make several different types for different entry ports. I work in wireless and we use them a lot for running cabling into cabinets and buildings.
i use 2" ABS pipe mounted to the studs to give the cables something solid to pass the wall through. I left it up to the grower to plug it however he did. The Roxtec looks dope thanks for the link I'll definitely consider something like this next time
Yeah if you want to try one let me know and I could send you one to try. I have a bunch of them laying around taking up space.
Thanks Rocket! Means a lot coming from you. A lot of grow setups are done for the here and now, including many situations in my own room. I love planning out a grow for success though so I try to keep things grower friendly, like power kept as far as possible from any water, keeping equipment to the side of the canopy
Thanks man that's very generous. Are you in the US or Canada? I saw Roxtec has a Canadian part on their site so I think I can source them here.
Solar isnt viable due to the property not being a good fit.
I’m in US couple hrs from the Canadian boarder. Not sure if it would be a pain to ship or not but if you ever what one just let me know and we can work it out. I have several different styles.
That's a clever idea about dimming the lights to run the dehumidifier. However potentially it may not supply the dehumidification you are looking for because if you are running AC to cool the room then you will lose the dehumidification power of the AC while the lights are dimmed. so the quest will work much harder to achieve dehumidification in that period without the AC helping out. You could combat this with a propane/natural gas/ethanol heater in the grow room (equal in BTU to your lights). So if you are running like 5000W in lights then you have 17,000 BTU/h to make up for when you dim the lights. So heater like the one in the link below would keep your AC going while the quest does it's thing.
We actually have to add heat for the winter season. Looking to cut out the AC heating by dropping in some kind of incandescent as a heatsource directly for the cannopy. Bonus they will have plenty of far red and hard to access 680nm red, chloropeakThat's a clever idea about dimming the lights to run the dehumidifier. However potentially it may not supply the dehumidification you are looking for because if you are running AC to cool the room then you will lose the dehumidification power of the AC while the lights are dimmed. so the quest will work much harder to achieve dehumidification in that period without the AC helping out. You could combat this with a propane/natural gas/ethanol heater in the grow room (equal in BTU to your lights). So if you are running like 5000W in lights then you have 17,000 BTU/h to make up for when you dim the lights. So heater like the one in the link below would keep your AC going while the quest does it's thing.
Mr. Heater 20,000 BTU Vent Free Blue Flame Propane Space Heater MHVFBF20LPT - The Home Depot
This Blue Flame-20,000 BTU Liquid Propane Vent Free heater is the perfect supplemental heating solution even on the coldest days. This heater is conveniently equipped with a thermostat for superior controlwww.homedepot.com
an even better product would be able to turn in and off in automated fashion to be on with your Dehu similar to the propane CO2 generators which can take a 120v input for signal to start and stop.
This little detail right here makes me want to take dynamite to my whole grow and build a new one!