New Beginnings for Massachussetts and I

Bosgrower

Bosgrower

Well-Known Member
About dimming Meanwell drivers ... none of the drivers in the HLG xxx-CxxxxB series below the 320 models can be dimmed to 0%. The internal dimming circuit only goes down to 1v so there's no way to get to 0% output without cutting the power.
Not a big deal if you're using a timer for your lights but pretty significant if you want to use a Storm controller or an Arduino based system
 
HideousPenguinBoy

HideousPenguinBoy

Well-Known Member
Bosgrower said:
About dimming Meanwell drivers ... none of the drivers in the HLG xxx-CxxxxB series below the 320 models can be dimmed to 0%. The internal dimming circuit only goes down to 1v so there's no way to get to 0% output without cutting the power.
Not a big deal if you're using a timer for your lights but pretty significant if you want to use a Storm controller or an Arduino based system
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Isn't there a percentage of power that the lights will go out, though? (that would still suck because wasted power)
 
greg nr

greg nr

Well-Known Member
Plus the best practice is to put a 10k resistor on the dimming line, so you can't dim below 10%. It's a safety feature. It protects the driver.

You can use a wifi enabled wall switch though. I think those controllers can send wifi commands. smop. ;)
 
Bountykiller420

Bountykiller420

Well-Known Member
Bosgrower said:
Not using the dimming circuit. You have to switch off the power for total off
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Yeah i was just trying to figure that out aswell, seems like you'd need both a timer and a storm controller, and have the timer kick on a few mins before the storm is set to turn on, and turn off a few minutes after, but wouldn't you want to kill power to the driver anyways so its not always pulling power from the wall being powered up, also would probably add life to the driver not being powered at all times, just my thoughts though
 
Axle4worc

Axle4worc

Well-Known Member
I have made nearly every mistake a newbie makes. I can add one more. Bad bacteria.

My plants in my pearlite sip tray took a turn for the worse. I figured they needed a flush from the lower bad leaves and were getting light bleached on top. Time to take them out of the tray and give them an extra 5".

I first noticed the bad smell when I was vacuuming out the water. I could smell it a little bit in the flush. Hope she doesn't die. She is only 1/2 way through flowering and look at how huge she is looking compared to the autos.

6 days into drying on my early harvest. Took a one gram nug from the drying screen. I thought the drying weed smelled like hay but when I broke it up, it smelled wonderful. Easily as good as the $15 per gram stuff at the dispensary. Can't wait till it is properly cured.
 

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be4meliz

be4meliz

Well-Known Member
Hi, Axle- I had the same reaction after hanging for a day(went from skunk to fresh alfalfa) panic mode- only to realize its chlorophyll converting- smell comes back in cure.Looks like a good grow inspite of setbacks
 
greg nr

greg nr

Well-Known Member
Axle4worc said:
I have made nearly every mistake a newbie makes. I can add one more. Bad bacteria.

My plants in my pearlite sip tray took a turn for the worse. I figured they needed a flush from the lower bad leaves and were getting light bleached on top. Time to take them out of the tray and give them an extra 5".

I first noticed the bad smell when I was vacuuming out the water. I could smell it a little bit in the flush. Hope she doesn't die. She is only 1/2 way through flowering and look at how huge she is looking compared to the autos.

6 days into drying on my early harvest. Took a one gram nug from the drying screen. I thought the drying weed smelled like hay but when I broke it up, it smelled wonderful. Easily as good as the $15 per gram stuff at the dispensary. Can't wait till it is properly cured.
Click to expand...
I didn't think there was such a thing as bad bacteria? Was it something growing in your water? Do you add anything besides water to the res?

Just ordered a couple of sip grow boxes, so I'm mulling what to add below vs above.
 
Axle4worc

Axle4worc

Well-Known Member
greg nr said:
I didn't think there was such a thing as bad bacteria? Was it something growing in your water? Do you add anything besides water to the res?

Just ordered a couple of sip grow boxes, so I'm mulling what to add below vs above.
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All I know is the water smells bad. The only thing I put into the water in the tray was pH 6.5 w/ hydroguard. It was dark looking and there was an oily film on it. In the past I have filled the tray and vacuumed it back out for a mini flush.

Other than the fresh soil it got 5 weeks ago, it only had light feedings on top. Must have had a lot of salts built up. the water was 7.5 so the pH was off too. Wet 10 gal pots is a literal pain in the back. Only had enough dechlorinated water (used 16 gallons of pH/hydroguard water) to do one of them. I will do the other one tomorrow. I think it'll do much better with manual watering. Next time I will install the water rings when they are babies.
 
greg nr

greg nr

Well-Known Member
Axle4worc said:
All I know is the water smells bad. The only thing I put into the water in the tray was pH 6.5 w/ hydroguard. It was dark looking and there was an oily film on it. In the past I have filled the tray and vacuumed it back out for a mini flush.

Other than the fresh soil it got 5 weeks ago, it only had light feedings on top. Must have had a lot of salts built up. the water was 7.5 so the pH was off too. Wet 10 gal pots is a literal pain in the back. Only had enough dechlorinated water (used 16 gallons of pH/hydroguard water) to do one of them. I will do the other one tomorrow. I think it'll do much better with manual watering. Next time I will install the water rings when they are babies.
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Maybe the system went anerobic? That kind of bacteria can smell (like your compost). You can try putting an airstone in the res.
 
Axle4worc

Axle4worc

Well-Known Member
greg nr said:
Maybe the system went anerobic? That kind of bacteria can smell (like your compost). You can try putting an airstone in the res.
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Anerobic was what I was thinking. There is no more res. I have airstones running in all my dechlorination buckets. I removed the sip tray. They are in soil. I am going to top water them from now on. The sip tray was great for 5 weeks but you obviously need more of a flush than what I was doing. Maybe if I let it dry out completely a couple times it would have lasted longer. If they get worse or the smell comes back, I was thinking of placing the pot in a small tray with 1/2" of hydrogen peroxide.
 
Bosgrower

Bosgrower

Well-Known Member
Moving day

There's still damage from the hunger and thirst issue but recovery is going nicely. Moved all 5 to the flower tent and upped the light intensity just a bit. They'll stay on 18/6 for the rest of the week. Also redid the LST - LOTS of tops showing ... I'm actually going to be able to take some clones before the flip.
Waiting for a new tower fan but the PC fans are OK for now

Group photo . . . #5 . . . . . . . . .#2
IMG_20170405_140036113_HDR.jpg IMG_20170405_140047446.jpg IMG_20170405_140052297.jpg

#1. . . . . . . . . . #3 . . . . . . . . . . ..#4
IMG_20170405_140101238.jpg IMG_20170405_140109506.jpg IMG_20170405_140116291.jpg
 
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Stebbins

Stebbins

Well-Known Member
On another note...as some of you know I've been trying to figure out some problems I've been having lately. (Leaf issues, low feeding, slowed growth) Well Problem solved. Found out my lights haven't been turning off at all during the night! Should have been on 18/6 and instead were running 24/0! Oops. Actually I had the timer plugged into an "always live" plug on my power strip. It some how was overriding the off cycle. As soon as I switched the plug the timer started working properly. :wall: Hoping to see some better results now!
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Stebbins said:
Was already full on my old screen so I removed it and took a trip to the hardware store....Can you say bigger scrog screen! Old one was only 2.5x2.5 the new one is 4x3.5. Should have room for the stretch now. (If not I still have 10 ft of pvc left and a half dozen elbows to build more):)
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Awwwww, what a tough problem...
:bigjoint:
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Stebbins said:
On another note...as some of you know I've been trying to figure out some problems I've been having lately. (Leaf issues, low feeding, slowed growth) Well Problem solved. Found out my lights haven't been turning off at all during the night! Should have been on 18/6 and instead were running 24/0! Oops. Actually I had the timer plugged into an "always live" plug on my power strip. It some how was overriding the off cycle. As soon as I switched the plug the timer started working properly. :wall: Hoping to see some better results now!
Click to expand...
I've had good luck with a veg schedule of 6 hours on and 2 off, the times daily. This helps reduce temperature and RH swings and seems to help them grow a little bit faster.
 
HideousPenguinBoy

HideousPenguinBoy

Well-Known Member
So the problems I've been having with the Bubblelicious... might have found the reason. The sour smells sickly sweet, like a wet smartie candy, with some sour/off smell. Another plant is starting to smell like that too and the pH is dropping. I think I have something growing in the soil and it's not a good bacteria. I'm going to have to get a better drainage once this grow is done. For now I'm going to treat it with hydrogen peroxide in the water feed to kill anything living in the soil and start them cultures over again with popcorn SST after. (but it's week 5, so...)
 
Bosgrower

Bosgrower

Well-Known Member
sine143 said:
Just waiting on heatsinks now. 6 cxm22 3000k 80cri for bloom. 2 citi clu48 1212 4000k 6th gen for veg. Purchased at cobkits. Great service
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I just bought some Ideal 50-2100AN reflector adapters for Angelina reflectors from them and they didn't include screws ... #4 3/8 inch from home depot work just right
 
be4meliz

be4meliz

Well-Known Member
Just spent 4+ hours in grow basement- checking on current -Pineapple Kush(in full flower-1 month left) then Setting up new 6 1/2' Sq. tent with my remaining 4 buckets,clean,run air lines,install pump, wash hydrotron,add power strip,hang Led lights,fans- run pump, drink beer, smoke WW- fill 25 gal.worth of water in buckets., back upstairs,clean 2 sets trim scissors, float 4 Sour diesel( compliments to Stebbins) plus congrats to CallmeMom for the Pineapple Kush which are in full flower and have~ 1 month to go. Now time to rest my aching back and watch "Breaking Bad" and eat some Cannabutter! Would like some Cheese to go with all my WHINE LOL( actually got a bit of Blue Cheese from Stebbins, so that qualifies).Have a nice day!
 
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