A newbs first Q's...

ReactiveLlama

New Member
Greetings,

I've been dreaming about growing my own for a while and to that end have lurked and read and lurked and read and lurked.. Well you get the idea. Now at the dawn of construction I find I need a few holes in my knowledge base filled.

First, a little about ye ole proposed grow. It'll be a cabinet in my bedroom. The exterior footprint will be 33" wide, 30" deep and 72" tall. After some soul searching I have decided that a 400 Watt HPS would be my ideal light source. I lurked for a while hoping to hear great results from LED's, but so far it's been to much of a mixed bag. Since I'll be starting from seed I'm thinking of doing 10 in a large Rubbermaid container under 12/12 clear out the males and eventually pick a female to act as a pseudo mother. I say that because I intend to normally grow a 3 plant scrog in cocoo using flowering clones (now who's idea is that?) and will only take a mother clone when I feel the urge to switch strains and don't want to part with tried and proven genetics.

Anyway, as I tend to do I'm rambling. As mentioned it's a cabinet in a bedroom with a 400. I have access only to a single outlet. I have already got the GFIC (not installed yet), but everything in my room runs on that single circuit. PC, Laptop, TV, Cable box and grow cabinet. I don't know much about electricity.. Is a single household breaker gonna be able to handle that load? I mean with everything running when that HPS goes to do its big draw what do you think my chances are of getting a popped breaker? The 400 Watts itself is not worrying me, it's the start up.

Okay. That reminds me.. 400 Watts in a cabinet that's got an interior volume of roughly 50 Cubic Feet. Now with such limited space I was thinking of using a height adjustable light but instead of a cool tube or something similar I was thinking just a regular fan blowing on it and blowing hard, plus a smaller fan for the plants, plus with even modest powered exhaust fans pushing air through a filter I'm still likely to end up with 2x as much airflow through the cabinet as normally required to meet the plants needs, but will it meet my cooling needs? Even the smaller fans push near 200 CFM.. I'll be using 1.5-2.5 inch passive (but filtered) fresh air draws at the bottom.

My semi educated (thanks to all here and on similar forums) I figured I'm probably okay on both.. But I like to have the input of wiser minds..

I hope that made some sense.

Thanks!!

:bongrip:
 
Check the wattage on the power supply on your computer, they are usually 300-450 watts, but can go much higher. I do not recommend running on the same circuit as the computer. Surges and spikes will shut the computer down, not a good thing. If at all possible, split them up.
 
Thanks for the input Boss!

The PC is 400 I believe. Now going to another circuit is not likely an option, probably just easier to move the PC into another room than try and wire in power from outside. Especially considering my inherent mechanical disability (feeble with tools.. and sometimes just a tool...).

I just thought about it.. well looked at it actually, but I just realized that during the winter I normally run a 500-1500 Watt space heater in here (something I expected forgo with a grow running). Now I know watts don't tell the whole story, in fact a big part of it all is the amps and how everything plays out in terms of amps I have NO clue. God it took me 6 months to realize that Watt was a unit and not what you say to someone who asks you "Have you been listen to me?"

I'm going to knock on wood and hope that getting the PC into the other room will be enough. Should it NOT prove to be enough can one get the breaker replaced to allow for heavier demand on a single circuit or does that sorta thing require one to do modifications to the rest of the wiring in the home?

One more thing, this is for the Moods...

If I have questions touching on say 3 different areas can I sneak them all into one forum or would you prefer 3 posts in 3 different forums? Like light in one, a germination Q in another and perhaps a nut or other Q in a 3rd.

I can do that.. but by nature I'm a bumbling rambler who tends to just sorta stray from one topic to another.. Slowly.. sometimes with...:bong: pauses..

Anyway, thanks for the help! I had another question but I think it'll be an hour before I can remember what it was.
 
I could do that Boss, but I have to admit it feels funny starting a grow journal when I'm not actually growing anything yet. :cheesygrinsmiley:

Hell all I have is a pad of paper with scritches all over it and a measuring tape so far! Heh heh heh! I got a few more details to work out then I can start the fun process of spending my money!
 
True enough boss.. And I've screwed up enough things going in THINKING I knew everything there was to know..

Also I'm not even going to buy a light until I see how those LED's work out for you Boss because IF they work good, LED's open all kinds of doors. God the things my drug addled imagination can come up with..

But the real reason for this post was, probably as a closer to this thread, wanna try uploading a photo so I put together a quick cab plan on my other machine and present it here.. Cab V1.0!

<img src="https://www.420magazine.com/gallery/data/500/box011.jpg" />

I just hope that works!
 
Very nice :)

I can tell you the LED's I have are no good for cabinet grows, they need about 2 feet to spread the light out correctly. I am sure they make some that work better at close range, but then they wont work at long range. The ones I have are great for supplemental lighting, you can keep them back and away from the HPS or cfl's.
 
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