born to do It
Member
hey guys! and welcome to my first grow journal. I am currently constructing a pc grow case and will be describing my progress step by step. I already know alot of people out there think that constructing these is a great big waste of time, but i was/am very intrigued as to how much thought goes into these things. it seems like its going to be excellent for stealth purposes. besides, this is just something to do in the meantime while waiting to gather funds for a complete tent and HID setup. plus, this will be greatly suited for starting clones and seedlings in the future. ANY SUGGESTIONS ARE MORE THAN WELCOME
well first off, the main idea is to make the case as functional as possible. so all of the components of a grow room have to be in place.
having the biggest case you can find is a must. the more space, the better off you are. keep in mind that these are much more suited for auto's than anything else. and even with an auto strain, LST is a must as well. and I am very sorry but i did not start taking pictures until some time into this project. so for now, only words will have to do.
to start you want to completely strip the entire case of everything inside. all components as well as brackets have to go. nine times out of ten the brackets will be riveted. using a small drill or even a chisel and hammer will come in handy at this stage. WARNING: SAVE EVERY PIECE YOU TAKE OUT. this is crucial because you never know if you can use them or not. when you have just the shell of a case, MAKE SURE TO WASH COMPLETELY!!!
the next thing to over come is the fans. i used a total of four pc fans for this case. i made one "super fan" by piecing a cpu cooler as well as a regular 80mm back to back.
note that every fan has an arrow depicting the direction of airflow.
i placed two fans at the top of the case for cooling down the lights once they have reached that height. one fan drawing air in on one side, and on fan (my super fan) drawing air out on the other, creating a great flow of circulation. i also placed a fan near the bottom of the case on the opposite side of the "super fan" as an inlet fan to be constantly drawing in fresh air.
now as for powering the fans, there are a few options here. you could either a.) use cell phone chargers or old dc adapters. or b.) do what i did and use the computer power supply. the point behind doing this is that everything inside a computer runs off of a 12v current, while a typical household current is 120-240v. we need to transform your household current to power the pc fans (which is the main job of the computers power supply). i also liked using the psu because there is already all of the wiring from the connection harnesses you will ever need. while the cell phone charger only has the one lead, a psu has several. note that you want to use the black wire for ground, and the yellow wire for power, NOT THE RED. due to the fact that the red only runs 5.5v while the yellow runs 12v. although this could come in handy if you wanted but i suggest going full power. note that if you are going to be using a newer aged power supply, you will need to "jump" the psu into thinking that there is a full power circuit, as if it was attached to a motherboard. its pretty simple. all you have to do is locate the motherboard harness first of all. second, find the switched wire on the harness which should be the only green wire there. now what we need to do is "jump" the green switched wire to a negative lead to complete the circle. do this using a paper clip or even a piece of wire.
i was actually fortunate and found and older psu that still worked from the mid 90's. therefor, it had a male and a female power plug on the back. so what i did is cracked it open and replaced female plug with another male plug and wired this to the surge protector i am going to use for my cfls. i did this so i can run the fans and the light on two separate circuits so i can place the lights on a timer.
i mounted the psu on the back side of the case because it seemed like the most logical place to put it. this made it pretty easy to access all the wiring and easy to route the surge protector cord into the case while not giving up to much length of the cord either.
after all of the wiring and the fans are in place, the next step is tackling a major task; LIGHT REFLECTION. while strolling around my local hydro shop, i stumbled upon an awesome, EPIC thing called panda film. its a material thats black on one side for stopping light and moister, and 100% white on the other for ultimate reflection. i purchased a roll of 15feet by 15feet for 9.99 to line the surface of the case. this stuff is awesome. now, using 3M's super spray adhesive, cardboard, and panda film, i made walls to cover up all the wiring and the floor of the case. i also made a box that fits over the fans to stop light leakage but still allow ultimate air flow. i covered these in the panda film as well.
and here is what i have so far. as you can see, im not completely finished. i plan on attaching the power supply to the cord freely. then, putting magnets on the back and not completely mounting it so i can freely adjust the height of the lights at any time.
well first off, the main idea is to make the case as functional as possible. so all of the components of a grow room have to be in place.
having the biggest case you can find is a must. the more space, the better off you are. keep in mind that these are much more suited for auto's than anything else. and even with an auto strain, LST is a must as well. and I am very sorry but i did not start taking pictures until some time into this project. so for now, only words will have to do.
to start you want to completely strip the entire case of everything inside. all components as well as brackets have to go. nine times out of ten the brackets will be riveted. using a small drill or even a chisel and hammer will come in handy at this stage. WARNING: SAVE EVERY PIECE YOU TAKE OUT. this is crucial because you never know if you can use them or not. when you have just the shell of a case, MAKE SURE TO WASH COMPLETELY!!!
the next thing to over come is the fans. i used a total of four pc fans for this case. i made one "super fan" by piecing a cpu cooler as well as a regular 80mm back to back.
note that every fan has an arrow depicting the direction of airflow.
i placed two fans at the top of the case for cooling down the lights once they have reached that height. one fan drawing air in on one side, and on fan (my super fan) drawing air out on the other, creating a great flow of circulation. i also placed a fan near the bottom of the case on the opposite side of the "super fan" as an inlet fan to be constantly drawing in fresh air.
now as for powering the fans, there are a few options here. you could either a.) use cell phone chargers or old dc adapters. or b.) do what i did and use the computer power supply. the point behind doing this is that everything inside a computer runs off of a 12v current, while a typical household current is 120-240v. we need to transform your household current to power the pc fans (which is the main job of the computers power supply). i also liked using the psu because there is already all of the wiring from the connection harnesses you will ever need. while the cell phone charger only has the one lead, a psu has several. note that you want to use the black wire for ground, and the yellow wire for power, NOT THE RED. due to the fact that the red only runs 5.5v while the yellow runs 12v. although this could come in handy if you wanted but i suggest going full power. note that if you are going to be using a newer aged power supply, you will need to "jump" the psu into thinking that there is a full power circuit, as if it was attached to a motherboard. its pretty simple. all you have to do is locate the motherboard harness first of all. second, find the switched wire on the harness which should be the only green wire there. now what we need to do is "jump" the green switched wire to a negative lead to complete the circle. do this using a paper clip or even a piece of wire.
i was actually fortunate and found and older psu that still worked from the mid 90's. therefor, it had a male and a female power plug on the back. so what i did is cracked it open and replaced female plug with another male plug and wired this to the surge protector i am going to use for my cfls. i did this so i can run the fans and the light on two separate circuits so i can place the lights on a timer.
i mounted the psu on the back side of the case because it seemed like the most logical place to put it. this made it pretty easy to access all the wiring and easy to route the surge protector cord into the case while not giving up to much length of the cord either.
after all of the wiring and the fans are in place, the next step is tackling a major task; LIGHT REFLECTION. while strolling around my local hydro shop, i stumbled upon an awesome, EPIC thing called panda film. its a material thats black on one side for stopping light and moister, and 100% white on the other for ultimate reflection. i purchased a roll of 15feet by 15feet for 9.99 to line the surface of the case. this stuff is awesome. now, using 3M's super spray adhesive, cardboard, and panda film, i made walls to cover up all the wiring and the floor of the case. i also made a box that fits over the fans to stop light leakage but still allow ultimate air flow. i covered these in the panda film as well.
and here is what i have so far. as you can see, im not completely finished. i plan on attaching the power supply to the cord freely. then, putting magnets on the back and not completely mounting it so i can freely adjust the height of the lights at any time.
