Peter Webb
New Member
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Thanks in advance!
Here's a link to the listing:
Fully Ventilated/Filtered Drip Hydroponic Grow Box with CREE COB LED Lighting
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So the box on the left contains a fan/carbon filter. There are circular vents on the sides of the box that each of the side pieces fit over. They are then secured with a magnet.Yeah I mean the magnet is a good idea and yeah maybe some plastic tubing and a roller so you can move the light up and down also what are those boxes on the side is a small space like that you need every bit of the head room but in your box it's taken away by those things on the side.
You put a lot of thought in your system. But... From an experienced cab guy.
Your cab is small. I find it difficult and time intensive to keep a plant tame in a 4' cab. I find it takes more effort to tame the height of the plant than I want to invest in it. At least you had the foresight to realise that the light will take away some of that headroom. Height is a real problem in a cab.
I don't do hydro. I truly respect the dudes that do it and I get why. The benefits are great. It's just that I don't want to commit to adjusting ph everyday. Plus, cabs heat up. Even though I am sure your light doesn't put off the kind of heat HPS or CFL does it will still generate some heat. The enclosed space will heat up fast. Keeping heat issues in check can be done it's just difficult and requires effort. I am not sure how you can keep reservoir temps in check. Unless the ambient temp around the cab is very low. Anyway, I think hydro should be optional. I would prefer soil or hempy bucket in there. Otherwise I do like your hydro unit. Just not my thing.
The light. Yes I agree. You need to encase that thing. Plus, I find that in short confined cabs, side lighting is the best way to go. A light on each side would be a better choice. In my opinion.
Otherwise man I like it. Encase that light and let people do soil in that thing to avoid root rot issues. I think this is an early design and you should make a few changes here and there.
Edit. Screw in some hanging hooks in the corners and at the top to run your wiring out of the way. Keep it off the floor and organize. Also the cab I built had like a 4-5 inch space in the top to put stuff, like the fan filter, power strip, ballast, excess wiring, timer, whatever. You could possibly put your heat sink, power supply and drivers up in their and just hang the cob on its on heat sink/fan. Encased of course. You have a good idea. Just needs a little refining.
I'll be honest with you. I put a lot of thought in my own cab. It had a little cubby in the top. The top lifts up and all the electronics are kept up there as I mentioned before. Started with top lighting, then dropped the lights and went with side lighting to save headroom. You are correct. The bucket or pot will waste valuable space in a soil or hempy grow.Thanks for the detailed comments! I want to address everything you said because you had some great points.
In terms of size: the cab is 36" tall, keep in mind your losing less than 2" on top to the light. The surface of the COB is 115, meaning a plant can be an inch away without burning. If you use that reservoir you'd be getting a solid 28" of grow space (36" -3" lights -5" reservoir). I know that's not big but a 4' cab with a 12" bucket and 12" for lights is smaller when you look at usable space.
You're so right about the soil, that being said would you think it smart to include pots/anything? On the final version the system will be run from a Microcontroller Arduino. This will regulate temperature and allow you to set a lighting schedule. Would it be useful to have a similar reservoir that runs to soil pots? The goal being to set up auto watering. I know there are methods to make self-watering pots, I could have that all set up In a soil version.
Wiring is organized, it's hard to see in these pics but little wire clips hold up all the wires.
I kept those components inside because I don't want it to be obvious at first glance that this isn't a regular box. It currently runs silent and having a box on the side filled with the electrical is going to make that not possible. That being said do you think that somewhere else in the box might be a better spot than there?