Stealth Cabinet Build (78Hx48Wx24D)

Fred Flintstoner

Fred Flintstoner

Active Member
DenseBuds said:
You make a good point about the metal cabinet. I guess the worst that would happen is the fan would stop working but the light keeps working. They're on the same circuit so the fan would have to break itself. If that happened, then the bulb might bust but that's inside the cool tube and then to your point, inside a metal cabinet without anything flamable nearby. I'll give it some thought and bounce it off the wife. Thx
Click to expand...
Hey bro, as a safety measure if you are truly worried (like I was) then you can buy these nice little power outlets that can be set to shutoff if a certain temperature is reached. You just plug your light into this outlet and set your temp to the desired level, this way if a fan goes out you at least will have a safety kill for your lights once the temp starts soaring.

Here is one from bgyhdro, this once is nice too because if you have a brown out or short power outtage, then it will not turn your lights back on for 15 mins after power is restored to protect your light.

http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=AACCHLC3E&eq=&Tp=
 
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DenseBuds

Active Member
In the past few weeks, I've been testing the cabinet on a couple plants. Based on those tests, I made the following modifications:


  • Outdoor venting - Venting the 400watt into the room just wasn't tolerable (for me or the plants). It frequently got up to 95+ in the room and low to mid 90s in the cabinet. I now have a seperate fan through the cooltube and out the window. Had to use a lot of ducting and 300CFM to make it happen, but it works. Now the room hits 85 and the cabinet usually doesn't crack 82. The intake is connected to the exhaust from my 250watt tent which sits right next to the cabinet. Doesn't seem to be much impact to temps when I have the 250watt light on.
  • Removed the T5 lights/ Added CFLs - They were 24" long plus the power cords and didn't fit well horizontally. Perhaps I'll add them back vertically in the future, one in each corner. But for now, they're out. Added two 100W equivalent CFLs and a power strip inside the cabinet hooked to the timer strip on the back. There are warnings about not hooking two strips together, but as I understand it, this is just to prevent people from overloading. If you know what watt/amps you're pulling and you're below the limit on BOTH strips, you're fine. May eventually hook up a fan or two to blow the air around a bit more when the lights are on.
  • Lowered/removed the shelf - I had a totally untrained/trimmed Avalanche plant I was testing with which grew to about 40" not including the pot. The tips of the leaves began to burn even with the light basically touching the roof. Getting rid of the storage gives me ample room. I think that once I try my hand at scrog or maybe even do some LST, I'll put it back.
  • Added a webcam to the cabinet. Able to check on things via laptop or iPhone. Note: I've got this secured from external access via VPN or SSH tunnel and appropriate wireless encryptions for in-house use. I don't recommend this unless you're confident in your configuration. The last thing you want is some kid down the street taking a peak at your grow!

Future:

I plan to get a MiniGoose 2 after the holidays. Will allow me to have temp (and hum. if I like) sensors in my two tents, the cabinet, the room they're all in and outside. Will sample/trend every few min and log. Will also alert me at certain thressholds.

That's it for now, pictures to follow below. I expect to move my seedlings into big pots and into the cabinet tomorrow or the next day if everything goes as planned. Will post growlog URL too.

Thx,
DB
 
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DenseBuds

Active Member
  • Removed T5s/Added CFLs
  • Added Power Strip
  • Added Webcam (Will end up re-mounting onto a magnet so I can get it in closer to the plants w/o a hassle as they grow. Kind of a shitty angle atm)
  • Removed Shelf
 

Attachments

D

DenseBuds

Active Member
So I took a pic of just the CFLs on, then the 400watt only (MH bulb), and finally one with both. It doesn't look like it makes a ton of difference, but the CFLs do get into some of the area where the 400 isn't so strong.

Then there's a shot of the seedlings I'm going to replant and move into the cabinet in the next couple days.

And finally a shot of the cabinet in a browser and on my iPhone.
 

Attachments

jamesbond420ny

jamesbond420ny

Active Member
Great details.
I like the cabinet you picked.
What are the interior dimensions?
I'm going to use T5's and grow scrog.
Heat is a big concern for my location.
Would like to split the cabinet into a veg area ~ 28Hx48Wx24D and flower 50Hx48Wx24D.
The T5's are very close to 48 inches wide.
What are the dimensions of the shelves:SKU:TNNJ24SBK?
I think I read you could slightly smell your plants.
Would you recommend a larger carbon filter?
If so, would you suggest using a larger fan?

Please keep posting.
I checked out your grow and all your details are very much appreciated.
Thx to Cruzer101 as well.
 
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DenseBuds

Active Member
jamesbond420ny said:
Great details.
I like the cabinet you picked.
What are the interior dimensions?
I'm going to use T5's and grow scrog.
Heat is a big concern for my location.
Would like to split the cabinet into a veg area ~ 28Hx48Wx24D and flower 50Hx48Wx24D.
The T5's are very close to 48 inches wide.
What are the dimensions of the shelves:SKU:TNNJ24SBK?
I think I read you could slightly smell your plants.
Would you recommend a larger carbon filter?
If so, would you suggest using a larger fan?

Please keep posting.
I checked out your grow and all your details are very much appreciated.
Thx to Cruzer101 as well.
Click to expand...

Hi - shelf dimensions are 22.75" deep by 48" wide. The door jam takes up some of the depth. The interior height with the bottom shelf installed is 72.5". You could get more height if you remove it like cruzer did, but you'll need to brace the bottom somehow. The shelf provides stability to the cabinet. After ensuring I had no leaks in the system, the filter is working great. The only issue I have is with heat, but that's more of an issue with using a 400watt. If I put my T5s in here, it wouldn't be a concern. Let me know if you have any additional questions.
 
K

Kavika68

Member
Hey DenseBuds. I told you I would check out your grow. Man you got it going on. :hump:

I will come by here more often to check it out. I am guessing you are liking the new shipment. Was this something from Santa. LOL.

Later dude!
 
D

DenseBuds

Active Member
Kavika68 said:
Hey DenseBuds. I told you I would check out your grow. Man you got it going on. :hump:

I will come by here more often to check it out. I am guessing you are liking the new shipment. Was this something from Santa. LOL.

Later dude!
Click to expand...
Thx for stopping by. My new pc case was indeed "from santa" ;). Just unwrapped it. Need to find a good small thermometer w/ a probe that I can affix to the outside.
 
billdo

billdo

Well-Known Member
First off, great cab!

So, you would say that your S&P TD100x isn't enough to cool both your room and your lights? Did you try setting it up like this?

filter>lights>fan>exhaust

I am just curious, as I just ordered a TD100x for my 4x4x2 cabinet... and wanted that one fan to be the exhaust for my sealed light hood and the room as a whole.

Thanks dude,
BILLDO
 
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DenseBuds

Active Member
billdo said:
First off, great cab!

So, you would say that your S&P TD100x isn't enough to cool both your room and your lights? Did you try setting it up like this?

filter>lights>fan>exhaust

I am just curious, as I just ordered a TD100x for my 4x4x2 cabinet... and wanted that one fan to be the exhaust for my sealed light hood and the room as a whole.

Thanks dude,
BILLDO
Click to expand...
Hey Billdo, thx for stopping by. The exhaust out of the cab is not the issue, it's getting the exhaust out of the bedroom the cab is in so the room doesn't heat up and increase the inlet air temp.

The window is way across the room, so I have some inneficient ductwork extending quite a ways. I think if I had the cab right next to the window/room exhaust vent, it'd be just fine.

I did have it setup filter -> light -> td100 fan -> exhaust, but the 100 couldn't push the air all the way to the window. So I figured I'd seperate the filter from the light exhaust and use my 6" TD to push the hot air from
the light across to the window. Works a lot better, but it's still letting heat escape on the way.

Thinking of putting a 4" inline closer to the window and insulating the ducting. All this would be a hell of a lot easier if I just had the cabinet closer to the window, but for various non-grow-related issues, I can't do that.

Hope that helps?
 
billdo

billdo

Well-Known Member
DenseBuds said:
Hey Billdo, thx for stopping by. The exhaust out of the cab is not the issue, it's getting the exhaust out of the bedroom the cab is in so the room doesn't heat up and increase the inlet air temp.

The window is way across the room, so I have some inneficient ductwork extending quite a ways. I think if I had the cab right next to the window/room exhaust vent, it'd be just fine.

I did have it setup filter -> light -> td100 fan -> exhaust, but the 100 couldn't push the air all the way to the window. So I figured I'd seperate the filter from the light exhaust and use my 6" TD to push the hot air from
the light across to the window. Works a lot better, but it's still letting heat escape on the way.

Thinking of putting a 4" inline closer to the window and insulating the ducting. All this would be a hell of a lot easier if I just had the cabinet closer to the window, but for various non-grow-related issues, I can't do that.

Hope that helps?
Click to expand...

That totally helps! I really wish that my wife would "allow" me that much space to my favorite hobby! I am jealous.

Thanks for clearing that up about your fan situation. My reading comprehension engine was apparently on the fritz.

What do you think of that S&P fan? Do you have a speed control on it, or do you just let it rip full blast?
How is the noise?

Stay green,
BILLDO
 
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DenseBuds

Active Member
I work from home so it's kind of my room really. It is nice, but I do plan on scaling back a bit once I get a substantial harvest or two out f the way so I have herb on-hand.

As for the fans, I have them on the lower speed setting. They are certainly one of the least noisy fans. The 100s I can hardly hear standing in front of the cab. I don't buy any other brand.
 
billdo

billdo

Well-Known Member
I just got a 2x3x5 grow tent, and have both a td100x and a td100.

I was thinking about this

TD100x
filter>hood>fan>out

TD100
active intake fan low on the tent.


Do you think this would work?
 
D

DenseBuds

Active Member
billdo said:
I just got a 2x3x5 grow tent, and have both a td100x and a td100.

I was thinking about this

TD100x
filter>hood>fan>out

TD100
active intake fan low on the tent.


Do you think this would work?
Click to expand...
My only concern would be that the intake fan would kill the pressure created by the exhaust fan and you may have some smell escape? Is the 100x more cfm? I would only use the one fan unless it pulls harder, and then I might still only use the one fan.
 
billdo

billdo

Well-Known Member
DenseBuds said:
My only concern would be that the intake fan would kill the pressure created by the exhaust fan and you may have some smell escape? Is the 100x more cfm? I would only use the one fan unless it pulls harder, and then I might still only use the one fan.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the TD100x is 135 cfm, whereas the TD100 is 101 cfm.

Ok.. here is another idea.

What if I arranged the setup like this:
Scrubber>td100>Light>td100x>exhaust

Would the extra boost from the slightly smaller fan ensure that I am indeed getting enough CFM out of the tent? My thought is that the scrubber is going to cut the cfm way down... so the extra BOOST could get the cfm back up to at least 100.

Thoughts?
 
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