Stealth Cabinet Build (78Hx48Wx24D)

billdo

billdo

Well-Known Member
Word.
Started testing using ONLY the TD100x pulling through the carbon scrubber and light... and have been pleased for the most part.

84ºF in the middle of the night so far. Yes, it will get warmer around here in the summer (no AC)... but never so hot as to kill the plants... and during those months i anticipate only running night cycles to minimize the shift.
 
billdo

billdo

Well-Known Member
Dudes.
Here is an update.
I set the tent up like this:
scrubber>insulated duct>light hood>insulated duct>TD100x>out

I then slid the tent another inch away from the wall (it sits in a closed without a door)... and now my temps inside the tent are locked in at 77ºF!
The temp of the outside room is 72º.

+5... kick ass!

I have a curtain that serves as a "closet door". When that is almost completely closed the temps only rise to 79º.
This is now a livable grow closet!

Anybody want to buy a used for literally 5 minutes TD100?

(thanks for letting me hijack this thread, DenseBuds. it has been a big help.)
 
J

Jman49

Member
Hey DenseBuds, I am just about to undergo the building of the same cabinet, although I am going to try and separate it to 2 chambers (1/3 for clones and short veg cycle on bottom and 2/3 for the flowering). I had a few questions:
1. does that cabinet have key locks?
2. Where did you make your intakes and are they passive or fan powered?
3. How did you make your intakes light proof?
4. I see you went from pulling the box air through the light to a separate system for light and box vent. Specific reason? Heat?
5. How are the smells when you are pushing through the can filter?
6. Does it seem like air flow through box is enough, or would you bump up to the S&P TD150 if done over.

You have a great set-up and I hope you don't mind me biting some of your style!
 
D

DenseBuds

Active Member
Jman49 said:
Hey DenseBuds, I am just about to undergo the building of the same cabinet, although I am going to try and separate it to 2 chambers (1/3 for clones and short veg cycle on bottom and 2/3 for the flowering). I had a few questions:
1. does that cabinet have key locks?
Click to expand...
Yes, comes with two keys.
Jman49 said:
2. Where did you make your intakes and are they passive or fan powered?
Click to expand...
I actually didn't cut any intakes. The cabinet is not air-tight, so the gaps in the doors and whatnot allow air in.

Jman49 said:
3. How did you make your intakes light proof?
Click to expand...
See above re: intakes... for light proofing, I grabbed a role of Gorilla black tape and stuck it anywhere I saw light.


Jman49 said:
4. I see you went from pulling the box air through the light to a separate system for light and box vent. Specific reason? Heat?
Click to expand...
Ya, initially I had it open -> cooltube -> fan -> carbon filter (outside, on the back of the cabinet). It was quieter but it was exhausting all the heat out of the filter into the bedroom I have the cabinet in. I underestimated how much heat the 400 put out and it heated up the room quickly. If I were to do it again, I'd probably do the traditional carbon filter (inside) -> cooltube -> exhaust ducting -> outside of the room. Even with the light all the way up, there is definitely room for the filter inside. No real need to have two exhausting systems if you do it that way I don't think. Live and learn :).


Jman49 said:
5. How are the smells when you are pushing through the can filter?
Click to expand...
No noticable difference vs pulling through it really. Works just as well. Their website says that both applications are acceptable but that pulling through the filter may save your fan some unecessary dirt build-up.


Jman49 said:
6. Does it seem like air flow through box is enough, or would you bump up to the S&P TD150 if done over.
Click to expand...
I think it's fine, but the 150 wouldn't hurt.


Jman49 said:
You have a great set-up and I hope you don't mind me biting some of your style!
Click to expand...
By all means! Heck, I took most of what I've done from cruzer101 :)
 
D

DenseBuds

Active Member
Ran into a situation where I had one plant with 3 weeks left in flower and realized most of my cabinet space was going to waste.

So I built a shelf out of PVC to raise up half the floorspace closer to the 400watt. Seems to work fairly well and it's not glued together so I can easily alter the height (once I buy more PVC... I ran out). I don't see it blocking any light with my current plants but I think I'll switch to another type of material for the shelf. It's just scrap wood and I think I could find something that lets some light pass through. Perhaps thick plexiglass even.

 
Fred Flintstoner

Fred Flintstoner

Active Member
DenseBuds said:
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
Click to expand...
OpenVPN? You are ssh'ing into your private network from the outside and then you have your webcam on a static that can be accessed? Dood you got balls! :)
 
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