16x3x9 garage grow becoming a reality

klozetgrow

Well-Known Member
Welcome gentlemen this will be my fourth attempt growing first two got horribly interrupted took half my 3rd to harvest not a bad pull for the cfl light setup I was using at the time ended with 3oz from a 3x2.5 area so three years later here I am with a house of my own in the middle of the desert with my growers permit aloud 6 in flower 12 under 12" so have a 16' x 3' x 9' area 2' for a dry room one 6x3 flower one 3x3 flower room and a 4x3 veg\mother room with 12" to play with want two 600 watt hps in the 6x3 area one 600 watt hps in the 3x3 flower and a 4bulb t5 in the flower on top of dry room but exhausting into garage have a wall unit ac that will vent all rooms have a 425cfm exhaust fan that will be connected to the three lights and two carbon scrubbers going with soil and seeds from gorrila seed bank. With that said does this sound like a reasonable way to run this space any advice taken
 

klozetgrow

Well-Known Member
Guess I should mention at this moment am customer building the "garage cabinets" they are going to be built in two sections the part without the garage door rail that extends the full 9' up the a 7' section under the garage rail only going 8' up. The first 8x3x9 area has been built just need to put doors on air seal it and cut desired holes ect on order is one air cooled 600watt hps the 425 cfm carbon filter with ducting 25' x 4' roll of mylar sideing have the wall ac unit then pack of 7 gal smart pots advanced nutes cal mag general hydro 3 part nute system gen hydro ph up down should mention the light and carbon filter are ipower( any experience with these?) And then the seeds amnesia kush gorrila glue widow and a jack diesel plus some freebies Cinderella 99 Honeysuckle pineapple chunk critical kush and chronic thunder all fem seeds no autos want to say that sums it up
 

kingtitan

Well-Known Member
Cant say much about the filter but during my 2 week long research on ballasts I ended up going with a top of the line one that cost twice as much (Phantom II) as most of everything else had a risk of RFI emitting from ballast. Legal or No, you don't want to get the FCC involved. Make sure that ballast is on its own circuit breaker so that it does not leak to internet or cable tv lines. Use a AM radio to see if the ballast is emitting RFI. iPower and VivoSun were the cheapos I was first considering, I come from using Magnetics. Also make sure you understand a Digital and Electronic Ballast, they seem to get used interchangeably by manufacturers but they are different.
 

klozetgrow

Well-Known Member
Have two dedicated circuit for the garage was gonna put light on one and everything else on another have a couple industrial surge protectors as well for each breaker I figured that should work out well (could totally be wrong) as far as using am frequency to measure rfi is something I haven't heard might need to look into this a bit restrained on money and it looked good from what digging I did do but will have to double check before I open it
 

klozetgrow

Well-Known Member
Its really a mixed bag with it leaning towards an ok light on the 420forum it had a lot of good posts on it with some beautiful plants however the saying you get what you pay for I know is very true if this light could last a year it will do the job for me is my hope would like to turn to led
 

klozetgrow

Well-Known Member
So that rfi shit is scary but I notice its been 3 plus years since these problems were an issue but agreed it is something to look at
 

klozetgrow

Well-Known Member
Lmao that is a good mental picture of my garage but was thinking more along the lines of what roger said when u said it lol
 

fn217

Active Member
Most of the high end ballasts these days are pretty well RFI shielded. I'll recommend Solis-Tek. I have them, run 12 and have no issues with wireless connection, among other things.
 

klozetgrow

Well-Known Member
Funny you mention the solis been reading up on it all day trying to find a ballast that will be solid for the next 8 9 months goal is to turn to led eventually but want to put real money into those lights not just a couple hundred dollar pos
 

fn217

Active Member
I have to update this. Literally just as I said no issues, my internet is now being taken down by my ballasts. My internet goes out when my lights go on.

Hopefully when I isolate the ballasts farther away from the phone line coming in, things will get better. But for now, internet is completely out.
 

kingtitan

Well-Known Member
Look at the Phantom II 1000w ballast, it is all sealed, no fans, no moving parts, 3yr warranty and its shielding is one of its listed features (FCC certified). It is commercial ready and works on generators as well.

take a look at the info at the manufacture site https://www.hydrofarm.com/p/PHB2010

The seller "allstarwhlsales" on ebay is the cheapest I found anywhere ~$180, at least cheapest one that would ship to Canada without costing as much as the ballast itself.

I would honestly return the iPower. When I emailed iPower and Vivosun on Amazon they both were aware of RFI issues with their ballast and told me to plug it on a circuit that had no internet/tv devices on it as a solution or to build a Faraday Cage (they assumed I had already bought one) or put it on a metal plate. Paying the additional 50-100 bucks on a solid reputable ballast from the start will save you a lot of headache during your grow.
 

fn217

Active Member
Wish I had known about the FCC cert on the Phantoms before I went with the Solis-Tek, as far as I knew I thought the Solis-Tek had strong RFI shielding. I guessed wrong. I also heard that the Phantoms had a pretty high RMA rate.
 
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