Building single-plant growbox, I want your opinions!

Fractus

Fractus

Well-Known Member
Ok this is my current project, and I'm seeking advice from anyone and everyone who might be able to shed some light on my design. I was aiming for inexpensive, small, and effective - something that can be in an apartment building! This is what I have come up with:

The container I decided to go with - A styrofoam cooler, air tight, spacious, easy to work with, inexpensive, and already white!


The red squares are where I intend to install my fans. Later on, when I need it I want to install a carbon filter on my exhaust fan.
The black circles are where those light fixtures are going to be mounted horizontally, I think all of the lights together will give an even and adequate light distribution for my plant.
The lights consist of 2 pairs of soft white CFL's, 1600 lumens/23 watts (=100 watt incandescent)


The cover to the box - that is a 3300 lumen soft white CFL @ 55 watts (= 150 watt incandescent). I plan to have this mounted in such a way that I can adjust the height of it to sit just over the plant at all time. (And when the plant is too high, I have an extra cooler, and will set one bottom piece inverted on top of the other and remount my dome light)


All advice & criticism is welcome, I'm a newb :D
 
Fractus

Fractus

Well-Known Member
I actually took that into consideration, but those bulbs really don't produce much heat at all, I could have one turned on in my pants all day long and it probably wouldn't bother me :P What are your thoughts as far as design goes?
 
R

Rauffle

Member
Really interested as to how well this works out.

You should do a test with the lights to make sure heat isn't an issue.
 
Fractus

Fractus

Well-Known Member
Funny you should say that, right now I have two of the lights turned on and just laying on the bottom of it, (closely monitored, mind you! I don't want my place to burn down) I've had them there for 30 minutes now and still not even getting warm. I wonder if anything higher than 23w would get much hotter..? CFLs are pretty damn efficient as far as heat/light ratio goes
 
Fractus

Fractus

Well-Known Member
Still no issues, and aside from my experimental observations, a little research taught me that the melting point for polystyrene (styrofoam) is approximately 240 degrees celcius, a temperature that no CFL would ever reach. So as far as safety and melting, it checks out! :D Good question though, it's something I didn't really think about when buying my supplies. (Stoned...)
 
R

Rauffle

Member
Awesome. I'm going to go pick up some supplies tomorrow and try a similar setup for my first grow. Worst case scenario I ruin an $8 cooler.
 
Fractus

Fractus

Well-Known Member
Haha that was my perspective on it too, if you don't spend much money you can't risk wasting much money :D Plus I'm pretty confident it's going to have great results, I'll be posting more pics as I progress.
 
thatdjsnow

thatdjsnow

Well-Known Member
my 26w cfls run hotter than my 42w...

also, just to be safe... there are lots of fire-retardant spray "paints" on the market you could use... i used to work in the oil field and covered all my clothes in them before going out. :P

Also, if you monitoring the cfls, then the lid is probably off.... shut the lid for a good while, let the heated air not escape, and see how much hotter those cfls can get ;)

Not a problem with the fans you plan on installing.... bur what if they stop working?? Not raining on your parade, just prying to get you to test a bit more - I'd hate to see your next post be about you setting your apartment complex on fire while you were at work!
 
Fractus

Fractus

Well-Known Member
thatdjsnow said:
my 26w cfls run hotter than my 42w...

also, just to be safe... there are lots of fire-retardant spray "paints" on the market you could use... i used to work in the oil field and covered all my clothes in them before going out. :P

Also, if you monitoring the cfls, then the lid is probably off.... shut the lid for a good while, let the heated air not escape, and see how much hotter those cfls can get ;)

Not a problem with the fans you plan on installing.... bur what if they stop working?? Not raining on your parade, just prying to get you to test a bit more - I'd hate to see your next post be about you setting your apartment complex on fire while you were at work!
Click to expand...

I appreciate your concern, and I posted this here to get all the criticism I can, if something is going to not work, I would like someone to point it out before it's too late lol. But like I previously stated, CFL bulbs won't ever go above 240 degrees celcius so heat/fire won't be an issue whether my fans decide to quit or not, the only possible firestarter would be something shorting out, which is equally risky to all indoor growers I think.
 
thatdjsnow

thatdjsnow

Well-Known Member
Fractus said:
I appreciate your concern, and I posted this here to get all the criticism I can, if something is going to not work, I would like someone to point it out before it's too late lol. But like I previously stated, CFL bulbs won't ever go above 240 degrees celcius so heat/fire won't be an issue whether my fans decide to quit or not, the only possible firestarter would be something shorting out, which is equally risky to all indoor growers I think.
Click to expand...
Yeh but it would be hard for that to happen on a set-up your size - so looks like you're good to go! Good luck :D
 
Fractus

Fractus

Well-Known Member
Thanks dude! In the morning I'm going hunting for a couple more parts that I've decided I should invest in, and hopfully constuction+transplant will be done by tomorrow night, and I'll post some pics here for the public, maybe I'll inspire others :)
 
Fractus

Fractus

Well-Known Member
Today I got all the rest of my supplies and built my box and transplanted into it, Let me know what you think! Total cost start to finish was under 120$.

Beginning constuction: I drew an outline of the fans on the outside of the box.


Step 2: Cut out holes where fans are going to be installed.


Step 3: Cut holes where you plan on putting light fixtures in. I decided not to go with the round light on top, too complicated. Instead, two more 1600 lumen 23 watt CFL's are going in, on another y-splitter.


Step 4: Screw fan in place. (This one is my intake)


Step 4 (2): Fan from the outside.


Step 5: Screw other fan in place (exhaust).


Step 5 (2): Exhaust fan from the outside.


Step 6: Those fans run on 12v DC so you can't just plug it into the wall, I spent $11 on this adapter 120AC -> 12DC 1000mA, Cut off the tip because you don't need it, I wired it directly to the +/- of my two fans in parallel (Optional: if you want con control your fan speed, spend a couple dollars and pick up a dimmer switch)


Step 6 (2): Pic of the whole setup so far.


Step 6 (3): My sexy blue fans all wired up :D (Note the wires held in place by thumbtacks lol)


Step 7: I know I skipped a couple steps, but all you after your wiring is stick your light sockets in the holes and plug them in, and transplant into the box.


Step 8: My 6-bulb CFL stealth-box :D With my little 2 week old plant, I'm expecting it to be a little stunted from the transplant, but with my good soil/perlite mix and lighting and ventilation, it will hopefully take off! In each y-splitter there are two 1600 lumen bulbs, one 2700K and one 6500K, I think taking a couple colours out of the spectrum might be beneficial :D


Step 9: Finished product, all plugged in, hiding in my closet - as you can see there is also a timer hooked up that controls my lights, right now it's set at 19/5 for my veg. I don't have a thermometer in it yet, but my exhaust is warm and inside the box is cool, so my fans are working great :D
 
Fractus

Fractus

Well-Known Member
Thanks man, pretty much every part used in this came from Canadian Tire, except the adapted and fans, they came from Future Shop. 18$ per fan and 11$ for the adapter, and I'm really impressed with the performance of the whole system in general! Can't wait to let it work for a few days and see how my plant responds
 
GypsyBush

GypsyBush

Well-Known Member
that is ... original... I must say that...

May I suggest the exhaust should be on top , I would think the lid would be the best place... as heat rises...

And I would use both fans as exhaust, leaving the bottom hols as a passive intake...

I believe that will give you the best ventilation possible, given your set up...
 
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