cxm, 2x2, power consumption, first grow. Can i get a feedback before i invest in a grow setup?

Hey guys!


After a 1-1.5 months of researching, this is what i came up with.

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For light:
I'll get 2pcs of cxm-32-54-80's (54V 80CRI) paralell with passive heat sinks and a MW elg-200-54B driver dimmed with a potmeter. I'll be running them at 2x50W while vegging and 2x80W/2x100W while flowering. If everything goes smoothly, i'll double this setup and I'll use 4 cxm-32's parallel with both running at 25W on veg and 50w on flowering.

For tent:
I haven't decided yet, but I'm strongly pushing towards of a 2x2x6 tent. Most of the tents look like the same for me, so i don't really have any idea which one to choose. I'll probably go with one that's not the most expensive, yet not the cheapest one.

For airflow:
I'll be using a 150cfm inline fan dimmed down with 2 carbon filter. One as an intake from the tent and one as an exhaust outside of the tent both rated at about 200cfm.

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I really hope that this whole setup will be capable of giving the basic needs for my plants in the future.
If you have any suggestion, please leave a comment.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Best regards,
Koda
/Europe/

Kodaine said:

Hey guys!


After a 1-1.5 months of researching, this is what i came up with.

#############################

For light:
I'll get 2pcs of cxm-32-54-80's (54V 80CRI) paralell with passive heat sinks and a MW elg-200-54B driver dimmed with a potmeter. I'll be running them at 2x50W while vegging and 2x80W/2x100W while flowering. If everything goes smoothly, i'll double this setup and I'll use 4 cxm-32's parallel with both running at 25W on veg and 50w on flowering.

For tent:
I haven't decided yet, but I'm strongly pushing towards of a 2x2x6 tent. Most of the tents look like the same for me, so i don't really have any idea which one to choose. I'll probably go with one that's not the most expensive, yet not the cheapest one.

For airflow:
I'll be using a 150cfm inline fan dimmed down with 2 carbon filter. One as an intake from the tent and one as an exhaust outside of the tent both rated at about 200cfm.

#############################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really hope that this whole setup will be capable of giving the basic needs for my plants in the future.
If you have any suggestion, please leave a comment.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Best regards,
Koda
/Europe/

Click to expand...

I have a 2x2.5' gorilla tent, and it produces enough for my consumption. It is a well built tent.
My cobs run at around 150w all together start to finish.
Dont have an intake filter since the tent has a filtered intake vent at the bottom and the tent is in a dark basement. They do make non or light carbon intake filters that are cheaper and less restrictive than an actual carbon filter.

In a space that small their are a ton of good quality reasonably priced lights that would save you the diy. I did build mine, but in hindsight it really isnt worth it on that small of a scale.

Thanks for the reply! My first plan was to buy a spider farmer sf 1000, but i realized its almost costs the same as if i were building my own light with double the wattage.

Kodaine said:

Thanks for the reply! My first plan was to buy a spider farmer sf 1000, but i realized its almost costs the same as if i were building my own light with double the wattage.

Click to expand...

Diy is definitely cheaper.
I just got the new hlg 648 with heatsink for 144. The driver was another 40.
Really curious to see how it compares to my diy cob. Only at 1 week from seed now.
Good luck with everything

Glad to see some more small scale growers!

I'm in a 2x3x5.5 tent, and like boatguy, just got an HLG diablo board setup, though I bought the 260w kit instead of doing DIY (didn't wanna wait on crazy shipping times for parts and pieces)

Why do COBs though? If your doing DIY regardless, why not run a board or strips? Would give more even coverage along corners/edges.

For tents, Gorilla is good because they have high end, or mid tier, all of which are good. Vivosun is also pretty decent too I hear.

Ventilation sounds on point, aside from double filtering the same air. That's unnecessary.

If your genuinely concerned with smell, you could run 2 inline fans.. 1 recirculating/cleaning air in the tent, and one scrubbing the air as it exhausts.

But I use no filter in veg, and just a single 4in inline filter and never have issues of any kind as far as smell. You can be in the same room as the tent and not have any idea... aside from the sound of fans running and all that

BluntMoniker said:

But I use no filter in veg, and just a single 4in inline filter and never have issues of any kind as far as smell. You can be in the same room as the tent and not have any idea... aside from the sound of fans running and all that

Click to expand...

I have some week old stinkers in my tent now... Hoping my filter is up to the task. No smell outside yet, but by far the stinkiest babies i have sprouted

Well, living in Europe doesn't really optional in regards of getting decent lights. The supplies are limited and its really hard to find anything other than cheap knock-off and high-end plug-n-play lights. So my best option was to get cob LEDs. Two cxm-32 is enough to cover a 2x2 and if i decide to go with 4 on the long run, it should be more than enough for this small scale tent. Running each on low wattage helps to get the most out of them and i wont have to worry about the heat even at summer.

I'm an electrician who happens to work in the automation part of the field. The final goal is to make a fully automated DWC system with automated water temp/pH, controlled climate, nutrient dosing and the DO level, while keeping the DIY part. I know, its a lot to do, and could be really expensive, but i do it for the fun and because i enjoy what I'm doing.. I'm not even a big smoker. If the plants happen to yield way more than i'd use, i will just give it away for free.

Kodaine said:

Well, living in Europe doesn't really optional in regards of getting decent lights. The supplies are limited and its really hard to find anything other than cheap knock-off and high-end plug-n-play lights. So my best option was to get cob LEDs.

Click to expand...

Digikey.com is international. The 2ft samsung LED strips can be found there, and a lot of people use them. They dont even require heat sinks if mounted to a flat metal frame.

If you wanted to look at the HLG boards, here are international distributors: https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/pages/international-distributors

If your deadset on COBs that's fine, but you have other options available to you.

Kodaine said:

The final goal is to make a fully automated DWC system with automated water temp/pH, controlled climate, nutrient dosing and the DO level

Click to expand...

Water temp controllers are fairly cheap (under 50$), and temp/humidity controllers are like 100-200$... But your talking big money for monitering/dosing controllers, as far as automatic pH/EC/dosing for your reservoir. A lot cheaper to buy pH/EC meter and dose manually

@BluntMoniker Its not about buying this and buying that. Its about making your own stuff with arduinos, PLCs and custom designed circuitboards. This is what i do for a living and im one of the few people who actually likes what he is doing,

Kodaine said:

@BluntMoniker Its not about buying this and buying that. Its about making your own stuff with arduinos, PLCs and custom designed circuitboards. This is what i do for a living and im one of the few people who actually likes what he is doing,

Click to expand...

Me too. Here's the visual for my production grow environment controller.



Under the hood, it's a lot more complex than it looks. At flower lights-off, warm air from the veg tent is exhausted into the flower tent to keep the temperature up above the 52F my basement sits at. When flower isn't calling for more warmth, veg vents outside.

spek9 said:

Me too. Here's the visual for my production grow environment controller.

View attachment 4541204

Under the hood, it's a lot more complex than it looks. At flower lights-off, warm air from the veg tent is exhausted into the flower tent to keep the temperature up above the 52F my basement sits at. When flower isn't calling for more warmth, veg vents outside.

Click to expand...

wow, dude! This is sick! Do you have any tips for dealing with heat? like... The temperature gets too hot inside the tent.. This is my biggest concern about this whole thing.. I need constant airflow in the tent.. closed loop?

Kodaine said:

Well, living in Europe doesn't really optional in regards of getting decent lights. The supplies are limited and its really hard to find anything other than cheap knock-off and high-end plug-n-play lights. So my best option was to get cob LEDs. Two cxm-32 is enough to cover a 2x2 and if i decide to go with 4 on the long run, it should be more than enough for this small scale tent. Running each on low wattage helps to get the most out of them and i wont have to worry about the heat even at summer.

I'm an electrician who happens to work in the automation part of the field. The final goal is to make a fully automated DWC system with automated water temp/pH, controlled climate, nutrient dosing and the DO level, while keeping the DIY part. I know, its a lot to do, and could be really expensive, but i do it for the fun and because i enjoy what I'm doing.. I'm not even a big smoker. If the plants happen to yield way more than i'd use, i will just give it away for free.

Click to expand...

I want to do the exact same thing long term. I'm in engineering, but always wanted to get into automation too; almost got a job in it too, but it's a tough field to get your foot in the door without experience. One plant could probably last me a year's worth of smoke, so I don't need a whole lot either. My goal is to come up with some kind of homemade automated dwc garden for cannabis + every other grow-able plant I eat. Like you said, auto-nutrients / pH control / etc.., tailored to each individual plant.

Some feedback I wish I had before I started, as I'm only two months in my first grow..

-If you have the space, I would go with a larger tent from the start. I'm guessing you are a hands on person.. and you are probably going to want to get into heavy training (I only did LST, but it's been a blast, and I wish I had more room to be creative, and more plants to allow me to take bigger risks). 2x2 should really only give you one plant (I have 2 in my 2x2x4 and completely regret it..I just ordered a 2x4x6)

-Don't be afraid to future proof your equipment such as exhaust and lower the speed with a controller. You're also going to want a more powerful exhaust than intake to create (-) pressure which helps with smell. (otherwise air seeps out cracks and bypasses your carbon filter).