MannyBoy

Ok, I've read it and read it. "LED's are a fine idea, but they aren't here yet." Or "LED's suck." Whatever. I'm new. New to the site. New to growing. New to blogging. But LED's are cheap and so am I. It's 106 miles to Chicago, we gotta full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses -- Let's rock!!!

In a messy basement sits an unusual corner of Heaven or hell. It depends on your perspective.

C_ka

No pic?

it would be nice to see this

__________________
"yes i smoke shit straight off the roach clip.."
- Cypress Hill

"Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living things, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on the earth. I said then and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."
— Eugene V. Debs

MannyBoy

Is that a tool cabinet? A clothes wardrobe? The entryway to Narnia? Well, some may say C. S. Lewis was stoned when he wrote, but ...



Now the BIG problem (I hate to admit this since I built the cabinet): light leakage!

1. Generally around the doors and the frame. I originally sealed this area with a 3/16" foam rubber "P" seal. I am now trying some 1/4" foam rubber "D" and this seams to be working. With two exceptions:

a. Door Seal leak from about half way down to the bottom of the "front" edge of the two doors. As you can't really see well, I hold these door closed at the top front of the cabinet with a common rotating window lock thing you see on you windows at home (if you have double hung windows). Except my have a key lock for security, but the work the same way. You can sort of see them in the photo above. So the door is held closed at the top only with no pressure at the bottom or middle.

Any suggestions for a way to get sealing pressure in the middle bottom of each door?

b. I will post another pic for this one. I am getting significant light through the door hinges. Right in the area directly across from the hinge pin (in the photo the door is on the left and cab on the right - the light leaks in the rectangular area to the right of the hinge pin in the door hinge.



Anyone have any ideas of how to seal this up?

MannyBoy

I currently have two breeds starting up. The first is an unknown breed I acquired trough a friend. I was astounded when all ten seeds popped since they were God knows how old and stored in an air tight container (I am guessing this is not good for seeds). I am calling these SOUL for now (Seeds Of Uncertain Origin).

Here is a pick of these seedlings approximately 10 days after the start of germination.



This is only under a 45 watt LED panel. What do you think?

I know they are very young, but can anyone help identify the genetics here? It kind of has the more broad leaf of an Indica, or do they all look this way at this stage? This is my first grow.

Galt

Sorry I'm so late to the dance. Just came across your thread when I was searchin' out LED grows.

If you're still having light leakage issues try these:
https://hachol02.hafeleonline.com/OA...55DA179CDAD2C1
or something like them. They're called elbow catches and can be had in a variety of orientations. They give you a very positive latching on the less active side door. They also allow you to put a little pressure on the door when you close it, thereby more fully engaging and compressing your perimeter weather stripping. In addition to that you can install an T-astragal along the edge of the less active door panel. If that's not enough you can also try attaching another strip of felt or foam tape on the back side of the door so that it's right up close to the existing weatherstripping that I presume you have attached along the front edges of the cabinet carcass where the door covers. To do that you need to empty out the cabinet and alternately close each door and reach inside to properly position the extra tape. Kind'a ghetto but it creates a kind of weir for the light to negotiate and it can only bounce but so far. To further immobilize the more active door panel you can also drill a hole up from the bottom shelf overhang (assuming you have a recessed toe kick, and do the same down from the top. Stick an Allen wrench up or down in the hole as an added bolt that also isn't obvious to casual snoops.

I also seem to remember you having some questions about ventilation, maybe in your other post? Anyway, Yate Loon makes a 120mmx120mmx20mm 12 VDC computer fan that sells for about $4-5 and moves 45 CFM at just under 21 dBA and less than a third of an amp. You can get a stand alone 12 VDC power supply for $10-15 that will reliably power 4-6 of the fans if you don't have an old computer PSU to scavenge. The issue of stink control is best addressed with one of the DIY solutions IMO. Carbon is cheap and the name of the game is surface area. So a full width shelf sized tray of carbon could probably be hobbled together for just a few bucks (think retile cage lid with a dust proof fabric between the screen and carbon, and a WalMart furnace air filter underneath. Easy to renew, large area means easy breathing for your fans, and a larger available carbon capacity means better, longer performance between carbon changes. You can use the fans in a push pull or all pull, but generally the sleeve bearing fans perform better and longer in a horizontal install pulling air through the cabinet. Another good fan is by Cooler Master and comes in a 200mm (7.9") size. I caught them on sale for about $14 a while ago and they move 110 CFM at only 19 dBA (that's quieter than an average bedroom or hospital room at night). Depends on how much mounting space that you have. Try to work with the natural convective flow. That is to say, mount fans high for cooling since the warm air is trying to go that direction already. The quieter low velocity fans don't generate enough pressure to overcome the static conditions as well so trying to push or pull the warm air down to the floor is pretty much useless in a big box. The 200mm has an LED light in it but just don't hook that part of the wiring up if it's a problem.

Also with the duct work. I've forgotten the exact calculations (there's probably a free duct calc somewhere on the internet) but adding elbows kills air flow. Corrugated hose turbulence also kills flow. Straight shots of metal duct with taped (foil tape not that shitty "duct tape") are best. An interior plenum can be fashioned out of a Rubbermaid container, to use as the basis for your carbon filter as well as a fan noise and light baffle near your exhaust outlet.

Not trying to tell ya what to do, just noodlin' through a reasonable KISS approach. Let's say you steal some top space for a shelf sized carbon filter with the fans inside blowing out the top or the back near the top. Intake air from under or low and behind the cabinet could be drawn up through the floor in the front by cutting long slots with a router, or just cut a chunk out and replace it with a piece of egg crate light diffuser (Home Depot lighting aisle for about $10 a 2'x4' piece). If you use a router and leave a rabbeted edge on the opening that's as deep as the egg crate is thick, it will al sit flush when you put it back together.

You can use a piece of fabric or open cell foam on the outside of the egg crate as an intake filter by just painting a little glue across the face edges of the egg crate and sticking the foam to it. Make the free area of your intake at least twice the size of your combined fan diameters and shoot for about one complete air exchange in your cabinet every five minutes. Do the math and don't cheat 'cuz you only end up screwin' yourself. Two 4" fans don't equal a single 8".

Anyway, the air exchange is critical not just for temperature and humidity control, but also for your plants to perform photosynthesis and breath. As the convert carbon dioxide to oxygen they need to expel the O2 and get a fresh supply of CO2. With good ventilation, plenty of nutes/water at the right pH for uptake, the next limiting factor will be available light. Don't know what the inside of your cab looks like but it's pretty simple to add floros as you get the dough if you're so inclined. If you have room you can just add them to the walls for side lighting with your LED's. The CFL's are crazy cheap, and very effective, but you have to be a little more creative in how you mount them if you want to be able to move them around as the plants grow. Their ballast is built into their base so they also tend to throw more heat than a T-5 where you can remove the ballast and mount it outside the cabinet if heat is an issue.

Well, good luck. Hope I didn't just muddy the water for ya. Let me know how the LED's work out.

__________________
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
_________________

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
- Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

Captain Cannabis

for the light leak, you might want to put flaps on your doors.



you could make these out of whatever you want. would be better if it was black (to absorb all stray light), but i am sure anything would work. this would make it so you have to close one door before the other.

i am pretty interested in LED grows since i am taking a materials chemistry course (solid state) this semester. i built an OLED in the lab and synthesized some luminescent compounds used in LEDs.

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fuck the monkeys

Galt

Hey Capt., have you any experience or have you heard anything about green spectrum LED's being added to the grow light arrays. I can't recall where I read about it but supposedly the results were very favorable. I understand that the green is absorbed and all but I think it had more to do with being a closer approximation of natural sun light, etc.

__________________
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
_________________

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
- Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

LostanConfussed

I had a light leak once an i was picking banna's for weeks an still got my girls polly, all cause of a small light leak an i mean small..

so wutever u doo make shure the light stays in an out when u want it to

the flaps will probly work the best way to find out an have someone shut the door with u in their for about 10 mins an that way u can get them all sealed up...

Good luck an stay safe
Lost