I need a little more help spending my Xmas $! :)

Discussion in 'Beginner Lounge' started by spinkler, Dec 28, 2009.

  1. spinkler

    spinkler Game On!

    Alrighty, I've got a small dresser that my wife found for me that I can turn into a veg or a flower cab. Ideally I'd love it to be my flower cab, but I'm not sure about the size, and I need some pointers on what hardware I can simply "make do" with. I have about $250-$300 I could spend.

    Measurements are as follows:

    22" (D) x 36.5" (W) x 30.5" (H)

    Too small for a flower chamber? Or is it doable provided I don't let the plants get too big?

    It still needs a lid, so I need to buy some hinges and some wood. Shouldn't cost more than $10-$15 I imagine.

    I've found 250W HPS lighting kits on ebay for as cheap as $157 delivered. These come with a heat shield, not a cool tube. I could always get a cool tube for the 250w and use the heat shield I get with the kit for my CFL in my veg room, too.

    ResinRubber stated that I'd need ~100cfm to cool a 2x2x4 space with 400W, but I'm not sure how much I can get away with in a slightly smaller space with less ventilation. *GOOD* quality PC fans are still far cheaper than inline fans, so if I can get away with getting some of those it might save me some money... I will end up making a homemade scrubber at some point though so this might not be ideal. Otherwise I can get a 150mm inline fan off ebay for $75 delivered.

    So, ~ $247 for a 250W ballast, HPS globe, heat shield, 150mm inline fan and a lid for my cabinet. Spend extra and get a cool tube and some ducting too?
    (Or I could still get the 400W + Cooltube kit for around $20 more, and that gets me a cool tube to use already, I'm just not sure if the cooltube will be adequate to cool my small space.)

    Thanks for reading GK'ers, let me know what you think! :bong2:
     
  2. sectguitar

    sectguitar Guest

    man cabs are an art. its more than a few hinges and a light. try looking up cabinet designs on here and icmag.com , find one that is close to what u want and incorporate it into your design. oh and picture pictures pictures man they help out when your asking for some advice. im sure youll find it man! hey throw up some pics so we can see what your working with. building cabs are a blast man best of luck to ya!


    SG
     
  3. HeadCase

    HeadCase Old Prick

    I would look for a bigger cabinet if you go on craig's list they have a free section look for Armiores or cabinets I see them all the time.You want something big enough so you can run a 400w hps .That way your'll get a good yield & nice buds.-Bud
     
  4. spinkler

    spinkler Game On!

    Thanks for the advice guys.. Unfortunately Craigs List doesn't have a lot listed for Australia.


    I understand what you're saying about the 400W Bud, but I think this cab is what I'm stuck with for now. Would a 400W still be far too hot for that space even if I had some good airflow with a cool tube?


    The space inside this little cab is a lot smaller than my closet, but I can modify the crap out of it to install fans, which I can't do with my closet.


    I'm trying to draw up a plan now, I'll post it when I'm done. :)
     
  5. sectguitar

    sectguitar Guest

    you need to find your lumens per square foot.


    you need at least 2000 lumens per square foot bare minimum to flower so lets do some math!


    22" x 36.5" = 803"


    803" / 144 = 5.57 sqft


    so bare min on lumens would be 11,140.


    your avg. 250 watter will push out 28,000 lumens @ 18"


    so a 250w w/ cool tube would be great for your setup. if you have your ventilation dialed in you might not even need the cool tube!


    hope that helped!:passit:
     
  6. spinkler

    spinkler Game On!

    Plan.. So far.


    So here's my (very rough) plan.


    In the future I'll be able to afford to make a larger cabinet, at which point I'll convert this one into a veg cab, but until then I'll have to make do with what I have.


    Tell me if I'm missing anything, or if I'm doing anything wrong! :)


    [​IMG]
     
  7. spinkler

    spinkler Game On!

    Thank you Sect! That's extremely helpful!! That puts me on the right track! :thumbsup:
     
  8. HeadCase

    HeadCase Old Prick

    400 w would be to much I think for that Cabinet. with only 30" of height your light is going to take 8"-10" Then your pots 10 " your only going to have 10" plants & they are going to touch the light-Bud
     
  9. spinkler

    spinkler Game On!

    Wow, I didn't realise the lights were so large, lol.


    It really is a small space.. I was hoping I might get away with some LST or something to keep the height down. I was also considering cutting holes in the bottom of the cab to sit the pots in, and putting some legs underneath, that could save some room...


    Oh well, back to the drawing board! ;)
     
  10. HeadCase

    HeadCase Old Prick

    scubber needs to be on the inside of the cabinet-Bud
     
  11. sectguitar

    sectguitar Guest

    looks good to me just one thing.


    it looks like you have a fan blowing into the cool tube over the lights and then out your scrubber? right?


    if so you need to make the intake passive, and put the fan right before the carbon scrubber so that you have max push from your fan through your scrubber.


    also it looks as if you have no other ventilation for the plants either. they need air flow as well so try to incorporate that into your design. if you have no cool tube then you have no need to have two separate ventilations.


    like if you had one of these lights


    http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-250-watt-HPS-GROW-LIGHT-250w-High-Pressure-Sodium-w_W0QQitemZ120491776365QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1c0dde996d


    peace
     
  12. spinkler

    spinkler Game On!

    Ahh I see, that makes more sense. :)


    I'm going to keep an eye out for larger cabinets in the meantime.


    How many times per minute would I want to exchange the air in the cabinet if I weren't using a cool tube? 2?
     
  13. sectguitar

    sectguitar Guest

  14. spinkler

    spinkler Game On!

    Awesome, thanks again sect.


    So far it looks like I have two options.


    I can go with my small cabinet, get a 250W HPS without the cool tube, and 100cfm of airflow. I'm not sure what the results would be like and It would require me to train my plants quite a lot.


    Otherwise I can keep growing in my closet, picture is below. The trick with my closet is the fact that it's a rental and I can't cut ANY holes to assist with airflow. My idea was to make a divider out of something like plywood, so I could separate the space in the middle, between the two doors. I could have the right hand side for my grow space, which will be kept closed, and I could vent to the left portion of my closet and keep the door open. This would likely allow me to get a 400W, which won't cost a hell of a lot more to buy than the 250.. This space is around 4' high and around 3.5' wide.


    Suggestions are welcome. :)


    [​IMG]
     

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