Budget/Refrigerator grow

[headshake]

ah, gotcha smurph. my bad! definitely too young for nutes. it looks like they could be a little burnt. especially if your soil had nutes in it to begin with. what type did you use?

most recommend that you wait until you plants have 4 nodes until you give them nutes. if you are using something not specifically designed for cannabis, you would want to start with 1/4 to 1/2 of the normal dosage. also keep in mind, that your soil might have nutes in it.

how many plants total do you have? didn't seem to find a number, although i saw your plant to grow 3. the two CFLs should be okay, not ideal obviously, and you should still add those extra bulbs that you planned. wire them in parallel, if you go series, well, i'm sure you remember troubleshooting christmas lights!

also, you want to keep your soil to within an inch or so of your cup/pot. air can stagnate if it's too deep, your plants will wilt there and die.

any luck with the ventilation?


-shake

headshake Reviewed by headshake on 05-04-2009. Budget/Refrigerator grow The Situation: I have a side-by-side refrigerator that currently does not work, but I can't do any damage (i.e. cut vent holes) to it because its going to get fixed eventually. The Box: Approximate Interior Dimensions (for the side we're using for this): 59" tall (we'll call it 5ft) 18" wide 24" deep So that's 3sq ft on the bottom, and according to a post in the lighting section, I want 5000lumens/sq ft which is 15,000lumen total. Rating: 5

[Smurph]

Just took an exam and sold my books back to the school. That funded 4 new really awesome [see below] light sockets, 4 splitters, and 4 more bulbs to compliment the 4 total that I have right now, bringing me to 8 lights @ 1600lumen each for a grand total of *drumroll* 12,800 lumen for what is right now 3ft^2 space, I'm gonna enclose it a little more.

The sockets I got are really cool. They have a hook on the bottom, then they have this part that twists so you can easily install them at any point on a wire...in parallel. No solder, no electrical tape, and even better, I can change their location no problem. Something I see helping out when I have a 3ft plant.

How many do I have right now? Lots. About 10 or so at the moment. 4 of them are new, put in the ground on 5/2, but they came from such a better bag than the others, I was amazed that I found seeds in the bag, so of course I'm gonna see what I can do with it.
There's 2 in the middle cup, but I'm moving one of them to another cup today.

[headshake]

if you just put them on a wire and twist how exactly does it run them in parallel? just curious? i never seen such a thing. or does it just allow the current to pass through it should the buld burn out?


-shake

[Smurph]

if you just put them on a wire and twist how exactly does it run them in parallel? just curious? i never seen such a thing. or does it just allow the current to pass through it should the buld burn out?


-shake

All I'm using for pics is my blackberry, so they're not great, but in the pic is one socket installed on the wire, the other socket open and not installed. The one part spins 90 degrees and underneath is a spike, it will puncture through the wire shielding and make contact with the wire. Just slide the wire in both ends, and twist it on, and viola! I'm pretty excited about these, actually.

[headshake]

yeah but if you have a string of wire and attach these devices at certain intervals, thats series and not parallel. maybe i'm just mistaken here.

something like this? sorry for the horrible, rudimentary diagram. lol.

[Smurph]

yeah but if you have a string of wire and attach these devices at certain intervals, thats series and not parallel. maybe i'm just mistaken here.

something like this? sorry for the horrible, rudimentary diagram. lol.

haha I'll pull out multisim and draw it out for ya, and include this pic of my reflector idea, the only thing I removed and threw away was the can top. I split it down the middle and just folded the sides outward to more reflect...

The first pic is my reflector with light and socket installed on the wire, maybe that'll clear it up for ya, too.

Also, disregard the wattage ratings on the lights I used in the diagram.

[headshake]

i still don't see how it's parallel, but i guess it doesn't matter. lol. i mean i saw the diagram you included.

but if you have two wires, put on the bulb recepticles and only have two wires that is series.

and yes, i'm not completely an idiot, i did work on electronics on helicopters (AH-1W and UH-1N) in the marines!

maybe i'm just having a confused morning? i like what you are doing anyhow. can't wait to see more!


-shake

[Smurph]

i still don't see how it's parallel, but i guess it doesn't matter. lol. i mean i saw the diagram you included.

but if you have two wires, put on the bulb recepticles and only have two wires that is series.

and yes, i'm not completely an idiot, i did work on electronics on helicopters (AH-1W and UH-1N) in the marines!

maybe i'm just having a confused morning? i like what you are doing anyhow. can't wait to see more!


-shake

one more shot. Here's two of the sockets. I have a pretty standard 15ft extension chord, I've used a blade and separated the chord to access them separately. The pic shows two sockets. The socket on the left is installed and ready to go, the one on the right is almost ready to go, just need to slide that thing over which will crimp it in, pushing a "tooth" of sorts into the wire and tapping the actual metal.

[headshake]

nevermind. i see. lol. sorry. i told you i was having a confused morning. i think i'm living in a fog.


-shake

[Smurph]

yeah, i got how they go on. it's still not parallel. that is a series circuit. the little adapters might allow the current to pass thru so if a bulb goes out the others work, but if you clip one of those wires your lights go out.

still very cool. i haven't seen those things before, but i sure could use some. lol. how much did they cost if you don't mind me asking?


-shake

updated the pic with a far better version. Since the positive terminal of all of the sockets are common with the positive lead on the extension chord, and the negative terminals on the sockets are all common with the negative side of the chord, they're in parallel.
If I were to cut the cable, and put one of these inline making the connection with the socket's terminals, that would be series. (I'm in Electrical Engineering in college....)