Grow Room Mr.Sparkle’s Arduino Controlled 5 Gal Bucket Micro Grow 2017

[trueSight]

Can we put dismantled leds into one plug Mr. Sparkle? If we can, then how?

 

[Mr.Sparkle]

What are the new bulbs? Are you mixing 2700 and 6500? Are you adding any 5000k?

I'm now running two 2700k "softwhite" and two 5000k "daylight" bulbs, for me i've always found i get better overall growth with less stretch under a bluer spectrum, whereas the redder spectrum even though buds finish very nicely under them i'd rather trade that last 2-3 weeks for the initial 6 with a less stretchy more compact growth, especially in my case with limited height and all, bonus is the plants look better and i don't have to color correct photos like this whole last run in this bucket.

Can we put dismantled leds into one plug Mr. Sparkle? If we can, then how?

You can but first big warning here, you're gonna be working with Main Voltage aka AC which at minimum if you mess up will hurt with a shock, and at worse could kill you, but if you take the necessary precautions, wire appropriately and cover stuff in heatshrink or make it not accessible to the user aka Yourself, then you're fine.

Here's a link to how i broke down these bulbs, after they are all broken down all i do is take off the center connector for the led by unsoldeing it, then i solder on some wire leads onto both sides of the ballast so a pair on the led side which then get wired to the led which will now need to be mounted to a heatsink of some sort as you aren't using the bulb base anymore, and then the other side of the ballast is wired to your AC side which in my case is a c14 plug "think computer power plug" but going through a relay, or you can wire it directly to a wall cord.

So if needing to dismantling them and doing something similar to myself that's how you do it.

There are comments actually in the album.



But if you have the space to run the bulbs as is with the domes popped off which is a heck of alot easier, just wire up a bunch of light cleats, or keyless lamp sockets to a single wall cord, and you're good to go, and if a bulb ever fails it's just a quick screw in screw out replacement.

Meehi setup over here is an example of that

https://www.autoflower.org/threads/...-viable-alternative.59773/page-3#post-1508558

if i had the space i would of went this route, but being that i wanted a small as possible Bucket i had to dismantle them to meet my needs

 

[Mr.Sparkle]

Lets say day 1 of round two

Two of the seedlings were lagging behind the Cream Mandarin xl just took off, but the big devil and red poison seemed to stall out for a good couple days possibly older seeds or too newly harvested, the big devil i think will make it the red poison though might have to start another seed.

Anyways, here we go

 

[mcpd_refugee]

Let's go El Gran Diablo Extra Grande! Did you change any of the programming for this run, or do you think you've got it dialed in? Also, what was your dry weight from the last grow?

 

[Mr.Sparkle]

Let's go El Gran Diablo Extra Grande! Did you change any of the programming for this run, or do you think you've got it dialed in? Also, what was your dry weight from the last grow?

No but i might run the lights at 20/4 and the water sensor will need some tuning per normal as anytime you change media it changes a bit.

As for weight don't know, and haven't checked but it wasn't much due to the issue, but give me a sec and ill find out...

 

[Mr.Sparkle]

@mcpd_refugee 15.1g so just over what i expected, so taking into consideration the soil volume of that pot if it was grown in my pc cases it should of yielded closer to 30-38g but as we know a rough first run, for this run with these three pots and if things go well hopefully it will be around 30g or so but we will have to wait and see.

 

[Mr.Sparkle]

So a couple of days later and as expected the red poison wasn't gonna make it so i already dropped a seed in some water on the weekend which got planted today, should be above soil in a day or two, also decided to jam in a fourth pot and threw a Dark Devil F1 in some water the other day but its gonna lag behind the others but should catch up, it should throw a tap root in the next day or so then i transfer to paper towel for a couple days.

Don't think i've ever really shared my germination method but its no different that others but what works the best for me is i throw a seed into some water for around 36-48hr then off to some folded wet paper towel thrown in a ziplock bag with some air in it till the seeds throw out some decent tap roots of 1-3cm, but yeah after the first 24hrs soaking in water i come back and usually give the jar or small shaker tin that my seeds are in a rap on a flat surface which usually nnow causes the seeds to sink as they have taken on enough water to drop when the surface tension is broken, then i leave them submerged in the water for another day or so till they have popped and just started throwing out a tail which is when i transfer to paper towel, or to my mix so long as i keep the area where i planted it wet, but paper towel is more forgiving for me with zero chance of drying out.

So lets call the previous day call false and say today is Day 0 just for an average out of the seedlings.

 

[Wollkopf]

if i had the space i would of went this route, but being that i wanted a small as possible Bucket i had to dismantle them to meet my needs

But it's also better to dismantle, I think, if your dealing with heat issues. The bases get pretty Hot and I don't think the plastic is a good heat conductor. Three "dedomed" but not completely dismantled 8 Watt Philipps LEDs gave me a + 5 to 10 ° C raise in temperature. After this grow I will dismantle them to see if that changes much.

If not I have to find others ways to keep the temps down...

 

[Mr.Sparkle]

Day 4 The new round i was stalling out the top left and bottom right autos by giving them only water for the last while till the others could sprout and catch up so they were starting to show some minor issues, but now that they are all sprouted and started with a light feed things are turning around quick which was expected.

So on we go.

 

[bad dragon bzzz]

great growing,nice ongoing work.
good luck.