Muddy
Proud deplorable!
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2011
- Messages
- 8,673
- Reputation
- 10
- Reaction score
- 1,554
- Points
- 0
- Currently Smoking
- OG Kush, Deep Cheese, Key Lime
For anyone who isn't already familiar, I built an outdoor grow box about 3 years ago. It's stand alone, fully insulated and well sealed. Pictures here: https://www.autoflower.org/members/muddy-albums-outdoor-grow-box.html
Maintaining consistent temperatures in the box have been a bit of an issue, especially in the winter, since I am drawing outside air into the box. At first I tried a manual variable speed controller. It worked well enough but I constantly had to manually adjust it and still had excessive temperature swings. I looked around and brought a CAP VSC-DNe. After waiting 6 weeks for the back order to be filled, it was DOA right out of the box. I got a replacement and soon found it wasn't up to the task. The minimum fan speed is fixed and set to 50% of the maximum speed. It was drawing the air out too quickly, causing my space heater to run excessively. Temperatures were still varying by as much as 15 degrees.
After a bit more research I found the Quantum L420. http://www.qcsupply.com/commercial-...mount-variable-speed-controller-110-volt.html. This one does the job.
It has two dials, one to set the desired temperature and the other to set the minimum fan speed. I have the temperature setting set to 80 degrees. During the fall when the weather was still warm I had to adjust the minimum speed up a bit so the fan would run faster to remove the hot air. But now that the weather has turned cold, I've lowered the minimum speed to it's lowest setting. I'm running three Blackstar 240 watt LEDs in the box. When lights are on the fan runs very slow, enough to keep bring fresh air in, but slow enough to trap the heat from the LEDs and keep the box warm. If the temperature starts to rise above 80, the fan automatically speeds up to remove the hot air faster, then slows back down once the desired temperature is reached. I also put my space heater on a timer so it can only run during lights out. Again, the fan runs slowly and keeps the heat in. Since installing this little beauty I can now maintain my temperatures between 77 to 81 degrees 24/7 while lowering my heating costs.
This is not a plug in type of controller, it has to be hard wired. It's designed to fit into a 4" square metal electrical box. Wiring is your standard 2 wire plus ground, the same as wiring up a switch or outlet.
While not cheap at $105, I give this unit a hearty :thumbs:. I would highly recommend it to anyone with a similar situation as mine, or to anyone who is interested in automating their grow a bit more. It would work equally well to control a fan in a tent or small cabinet. An added benefit is reduced fan noise since the fan doesn't need to run at full speed all the time.
Maintaining consistent temperatures in the box have been a bit of an issue, especially in the winter, since I am drawing outside air into the box. At first I tried a manual variable speed controller. It worked well enough but I constantly had to manually adjust it and still had excessive temperature swings. I looked around and brought a CAP VSC-DNe. After waiting 6 weeks for the back order to be filled, it was DOA right out of the box. I got a replacement and soon found it wasn't up to the task. The minimum fan speed is fixed and set to 50% of the maximum speed. It was drawing the air out too quickly, causing my space heater to run excessively. Temperatures were still varying by as much as 15 degrees.
After a bit more research I found the Quantum L420. http://www.qcsupply.com/commercial-...mount-variable-speed-controller-110-volt.html. This one does the job.
It has two dials, one to set the desired temperature and the other to set the minimum fan speed. I have the temperature setting set to 80 degrees. During the fall when the weather was still warm I had to adjust the minimum speed up a bit so the fan would run faster to remove the hot air. But now that the weather has turned cold, I've lowered the minimum speed to it's lowest setting. I'm running three Blackstar 240 watt LEDs in the box. When lights are on the fan runs very slow, enough to keep bring fresh air in, but slow enough to trap the heat from the LEDs and keep the box warm. If the temperature starts to rise above 80, the fan automatically speeds up to remove the hot air faster, then slows back down once the desired temperature is reached. I also put my space heater on a timer so it can only run during lights out. Again, the fan runs slowly and keeps the heat in. Since installing this little beauty I can now maintain my temperatures between 77 to 81 degrees 24/7 while lowering my heating costs.
This is not a plug in type of controller, it has to be hard wired. It's designed to fit into a 4" square metal electrical box. Wiring is your standard 2 wire plus ground, the same as wiring up a switch or outlet.
While not cheap at $105, I give this unit a hearty :thumbs:. I would highly recommend it to anyone with a similar situation as mine, or to anyone who is interested in automating their grow a bit more. It would work equally well to control a fan in a tent or small cabinet. An added benefit is reduced fan noise since the fan doesn't need to run at full speed all the time.
