Vertical DIY LED recirculating hydro... thing
- Thread starter MacGydro
- Start date
MacGydro
Gum Wrapper Grows
3 weeks in now, and no more males spotted in the latest flower round, so that's 9/11 females from this group.
Just the 1 Chem D x Apollo and 1 Dawn of the Dead were male. Their sacks are swelling in the boys room for F2s.
3 Chem D x Apollo Females, 3 Dawn of the Dead F, and 3 Pillow Book x Spring Training F.
The CDAs seem to be the quickest to stack pistils, then the DoD, and the PB x ST have the least, as of tonight.
The Colombians and Afghan crosses are 9, and 8.5 wks in flower, respectively, and trucking along, ripening beans.
The 2 Gwnivers (BB x Tashkurgan) are more BB influenced than Tashkurgan, it seems.
Of the 4 initial plants, 1 was a mutant male, and tossed.
One was a mutant that still wasn't definitively showing sex after 3-4 weeks, and was tossed.
So, we ended up with 1 "regular" looking girl, and 1 a funky mutant that made it to and through flower.
A lot of their characteristics seem to line up with a lot of what I've gathered from BB info over the years.
They had an over-sensitivity to the nutes most of the time, and 3 of 4 grew "mutated" leaves. The plants were the shortest of everything growing around them, with the same inputs. (Vs. CB and Afghan crosses)
The buds are tiny, compared to the others as well.
BUT...They're also the frostiest of their round, and have a the classic blueish purple tint to the buds. They do smell more on the sweet / berry side so far, with a bit of spice. Not sure how they'll finish in the dry/cure yet, but it's nice to grow a blueberry example, and I'm looking forward to trying them out!
They're about 8.5 weeks, so they should be down pretty soon.
The next time I run the Gwniver, I'll keep the nutes on the lower side from the beginning, and they may grow a bit happier over all. A future run should be a nice comparison to see whether it was more the Blueberry genes, or the whacky nutes that influenced such different plants than the Colombians and Afghaan x Blk Afghans.
Will circle back around to this princess at some point. Possibly to compare with the Gwniver x CB or Gwniver x (Af90 x Blk Afgh) beans that are baking now.
The more Sativa expressing CB suffered a bit of a drought last week, so she's looking rough, but as long as the beans finish, I'll call it a success.
The squat CB pheno is actually starting to purple a bit in the calyxes, so possible "black" pheno? There should be quite a few beans from her too.
Clones are working on roots as well, and there's still plenty of pollen, but I'm still hoping not to need either.
I haven't seen any more male flowers on anything since catching the Gwnivers 10ish days ago. Even they haven't sprouted any new nanners since I separated and plucked them. I generally don't mind a stray grain of pollen, (I usually don't have any) but I need to keep the CB preservation as pure as possible, so I've been extra vigilant for male flowers. Everything should be good though, as long as the Satty CB gal stays alive and ripens her beans in the next few weeks..
Not sure what or when next flower round will be yet. Veg is still pretty pissed from the oil incident, and not yet big enough to flower or take cuts from yet. They're trying to come back, but I definitely cost myself a week or two of good growth. No new mildew though! ?
The Freak and 3Thirteen testers are definitely priority on the next flower round. There's 8 Greases Pieces (& S1s), and 7 (so far) Freak plants that need to get to bloomin soon.
Things have been kinda fucked up, and on the verge of limbo here lately. Last year ended all sorts of fucked, (could've probably written a hit country diddy) and this new year isn't starting great...
But what can ya do, right? There's always a bright side, but sometimes...
Just the 1 Chem D x Apollo and 1 Dawn of the Dead were male. Their sacks are swelling in the boys room for F2s.
3 Chem D x Apollo Females, 3 Dawn of the Dead F, and 3 Pillow Book x Spring Training F.
The CDAs seem to be the quickest to stack pistils, then the DoD, and the PB x ST have the least, as of tonight.
The Colombians and Afghan crosses are 9, and 8.5 wks in flower, respectively, and trucking along, ripening beans.
The 2 Gwnivers (BB x Tashkurgan) are more BB influenced than Tashkurgan, it seems.
Of the 4 initial plants, 1 was a mutant male, and tossed.
One was a mutant that still wasn't definitively showing sex after 3-4 weeks, and was tossed.
So, we ended up with 1 "regular" looking girl, and 1 a funky mutant that made it to and through flower.
A lot of their characteristics seem to line up with a lot of what I've gathered from BB info over the years.
They had an over-sensitivity to the nutes most of the time, and 3 of 4 grew "mutated" leaves. The plants were the shortest of everything growing around them, with the same inputs. (Vs. CB and Afghan crosses)
The buds are tiny, compared to the others as well.
BUT...They're also the frostiest of their round, and have a the classic blueish purple tint to the buds. They do smell more on the sweet / berry side so far, with a bit of spice. Not sure how they'll finish in the dry/cure yet, but it's nice to grow a blueberry example, and I'm looking forward to trying them out!
They're about 8.5 weeks, so they should be down pretty soon.
The next time I run the Gwniver, I'll keep the nutes on the lower side from the beginning, and they may grow a bit happier over all. A future run should be a nice comparison to see whether it was more the Blueberry genes, or the whacky nutes that influenced such different plants than the Colombians and Afghaan x Blk Afghans.
Will circle back around to this princess at some point. Possibly to compare with the Gwniver x CB or Gwniver x (Af90 x Blk Afgh) beans that are baking now.
The more Sativa expressing CB suffered a bit of a drought last week, so she's looking rough, but as long as the beans finish, I'll call it a success.
The squat CB pheno is actually starting to purple a bit in the calyxes, so possible "black" pheno? There should be quite a few beans from her too.
Clones are working on roots as well, and there's still plenty of pollen, but I'm still hoping not to need either.
I haven't seen any more male flowers on anything since catching the Gwnivers 10ish days ago. Even they haven't sprouted any new nanners since I separated and plucked them. I generally don't mind a stray grain of pollen, (I usually don't have any) but I need to keep the CB preservation as pure as possible, so I've been extra vigilant for male flowers. Everything should be good though, as long as the Satty CB gal stays alive and ripens her beans in the next few weeks..
Not sure what or when next flower round will be yet. Veg is still pretty pissed from the oil incident, and not yet big enough to flower or take cuts from yet. They're trying to come back, but I definitely cost myself a week or two of good growth. No new mildew though! ?
The Freak and 3Thirteen testers are definitely priority on the next flower round. There's 8 Greases Pieces (& S1s), and 7 (so far) Freak plants that need to get to bloomin soon.
Things have been kinda fucked up, and on the verge of limbo here lately. Last year ended all sorts of fucked, (could've probably written a hit country diddy) and this new year isn't starting great...
But what can ya do, right? There's always a bright side, but sometimes...
MacGydro
Gum Wrapper Grows
Tons of stuff to update coming soon...
Colombians are finished, and updated in their thread.
Afghan crosses finished
Chem D x Apollo, Dawn of the Dead, and Pillow Book x Spring Training round finished.
Freak Garlic Breath crosses finished
Greases Pieces testers almost finished
Got a couple more random rounds coming up behind the GPs
And started a couple rounds of seeds since April started...
Just gotta organize pics and post details....
Colombians are finished, and updated in their thread.
Afghan crosses finished
Chem D x Apollo, Dawn of the Dead, and Pillow Book x Spring Training round finished.
Freak Garlic Breath crosses finished
Greases Pieces testers almost finished
Got a couple more random rounds coming up behind the GPs
And started a couple rounds of seeds since April started...
Just gotta organize pics and post details....
Getting caught up. Your pics, documentation, and presentation are excellent. Lotta love for the plant and passion for our craft. I really like how you’re so detailed and tell your story of your journey. Very well put together great job man ?
Gah I miss hydro and especially a recirculating like RDWC. Ain’t it fun?
Gah I miss hydro and especially a recirculating like RDWC. Ain’t it fun?
MacGydro
Gum Wrapper Grows
Thanks for stopping by, brotha, I appreciate the compliments!
I’m trying to keep my journals and garden in line and timely, but the days are never long enough for everything, it seems...
I’m right there missing hydro with ya! I’ve been running hand watered Pro Mix and 20th century lights for the last year. Most of my gear is in storage hours away. I’m super happy to be back under LEDs now, but man, I wish I had my pumps, timers, and other hydro equipment!
MacGydro
Gum Wrapper Grows
...Speaking of hydro...
Dunno whether it was Serendipity or Synchronicity, but I think the hydro Gods heard us, and decided to give a wink and a nudge...
Check out what I found going out to somebody's curb this morning!
No pumps or timers, but I scored a nice 4x8 table, and 4x4 50 gal rez!
I have no idea where I'll put em yet, but I'll try to figure out where they might fit after a Physan spray down.
God bless the quitters...
I also got the frames for my new veg lights built.
(Forgot to get pics yet)
The tough part is gonna be disassembling the strips from the old light, and figuring out how to rewire them back up into 2 separate lights.
Wish me luck!
Dunno whether it was Serendipity or Synchronicity, but I think the hydro Gods heard us, and decided to give a wink and a nudge...
Check out what I found going out to somebody's curb this morning!
No pumps or timers, but I scored a nice 4x8 table, and 4x4 50 gal rez!
I have no idea where I'll put em yet, but I'll try to figure out where they might fit after a Physan spray down.
God bless the quitters...
I also got the frames for my new veg lights built.
(Forgot to get pics yet)
The tough part is gonna be disassembling the strips from the old light, and figuring out how to rewire them back up into 2 separate lights.
Wish me luck!
Cannaman
In Bloom
SCORE!!!!!!
MacGydro
Gum Wrapper Grows
The first major concern I had regarding disassembly was how easily I could remove the strips from the thermal tape, and/or frame. Thankfully, the first one I tried came free relatively easily. Whew! Glad that hurdle wasn't too hard to jump.
So, now, there's another issue holding me up, and I'll need the help of someone better with electricity than I am.
The current light is configured series parallel, with 3 sets of 4 strips per string, running about 700ma per string of strips (I think?).
All 12 strips are currently on 1 frame, powered by a Meanwell HLG-240H-C2100B.
Now, I don't remember or understand the details of why exactly they're configured that way, but I think it was so that each string of 4 strips didn't go over 700ma, and the total stayed safe at 2100ma?
Anyway, with the new configuration, I need to split the groups of strips between 2 fixtures running off the 1 power supply. 6 strips per light.
Long question shorter: Can I still safely wire these strips into groups of 3 instead of 4? So, I would have 1 fixture with 6 strips, wired 3 in a series each? Like, 4 sets of 3, rather than 3 sets of 4 strips going to the power supply? So, 2 fixtures, 6 strips per fixture, 3 strips series + 3 strip series?
I hope that makes sense...I'm still confused even figuring how to ask what I'm trying to lol
So, now, there's another issue holding me up, and I'll need the help of someone better with electricity than I am.
The current light is configured series parallel, with 3 sets of 4 strips per string, running about 700ma per string of strips (I think?).
All 12 strips are currently on 1 frame, powered by a Meanwell HLG-240H-C2100B.
Now, I don't remember or understand the details of why exactly they're configured that way, but I think it was so that each string of 4 strips didn't go over 700ma, and the total stayed safe at 2100ma?
Anyway, with the new configuration, I need to split the groups of strips between 2 fixtures running off the 1 power supply. 6 strips per light.
Long question shorter: Can I still safely wire these strips into groups of 3 instead of 4? So, I would have 1 fixture with 6 strips, wired 3 in a series each? Like, 4 sets of 3, rather than 3 sets of 4 strips going to the power supply? So, 2 fixtures, 6 strips per fixture, 3 strips series + 3 strip series?
I hope that makes sense...I'm still confused even figuring how to ask what I'm trying to lol
Frimpong
🔥Freak Genetics🔥
Take pics , someone here def gonna be able to help ,?
Don't think so. The reason they are in series is to set the voltage to what the driver can output. IDK what the output range is on the driver or what the requirement of your strips are but it's possible the stars align and you can adjust the driver to hit the right voltage?
MacGydro
Gum Wrapper Grows
Yeah, I'm working on getting pics together now, to hopefully clear things a bit...
Here's the only details on the strip packaging
Some of the best example shots of the wiring that I could get. They just follow suit around the cylinder.
A positive red wire to 1 strip, then neg to pos for the next 3 strips, then neg out of the 4th strip, to dimmer wire, I think.
Every set of 4 strips runs at 700ma, for a combined total of 2100ma for the 3 sets of 4 strips.
The driver is a Meanwell HLG-240H-C2100B. Couldn't get a pic of mine, because it's still inside the light fixture.
Here's some info from a site called RapidLED though:
SKU : HLG-240H-C2100B
Output Voltage (DC) : 59-119V (2-3 X 36V COBs Or ~20-39 X 3V LEDs)
Max Output Current : 2100mA
Input Voltage (AC) : 90-305VAC
AC Current : 2.5A/115VAC, 1.3A/230VAC
Dimming Signal : 0-10V Analog, 10V PWM, Resistance
Efficiency : 93.5%
Dimensions : 9.62" X 2.68" X 1.53"
Weight : 2.86 lbs
Thanks for stopping in!
I'm hoping it works out that I can split the strips into 2, 6 strip lights, but if not, I'll figure some way to make another single fixture spread out more.
Running them 4 sets of 3 in series is what you want to do?
3 strips in series will be 60-75V, this is at the lower end of your driver, typically less efficient.
Looks like amps you will be alright as long as you have at least one parallel circuit. In other words if you hook two series strips in parallel the current limit will be 2400ma so long as you can manage the heat.
Looks like you could run 2 sets of 5 in series and have 2 extra strips.
@JL2G check my math it's 4/20 n all.
3 strips in series will be 60-75V, this is at the lower end of your driver, typically less efficient.
Looks like amps you will be alright as long as you have at least one parallel circuit. In other words if you hook two series strips in parallel the current limit will be 2400ma so long as you can manage the heat.
Looks like you could run 2 sets of 5 in series and have 2 extra strips.
@JL2G check my math it's 4/20 n all.
groups of 6 wont work out w the driver.
6 strips at min of 20 v exceeds the 119 limit of the driver. Groups of 3 strips for 4 sets would work, bit as ss said it will run them way low powered at 525 ma per set. Heat would not be an issue this low imho at all, likely with no sink needed.
I had to do some more reading about the goals. Lol. Confused myself with it for a minute. Lmfao.
Had to go back and read up a bit to see what the goal was again. Lol
Works, but lowers overall power to each strip. Edit never mind, keeps it the same with 175ma to each strip done this way.
525 ÷3 vs 700 ÷ 4 as it is now.
Yes that way would work out wiring wise, but it'd push each strip harder than currently set up. New 1050 ÷ 5 vs old 700÷4
Existing each strip gets 175ma, your design makes it go to 210ma per strip.
If heat management is handled it'd be fine
Other option is to wire if up similarly to now but to extend some of the wiring to split up the series of strips where you want them.
Meaning leave it all connected the same but split up the strips to where you want them.
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Just cause I'm really high n bored atm I made this one up too while waiting for my daughters guitar to be done.
Requires more drivers, some big heat sinks, and thermal tape or gel, but gets alot more light. ??? Push em hard. Lol
3 more of the same drivers, so 4 total.
12 HD heat sinks, one for each strip.
Wired with 3 strips in parallel on each driver. 700ma per strip, so 4 times the power to each strip than what it does now. Well under the 1200ma max, so fine with hs's.
Not saying it'd be super efficient, but hey, it'd light up a decent sized room nicely.
Requires more drivers, some big heat sinks, and thermal tape or gel, but gets alot more light. ??? Push em hard. Lol
3 more of the same drivers, so 4 total.
12 HD heat sinks, one for each strip.
Wired with 3 strips in parallel on each driver. 700ma per strip, so 4 times the power to each strip than what it does now. Well under the 1200ma max, so fine with hs's.
Not saying it'd be super efficient, but hey, it'd light up a decent sized room nicely.
MacGydro
Gum Wrapper Grows
Man, you guys rock! Thanks so much for taking the time (and brain cells!!) to reply!! Figures I'd ask such a complicated question on this, our day of Stonitude 
It sounds like it may be a possibility, which will be way more convenient than redesigning another single light for my weird area.
Now that you have the technical details, I think the easiest way to figure out if it'll work is if I mock up a pic of what I wanna do. Hopefully then, it'll be easy for you guys to say yay or nay.
Be back with a diagram asap...
It sounds like it may be a possibility, which will be way more convenient than redesigning another single light for my weird area.
Now that you have the technical details, I think the easiest way to figure out if it'll work is if I mock up a pic of what I wanna do. Hopefully then, it'll be easy for you guys to say yay or nay.
Be back with a diagram asap...
Yes, just like that is good to go imho.
Recap of the math to verify.
3 strips in series @ 20-28v = 60 to 78v Total per group.
Meets driver specs of 59 to 119, all good.
4 groups in parallel of 3 strips wired in series, so 2100÷4 = 525ma per three series set, 525÷3= 175 ma per strip,all good mang. Running at same power as before changes.
MacGydro
Gum Wrapper Grows
Awesome news! Thanks again for taking the time, guys, and understanding the electro-math better than me!
I'll be trying to slap these things together and get em over the seedlings tonight...
One last little concern- I wanna make sure the thing is grounded properly. Do I run the green wire to the frame, or...?
I'll get some pics up, hopefully sometime tonight, as I get them together...once I get the old fixture torn apart, anyway.
Frimpong
🔥Freak Genetics🔥
I was exciting with new lighting. Especially custom! ?? Can't wait to see
Awesome news! Thanks again for taking the time, guys, and understanding the electro-math better than me!
I'll be trying to slap these things together and get em over the seedlings tonight...
One last little concern- I wanna make sure the thing is grounded properly. Do I run the green wire to the frame, or...?
I'll get some pics up, hopefully sometime tonight, as I get them together...once I get the old fixture torn apart, anyway.
