So if I understand correctly, about the same intensity, but at a much lesser cost to power it to achieve that? Probably a lot less heat, too?
And I’d forgotten it was two of those drivers. That’s what’s in my shopping cart.
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100 watts at 2.7 umol/joule would give you total flux of 270 umols/s. 100 watts at 2.4 would be 240 umols/s.
There is a difference between the two, but it’s not linear to the difference in cost at all. You could almost build replica of spydr 2i following green gene’s photo boost build for about 65% of cost. And you will be even cheaper than that.
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Right on. I’m only at 80cri, too. But that’s okay, for what it is, it should rock this 4x4, and be plenty clear to harvest. I’m considering lining the walls of my tent with an extra layer of Mylar (I have a whole roll leftover from the Frigidank™ build) to keep down on light leaks…outward ones, mostly.
I decided to go with digikey for all of it, because the shipping time/cost on alibaba ended up making only like $80 savings, and it’d be on a boat from China until 
?
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Probably a good call. For $80 I would have done the same thing
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They make an attractive price for those drivers, but I just don’t want to risk sitting here waiting on them when I got plants needing more light. I probably should’ve waited to even drop seeds. But, I have enough light as is to veg a handful, long enough to build more. And my sanity was dependent on getting this going lol
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Oh, and I almost forgot, my 13 Gorillas seeds both sprouted. Looks like I’ve made the same mistake, not letting the coco dry out a little more after rinsing. I’ll let them dry longer before watering this time.
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I was the same. Took a 9 month sabbatical and needed to grow again just to keep my sanity during these crazy times
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It’s very calming. Shoot, a week ago this was still like “is this really happening? Can I do this?” Wifey picked up my peat, lava rock, and a shovel from home depot today (as well as one of our last dispensary orders, hopefully!) My BaS kit is arriving this evening before 10 according to UPS. A tarp to mix it on, larger pots and saucers, enzymes, DE, and the rest throughout the next few days. Should all be here before I’m ready to pot up. I’m half writing this all out just to set my own mind at ease. Observations so far:
- Three cubic feet of peat is more than I thought!
- The 3.0cu.ft. kit from BaS is 42 pounds (
) of minerals and nutrients. - The shovel and tarp were definitely a good idea.
- When the gear seems expensive, I just look at the cost of good weed at the dispensary.
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Looks like you’ll be set for a while! Might wanna mix it up and bag it up yourself for future use
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That’s a good idea. I’ll probably mix what the peat I have will make, fill the 5, 5 gallon pots I’m using, then put the leftovers, if any, back into the peat bag.
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Did you check arrow, mouser, or maybe trc? All should carry that driver. It’s just kinda hard to keep up with coupon codes, shipping deals, and who has best pricing.
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I haven’t! I’ll have to shop around some before I place the order. It’ll be at least a couple weeks. Soil and all that cleaned me out for a bit. Hell, by that time, I will have redesigned it 3 or 4 times, changed strips, drivers, etc. 
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Looks like everyone is around the same price as digikey. Alibaba is the only one selling them for $50something apiece, they’re ~$85-90 everywhere else. Kinda makes me skeptical. I was pleased with digikey when I got the other strips from them, I’ll probably be a repeat customer, but I’ll check around again when I’m ready to pull the trigger. Thanks again for all your help. I don’t know why I’m worried so much about pulling 2800mA. I guess as long as the DC side is up to snuff, I should have nothing to worry about.
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Just use so, or outdoor type of cord and you’ll be fine. If you want extra peace of mind, go with 14awg.
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I have 18awg, but wire’s cheap. The supply from the wall is the thick sucker that came with the blurple, 12/3 I think. But from the back of the power cord socket in, it’s all 18awg. There’s a half-assed outlet ran into the shed. Might gut that and use the solid wire out of that. Or just buy some lol
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Anything on DC side of driver 18awg will work as long as it isn’t automotive type of insulation. Stuff i use is typically mtw rated for 600v. But 300v wiring will do.
On the ac input side (wall socket to driver) there are no driver protections, so going a little heavier there keeps conductor temps down. It’s definitely not required to be that big though.
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I’ll probably skip the power switch, and solder the leads going to the driver straight to the socket here:
I have this:
600v 105c - stranded, not solid. I tinned the ends to go into the strips that are on there now.
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I would bypass all of that stuff and just make a connection to the whip on driver with power cord. You won’t need it for anything, and then just becomes another place something could go wrong. Whether you solder, wago, wire nut, or use fancy waterproof connector doesn’t matter at all to me. But I would go straight from driver into timer and call it a day.
That wire is prefect for DC side wiring.
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That’s a fine point you make. Less is definitely more, here. Good deal, one less thing. Is duct tape okay? I’m kidding.
Hey @Budbrother, can I bother you again? Here’s my soil mix recipe, so far:
3 cf sphagnum peatmoss (BaS says it’ll fluff up to 4.67 cf? So do I mix at rates for 3 cf or 4.67 cf? I may need a bigger tarp )
2 cf compost
1.5 cf worm castings
0.5 cf lava rock
? cups nutrient mix (calls for 1.5 cups per cf, so 4.5 cups for 3 cf, or 7 cups for 4.67 cf? pretty sizeable difference 
)
? cups minerals mix (calls for 4 cups per cubic foot, so 12 cups for 3 cu ft, or 18.68 cups for 4.67?)
I’ll have plenty of both mixes judging by the 42 pound shipment per UPS.
What else, some gypsum and/or oyster flour in addition to the mineral mix to keep my Calcium hungry gals happy?
I have no clue what I’m doing as far as the ratios of each and how to do all that math, and it’s a pretty expensive batch of stuff to screw up and waste. I would greatly appreciate any help wrapping my molasses in January brain around this.
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Your light on the compost & aeration if your gonna build the whole 3.0 bale kit = 13.67 ft.³
1:1:1 Most people round the compost and lava rock to 4.5 ft.³ each.
If your plan is to mix only the soil up that you need and use the leftover ingredients for re-amending, you would mix in theses amounts per gallon.
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