I have a grow box that is 4’ by 3’ by 2’ with 360 Watt Duo-Drive LED lighting. I run it with lights on 24/7 for auto flower feminized AK47. I started trying for 5 AK47 but 4 of the 5 appeared to be male (owing to heat stress?) so I pulled those out. The remaining AK47 took over the entire space and I used netting to control via a “sea of green” approach, I’m about 5 days from the “normal” 10 week seed to harvest and from what I can tell it will be great. My problem is controlling the heat. With the doors closed the temperature hits he 90’s. I have tried everything except for changing from the 24/7 lighting approach.
The box is vented through 2 charcoal filters driven by very quiet fans to 82 to 84 F. That isn’t too bad but erases the stealth quality of the grow box.
I’ve been researching possibilities for introducing a small refrigeration unit or chiller of some sort. I’ve looked at units used to cool over clocked PCs and that looks promising except for the wiring requirements, not sure how to duplicate the power supplied by a PC connection (inside the PC case) and would probably need more than one. I’ve also been researching units used in small wine chillers but while I can find small wine cabinets for around $100, I can’t find the component pieces, which would of course include a small chiller used in the units.
Anyway, looking for some ideas. Thanks!
You should think about giving your girls some rest from the constant light you’re providing. Just my opinion, I think your plants will thank you!
I think you’re onto something with the PC coolers too!
Hmm ice packs near the fan? Maybe change location to a lower floor or cool the room the box is in to a lower heat with an A.C.? Also g8ge them those 4 or 6 hours rest like the dude above me said
regarding rest: I did a lot of reading / research before I decided to go the 24/7 route and I think it was the correct choice, this one “girl” is awesome. The PC cooler approach looks promising, still researching though.
The room is fairly cool, ambient temp right now is 75F and at night it’ll be mid to high 60’s. The is the best I can do, I live in a high rise and am limited to the air “delivered” to my unit.
Hmm, not sure then mate. If you got the room temp down to 65, 70 in the day by blocking heat coming in then it should help
Just putting my two cents changing the light schedule will help and not sure you need 24/7
the plants need a rest period even an auto plant imo
My Kid builds PC’s game ones, DO not waste you time on that - The coolers for that may do 3 cubic feet at most, no way they can do a grow cabinet. Is it possible for you to hook to you existing A/C system with a 2" Flex duct and collar to the top of your tent and a low volume fan out the bottom? Then upgrade your thermostat to a Nest and you can set you main A/c to kick the fan on every hour for 10 minutes.
Would be plenty of power and definatly do the job – if you have a register in the ceiling get a split collar and split it to the room and to the tent
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I finally talked to the manufacturer, who was extremely helpful, and the problem was that the air input vents at the back of the box were pushed to a point where they were nearly closed. This occurred during shipping and there was an easy fix that solved the problem.
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