Smartie's first grow fridge: My Cerebro to connect with smart brains to guide me

[Smartie86]

What's happening guys!

I found the stuff i need for the lights and will order somewhere next week.

Any major updates will be put on hold because next 5 months i will change states due to job opportunities. Ofcourse the brainstorming/collecting the required items/asking for help/post updates will still continue.

What brings me to the topic of my post: Passive Air Intake:

I always thought for intake you needed 2 times the surface of the exhaust but after some more digging I read (on this forum) that for PASSIVE intake you need 4-5 times that surface.

So in my head I have the following:

I would make 4 (4inch) holes so 2 like shown before and 2 extra ones on the opposite side of the fridge:

Then i would tape off the inside of the hole to give it a smooth finish. Then i was thinking to use something like this to cover the holes:

Ofcourse big enough so the hole is completely in the perforated area. From here on the struggle begins:

I'm thinking to put 1 on each side of the hole so 2 per hole so 8 in total. All of the would be painted black on the inside, the ones inside the fridge painted white on the outside and the ones outside the fridge i would paint black on the outside and wrap them in a stocking/tights before mounting them.

I am just concerned if this would work? So regarding airflow/light/etc..

I am worried that if i put the vent covers on both side in their normal mounting position that might affect the airflow as it is shaped to let air flow trew in 1 direction. So maybe i mount the ones on the outside inside outto improve that?

Just interested to hear your opinions!!

 

[Smartie86]

What's happening guys!!

Just to let you know that things are still moving

Last few months were all about fine tuning the build and ordering/making a shopping list.. I will keep slowly collecting all the necessary stuff to have a few big build days in my holidays.. The v8 needs big service and bought a new tv because we recently moved house, so my wallet (but mostly the misses) tells me to shift back a gear..

Realistically, i would be happy if i finish the lights and finish the lining with panda film..So what is going to happen and what do we need:

Lights: Because I want minimum optimal lumen (7500/sqf) and because 24watt (1500 lumen) is the biggest bulb around, I will make a 20 bulb cfl growlight for the flower room..
For the smaller veg room the rule is is that you still take 7500l/sqft but devide that by 2 simply because veg doesn't require that much lumen (and because that room is going to be on 24/0 ) so 2sqft = 15000lumen divided by 2 = 7500 lumen for the bottom veg room. Again in 24w (1500l) bulbs so I'll make a 8 bulb growlight (and put 6 actual bulbs) for the veg room.

Then lining the door, a shelf and the wood to mount the lights with panda film. Will use combination of staples and tape so hopefully that all goes "smooth".. So if by the end of my holiday I only have to worry about the fans (exhaust/passive intake/oscalliting fans) I will be a happy man..

More details soon!!

Ok, I'll give a sneak peak:

 

[ItWas]

Good to see some progress buddy. Will those y pieces be ok to put together like that?

 

[Smartie86]

Good to see some progress buddy. Will those y pieces be ok to put together like that?

Cheers!

Yeah they do.. As long you don't exceed the max watt in the first piece there should be no problem.

Today I got my pieces of plywood and the sockets should be here next week. Then we can start puzzling around and figuring out how to wire all this

 

[Smartie86]

Sockets came in yesterday, bonus haha

What is the ratio to have mixed spectrum?? So how many cool day bulbs are put in flower box (warm white) and vice versa?? 1:4? 1:6?

 

[TBullet]

I'm excited to see this fridge build, and interested in small spaces.
I have a small space also, but not for a perpetual grow.
Would like to get a cabinet or have a space to do a small perpetual grow.

I'll be watching the project come to life with you.

Cheers!

 

[Smartie86]

Well well well.. Look who we have here

Almost 2 years since my last post but let's see what happened over the last 2 years (well, more the last 2 weeks to be honest) to our little project

After a lot of thinking I came up with a way to properly wire the light fixtures for our flower room (20x24W, 30k lumen).
Yesterday we mounted the fixtures and today I finished the wiring

Sit back and enjoy:


Wiring done, not connected to fixtures yet:

Pretty happy with the result if you ask me. I probably do it again properly when it will be fully operational because I don't like to staple into electric wires. At least I could mark off things and I have exact measurements regarding the wires so shouldn't be that big of a struggle.



Connection to fixtures done:

Little close up:

Fixtures done:

Grow light connected to household plug:

Screwed in 8 light bulbs to test most if not all.. Had only 8 laying around anyway



Ready to test:

Then it was simply plug and play :

Very happy, can't wait to mount it in the fridge and to test it with 20 bulbs

Cheers for your time guys!!


Peace!!

 

[Smartie86]

Few more updates:


Got the door lined with panda:

Mounted the grow light in the fridge:

And it is briiiiiiiiiiiiight :

This is just 8 bulbs instead of 20 so if I'm not completely off the grid this maybe is a bit overkill so I probably do a couple test runs with maybe 10 bulbs.

Also I noticed that the bulbs are all on eye level (at least for us short asses ) and they really blind you.. So I am looking to build kind of a reflector that 1) blocks the bulbs from blinding you 2) reflect light even more down the plants.


Now let's brake my head about the lights for the veg room



Stay tuned!!!