Mr.Sparkle's 34w Arduino Controlled 5 Gal Bucket Micro Grow *Round 3 Done*

Ok, then. It just looks like you have a lot of experience taking it to an extreme. I’d be interested in your specific technique.

Hey can you show us some of you carbon fiber exhausts?

Well to start and the number one is if you can limit root space that ultimately dictates plant size, also if the plant has enough lateral space to grow unimpeded usually then you don’t have to touch the plant, but getting that right takes some trial and error.

But basic things i do to either free up space or keep plants in check are, super cropping if they start to get too tall, which is simply just crushing the stems inner herd and flopping over a top, that typically causes the other buds to catch up and in a couple days things are usually more even and the top you flopped over is reaching for the sky again which usually needs to be bent over again, or tied down, i use elastic bands in my own just looping back on themselves and then ties to a hook or something as this still allows the plant to grow relatively unimpeded vs the use of string.

If plants are crowding each other out and or buds are getting covered in higher foliage then i typically defoliate most of the bigger fan leaves that are causing issue, it can be done drastically leaving sticks but its better to leave as much as you can behind. This also helps with airing out your spaces as sometimes the canopy gets way too dense and you can run into rot issue if things are to humid or dense.

I also lollipop pretty regularly to a certain extent by removing the bottom couple nodes of flowering sites and they just become a fluffy mess which doesn’t really increase yield and are a hassle to trim, so i opt instead for the plant to focus its energy on the buds that get more light and to air out the under canopy a bit.

If things really don’t behave then the tops get chopped, which with photo periods you can tell or know by about week 2-3 of flower and its early enough that they can recover.

But if i don’t want to chop then i do something i call “Z” ing, which is just a more extreme form of some supercropping/high stress training, but honestly the plants dont even slow down if they are healthy.

I’ll include an old picture of that just to show you what can be done, and that are plants are a lot more resilient than most think or know.

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No carbon fiber exhausts even though i could make some ;), but no i run small carbon filters, really just something that holds aquarium carbon in at least a 5cm/2" thick depth, they work pretty decent but not 100% so really stink plant in the last couple weeks of flower can be a pain but they definitely helps.

Here’s an old pic of a filter for pc case i dismantled a few months back, it’s magnetically attached so i can easily remove it for when i need to swap the carbon out, it just slots in over a standard 120mm pc fan and is made out of some joist panning which is just galvanized hvac tin you can easily get and home improvement stores for cheap, plus some mesh material for the front and back obviously.

Really just different shapes between what space it is, like when i use to build my own cabinets for growing they typically had a removable tray with mesh on one side which were super easy to change the carbon in comparison.

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Glad to see you posting up here @Mr.Sparkle. I love you ‘z’ bends. That photo shows just how much shorter you can make them with a little persistence.

You haven’t even talked about the Arduino stuff. I still need to get back to working with mine. It’s just too much like work (I’m a programmer by trade).

:thumbsup: :movie_camera: :popcorn:

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The “z” bend is definitely something new!

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I am so impressed man.

Fantastic work @Mr.Sparkle.

The Z bend blew my mind and it’s not yet 8am.

Welcome brother, we’re very glad to have your contributions.

Stay hazed
Jake

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Dam mr sparkles…u coulda warned me…lol…well i opened up several led bulbs like you informed me…i put power too just 1 …bright as hell…blue spot for a few minutes…im impressed…as per our messages i will go with just 4 like you have shown…any more is way overkill…i wouldnt have imagined how bright these are without the housing…wow.

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I have a chifaro…however you spell it…i been wanting to convert to a false stealth…this is gonna work into something .

haha yeah you don’t want to be looking at them while there on you’ll see dots for awhile, just watch out for the exposed electrical connections on the surface of those cobs which is typically right in the center of most bulbs, no need to electrocute oneself but so long as you’re aware of it’s fine to run as is, dodgey cheap generic chinese 240v bulbs you have to watch out for, i only get the 120v ones here due to the country electrical standard but if wanting some extra safety either way a little dab of liquid electrical tape, or non conductive silicone covers any issue that may come up

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Im working on the lid now…/ prepping lights…still havent figured a heatsink?..mite just use a 8 inch aluminum disc half inch from bucket top…??..also i think i want to place fan like you did…but i want to cut the center of the bottom out of another bucket to place on top…my goal is to make it look like i have 3 stacks of 3 buckets just sitting off to the corner of my shed???*what do you think?..

that would work, but looking into possibly a bit beefier heat sinks a flat disc wont do much especially if its in the bucket, some channel, or computer heatsinks would be more idea.

As for the fan it easier not to cut it up like what i previously have done, that was me just over thinking things and trying to conserve as much space as possible, just cut a hole and mount the fan on top and your good.

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I looked back at original first pic…i see your sinks now…will just duplicate.

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Hey sparkles…i have my bucket completly finnished…im on wifi…as soon as i get more data i will upload some pictures if thats ok?

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go for it, i should start a new thread soon, and will just jump the gun and call it my bucket build for 2018

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This is pretty impressive stuff you got going…taking the dome off those bulbs is genius, simply genius.

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Mr Sparkle,
I know this post is a year old, but hopefully you are still looking at it. How did you wire up the lights? I am trying to built a panel with some 15W boards. Do you have to use one “power board” per emitter board, like you did, or can you use one for multiple emitter boards? Also, did you use a PC Power supply? If so, wouldn’t the power boards bring it up to 110v by themselves?

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You use one of the power boards per cob (leds), you can run multiple cobs off a power board though so long as its in parallel but all your doing there is dividing the power each one gets

1x15w board = 1x15w to the leds

1x15w board = 3x5w to the leds if say running three cobs so they would be only be around 33-40% as bright each “lower the power the higher the efficiency typically”

And no the boards were wired to 120Vac “parallel to a standard power cord” as those boards need 120v to function as that is how they are designed as far as how they are before dismantling.

But probably the question you were wondering, i also had a 12vdc wall power converter wired up to that 120vac cord, it powered the fan and arduino stuff.

Guess i dont have a picture of the top in here but this was after a change and my Version 2, 12v power converter that was deboxed on the bottom right, 120v power cord going out the left, and 120v going to the power boards of the leds, but going through a relay first just for timer purposes.

You can find more info about it im my other thread Micro Growing with Mr. Sparkle *2018* will be posts from january to april of this year

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@Mr.Sparkle
I know you haven’t posted here but I need your Expert advise.

Looking at doing something down the read with HPA and are looking at getting an Arduino. I am also looking at a Raspberry pi 3.

I know that most use the Arduino but being that I am a long way away from setting anything up, the PI is more usable now.

What are your thoughts on using PI with Android or Linux to run relays and pumps?