One undercurrent, two room flip flop

[HookedonPonics]

What's up everyone I had some extra time on my hands so I gathered together all my spare equipment and actually managed to setup a 4k grow with coco pots and all mismatched ballasts lol, I have 4 weeks left on this grow so I'm in the process of planning the next grow at this spot, I wanna purchase a relay and run 2 side by side rooms with 4k in each, my question is can I run the UC double barrel 32 site thru both rooms with a wall cutting the system in half, as long as I make sure the wall is completely light tight and all the clones are set at the same time I can't think of anything that will cause it to fail, if anyone can think of any problems I'll run into or any way to make this more efficient it'll be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[UCMENOW]

For sure....that'll be sweet!

 

[HookedonPonics]

Ya nowhere near the caliber of your projects, props UCMENOW, can't wait till I'm legit and can show off a little of my work, and for this garden it's more of a side project so I'm trying to budget as much as possible so one system one top rez, one chiller sounds like alot less bs, I also might actually run 6 in each room if everything comes together as planned, I have a 50 amp circuit just for lights so I might as well use it up

 

[ttystikk]

I like this idea a lot, in part because you've just reduced your complexity by half- AND, it's a great way to run one chiller, and a smaller one than would ordinarily be needed to run a system that size at that! Props for sure!

 

[HookedonPonics]

Ya I'm thinking a 1 and a half hp chiller will cut it, Ill have some pics up in a few weeks soon as this crops done and some sheetrock an woods going up.

 

[motherlode]

interesting idea - looking forward to seeing the build

 

[desertsquirrel]

Cool idea. I would never recommend less then 500 watts per site on a UC though.

Im thinking of running a flip right now w/ 2 6-site pros and 18k watts over each 6 site flipping if the gives you an idea of watts per site.

=)

 

[UCMENOW]

My millinium post

Cool idea. I would never recommend less then 500 watts per site on a UC though.

Im thinking of running a flip right now w/ 2 6-site pros and 18k watts over each 6 site flipping if the gives you an idea of watts per site.

=)

Do it!

 

[HookedonPonics]

I was thinking 8 would be optimal also but I also know im only suppose to run 75% of a circuits load, I have a 50 amp circuit, each 1kw ballast usually pulls around 5 amps at 240v, and that throws me over a little and not to mention, this is not my main project this is in a friends garage with all old equipment that was collecting dust, and the only extra A/c's I have are two 25k btu window units( one that's running now) so i figure that's only enough to cool 6 bare bulbs at most with each air conditioner, and I'm not trying to drop a bunch of extra money on a mini split after this coco run the only upgrades I'm trying to make is the flip flop, adjust wings and the double barrel with all the extras. My area is very cool and I run at night so ambient temps are usually in the 60's outside my garage. Any feedback is appreciated

 

[desertsquirrel]

Well, you don't run only at night if your on a flip =P.

Go with a smaller UC.

 

[HookedonPonics]

I completely understand where your coming from but then the 2nd run with the UC when I do decide to upgrade my amperage and AC's and my lighting wattage per unit I'm stuck spending another grip on another system, I have everything else needed for the room and UC including the 1.5 hp chiller. So I'll ride it out with 6k and get the system dialed and then next run upgrade to a more optimal wattage per sq ft, I already put the deposit on the system at my local shop and it's sized perfect with the existing room that I plan to duplicate and split the system thru, appreciate the advice I'll be sure to keep an eye out for cheap hand me down ballasts and 3 ton mini splits so I can upgrade this garden, keep in mind I'm trying to keep this gardens budget as close to nothing as possible I have a handful of larger indoor and outdoor projects going on at the moment that are taking up most of my time and 99% of my money for the time being.

 

[ellisd_]

I;m interested in what this "double barrel" action is about. Currently running two UC systems on a flip-box, same room but split down the middle with two sheets of black-n-white. I couldn't figure out a good way to keep the systems on the same "loop" since the split rooms are long (about 9'x20' on each side).

My lack of a solution there resulted in the purchase of two chillers, two pumps, two air pumps, two continuous meters, two PH down dosers, etc... The flip box is sweet tho. Make sure you use an MLC for the lights and set it up with two timers. You need about 1 minute of "off" on your MLC so that after the MLC turns off (and the ballasts are off), the flip box relay kicks over, then the MLC comes back on 1 minute later. Theres something with digi ballasts where they need that off time. Not sure the exact specifics but it has to do with a lower hz needed to start the bulbs. So in other words, when the digi starts up, its firing at a lower hz to get the bulds started, then after a few minutes it ramps up to like 600 hz. So if the flip box flips over to the cold bulbs on the other side, they cant start at the 600 hz the ballasts are running at.

Other than the high initial costs of setup, the flip flop is great. The other key is to make sure both sides strart veg and flower at the same time. The reason is you won't have an easy way to get adequate light for vegging while your using all the ballasts on the flower side for 12 hr a day. If both sides are vegging at the same time, just set it up to flip every 12 hrs in veg but change the order of the hood connections around so that it's staggering on each side.

So with a 8 hood, 4 ballast setup, each side has 4 hoods in linear "chain". for the first 12 hours, hood 1 and 3 on side A are on while hoods 2 and 4 on side B are on. Second 12 hours is flipped to hoods 2 and 4 on side A and hoods 1 and 3 on side B. Note that with this setup, you are only vegging with 50% of your total wattage at any given time but you are doing it with half the ballasts and half the watts usage that you would need otherwise. Plus, I've found that this is ample for the task at hand.

BTW, the flip box i use is from Horti Control.

Lets see the double barrel stuff when you can.

 

[ellisd_]

never mind, I found the double barrel on their site. Wow, that's a pretty simple solution. I would considering switch to that setup from what I have now but I'm currently using a 1/4hp chiller on each side. Maybe the shop would let me trade up on a single 1/2hp. bummer i didn't know about this earlier.....

 

[All4freedumb]

I am doing this now. I am on my 5th week of flower with no issues so far.. I did do a little redesigning of my UC to accomplish what I needed and wanted. I have two rooms, each with *9, 3 rows of 3, 13 gal mods and 13k in each room. I have each rooms UC set up independently with the 3in PVC that goes to the epi extended out of each room and elbowed to the epi which is located in the center of each room, outside of the rooms (in my control room, I call the bridge). I also played with my pumps and some dye in my system to watch and find my best flow, I ended up having one pump pull from my epi go through my chiller and push instead of pull through the manifolds on the back both systems.then I have a second pump also pulling from my epi that *pushes to the back manifolds and also reduces up *to half in. PVC that I have that running down the top of my buckets and dropping water from the epi down into each bucket independently feeding fresh water from the epi. My flow rate from epi to the back of the system, top feeding each bucket and back registering at my epi is mixed well in less then 10 min. My flow in both systems are equal and very impressive to me. I love this design, I have now torn down another UC 24 site I had running and I will be doing the same thing there, making two rooms of 12. After making my flip flop box, I run 26 lights with 13 ballast giving me the other 13 to use elsewhere and as backup.. I love my life... :)

 

[NW Puffins]

wow all4feedumb, I'd like to see how you set that up. any chances of some photos?

 

[All4freedumb]

here are some pics...

 

[All4freedumb]

sorry, I did not realize i had them all flipped..
photo 1 shows control valves. with these I can acomplish anything needed with the water in my res, ro water or the water in the system..
photo 2 shows the 1/2in pvc line (red shut off) that runs on top of each bucket dropping epi water into each bucket. Below that 1/2in shut off you can see the 3/4 pvc pushing epi water to the rear manifolds. The other blue shutoff to the right is my drain for the system.
photo 3,4 and 5 shows the 3 in pvc coming out of each room elbowing off to the epi controlling both rooms..
photo 6 shows the 3 in pvc running out of room to the elbow seen in prior pics
photos 7,8 and 9 shows the 1/2in pvc runnin on top of the buckets feeding each one.
photo 10 shows the 1/2 line and 3/4 a bit better.
photo 11 is above shot of epi..
i hope this helps.. pics really dont show its justice, but you can get an idea...

 

[smokeydabear]

nice set up

I'd not use the iphone though, "they" can get the gps out of them pictures and pin point your op.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/technology/personaltech/12basics.html

 

[All4freedumb]

Thanks.. My gps is never on...

 

[HookedonPonics]

it doesnt matter if the gps is on, it still has a tag of where the photo was taken and your phone can still be traced without the gps being on. They can see where every single one of your phone calls and texts were made and recieved too. i threw mine out after a friend got the pin dropped lol (had to say it) on him doing the same shit. just lookin out for the fellow grower nothing like waking up at 430am to the alphabet boys knocking your door clear off the hinges. nice set up by the way plants look pretty niiice. what nute line up are you using in your UC?