Hey everyone, been a little while since i posted.
Just moved and settled into my property and because of room restrictions concerning family members, I am inclined to start my grow in my garage!

I am not 100% sure on your (the community) views of growing in a garage especially here in UK where the air lacks humidity etc etc etc.

Basically I will be growing hydro in a DR240 tent, 30 girls across 2 square metres...

For reference:
15 girls per square metre
6.5litre pots per girl (rockwool medium) [0.7-1.0 square feet per girl (correct me if im wrong)]
1200w HPS (2x600w /w air cooled ballasts) AND +-450w MH (2x225w MH) for a total of 1650w lighting
intake and exhaust fans, silencers and cf (ducting exhaust through sewer line maybe?)
lucas formula nutes grow veg
2 x flood and drain table kit - hydro (maximum capacity 16 [four rows of four] pots)
air con
dehumidifier
2 x mounted fans for mutual air movement inside tent
POSSIBLY use my co2 injection kit (this can be ignored for the meantime, until i research more into this)

Basically my thoughts on growing in the garage is that it would be rather adequate and perfectly feasible and fine for the girls provided I have relative pest control without hurting the girls as a byproduct of the pest control methods (that i will soon work on after research).

Assuming that the tent will naturally be negative pressure forcing air through the exhaust, I am safe from smell leak apart from when I open the tent to walk in.
I live hill side and thankfully my property is mostly near the top, from scoping my area I feel safe from my infrequent visits into the tents where smell is concerned.
My property is semi-detached, garage being on the detached side (sitting flush to my property) with a walkway next too it leading into my backyard.

I've attached some pictures so you can see that the garage isn't much space, but assuming my tent and grow room size, it will not take much more room than required for a car.
The garage can sit one vehicle but alongside my tent will be excess furniture and so will not be used for a vehicle. I have 3 spaces in front of the property anyway.


Is there anything unique to growing in a garage that I should be aware or concerned of?

As far as insulation goes, would I need to take more precaution? Should I hold out and invest into some work being done too the garage before its filled with furniture and equipment?

A family member suggested I use plaster board and build a box for my tent within the garage.
I was thinking of using pallets too raise the tent on, and use some set of fixed wheels under the pallet, so I could turn the tent towards the wall so there is no entrance into it.

The electricity switch/trip main box and gas meter is located in the garage also.
Should I take more precaution here? I have silencers for the fan but how safe is it too allow an outside entity entry into the garage, perhaps to read the gas meter?

I dont think there is a water meter in the garage, however i dont think I have a water meter (I had one when I was living in the city centre which was a small unit conveniently located outside my front door so the readings can be taken seamlessly.)
Can I fit something like this for such instance if required?

Environment wise, walking into the garage feels like it is another room in the house except without central heating. Will this HELP the air con or growing environment to help maintain temperatures or will this cause condensation or other irregular aspects I should be thinking about?

There is also VERY small un-used toilet to the right partitioned at the back of the garage before you walk in from the back.

Thanks guys

looks good mate i wouls just be carefull about the meter being read, a bloke comes in to check mine...

I noticed you've got a gas meter in the garage, what will happen when the guy comes to read it?. Ive got a drobe in my garage and vent the scrubbed air outside through an airbrick, but when it snowed a few weeks back I had a rectangular area directly above my drobe with none on. I chucked a space blanket over the top and the problem vanished.
Joe

Make sure you have a good exhaust from the garage itself, the last time I did a garage grow it took 6 months to dry out the garage & rusted my bike to hell

...




Thanks, where is your meter located? in relevance to your grow? From the pictures you will notice that my meter will be almost right next to my tent, which raises more concerns. You seem pretty humble as if it isn't too much of a problem , did you take any extra precautions other than neccessary?




Thanks Joe, I will look into the space blanket for future preparations, this weather is really unpredictable!
Just noticed, there is a room directly on top of the garage. Part of a room anyway, which was extended (by previous landlord) over the garage as well as a bathroom further behind, on the first floor.
Is it safe too assume, I wouldn't require this now? Or should I get one anyway for safety for the room above?




Thanks drg, I absolutely overlooked that possibility! What kind of exhaust would you suggest? I could leave the back door open (access to small toilet) and fit the extraction at the toilet window. Any suggestions?

Thanks again!

some good space there mate pity about that meter though

Hehe tell me about it, its frustrating me because the meter is located at the back of the garage as you can see. If I mount the grow up front (as the front black doors will be permanently locked), then maybe I can let him in from the back (make him walk through my house/kitchen first) so he is only concerned about one thing, get the reading and get out. Got to work on some stealthy idea for this, as the rest of the garage will have some unused furniture. If i stick cardboard around my tent from boxes, maybe it would pass off as an american fridge box. I have an american style fridge in the kitchen. Hmm

your elecric company will love you if you phone in with your own readings, if everybody did it they could get rid of the reader. i take my phone outside to meter cupboard and read them the figures.

I have just been speaking to the previous landlord here about electricity on a normal basis, not related to growing whatsoever and he suggested that if I go with british gas on a business tariff, the rates will be between 3p-6p per kwH. Thats a massive saving from my initial workings at 13.5p/pkwH. Is this true? Also he said british gas will ensure 'smart metering' where no estimated bills, pay for usage only. Does anyone have any info regarding this?

He seems confident, and that he works or previously worked with british gas (assuming centrica, british gas owned call centre) and said they do not verify small businesses, running from home apart from the appropriate documents, tariffs and quote and direct debit...

If this is true it could benefit everyone here? 6p per kwH is absolutely cheap imho...is it for real?

Thanks grandad, i never knew you could phone it in. Worst comes to worst I will definitely be phoning my readings in manually! Will they confirm on the phone that no-one will come in respect to what i have told them or would they bring someone to verify?

my cupboard is outside, they have there own key, i phone mine in to keep my bill regular, i forgot to ring it in this winter after using my dehumidifier, my bill shot up by £107 a month. i usually avoid that.

Regarding the meter, just go for an online tariff that you manage yourself, you put your meter readings in online and no meter readers have to come

I am growing in my garage too, defo get pallets under the tent raise it off the floor, i also used 100mm polystyrene sheets underneath as well.

Keeping temps up over winter i just used an oil filled rad.

Dm@n.

Hey dman, thats good to hear. I guess the worlds been developing a bit. Online tariff!

Will definitely look into that, what about the rates? what rate are you on and whos your supplier?
The meters concerned are gas and electricity, which are both in the garage.
I am on a monthly budget of £300 per month. £350 per month is utmost maximum. Do you think all required ongoing costs will fall into that bracket?

Most of the equipment is ready to be setup. I need to purchase air con, dehumidifier and a floor standing oil heater.
Aside from that only nutes and (feminized) seedlings are left to purchase.
I have a budget of £1500 which will go towards remaining equipment. Do you think I may have to dip into this to support my monthly budget?

Thanks for the heads up with my pallet idea. Nice to know im not totally alone on a garage grow! Will be getting some styro for the pallets as you recommended.
I wanted my intake fan to operate from underneath the tent, so have to use ducting etc to achieve this.

Have you got a quick photo to share of your garage and setup (that is not inside the growroom itself, just the garage)?

Thanks

Also has anyone got any suggestions towards pest control? My basic gr design is in the first post.

I've heard insects and the sort are not too much of a problem when growing in a tent, but obviously in-house is much less prone to such things than a garage.
Any ideas?

ive been growing in my garage now for almost a year.

suprisingly i have taken no precautions towards pests and (hopefully) as yet to have any problems except the occasional bug. i put a bowl of water in there not to help with humidity but to see what bugs get in there

my garage is quite old and has little gaps where the roof overhangs, this solves all my air quality problems

i need an oil filled rad to keep temps up over winter, the rad really lowers humidity.

that space blanket will help keep temps up over winter even if you dont need it for stealth

EDIT2ADD: if you want to add precautions for pests cover the intake and maybe the outtake with some granny tights, but this WILL reduce airflow

Glad you're getting a grow on , but is it your own place or is a L.L. still gonna visit

AFAIK meters are supposed to be read by an 'official' at least once a year (aren't they)

good advice on the tights, i use em too and they do the job fine

seriously, i live here with my family and contribute to the rent by paying the electricyt bill in full (including day to day usage) and for phone line rental . I put the deposit for this place too.

Anyway yeah i know but its a 3 bed, dont get me wrong but this place is tiny! I have no super secretive purpose, but im getting paranoid now if this one goes terribly wrong, im not going to give up. Its my mum im worried about, i know she loves plants and i know once she sees these beauties shes gonna love it, but as it stands she doesnt wanna bump into it anywhere ..hope you can understand..the meter concern is paranoia, as would anyone be.

How about a card meter ,i know you pay more but hey, peace of mind etc
Good luck

Thanks will look into it.

Aside from the meter concern, has anyone ran into any 'garage specific' problems? My original location was my bedroom but im going to do that one properly for my second grow. Are there any extra precautions I've overlooked because the planning stage was based on the grow being in my room. Thanks

hey guys, i know its been a while but things are slowly coming together... timing my gr for the sour diesel rls expected in septemeber..

Few changes (for those who even remember).. I'm going straight coco!!

Anyways, everythings about ready weady, I have only to buy;

the beans (sd)
two 50L canna coco /coir bags,
two res heaters,
two airstones (for tables) and
two custom reflective pot covers to protect root-zones from the usual premature dissipation stuff...

Everythign else is in, going to be running my super dialled in regimen on GH nutes (not GHE [dont ask why]). Following a modified lucas formula (the recipe by rez) & using addback instead of weekly dumping.

Just thaught id keep you posted with the happenings, heres a few shots..

PS. my lights are going to be hooked up to individual relays/timers (2x2) to allow me to convert half the room into a vegging cab when need be (going to invest in a sealed/removable partition, any pointers?)

Heres the low down, going to start with 15 beans to the right, sex them get rid of the males, take cuttings of all 15 and reveg them to the left. Once the girls to the right finish flower il pick the best pheno from the lot to clone from my parent-clones. I'll then get rid of the excess parent-clones and grow out a full run (instead of half) of that selected pheno.

All 15 beans will be SD but I may be switching that to the following; (where available) 5 sd, 5 sd x blueberry, 5 super silver sour diesel haze.
In such case, instead of keeping one pheno, il keep three. 1 of each strain. This means 3 parent-clone mothers will be kept instead of one (out of 15). From the 3 chosen phenos il take 10 cuttings from each and grow that out on both tables...

Hope you like! Cheers!

love the light set up bro. looks like you got a good start on that set up.

gotta go with bono here, nice set up. have you connected up the lights to a carbon filter as well?

coming to the end of my first run in the garage, no problems with temps even with the sun on the roof pretty much all day. not looking forward to winter though...

good luck fella

Hey guys, thanks The cooltubes are not connected to any exhaust at all. Only my two cf's. I have no intake either, only neg pressure.

The lights (cooltubes namely) are simply hooked up with a rvk inline fan in between sucking air out from one cooltube and pushing air through the other.. That warm air is then allowed to roam around until the cf's suck it right out... Oh and i used enough ducting to raise and lower them so the fan can stay put in the middle ..

Better pics to come, cheers guys!!

looks nice and neatly set up there

But it sounds like you're recirculating the air inside the tent


if you've got no fresh air intake or hot air exhaust , how do you plan on keeping the plants healthy & temps down ?

Hey T-S, thanks dude, good question..

Inside the tent i have two 8" (200mm) cf's on two 8" rhino fans.. This acts as my entire extraction system. On my controller 30% achieves negative pressure and the upper limit is at 80%.

I have vents at the bottom while my cf's are mounted at the utmost top edges. I thaught that by maintaining negative pressure, this brings co2 rich fresh air to the gr?

I have a heater connected to my controller also to maintain temps if there too low (have a choice of putting the heater in the garage near the vent or in the tent pon the floor).

Spot on, my lighting does recirculate itself i suppose. I did have an extra piece of ductwork directing the hot air towards my passive intake vents but with that attached the light wouldnt lower and raise as flexible as it currently is... What do you suggest?

Winter is approaching so i was wondering if that would help keep temps down? on a regular basis the garage is generally just short of room temperature (17c ish)..

Do you think i should invest in some sort of 'air-con'? I didnt bother at all with a dehumidifier considering... i just want to keep ongoing cost minimal-like.
I didnt expect the room to get too hot as the only heat generated is the lighting (and the heater on-demand). I assumed my controller would up the power load on the exhausts in order to 'drop' or 'maintain' a lower temperature? Or am I completely of track?

What do you think will be the highest temps I get? One of my passive intake vents is right up against the outdoors, while the other, on the other side of the tent is on the inside of the garage.
My two 8" ducts for exhaust are ducting out of the entire garage through a breeze-block wall to the back of my garage where there is an open window and door. At ceiling level in the gareg there are 'air-bricks' to allow passive ventalation as with most garages these days...



Hey thunderpob, did you have any intakes? and what was your highest and lowest temps you've been getting? really interesting to know and compare in due course, did you run into any major unforseen setbacks?

Ah any help would be much appreciated!! Love y'all lots!
Cheers!!

Hi Mate. TBH it's been pretty darn smooth - temps and humidity have been well within tolerance, Lights on temps range 25 to 30 and lights off 16 to 19. Humidity is stable between 45 to 60%

For extraction I have one 4"cf+4" inline fan and a 5" cf+5" inline fan.
I only have passive intake of about 5" over all and the intakes are covered with a stocking. (don't laugh.. it works)

I have a few spiders in the room which would indicate that there are some bugs but haven't had any problems yet. and i don't mind the spiders.

Two 8" fans will be plenty of extraction but the efficiency of the fans might be limited by the amount of intake area you have available.

Have you turned all the lights and fans on yet to get an indication of the running temperatures?

hey, sweet!! i like the stockings idea haha.

Glad to hear it didnt run out of control!
I have tested the lighting but not long-enough to see the idle temperatures. Something i totally forgot to try...

i will have a look see and see the outcome. I have vented passive intakes towards the bottom of the tent, i could flip them open at a maximum and ive now decided to move the inline fan removing hot air from the tubes and double it as a intake blowing hot air through and out the tubes at the same time... so i think this should help with co2 etc, but that hot air been blown out the tubes needs to go somewhere and at the moment i have nowhere for it, so assuming itl just 'rise' and stay upper of the tent (and be extracted via the 8" cf/exhaust fans)....

It seems like a very intricut system where everything is relying on everything else to work in parralel with each other... I really wonder if itl work towards a positive outcome.. heres hoping!!

Good call... and you will still have negative pressure, fingers crossed for you man.

I am on my fifth grow space and i learned very quickly that it's far easier to fix a problem without all my plants 'n shit in the way!

Thanks thunderpob, fifth space, thats quite an achievment my man!

The inlines been moved as the intake now.

Also the breeder pushed back the strain rls to december so i will be running some chemdog ix-iii as a 'test run'. I think il either clone and cover my tables or i'll use larger pots, when the time comes il see whats wiser.

The chem is on its way so hopefully end of next wk il be germing.

Thanks for looking out, Cheers!!

Hey guys, how y'all doing?

Been busy lately trying to work the electrical side of the garage. I snipped the wrong wire to realise its not thick enough for sockets!

The wire i snipped was from the light terminal (switch) to the garage light.
After deciding that was a waste of time based on the looks of the wire... I flipped open the switch on the wall to find that its getting a feed directly from the fusebox thing...

So what i plan on doing is snipping that direct feed before it gets to the light switch (already noted that it goes into 'garage/outdoor lights' on the fusebox) and then attaching my own re-wiring too it.

My re-wiring goes light this;
from that source wire to a junction box (30amp, 4 way),
from the junction box two-ways go to two socket pairs (so four sockets).
from the junction box one-way goes to ANOTHER junction box,
from the second junction box, two-ways go to two more socket pairs.

So thats 4 socket pairs (8 sockets) and il be using an extension lead with an 8way socket and surge should I need any more sockets.

I worked out how many sockets i'd need first and it sounds abit like this in my head;
4 sockets for lights (2x relays so 2x timers so i can control lights individually)
1 socket for eco controller (2x exhaust)
1 socket for intake controller (similar to primair but basic volt controller)

2 sockets for 2x water pumps
2 sockets for 2x air pumps
2 sockets for 2x res heaters

the final 6 sockets may run from an extension lead as I will have 8 wall sockets in the garage in total.

tbh i dont know if my wiring is legit enough.. using simple junction boxes to create my sockets... I'm assuming I just have to connect it to the correct feed?

Nevertheless, my junction boxes are wired and ready to be finally wired to the electrical feed (which i havent yet attempted due to being slightly afraid).
Can anyone give me a heads up? its hard because i cant exactly speak to an electrician and i dont exactly want to deface or attempt to touch the fusebox incase it raises alarms one day...

--------
Also on a positive note, the chemdog ix-iii's are in and i got some FreeP's PPP. After (little) research it turns out the PPP is nirvanas pure power plant (which isn't exactly pure pp, its pp crossed with things like white widdow etc.) so pretty stoked and excited about that!

So thats 10 chemdog ix-iii and 5 ppp.
If all goes well, il be running them all.

> Sour Diesel, Blueberry Diesel and Super Silver Sour Diesel Haze are to come about Novemeber/December, inshallah!

I am about to germ the cd's and ppp's tonight, will leave them sitting in ph 6.5 corrected tap water overnight and then onto paper towels/zip lock baggies tomorrow morning!
Was thinking of starting a diary on em? While the gr isn't 100% complete, it should be 100% ready by the time these babies are ready to go in. Will have them in plastic cups of coco/perlite and feed them ph corrected water until they need repotting into the gr for veg (and onto my gh-only regimen). So i think thats ~2wks give or take?

What you guys say? Diary it or keep it in here?
If I diary it, i think il keep this thread for gr work and improvement.

I really need some sound advice about this electrical stuff as so far its the only thing in my way.

Thanks guys, your the best! Cheers!!

e2a pics added > In the pic you can see my wiring ready (two bits unwired but now wired) all wires going to all 4 plugs, 1 wire connecting the circular junction boxes together and another wire in the open junction box top left which is going nowhere atm, will be going to the RCD or joined onto the wire thats coming out from the RCD... Hope that helps... still need the heads up on that ^^

sorry double post!

Hi SoSoFizzy,

What you are planning on doing is unsafe I am sorry to say.

I am assuming that if your garage was wired correctly in the first place then the feed to your light is coming from a 6amp fuse in the fuse box? This is not a high enough rating for mains sockets for a start. Even if it is coming from a 32amp fuse (which would be more dangerous in fact as the trip ampage is so high that it wouldn't blow before fire!) you are planning to create a spur off a spur off a spur off a spur, then attaching an multi-way extension lead as well which would be highly dangerous indeed!

What you need for your socket arrangement is a ringmain running from an RCD fusebox. A ringmain is basically what is says it is - a circle of correctly rated mains cable with sockets wired in parrallel off it.
So for a 4 socket ringmain you'll need to take a feed from a spare 16amp fuse in an RCD fuseboxand wire to the first socket, to the second, third then fourth, then from the last one straight back to the same connections on the fusebox as you started from. Any other way is simply wrong & you are risking a fire or a severe electric shock!

Good luck! It would be a shame to get the electrics wrong after making such an excellent job of the rest of it!

Hey grumpyoldgit

Wow, so me being me, would have blown up my whole house !! , im sorry... the wires i used for my plugs are 2.5mm3 spec from the local hardware... the junco box from wilkos

So from what ive been reading i really need one of these ringmains wired but i dont understand it clearly. I think il need to take a pic for you of the fusebox because ive got a slight phobia of electricity and getting glued and without your help i'll prolly die :$

Can i plug two plugs together with my 4 sockets in between? Like from the house if i get two plugs from two different locations? Or is that going to kill me in the making?
I would get a photo for you now but since i snipped the wrong wire to see if it matched my 2.5mm one the lights are out and even thou i turned the breaker off, it tripped the whole thing when i chopped it.. which made me jump!? used a metal plier :O

When you said from one socket to the next to the next to the next... Do you mean as i have them now except without the junco boxes, wired directly into each other?
And once i've done that, do i then need to connect the 1st plug to the spare fuse and the last plug (4th) to the same spare fuse?

So the feed i found in the garage going to the garage lights fuse, can i put a 16A fuse in there? or a 30A? and use that feed/fuse?

Thanks in advance, i cant thank you enough !! cheers!

Hey SoSoFizzy, I am just off to work now so I can't post a detailed reply until tonight. But I'll endevour to get back to you tonight when I get in. It would help if you sent me a PM to jog my memory when I log onto 420 later though

Cheers

Hey grumps, thanks for the ongoing support!! I have a few updates for ya.. since researching the ringmains socket, it turns out its not so hard to wire up but thats as far as my research went.

I jumped along and re-wired my sockets.
More details in the pics.. I've also included a pic or two of my RCD. the breakers that are 'off' are unused apart from the garage lights one which i endeavor to re-use.

I have tested everything briefly but using the extension that my dryer is connected too (from the kitchen). the dryer is in the backroom behind the garage where my exhaust ducts will be going (through the breezeblock wall).

Anything else, feel free to ask/add guys.

Also delayed popping the beans until i rig the wiring up. It sure would be a shame to be struck against time. I plan on treating the beans better than I treat myself!
Becuase of that, i still have my tap-water sitting idle in a tub in the bathroom which was pH-corrected yesterday (after it sat for 24-36hours to remove chlorine). Its corrected to pH 6.5 but I recalibrated my meters to find its actually pH 6.3.
I am guessing I can still use this water to pop the beans/sow the tap roots etc. Or will i need to gather new water everyday? Living in a high-pH zone is annoying since the 24 hour wait before i can correct the water is frustrating. Now its sitting for longer than expected, imo it should be fine? Will the ph fluctuate? I'll check the pH later and let you guys know...

My tap-water is roughly pH 7.9 out the tap, and pH 8.5 after left sitting for 24-36 Hours... I am using Canna Nitric Acid as my pH-.

Thanks again guys, cheers !!

ps because of the up limit on pics il add them multi-posted (considering becoming a lifetime subscriber atm too!). I am a working gnome, when you guys say jump, i wont even ask how high, il do it ... your all I really have guys and girls! xxx

pic 1
Shows which wire i cut originally. It was half the size of my 2.5mm2 wire.
On the left of the switch that wire was going through the white case and directly to a light. the wire on the right that is going INSIDE the switch is the FEED from my RCD. It is also the same 2.5mm2 wire as I am using (for my sockets, infact all my aux wiring i used has been this same one from wilkos) except green/yellow earthing covers.

pic 2
Shows the ductwork joined in the middle instead of my inline fan. As recommended by you guys (there is enough ductwork to raise and lower the lights)

pic 3
Shows the cooltube ductwork end thats going to the intake fan. (since i am intaking, pushing through the cooltubes, the intake air will be heated/warmed up)

pic 4
Shows my ductwork leaving the tent for the intake and sealed with ducting incase of any potential light leaks

More to come...

pic 1
Shows the intake fan where its final destination will be (unless you guys suggest it being moved?) Also granny tights added to the end and ducted on. You can also see the proximity of the tent to the garage doors down there and also the gap to the left is my 'walking space'. To the left but upper of the garage, that is where my RCD fusebox is located (pics posted ^^).

pic 2
Shows the intake again /w the wiring of my ballasts which are sitting on the ground

pic 3
Shows my volt meter thing and ecotechnics evolution controller. Currently its only wired to my exhausts. I unplugged heating since i have a fan heater and read in another thread its a fire hazard. Will plug an oil filled rad soon/if i need it i suppose... As you can see intake is run from the volt meter controller. Reason being the intake wasn't an intake originally, it was an 'AUX' fan that removed heat from my cooltubes .

Thanks again. Cheers !!

Hey grumps, sorry I tried to PM you but it says your PM is disabled. It then says Message was not sent. Below is a CC of the PM;

Hey grumps, I hope you had a good day at work today..

I've added more pics for your discretion and I attempted to re-wire my sockets in 'ringmains' format. I generally followed an image from Wikipedia regarding its go abouts. Let me know what you think..
Also youl see my RCD there, i have no clue as to how to wire my ringmains sockets into the rcd.

Apart from that, theres also a pic for you which shows the switch for the garage lights, which has a feed coming from the RCD directly. The wire is 2.5mm2 spec (as is mines for my sockets) so wondering if I could join that?

Thanks grumps, enough respect!

Cheers!!

nice set up, hope u get them electrics sorted propperly. i know fuck all about electrics but i do know that even if you ring in the meter readings to keep em away, they have to come round and check them at a minimum of once every 2 years by law so it would be sensible in my opinion to find out the last time they were manualy checked incase they are due visit sooner than you would like

good luck with you grow and happy smoking

Bollocks! My shitty mobile broadband sucks! I just typed out a long reply & lost the fucking lot because my connection got broken! !ARRGGGGHHHHHSHHHHHH!!!!!

Anyway I'll try to summarise after my disasterous loss of an hours worth of typing!! Although I was watching TV & getting baked too :blush: -

1) Your 16Amp light fuse would be perfect for your ringmain for your grow

2) Your sockets look to be wired in a ring fashion. All you need do now it make sure bothe ends of the cable meet & join like for like at the fuse box. ie Both Browns into the top of the 16A fuse, Both Blues to the Neutral Rail where all the other neutrals are & Both Green/Yellows to where all the other Earth wires are

3) Look into what will happen when the meter needs to be read? Stealth required here if you have some stranger wnadering into your grow space!!

4) PLEASE isolate the fuse box at the breaker before working on it, NEVER work live inside a fuseboard!

5) Good Luck!

Hey grumps, thanks for the advice.

i feel you when that happens! It's all good...i think i know what im doing based on your summary;

1. How do you know its loaded with a 16A fuse? are you looking at the 'garage lights' fuse thats switched off? Guess i'll use it then!

2. Thanks, glad to know i didnt cock the wiring up twice , its ever so long to wire a plug. These hefty wires are stubborn like a bich! I think i'll need to flip open the fusebox to see exactly where things are going so I can color match them accordingly. Also my earth wire is plane, shall i get a green/yellow sleeve for it? Or will it be alright, considering it'll probably be the only uncovered earth wire in the fusebox?

3. I thaught about that (beginning of the thread). When the gr is completed, im gonna make it look like one big cardboard box (hordeing a faulty american fridge freezer or two), however I will also not open the garage to anyone whatsoever. Regardless if they need to look-see at the metres. I am more concerned during the 5 month period.

I am also hoping that my wiring up into the fusebox wont delude the way it currently looks or deface it. I will try and work with the truncing already set out.

Thanks windowsilllowryder. The box was inspected late 2008 and it says needs a reinspection in 2018, however every two years is enough for me, since if its a mandotory inspection I will simply remove the whole tent (on a few pallets and into a van) during the term-time things need to be overlooked. In doing so i will restore the garage into its original state apart from household items. Normal regular inspections, i will call them in and ignore the door to anyone that needs to go see for themselves. Hows that for stealth?

4. Yes, indeed i will switch off the whole mains (to the right of the fusebox) before working, since the garage lights fuse was 'OFF', it also tripped things in the house with it when i chopped that cable!

5. Thanks man, i'm definately going to need it! How easy is it to get in there and wire this? basically il have two earths, two blues and two browns. Im guessing the inerts of the fusebox is going to make my life difficult at doing so?

- The wire thats coming from the 'garage lights' fuse. If i attach that side to one side of my ringmains, and the other-side of my ringmains, bang into the fusebox at the same connection points? That would save me from doing two lots, as one lot will already be wired in?

Thanks a bunch man! ive been stressing to be honest, im afraid to pop my beans and get things going incase i fuck everything here up in a flash...

Cheers!!

Yes, I\\\\\\\'m looking at the garage lights fuse buddy, I thought that was the one you were talking about considering you mentioned that you were going to take the feed from it?

As you are doing everything else so thorough & well I would think that some sleeving wouldn\\\\\\\'t go a miss

Good luck in disguising your tent

Try to keep all the wiring neat & don\\\\\\\'t have any wires hanging around for the permanent wiring.

Sounds like a plan sir

Indeed, that is because you only turn the Live off when you trip the fuse. What happened to you is that you chopped through the whole lot at once, shorting the neutral & earth together which would then make a loud bang & trip the whole box

It will be a little tight in there considering that everything is powered from it, but you should be OK once you are in there, you seem to have a decent amount of common sense so you should be able to work out where you need to wire your ringmain to it. It should be as simple as looking at how the lighting wire are connected to it before you remove the lighting wire. Just put both ends of your ringmain in the same holes.

You could, providing the cable is of sufficient rating and that you put the other end of your ringmain in at the fuse box to make the ringmain complete at the fusebox. It wouldn\'t be a safe ringmain if you only have the original lighting wire going to the fusebox & the ringmain connected at where the switch is. It must terminate at the fusebox.



My pleasure. I too am a garage grower, I know the nightmares that can arise. I notice you have an Evolution Controller, I wish you luck with it. I had two faulty, one after the other. See the Evolution Controller thread for info on that one.

Once again. Good Luck


ETA: That intake fan will buzz like a bastard on that ballast, you\'ll need to fix it to something or suspend it on bungees as putting padding ontop of your ballast will smother it & it will over heat

Somethings happend? I never put all those \\\\\\\\\\\\\ in??

Hey grumpy, thanks for the heads up! Its alright I figured you didnt put them in

Otherwise im so glad i have you here, im guessing this wont be the last il need you :$ When its daylight and something like 13 hundred hours, il get up to it..
Oh yeah i wondered how you figured what the ampage was because it puzzled me. I couldnt figure it out while i was taking the pic so assumed it could have been a bit pointless putting it up i still dont know, apart from the red and green thing they all look the same? maybe im looking at the wrong thing?

I might strip that light wire out then incase think il try and read if it has writing on it or use the ones i built.. im going to have to extend the two ends of the sockets though or maybe not, il have to see if all the plugs reach... there is a shelf right there to the left of the fusebox but its not pictured...

I did quickly go through that thread i think. Since i called the store in which i purchased it from and they said they would replace it if it gives me problems and also suggested i get a primair as a immediate backup (sales lead pff!) so ive comitted to buy but havent purchased it yet, still looking at what alternatives are available as financially im running towards an all time low...Nevertheless i think im going to make this gr a priority, as im sure you know, this is my 1st ever run. Ive put alot of effort into research over the times during my saving up for the project.
Im still learning today, now about all different kind of industries i wouldnt have expected to step into. Im kind of pleased though, its making me feel more practical, im hardly a practical person.

Hey thanks about the intake fan, i was abit curious about that too i think im going to move the ballast out the way and then stack a bit of that carpet/laminate underlay for it to sit on. Il see what i can come up with.
You know at the start i thaught having my gr in the garage would be detrimental to the whole project. I pictured my tent in a spare room in which it would just about fit. That's become a bedroom now so i was pushed into the garage now looking at it, its not so bad...in fact its more ideal imo. Just have the get the structure and things right hey? im that kind of person if i have 'major' issues later in the line, id pack the whole thing in and allow it :$ that's probably what encourages me however learning from you and others here experienced, thats invaluable to me. Much like a smoke report is for a breeder. Good times to come, think im lacking patience at this point

I would shake your hand my man, so heres to a ehandshake Hope you have a good nights rest and il be in touch. Cheers!!

ARRRGGGGHHHHH!! Just had another lengthy reply dissappear because of my shitty mobile broadband!!!!!


Anyway, In post #35 there is a fuse labelled as a B16A labelled 'outside light / garage light' so I assume this is the one you cut & intended on using

I recon if you trace the wire you cut back to the fuseboard you will find the live going to the B16A fuse & the neutral & earth connecting with all the other neutral & earths on the rails top & bottom of the fusebox.


Got to take my dog out for a walk now so got to go.

Good luck once again

Hey grumps, hey guys? Who the man!!! Its fired up well stoked about that. Will take a lights on pic for ya tonight while i test mean temps etc (which i forgot to do ages ago)... Any suggestions? I think this is about all set?

Oh btw grumps theres now 4 browns in the 16a fuse. Thanks for the massive heads up. I thaught about plugging it into the blue one after there was already two browns in the 16a one.. Nevertheless i plugged mines with the two and all is well.. Also greensleeved earths up together. Im well proud

Cheers !!

Looks like you are getting there!! (electrics are a bitch but there is a right and a wrong way of doing it get it wrong and BANG, glad you are getting it sorted though

Looking forward to seeing how the setup works out and i am especially interested in the Blueberry Diesel....

Thanks thunderpob, my oh my am i waiting patiently for it. Im a blueberry fan myself, theres a pheno that's sticky-na-fuk... I hope one day to grow her! The sour d, blueberry d and sssdh to come about december. So if i time it right, i could get them going asap on the 2nd (unused) table. I wont be cloning the chemdog ix-iii (that im about to run) but may keep a mother or two. By the time these meet the grim reaper, il b able to clone and grow out a full two tables worth of em (if all goes well). Looking forward to some killer toking

Cheers

Wow, i spoke too soon.

The intake, outtake come on fine...

The fuse in the fusebox tripped when i switch my lights on.

My lights are wired light this;

hps1 > relay1 > socker1 ; socket2
mh1 > relay1 > socket1 ; socket2
hps2 > relay2 > socket3 ; socket4
mh2 > relay2 > socket3 ; socket4

So MH1 and HPS1 come on at same time when i plugged relay1 in. Which it did upon power up. While they were still on i switched relay2 on, hps2 and mh2 came on and fuse tripped.

Now switching relay1 or relay2 whichever one on, the fuse is tripping?
Also i think hps2's bulb has gone (will replace soon). PITA!!

Any ideas? Is it something to do with my load? I read the load thread and it says 3kW max per socket, which is prety much less than what im running?
2x 600whps, 2x400wmh (2kW;1200whps/800wmh)

Thanks

e2a, think thats sorted, was just me powering everything up at the same time !! my bad..

mean temp reads ~29c lights on. Lights off for 5mins reads ~28.4. Will do a more thorough test. when i replace my dud 600whps lamp. Otherwise all is well in the big brother house...