Minigrow Design Principles

Our design principles are derived directly from a set of core objectives. These design principles form the basis of every Minigrow grow cabinet.
We’ve described a little more background on what these design principles are and how we’ve implemented them.

Fits Anywhere

Small, Stealth, Safe, Beautiful.

Dimensions

To place a grow box anywhere, it should be small in the first place. A small grow box is so much easier to place than a larger one. Minigrow grow boxes are not only smaller in area, but they are also much lower than usual.

This makes them the same size as a small piece of furniture such as a side table or a bedside table. Therefore, they are often placed in the living room, bed- or study room.

Stealth

If the grow box is placed within the living environment (bedroom, living room or study for example), it is absolutely essential that the box operates completely undetectable. After all, you don’t want any annoying noise, smell or light leakage when you have the grow box directly in your environment.

The exhaust air system has an important role in this. It blocks 100% of all unpleasant odors, while the noise level is virtually inaudible. It is particularly the combination of these features that is unique. Dual discharge fans with high static pressure make both the filter virtually inaudible, while blocking 100% of nasty odors throughout the grow.

Light is completely blocked by light-blocking threshold in the door and in the air intake. As a result, no light leakage will be visible.

In addition to minimal dimensions and stealth performance, it is nice if your grow box blends into your living environment. Not only the dimensions count, but in our eyes the grow box should be a nice addition to the interior and not an annoying object. Of course without making any association with a grow box.

Although this aspect does not directly contribute to the growing results, for us the design is part of the perfect grow box. Loving your grow box is the ultimate goal.
The fact that we are quite fanatical about this is one of the reasons we develop different models.

Safety is key if you place a growbox in your home.

Minigrow grow boxes are tested to the strictest European household safety standards. Minigrow meets the CE 60335-1 standardization. Not just a CE standard, but the CE standard for household appliances.

Among other things, this guarantees safety in several areas.

– Fire safety. Minigrow housing is made of 10mmPVC material. Fireproof and waterproof.

– Electricity: No 220V in your grow box. No LED panels running on high voltages. No loose wires or power strips in the grow box. No heat development in the grow box.

Minigrow operates on a safe 24V low voltage. There are several built-in protections against overheating, short circuits and other fault situations.  The power supply is waterproof (IP67) and is equipped with all possible protection mechanisms for domestic use.

Performance

Maximum output from minimum space

You are only really going to love your grow box when it performs to its maximum potential.

Getting the most yield out of the small grow box is the challenge. By definition. Minigrow grow cabinets have specific measures to perform well.

Use growing space effectively

In the Minigrow, almost all space is usable for growing. The LED panel, filter system and air intake are dimensionally matched and designed not to take up unnecessary space. No power strips, chains, pulleys or other items are needed which also saves space.

LED lighting and minimal heat generation make the grow room almost entirely usable for growing.

LED spectrum and luminous power

LED lighting is specially designed for a small space.
With research funding, Minigrow has developed an LED panel that keeps plants smaller. The color spectrum is aimed at developing short thick stems combined with enormous flowering power. This results in much more luminosity and less heat development compared to common “white” LED panels.

The LED panel does not get hot and because of its large surface area and high-quality diffuser panel, the plant can grow short against the LEDs without burning.

Net yields are surprisingly high despite the small grow space. Not only does a Minigrow perform well, the light spectrum and enormous luminosity also produces a higher flower-to-leaf ratio.

In other words, weight of yield will consist mainly of compact flowers rather than fluffy flowers and leaves….

In a small grow cabinet, extra attention must be paid to heat development.

The LED panel itself is equipped with 34 Oslon square LEDs, the most effective LEDs on the market for horti culture. Among other things, this means that the power consumed by the LEDS emits more light and less heat. The LEDS are spread over a large area and is mounted to a heavy heat sink that minimizes and diffuses heat generation. The LED panel normally does not get much warmer than hand warm.
Although active cooling is not required, an (invisible) fan is built in to better distribute heat through the grow room.

The low heat generation allows the plant to grow up to short against the LED panel. The temperature inside the grow room is normally about 2-3 degrees higher than outside.

Simplicity

Easy for everyone

For everyone
The grow box should make it easy for everyone to grow. Easy for beginners and also experienced growers should be able to apply growing techniques with succes.

100% Plug&Play

Minigrow is delivered as a turnkey grow box. Everything is already pre-assembled and set up. A manageable size and after unpacking immediately ready for use. See the unpacking instruction here.

No cables, sockets, 220V cables, pulleys or loose timer devices. All components such as filter, LED panel, inlet and controls are specially made to work together, and controlled via the touch-screen. 

With the touch-screen you set the growth, flowering and drying period and to automate your grow. Fan and heater settings are automatic or  manually. All settings are stored in case power goes down.

Minigrow is set up to grow on soil. Hydro is also possible, however growing in soil is very easy. Anyone can do it, growing media are widely available, and the results are good and consistent. Growing in the Minigrow is relatively forgiving. Growing mistakes can happen, but the plant will usually recover well.

You can use a variety of growing techniques. Minigrow is very suitable for LST and scrog methods. A rack is included. Surprisingly good results are achieved even without advanced growing methods.

The powerful LED lighting helps keep the plant small and focus more energy on flower development. The light source is the main nutrient for the plant….

Be Independent

Your grow box should make you more independent

Offline

The Minigrow works completely off-line. All functionality is on board. No reliance on wifi, Apps or external software from the cloud. You need no updates to keep your Minigrow working, now or in the future.

While it is cheaper and increasingly normal to control devices based on Apps and functionality from the cloud, it brings dependencies and risks. For example, that your grow box will simply stop working if, for example, an update is not done or the supplier decides to quit.

A Minigrow will still work the same way it does today even after years. This also means that no one can watch along or hack your Minigrow or commit other forms of infringement.

Ultra low cost of grow

The Minigrow is not cheap. However, if you have the Minigrow, the cost of growing is ultra-low.
Energy consumption is minimal at 65W. Almost all the power is converted into effective light. The more expensive but super efficient Oslon Square LEDs consume less power than the usual white LED panels while providing much more focused light energy to the plant.

Another advantage of the small size, then, is that everything costs less energy. Air extraction, filtration, heating and other possible (future) accessories operate in a smaller volume and therefore require less energy.
No expensive consumables are needed to do successful cultures. There is no need for a subscription with monthly high costs. The filter itself can be refilled with activated carbon from the Minigrow shop or from another supplier. Nutrients for soil are widely available.

With the Minigrow you have ultra low growing costs and consistent yields. Especially with today’s energy prices, this is an important point.

Future-proof

A grow cabinet should not only be reliable and long-lasting, but also expandable to future configurations.

Minigrow is a future-proof investment. It has proven to be very reliable. Also, new innovations and/or accessories are made “backwards compatible. This means that a new product such as the updated filter system in the Minigrow One can also be built into previous versions of the Minigrow.

Minigrow is moving with the future. Although we advocate simple and robust operation, the system is prepared for more enhanced functionality.

All components are of the highest quality and guarantee a long service life.

Details Matter

Details are making the whole