Grow Controller ?'s

ASMALLVOICE

ASMALLVOICE

Well-Known Member
a mongo frog said:
what do you mean by trends?
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This is a snapshot of the conditions of my grow room. Temp, C02, Humidity and cooling stages. It allows me to look back over an entire grows conditions or I can adjust the sample rate and watch something really close, If you look at the C02 trend, you can see when I enter and leave the grow room. I enjoy having the data there if I need it, but is 100% needed, not really, but I like it anyway...lol

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice
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Merlin34

Merlin34

Well-Known Member
I'm pathetic... I just spent 5 minutes figuring out your day night times... That is cool to see and have I agree. I'd love to have info like that. I'm just too paranoid to trust it. Having it would be great. Relying on it would be dangerous.

Sent from Northern Colorado.
 
N

NinjaGrowPwnz

Member
to me It's about Affordability to get the function needed, i prefer being able to change how individual things work and upgrade or adjust things as needed separately, unless i was trying for lab-grade type of grow, i wouldn't bother with such a complex system to control every single thing automatically unless i could afford it and doing a huge grow to utilize it

Basically, if the $2 timer does the exact thing as the name brand ones for $25, i'm going to go with the $2 one, even buy a second one just in case :wink:
 
GrowerGoneWild

GrowerGoneWild

Well-Known Member
mike91sr said:
Hey everyone, been a long time since I've posted on here as other things in my life have taken priority. One of them being the project I'd like some input on from all of you. I've designed a garden controller that compiles all monitoring and controlling products into a single item and is controllable via software from smartphones, tablets, and computers.
Also, any input on software functions, hardware design, or general usability are welcome. Thanks!!
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If you're not using a PLC's like allen bradley, siemens.. etc.. I dont want to have anything to with it.. I just want reliable, everything else is fluff.
 
mike91sr

mike91sr

Well-Known Member
Some really great input guys. Obviously as you've all mentioned, reliability is paramount with anything in the garden. I've gone through plenty of timers, sensors and controllers myself, luckily I check the garden every day or 2 so nothing gets out of hand, but when my thermostat went, I found my room at 110F. No thanks!! So definitely I hear you all on that.

Part of the reason I personally believe this monitoring is so useful is for that very reason. Built in error-detection and alert systems will prevent you from NEEDING to check in on the garden every day, though as a hobby it's obviously still enjoyable to do so. Running several 10,000sq ft greenhouses or indoor commercial gardens, not so much. Nobody should have to log all that info on a daily basis when technology does everything else for us already. Most high end commercial applications are already using equipment like I'm working on, and often much more sophisticated. It's just completely inaccessible to anyone without a 6 figure budget. Things like grobot are GREAT IMO, cool features, have awesome reviews backing them, but paying $3k for what I'm suggesting plus a dosing pump is nuts! It can, and should, be done for under a grand if it's for small applications.

This is a lively discussion, and since I'm not the techy in the project I'm definitely very open to all the suggestions about specific functionality and compatibility to bring to the developers. We're going to be building from scratch, custom PCBs, sensors, etc so nothing is out of the question. Thanks again for all the input, keep it coming!
 
ASMALLVOICE

ASMALLVOICE

Well-Known Member
Merlin34 said:
I'm pathetic... I just spent 5 minutes figuring out your day night times... That is cool to see and have I agree. I'd love to have info like that. I'm just too paranoid to trust it. Having it would be great. Relying on it would be dangerous.

Sent from Northern Colorado.
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The system that I use is the same system that controls the hvac system in thousands of facilities world wide, the White House, Pentagon and the International Space Station to name a few. I have been installing and commissioning this system for almost 20 years. The graphical programming is a snap and all PID functions are easy to calibrate to the specific equipment being controlled and the trending and alarming packages are nice as well.
As far as controlling the environment in any and all aspects, it is state of the art. I would not use it for mixing and ph'ing a res and the sorts, but everything else is not a problem.
I have 3 grows with it so far and not one issue, It has built in battery backup and everything restarts automatically after a power blip. The flexibility is broad and with an open protocol ( BACnet), it can integrate with just about anything that communicates.
I just like being able to mix my res for the week and walk away for a few days,(a week if I had too), or for when you have to jump up and go for a couple of days, no problem.

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice
 
Merlin34

Merlin34

Well-Known Member
Sound like you know your controllers Voice! Is it an environmental controller for a building? A friend of mine does building environmental controls for high end hotels. I was thinking of bringing him in for a consultation for a grow. Seems like the tech you have and what he does matches. Sound about right?

Sent from Northern Colorado.
 
ASMALLVOICE

ASMALLVOICE

Well-Known Member
Merlin34 said:
Sound like you know your controllers Voice! Is it an environmental controller for a building? A friend of mine does building environmental controls for high end hotels. I was thinking of bringing him in for a consultation for a grow. Seems like the tech you have and what he does matches. Sound about right?

Sent from Northern Colorado.
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Yes, that is what it is, a "BAS" Building Automation System. Energy management is big money now a days. As far as controlling the environment and scheduling events, it is hard to beat. I have installed some of these systems in some decent size high rises and class 10 clean rooms that were 1+ million dollar control installations, some very serious hvac equipment...lol

Peace

Asmallvoice
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
While I understand the desire for redundancy and a manual backup, I also understand when technology has the means to do a job better and more reliably than ever.

Timers are mechanical devices and as such they can and often do go bad. Preferring them over a fully computerized PLC out of hand seems premature.

Once multiple spaces, complex scheduling and optimizing HVAC performance vs available capacity, total power available and other relevant factors are considered, automation seems like the only sensible approach.

You can crank down the landing gear on a 747 by hand. It's not done on a normal flight.

I've seen the first use of distributed networking across remote controlled devices; honey bee controllers or some such. Interesting concept.
 
Merlin34

Merlin34

Well-Known Member
What's a PLC? I seem to know just enough of this to be dangerous...

Sent from Northern Colorado.
 
GrowerGoneWild

GrowerGoneWild

Well-Known Member
Merlin34 said:
What's a PLC? I seem to know just enough of this to be dangerous...

Sent from Northern Colorado.
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Forgive my laziness.
  1. A PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC CONTROLLER (PLC) is an industrial computer control system that continuously monitors the state of input devices and makes decisions based upon a custom program to control the state of output devices.
Ive worked with, and programmed a few of them for my own gardening projects.. I can vouch for the robustness of the system. I work with them in my line of work I'll say the PLC's are way more dependable then a PC based system.

Really the PC's are used more like a monitor in a critical applications, the PLC's do the work.
 
T

Total.Hydroponic.Control

Active Member
If you understand stuxnet, you should understand that it was designed to target a very very specific architecture. And once if found its way to that architecture it was meant to do something very specific... Someone had an intricate knowledge of that centrifugal facility. Stuxnet probably landed on several other industrial networks and never caused a problem, because even if the hardware architecture was present the system didn't match the parameters that stuxnet was designed to attack.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Rollitup mobile app
 
WeekendSupervisor

WeekendSupervisor

Well-Known Member
I know. I thought it was a funny thing to say. I now realize the gravity of that error. I'll fuck off now and go to toke and talk. my bad yall. I have interest in controllers, just nothing to add.
 
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