berten-ernie420
Well-Known Member
Hello good people of rollitup! It is I, the one and only Berten-Ernie!!! Been a while since my last post, figured I'd give a little update as to my operation as of late.
About a year and half ago I moved to a new house. With that, came alot of change to my grow op. Some good, some bad. But I'm here today to talk about, you guessed it, AUTOMATED GROW ROOMS!
About 6 or 7 months ago I started researching automatic rooms. After a few hrs researching nutrient dosers and ph monitors, I came across this wonderful little DIY project from a fellow ROLLITUP-er by the name Devin Olsen. This guy built and programmed his own nutrient doser for a little less than what a commercially available unit would cost. And based on his videos, it worked.
However; when I attempted to replicate his success, I was hitting wall after wall. So i started from scratch, using the "DRO-matic" (as it was dubbed) as a reference. And just started key stroking away. After 3 months, I've finally got a unit to do what I want it to with no experience in coding or arduino sketches. My auto doser will:
Monitor and display the stage of life (week count) for 3 seperate rooms on an lcd screen,
On my set days and at my set time,
Fills my nutrient mixing tank with fresh water from my h20 holding tank based on user set amount of gallons,
Doses nutrients to my mixing tank via peristaltic pumps, at precisely the right amount based on what week the room is on and how many gallons were pumped in, (think 2 tspn/gal @ 20 gals, or 4 tspn/gal @ 16 gal)
Checks the pH and adjusts the pH via peristaltic pumps, to the acceptable range after nutrients were added,
Pumps the feed solution to the appropriate room via submersible utility pump and 12v solenoids separating each "zone" (room).
Advances the week count after the full feed has been pumped out to the room,
Then checks the other rooms if it's there day n time to be dosed and fed.
It's basically a commercial unit without all the bells and whistles.
I have 3 seperate rooms so to make 3 seperate batches of feed nutes either on the same day or even a day apart, was one of my biggest chores, not even including applying it to my soil potted plants. That's all taken care of now thanks to this project.
I will add pictures later this week of each screen, as well as pictures of the doser during each cycle.
I'm currently using an 8 part lineup, with 1 peristaltic pump reserved for pH up, and 1 for pH down. For a total of 10 channels (12v DC peristaltic pumps), 4 12v DC solenoids to seperate each room, and 2 110v AC outlets that I'm using for the submersible utility pumps, 1 for pumping water into the mixing tank, and 1 for pumping nutrient solution out to the designated room.
I've been working on this project for almost 5 months, basically since the whole Corona pandemic came about.
Other than automating nutrient feeding and irrigating, I also have a c02 system that has been part of my operation for about 2 years now. Nothing fancy, just a c02 monitor and controller, a 20lb tank, and a regulator. But it works. Kicks on when lights turn on, pumps up the c02 ppm to within my preset deadzone, and turns the solenoid off when it is reached. I purchased that product tho. Didn't build it, but it's still automated.
Next on the list is to get a trimmer so I can have a 95% automated grow room. Obv I dont want it to be 100%, cuz what's the fun in that? Plus plants tend to respond positively to some human TLC. I'll still go in and trim fan leaves off, but that's really my only chore as far as the garden operations go. If anybody's is interested, I can definitely build another one cheaper than what's available on the market rn.
About a year and half ago I moved to a new house. With that, came alot of change to my grow op. Some good, some bad. But I'm here today to talk about, you guessed it, AUTOMATED GROW ROOMS!
About 6 or 7 months ago I started researching automatic rooms. After a few hrs researching nutrient dosers and ph monitors, I came across this wonderful little DIY project from a fellow ROLLITUP-er by the name Devin Olsen. This guy built and programmed his own nutrient doser for a little less than what a commercially available unit would cost. And based on his videos, it worked.
However; when I attempted to replicate his success, I was hitting wall after wall. So i started from scratch, using the "DRO-matic" (as it was dubbed) as a reference. And just started key stroking away. After 3 months, I've finally got a unit to do what I want it to with no experience in coding or arduino sketches. My auto doser will:
Monitor and display the stage of life (week count) for 3 seperate rooms on an lcd screen,
On my set days and at my set time,
Fills my nutrient mixing tank with fresh water from my h20 holding tank based on user set amount of gallons,
Doses nutrients to my mixing tank via peristaltic pumps, at precisely the right amount based on what week the room is on and how many gallons were pumped in, (think 2 tspn/gal @ 20 gals, or 4 tspn/gal @ 16 gal)
Checks the pH and adjusts the pH via peristaltic pumps, to the acceptable range after nutrients were added,
Pumps the feed solution to the appropriate room via submersible utility pump and 12v solenoids separating each "zone" (room).
Advances the week count after the full feed has been pumped out to the room,
Then checks the other rooms if it's there day n time to be dosed and fed.
It's basically a commercial unit without all the bells and whistles.
I have 3 seperate rooms so to make 3 seperate batches of feed nutes either on the same day or even a day apart, was one of my biggest chores, not even including applying it to my soil potted plants. That's all taken care of now thanks to this project.
I will add pictures later this week of each screen, as well as pictures of the doser during each cycle.
I'm currently using an 8 part lineup, with 1 peristaltic pump reserved for pH up, and 1 for pH down. For a total of 10 channels (12v DC peristaltic pumps), 4 12v DC solenoids to seperate each room, and 2 110v AC outlets that I'm using for the submersible utility pumps, 1 for pumping water into the mixing tank, and 1 for pumping nutrient solution out to the designated room.
I've been working on this project for almost 5 months, basically since the whole Corona pandemic came about.
Other than automating nutrient feeding and irrigating, I also have a c02 system that has been part of my operation for about 2 years now. Nothing fancy, just a c02 monitor and controller, a 20lb tank, and a regulator. But it works. Kicks on when lights turn on, pumps up the c02 ppm to within my preset deadzone, and turns the solenoid off when it is reached. I purchased that product tho. Didn't build it, but it's still automated.
Next on the list is to get a trimmer so I can have a 95% automated grow room. Obv I dont want it to be 100%, cuz what's the fun in that? Plus plants tend to respond positively to some human TLC. I'll still go in and trim fan leaves off, but that's really my only chore as far as the garden operations go. If anybody's is interested, I can definitely build another one cheaper than what's available on the market rn.
