Shef_ofthe_field
New Member
So I am kind of a geek who loves to make stuff and also lives where the environment quickly swings outside of cannabis' preferred conditions. I also am gone sometimes and well I admit, I also become lazy from time to time. I needed a solution to give me a helping hand when mine were unavailable.
I first went to the catalogs to look up enviro controllers. WOW! These are not priced for the average joe needing a little help. These units looked like they were for commercial cultivators. With nothing available at my price point I decided to grab all my electronic equipment out of storage.
I created a wireless network implementing the ATMEGA328p MCU consisting of up to 5 "scouts" battery powered that collect the environmental data and sends it to the "commander" which then controls relays to turn on/off different appliances. The "commander" then sends information to "intel" wirelessly who hosts a web page so I can see the status of the grow room anywhere in the world when I am gone from home.
This unit controls....
Light Exhaust Fan
Dehumidifier
Humidifier
Room Exhaust or Cooling
Room Heat
Hydro Pump (I have capacative moisture sensors for the medium)
Reservoir Heater
Reservoir Chiller
(I personally dont use either the heater or chiller but I am all about scalability when I make something so its added in at little cost.)
I am getting close to completion but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the expensive units? How do they act for turning on/off devices? Like if I set the desired humidity to 40% how should I execute the relays? I dont want the relay clicking on/off constantly trying to maintain a perfect 40. Do the expensive units let it dip to 38 before turning on or maybe just a delay after every switch?
Also if I was to plug both a room heater and room cooler at the same time (which would be unorthodox but again I like to prepare) how should I treat heating and cooling at the same time to make energy consumption not ridiculous.
How would you guys desire it to act if you were using it?
I first went to the catalogs to look up enviro controllers. WOW! These are not priced for the average joe needing a little help. These units looked like they were for commercial cultivators. With nothing available at my price point I decided to grab all my electronic equipment out of storage.
I created a wireless network implementing the ATMEGA328p MCU consisting of up to 5 "scouts" battery powered that collect the environmental data and sends it to the "commander" which then controls relays to turn on/off different appliances. The "commander" then sends information to "intel" wirelessly who hosts a web page so I can see the status of the grow room anywhere in the world when I am gone from home.
This unit controls....
Light Exhaust Fan
Dehumidifier
Humidifier
Room Exhaust or Cooling
Room Heat
Hydro Pump (I have capacative moisture sensors for the medium)
Reservoir Heater
Reservoir Chiller
(I personally dont use either the heater or chiller but I am all about scalability when I make something so its added in at little cost.)
I am getting close to completion but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the expensive units? How do they act for turning on/off devices? Like if I set the desired humidity to 40% how should I execute the relays? I dont want the relay clicking on/off constantly trying to maintain a perfect 40. Do the expensive units let it dip to 38 before turning on or maybe just a delay after every switch?
Also if I was to plug both a room heater and room cooler at the same time (which would be unorthodox but again I like to prepare) how should I treat heating and cooling at the same time to make energy consumption not ridiculous.
How would you guys desire it to act if you were using it?