MY True HP Aero Plug&Play Pods

Northernlights#5xHaze said:

Well I guess we will have to see how it goes because so for its running very well. I guess the proof will be in the pudding. And the funny thing is that my buddy has a atomix system and it is not a cone spray it is a flat fan but hey what do I know they could have just sent him the wrong one . Before you go making assumptions you should ask if i cycle on and off. Oh and by the way my timer goes into the thousands of a second. The system I have noone has.

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fatman7574 said:

Dude I said nothing about cone shapes. Yes atomix did sell a slit nozzle. It is also clearly shown in their patent application. Your point is what? Nozzles are available with slot tips. Personally I have not found them to perform as well as a round cone nozzle. but it is typically the slot tips offered with the cheesy tip cleaner. I am sure the ready availability of a cleaning slot tip had a slot to do with atomix choosing the slot tip. In reality atomix's nozzles were not all that good. The needle cleaning device did not perform well. Actually the use of a nozzle set up in the siphon mode as used by atomixand by the manafcturer naking the cheesy sad knockoff is quite sorry anyway. A gravity feed set up works much better.

I really do not care if you cycle on or off and id not imply that you did or did not. I merely related what research has shown. What you do or do not gain from that is up to you. How you personally run your grow is really none of my concern. If you care to share your experiences that would nice. If not, that is your choice.

My timers also go to 0.001 seconds. I use Omron industrial timer. The short cyclic interval posible are definitely not needed for an aero system and really not a bragging point, but they are sold that way. I buy them because of their dependability and versatilty (other features) rather than their ability for a 0.001 minimum or 999.9 hour maximum cycle option. I have never had the need to use a cyclic time shorter than 1 second. Some people do drop spray times down to 0.5 seconds at night. I believe if you check you will find that while you can cycle down to an on cycle of 0.001 seconds, when doing so your off cycle likely maxs at 9.999 seconds. A 0.01 on allows up to a max 99.9 second off cycle., and a 0.1 on allows for a max 999.9 second off cycle. This would continue up to a 0.1 hr on and a max 999.9 hours off.

I can also say the systems I have no one else has, but that matters little. I am sure there are many unique systems in use by many people. It is not like retailers are selling any good systems so people who wish really good systems build their own. Some might even work well. I am quite sure there are systems that work better and worse than both your system and my systems. I am always interested in improving my systems. Be sure to share when you have something to contribute.

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Northernlights#5xHaze said:

ya iI looked at omrom timers just not as much control as a plc also they are only good for about a million cycles or soanyways im done on this forum there is just way to many experts for me hahaha.

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Essex said:

lol, who cares its a timer.... mine is cobbled together from a velleman timer kit, 15min segmet clock and a variable voltage DC transformer powering a 12v windscreen wiper motor with a micro-switch single revolition cutout attached to a 2000psi stainless steel ball valve. (couldent find a 1500psi+ solenoid valve anyware!)
Cost about £15 and gives me independent night/day and infinitely ajustable on/off minimum about .5sec on time.

At the moment im building a +/-1oC automatic temperature controler to power a 60w peltier plate for my 76lbs NOS canister that im using as a nutrent header tank.

Only problem is I have NO IDEA about how much nute-water a plant uses!!!!

Also dont have a clue about chelated iron and how this afects me??? I was planing on using H2O2 anyway as cant clean inside a gas tank!

Ah back to breathin NOS, love empting this tank into my lungs!!!

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fatman7574 said:

The amount of spray initially is determined by the volume of your growing chamber. The cycle time is adjusted to suit the requirements of the plants based upon lighting, temperature, humidity, CO2 concentration. You try to idealize those parameters then adjust your nutrient needs and cycle times to those parameters and the plant stages of growth and the size of the strain being grown. Just come back with a chamber volume size and determining an experimental starting spray volume is not that difficult. It will have to be adjusted to compensate for pressure, droplet size average and root vaolumein the chamber. Typically you start out with a cycle that is less than over saturation, move up to over saturation, then back down to just below over saturation. The cycle times can very a great deal depending on the spray volumes and droplet sizes. You fine tune from their to get the roots you wish.

The root systems shown in the cheesy Atomix knock off as good roots are sad in comparison as to what is possible. The ones shown are really no better than what can be produced by a continuous or cyclic low pressure high water volume aero system in chambers rather than small tubes. Definitely not a growing system I would ever sell or put my name on as a designer.

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OregonMeds said:

Essex I would sure like to see the homemade automated ball valve you made, or if nothing else a good description.

And for the record water doesn't compress so that tank will hold whatever volume it holds.

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fatman7574 said:

Application is at a rate such that the nutrient solution occupies up to 0.001 percent of the chamber volume at all times. So a cubic meter is 1000 liters so (1000 L *1000 ml/L) * (0.001/100) = 10 ml. That means at all times (with a chamber of one cubic meter) you need up to 10 ml of nutrient inside the chamber in an atomized state. This would mean with such a cahmber empty spray in 10 ml and see how long that remains in an atomized state. If say it appears 25% is gone in 1 minute that would mean every minute you need to spray 2.5 ml to maintain the 10 ml you desire in the chamber. This is without accounting for plant up take after the plants roots are in the chamber. The plants wil need an increased amount of nutrient solution, but not so much that you can actually see water droplets accumalating on the roots and dripping off (over saturation). Water droplets should also not form on the net pots. The atomixed nutrients should just be enough for the roots to feel damp.

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OregonMeds said:

Didn't you say it had a .5 second minimum on time? How did you get even close to that fast out of a wiper motor are you sure about that?

Fatman thanks for sharing that info on pre-charging a tank with air, never would have imagined that.

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fatman7574 said:

Application is at a rate such that the nutrient solution occupies up to 0.001 percent of the chamber volume at all times. So a cubic meter is 1000 liters so (1000 L *1000 ml/L) * (0.001/100) = 10 ml. That means at all times (with a chamber of one cubic meter) you need up to 10 ml of nutrient inside the chamber in an atomized state. This would mean with such a cahmber empty spray in 10 ml and see how long that remains in an atomized state. If say it appears 25% is gone in 1 minute that would mean every minute you need to spray 2.5 ml to maintain the 10 ml you desire in the chamber. This is without accounting for plant up take after the plants roots are in the chamber. The plants wil need an increased amount of nutrient solution, but not so much that you can actually see water droplets accumalating on the roots and dripping off (over saturation). Water droplets should also not form on the net pots. The atomixed nutrients should just be enough for the roots to feel damp.

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fatman7574 said:

Application is at a rate such that the nutrient solution occupies up to 0.001 percent of the chamber volume at all times. So a cubic meter is 1000 liters so (1000 L *1000 ml/L) * (0.001/100) = 10 ml. That means at all times (with a chamber of one cubic meter) you need up to 10 ml of nutrient inside the chamber in an atomized state. This would mean with such a cahmber empty spray in 10 ml and see how long that remains in an atomized state. If say it appears 25% is gone in 1 minute that would mean every minute you need to spray 2.5 ml to maintain the 10 ml you desire in the chamber. This is without accounting for plant up take after the plants roots are in the chamber. The plants wil need an increased amount of nutrient solution, but not so much that you can actually see water droplets accumalating on the roots and dripping off (over saturation). Water droplets should also not form on the net pots. The atomixed nutrients should just be enough for the roots to feel damp.

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Atomizer said:

i wonder how you came by that info..

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Essex said:

Because it is sat on a bench power supply 2-24v DC and has a progresive on/off cycle, I said "about" a .5sec minimum on time allowing for a increase in flow/full flow/decrease in flow I guesstimate a .5 sec "full on flow" if i pushed the voltage up.(I havent even run water through it yet so could all go wrong! )

If I needed an even faster cycle then this could be achieved by removing some turns from the coils in the motor, the only problem is it could burn out if pushed to extreme but with short cycle time and low load compared to a wiper blade I would say I could tweek away safely.

I am going to do a full diary with photo's, plans and construction details and circuit diagrams of all my custom controlers/setup as im hoping some people will enjoy my cheap make it ya-self attitude?

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zero1776 said:

So if my math is right would I need around 100gal of water for a seven day cycle in a chamber 4'x8'x3'? rough estimate just want someone to check and see if Im in the ballpark trying to work out the details now.

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fatman7574 said:

Look at it this way. You need to spray a 10 ml cycle. If you have a one gallon per hour nozzle: (1 gal/hr * 3785 ml/gal)( 1 hr / 3600 sec)= 1.05 ml/sec (10 / 1.05) = 9.52 sec. However that much water is not needed every minute as your plants will not use that much water per minute and the vaporized water will not likely all leave the chamber in just one minute. So even at that rate your talking a max of (9.25 ml/min * 60 min/hr * 24 hr/day) = 13320 ml/day or about 13 liters/day. Likely 1/4 that is closer (3.25 liters per day <24 hours>). IE 0.86 gallons every 24 hours as a starting point. It is typical to use more then 1 nozzle so the spray times will be even less but the total volume sprayed will be the same.

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