The first half of my career was spent in the industrial automation field, I understand plenty. What I meant was that as good as they are, you could do way better. It’s probably not worth the money if we’re talking about a small grow tent. But if you were trying to automate a commercial sized grow, it would make a huge difference.
check VPD charts for several good ranges
(warning, some say VPD is a myth)
I like the chart from Just 4 Growers
Oh really, thats cool. Do you mean it’s not worth the money to the grower for a small tent? When you say comercial grows, what do you mean? I’m in the UK and I think the only comercial grows are the type that get people locked up! BTW; It’s hard to convey emotion in text so people tend to take me the wrong way, but I’m genuinely interested in what you have to say about all this. We’ve evolved for hundreds of thousands of years to covey emotion through bodylanguage in context with words, but all of a sudden we have to decipher meaning behind stripped-down black and white words. It’s difficult sometimes, even more so when your’e a social defect! lol. That’s why I like coding I think. There’s no hidden meaning; It’s logical.
BTW, I think the Arduino type stuff are plcs mind? The description seems to fit; Programmable logic controller. You program them with simple C++ style language. My device only holds 32KB I think, so I only programmed simple instructions onto the device; recieve messages for pins, return task completed, read temperature and humidity every second and write info to COM. The application code handles everything else.
Vancouver Police Department?
Vapor Pressure Deficit
I had some weird symptoms, and when I looked into VPD I adjusted my grow into the parameters and boom, explosion and no more symptoms. I am pretty much a true believer at this point as I had never heard of it until I encountered the syptoms, then saw tremendous gains immediately following the correction
Old school farmer gone high tech. I have recently just finished my room and used the same concept being an old school guy it didn’t take long to realize how critical the conditions are. once you get them right the results are awesome. This is what I have …
Lights are - 18hrs on 6 off
humidity - set @ 50% - my range is @ 47% to 71% @ this setting
Temp - set @ 86* - my range is @ 79* to 89*
hope this helps as to I am new to this indoor growing trying to get through my first grow.
Yes that’s exactly what I meant. For a small tent there are fairly simple temp/humidity/light controllers available even on amazon for very little money. They don’t have the cool factor, or flexibility that your setup would. But they are plenty capable of changing a fan speed from the signal of a temp or humidity sensor. As far as the lights go, I think the digital timers are capable of storing multiple programs as well.
The plc’s you wouldn’t be limited by really anything. There are different configurations based on manufacturer, most have a chassis or controller and then you simply add what you need to do to it. Need 16 inputs, buy that card. Need 32 outputs get those cards. Analog inputs or outputs, same thing.
Some are obviously better in different situations, but they all typically run their own software packages. I believe the most popular you program in ladder logic. Then you give each bit an address, and drag/drop that address wherever you want it. The major advantage here is the plc’s ability to provide you with all of your functions from within. Timer, counter, mov, relay, normally open, normally closed, latching bits, and pretty much whatever else you can think of. All at the click of the mouse.
The system you’re using is capable of doing most of this stuff, I agree. Especially when you look at the simpler items. But take nutrient dosing, maintaining water level and temp, and other items where more precise measurements are needed. I don’t believe the limiting factors play into these applications as well.
Take @lovingizneverez set up. If someone’s process isn’t able to withstand those kind of swings, the automation is basically useless.
And don’t worry about the feelings haha. I usually leave those on my dresser in the morning.
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@virus213 when your project is complete (or in a beta like state)… Would you be willing to put up a blog or video and us with tech skills could build and test these along with you in the ILGM community?
now i just need a paper clip, rubber band, ball point pen and YouTube.