DIY CHEAP DIY microcontroller (arduino) grow room environment controller

[captain budseye]

Me thinks controlling temperature accurately will be a right bitch. Probably need multiple probes in each space. Ideally I'd want to control the temp of the intake air instead of heating the room directly and then use the exhaust fan and intake temp to cool down the cab itself. This way you could rig up a way more efficient system by having the intake ducting drawing air from a smaller insulated heat controlled chamber. Using an oil heater to be safe! Calibrate the heat chamber to account for the temperature rise of the lights, then run a smaller heater in a smaller space or a larger heater for less time, rather than trying to pump hot air into a big space only for it to be sucked out again. Also might find less hot spots, especially if the rooms are larger, because the air from the heaters in the cab would have to be hotter than the desired temp, in order to raise the total ambient temp to what you want whilst the exhaust sucks it out. Probably wouldn't be a problem in a smaller space though. What you thinking www?

Also a few weeks ago I found a hanna ph/ec meter with rs232 output, which wasn't too extortionate, but I can't seem to find it anywhere now. There are however quite a few second hand meters with serial output on ebay for reasonable prices if you wanted to log your resevoir data, or send warnings to your phone if anything goes awry.

 

[wwwillie]

I'm thinkin it's going to be a hairball for sure! Coordinating 4-5 fans and a/c unit and a heater is going to be interesting to say the least. As I have several "units" (a unit be a tent or cab with something growing in it) with lights and exhaust fans in my room I was thinking that each unit would have a controller for fan speed. Then I would try to control room or overall temp with main exhaust fan speed, a/c, and or heat as required.
Daytime, HPS are on producing heat, the individual unit system turns up the exhaust in response, the room starts to heat, the main exhaust comes on and that may handle it. Too hot fan slows and a/c comes on, to cold fan may not start or heater comes on or... I don't know.
Like you said it will be interesting. I think if we can maybe smooth it out a bit and have it help keep things in the temp range we are shooting for. Right now monitoring it all will be a good indication of what's going on and this data will help in the design of the controls and how they operate.

 

[captain budseye]

Hahahaha.... Think I just had a premature senior moment, stuck in my own world!

:Sharing One:

I didn't even consider that you'd be using HPS lights! I'm currently stuck thinking about how to keep my tent temps up in winter without running up the electricity bill! I'm using LEDs and it gets COLD where I am, got no roof insulation.

 

[wwwillie]

Just quickly, my 1st tent was in a cold basement. I loaded it up with old blankets and sleeping bags. Really helped to retain the heat. Put an oil heater in there and tried to keep an eye on the ventilation and it did pretty well. I did end up eith the wild colors of cold growing but the plants did quite well.

 

[jackmc]

Hahahaha.... Think I just had a premature senior moment, stuck in my own world!

:Sharing One:

I didn't even consider that you'd be using HPS lights! I'm currently stuck thinking about how to keep my tent temps up in winter without running up the electricity bill! I'm using LEDs and it gets COLD where I am, got no roof insulation.

You might try attaching 2" Foam Insulation to the inside of the structure you're in or build a box with the same around the tent. Unless you're in Alaska then increase the foam to 3". If you do this make sure to get the construction adhesive for "Foam Board". Regular adhesives eat the Styrene foam and your box will come apart. I would use finish nails of the appropriate length to pin the foam board together while the adhesive cures. Be as precise as you would doing finish carpentry. Air sealing is almost as important as insulating. If you condition the air in your tent during the Summer the insulation will make your tent more efficient. If you don't condition the air build the box to be removable. Good luck!

 

[captain budseye]

Nice one guys. I've got many constraints unfortunately, so will probably have to fudge insulation out of blankets, bubble wrap etc. Got a couple of tube heaters and a thermostatic plug on the way though. I know it's a bit off topic but nobody happens to know whether they can actually raise the temp of a roughly 2 cubic meter space by a few degrees?... Using a tt vents 4inch 140 m^3/h fan... Probably not drawing that much though due to fairly long acoustic ducting and carbon filter.

 

[jackmc]

Raising the temp of 2 cubic meters of air a couple of degrees depends on how cold it is outside that space and how much insulation you surround the space with. You might consider MH and Sodium Vapor lights if you need heat and light. I've not had great experiences using a 24hr/day photo period but autoflower plants are supposed to be able to take it. Or some type of inline heater and a closed loop ventilation system. It's a lot cheaper to buy insulation than it is energy to heat with.

 

[KsjAuto]

:smoke:
I finally have the time and energy to start up my automatic soil watering project again..
So arduino /lcd display and switches for the menu/ settings,,, will be finished today :smoke: (breadboard)

The menu/ settings is "universal" an can be used in any arduino projects.. With some mods..

Still waiting for parts so i can connect the solenoid valve to the mosfett`s driving it..
Anyways just a heads up
:Sharing One:

 

[jackmc]

Ksj, Awesome news! Can I follow along? Post your parts list and I'll order parts too. I'd love to learn about Arduino. I have a res built with these parts. Let's build the Robot Grow Room!



The res is assembled and I am currently testing it to see how well it holds 65F/18.33C. The cooling device has a proportional temp. controller that's supposed to regulate the number of watts the thermoelectric cooler uses. The farther away from the target temp the more electricity it consumes and cooler it makes the water. I've had it running for about 12 hours in a space with 77F/25c ambient temp. I haven't stablized the temp. yet but I just getting going! Cheers!

 

[KsjAuto]

Ksj, Awesome news! Can I follow along? Post your parts list and I'll order parts too. I'd love to learn about Arduino. I have a res built with these parts. Let's build the Robot Grow Room!

View attachment 397381View attachment 397383View attachment 397384View attachment 397382

The res is assembled and I am currently testing it to see how well it holds 65F/18.33C. The cooling device has a proportional temp. controller that's supposed to regulate the number of watts the thermoelectric cooler uses. The farther away from the target temp the more electricity it consumes and cooler it makes the water. I've had it running for about 12 hours in a space with 77F/25c ambient temp. I haven't stablized the temp. yet but I just getting going! Cheers!

WOW
That looks like a nice bit of kit.
Keep us posted about the progress
congrats :thumbs:

Lets get back to the arduino
The automatic watering for soil
Im building it in baby steps and sure i have forgot something.
I dont´t have any schematic :tiphat:..because things get stuck if i get it down on paper
So developing is going on.. all the time. mostly while sleeping
Anyways
This build is a little techy..
And if you do not have any experience with eletronics this will take alot of reading
to understand
And my lack of techy language skills / programming skiils.
Well i can´t explain how this work
Have a lookse at these links
This is the basic for driving a solenoid valve
http://bildr.org/2012/03/rfp30n06le-arduino/
But there is EMF (electo magnetic field from the solenoid) problem so that won´t work. lookse at the next links..
http://www.instructables.com/id/Controling-a-solenoid-valve-with-an-Arduino/?ALLSTEPS
http://electronics.stackexchange.co...ller-driven-n-channel-mosfet-voltage-behavior
http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/17116/how-to-drive-a-mosfet-with-an-optocoupler

If this make no sense at all... well then.... alot of reading to do
Like i said baby steps baby steps..
i have not build the mosfet circuit yet.. waiting for parts.. but should be easy to figure out..
One thing at a time...
its the EMF theres a problem.. arduino will fuck up... trust me on that one.. fried a io port and burned a relay...It went up in fire not a joke...
But if you are up for it ore anybody else.. well then.. I will provide parts list..
And i will try my best to explain..

But the basic of how the setup works.
Resovoir connected to solenoid valve.....res sits above plants. Gravity feed.
Moister sensor in grow bucket.
when moister get low. solenoid will open and feed the plants.

Settings for each plant.. via a menu.
moister level and watering time(amount)
Thats the basic of the system.. pretty simple really....

Its the wet / dry cycle theres the reason i think this will work out great
+ a constant aereated res.... ... Just think of coco...:smoke:
Anyways i`ll get back to work
:Sharing One:

EDIT: edit: