DIY On-Off Controller

[tronN00dles]

Hi everyone,

Any other electrical folks in here?

I'm planning on building a control panel for my grow tent. I picture a small enclosure with some din-rail and mounted equipment such as outlets, relays, CTs/PTs, RH probes and a controller such as a Raspberry Pi, to which I'd load with something like CoDeSys. Plugged into the outlets would be my lights, fans, heaters, (de-)humidifiers etc., and they'd be setpoint-controlled in the case of RH devices, and timer-controlled in the case of the lights. The idea is to make it fully automated, with also having input-control and monitoring from a web-app on a laptop or phone.

However, does anyone have any experience with smart outlets? I haven't used any, but I'm wondering if there's a smart outlet on the market that can be programmed for somewhat constant switching, i.e., to control the duty-cycle of a space heater?

So to reiterate that, is anyone familiar with a smart outlet that comes with an app that I could use to repeatedly turn a heater and humidifier on and off (independently) to keep RH at at certain setpoint? Is this something IFTTT can handle? I essentially want to implement full HVAC controls here. I guess the app would still need access to live data from the RH probe, so I'm not sure if this is a viable alternative or not. If it is, I could get away without a Rasperry Pi-type controller altogether, at least for now until I eventually get around to building the actual thing. Overkill I'm sure, but still a fun project

-tronN00dles

 

[karlkutta]

I use etekcity outlets for all kinds of things, watering, lighting, fans, whatever. You can schedule them individually via their app. It's an alright app. Been holding up well. Make sure you throw a GFCI somewhere for protection.... Just in case.


Also, i have this thing that monitors temps and Rh.

Outlet: https://amzn.to/2Tc031u
I actually use their older design that's round, but i think these on the link would fit better on a power strip and not take so much space.

Rh and temp monitor - will need power cable https://amzn.to/2U6flFp

 

[_state_of_mind_]

You could use a smart power strip with each socket being controlled separately. Most of them have Alexa/Google/Siri integration, and also with home assistant, so fairly comprehensive automation at your fingertips.