All-in-one-Control

[Addy]

Me and a co-worker have being playing with the concept of an all in one controller via a PLC box. (programable logic controler)

So far we have covered light cycles and times, temp reading and control via exhausts, Co2 injections and soil watering.

Being a soil farmer i cant give real values concerning hydro set-ups to the guy doing the programming, so some help would be apreciated in filling in the gaps concerning feed,ppm etc.

I would appreciate any info and anything else you would find handy in a control like this (ie can we measure ph etc and adjust via PLC?)

I hope to market this at a very low cost (and sell on the copyrights etc to corp to cover my time/expendature) but will continue to produce and supply to help out the growing comunity in our fight for legislation.

I'm also looking at mass producing stealth growboxes in an 'everything included but seeds' kit for under £100.

Is there a market for this?

I'm not out to make £££ (hopefully i get that from selling on copyrights/plans), i want to get people growing easily and cheaply.

All feedback welcomed

Addy

[Addy]

Ta for the input

not my loss

[DaLata]

Ta for the prompt, missed this one, and being a computery engineering nerd it peaked an interest.

Initially I thought, yeah, sounds good. Let the box do the work. But then I got to thinking.

I think what youve got covered is enough. That is lights/temp/CO2.

Light control would be great, as you could fade in the hours from 18/6 to 12/12 over say a couple of weeks. Or jump straight into 12/12. I don't know if there are any advantages to this, but maybe the plants would like it

Temps can be a pain to control as there are so many variables that can influence that, like room size, fan CFM, light output. As I understand it, controlling the temp in such a closed environment is difficult because of dramatic changes caused by just flipping the fan on for a couple of seconds. I looked into a thermostat system and found that it seemed difficult to setup. Those who had done successfully are what I erm...call...obsessives . Like owning a done-up ford Escort, which I also dont understand. Yeah, looks great, sounds great, costs a fortune in time and money, but ........

Now a fan that came on every X minutes every Y hours, could be handy. Oscillating fans can be used to build up stem strength, but they dont need to be on 24/7. Same with CO2: increased/decreased dose in the day/night cycle.

Watering is a fiddly one, as different sized plants will need different doses, and I think the new grower would definately benefit more from learning when to water, and how much to water a plant. Otherwise you system would have to include a soil dampness probe sort of thing and individual feed lines, unless growing from clones where the assumption can be made that plants are uniform.

Apart from soil the other direction to go is in control of a flow table, but these things take care of themselves and nute-monitoring is important.

So other than lights/temp/water/CO2 control, I think automated control can't really play a part. I dont think there are any on this forum who haven't felt the thrill of takeing care of their plants, or the need to check on them every 24 hours. Watching and understanding the plants, the NPK doses needed at different stages of growth, the Humidity levels, distance to the lights, tracking infestations, are sometimes worth as much as the bud we end up with. If you take that away...well...I dunno......but I'm just rambling.

As a new grower I would have bought one of these things, if only to save on the number of wires, timers and contactors kicking about.

As for the 'everything' but the seeds. That would be a good idea. But it would have to be everything - veg/clone/flower box, lights, pots, soil, instructions. As a new grower your head is filled with questions?

If I get this light, how many plants can I grow? How big can they grow. How long do I grow them for.

If I have this size room, what light do I need? is this extractor okay? how much bud can I get.

In IMHO, the most important question, the one that governs everthing else, never gets asked - How much bud do you want to grow? As a result more people probably get put off the idea of growing because it comes across as just too darn fiddly and mathematical. which in one way it is, and you could solve by providing 'everything but the seeds'.

Just my early morning babblings......

[jontz]

I'm also looking at mass producing stealth growboxes in an 'everything included but seeds' kit for under £100.

Is there a market for this?

:o erm... yes...

im sure there's others like me on a very low budget, than need stealth...

[MrBenn]

I'm sure there's a market....but, have you done your sums on this? Can you really provide 'everything' and cover your cost selling these things for 100 quid? IMHO, i doubt it....but hey, I love you to prove me wrong

[OldDave]

Hi addy

Like mr B says you will be pushed to do your kit for £100.

Have a look at

http://www.greenair.com/helix1.htm

This is £890, and comes with S/W for data logging and control. I don't want to discourage you, making your own system sounds like good fun, but I doubt if you can compete with organisations like this

Peace

David

[Lock]

allrighty jontz

i recon there is definatly a market for stealth cabnets, coz i thought about it myself 2day. but i always think about doin stuff then find i cant be arsed,anyway surely u must b losing out on money if u do 1 for £100. does that in clude the light? dont 4get to add labour costs. i realised at uni how long it takes to do shit. acctually when i think about it im doin a stealth cabnet i wouldnt buy 1 simply coz its more fun to make your own, but sayin that some people dont have time to make there own, shit dont even listen to me. i dont really

sorry suppose that isnt any help i'll shut up now

i can never decide on stuff