Automating a Grow Room / Rooms

Overgrowtho said:

What is the system referenced for around 2,400$?

If not going the DIY route, what systems exist on the market for automating?

I only know one I have found: the Intellidose from Autogrow.

IntelliDose Kit

Automatically manage your nutrient and pH levels, set remote alarms and data log your progress with one simple controller. The IntelliDose sets the industry standard for a small commercial auto-dosing. Dose up to a 9 part blend (nutrients, additives, pH adjuster) while maintaining your preset EC...

shop.autogrow.com

Are there any more on the market?

How about any for large scale industrial use?

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berten-ernie420 said:

Yea, there's a few...
Intellidose
Agrowtek makes a few different models
Hanna makes a couple fertigation machines
Dosatron
But if you have a large scale/industrial outfit, why wouldn't you go with a intellidose?

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Overgrowtho said:

Thanks for sharing that, very interesting.
I am looking at the options for both large and small scale.
What would you say are some of the pros and cons of those different solutions? Example, in terms of cost and whether they all can work via the cloud?

It looks like, from all those you've mentioned; only the Intellidose works on the cloud. Is that right?
Is intelldose really suitable for large scale industrial (to me it looked like the equipment was medium to small)?
I wonder how they agitate the mixture [aha I see they have a sample pot with pump] and deal with the probe calibration...

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HydroLynx said:

I'm tryng to work out if having ONE giant controller that does everything is better or have seperate modules that do say "air management" and have another module that does say the hydroponics.

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2com said:

Atlas Scientific did an instructable on how to make their iot monitoring station: https://www.instructables.com/BUILD-YOUR-OWN-MONITORING-STATION-USING-THE-ATLAS-/
You'd end up with something like this: https://atlas-scientific.com/kits/iot-ph-meter/
Except with your choice of sensors/ezo circuits (only for atlas scientific sensors and probes). A touch screen isn't required, either.

I realize this isn't really automation, it's just monitoring. So it doesn't fit the thread, but I thought I'd share it anyways. I can remove it if you wanna keep it to automation, no prob at all, lemme know.

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berten-ernie420 said:

I spent many a night pondering that exact thought as well. Ultimately, I decided ONE "giant" controller, (no bigger than a shoebox and no heavier than a bag of groceries), would be best for my budget and ultimately my grow setup design. I very well could've individualized each component and section of code (and still very well can), it just adds more $ to the cost as they're will be more duino's or π's. However, incase of any individual component failures, I would be left with a unit that still executes the remainder of the code. So in my mind, it's the exact same as having separate components or controllers. Except that if my "brain" dies, I would be dead in the water. It is designed and built in a way that in the event of a catastrophic failure of the processor board( arduino mega), a simple replacement and reupload of code and your back in action.

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berten-ernie420 said:

Dude I'll be completely honest, I just fully understood what you were trying to tell me. Hahahahaha. I didn't quite read it through,and just skimmed the page you referenced.lbtill just now sitting here stoned. I reread the link and your comment, this monitoring station, plus a few relay boards = my unit (but with arduino) and like 20 year old display tech. Hahahaha. I'm fucking switching to pi. Hahahahahaha.

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berten-ernie420 said:

So I rethought my design. The environment side was operational when I hooked everything up. However, I was not getting accurate readings from the c02 sensor even after the warm-up and first start period. So I hooked the sensors up to a second arduino and everything was reading just fine. So I'm not sure if they're was a compatability issue in regards to my existing stack or code, but I said fuck it and just built a second housing for environment control. So I have the doser which strictly feeds and waters my plants, and then above that we have an environmental controller capable of controlling up to 3 rooms the way I have it configured. As of now, it's only controlling the one flower room tho. Here's a snap of my screen displays. The first is the environment controller and those numbers are realtime. It displays as it continuously reads. The second is just one snap of one screen. It cycles through different screens periodically letting the user know the status of the rooms and the current ph of the water in the mixing res as well as the current time. (6 gallons of water must always be replaced to the mixer when feed is EMPTY to prevent ph probe from drying). Still working on the menu format. Had some bugs and some non pointers so I will track those down and hopefully have a complete video or something to upload for anybody interested. As of right now, it can be pre programmed with any feed schedule but only through the hard code. So it's a set t and forget it system. When the menu is 100, it can be called upon to do any individual aspect of the entirety of the program. But I'm only one guy with no formal training or coding. So if it gets there, cool. If not, I still got my own doser and enviro controller for way cheaper than retail.

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