nice work. I love do it yourself projects. I wish I had a video camera, I'd put mine up online. maybe I can put something together with still photos
my computer controlled grow room - GrowControl 1.1
- Thread starter lorenzo08
- Start date
ceerock
Well-Known Member
This is Great.... I just started learning how to program plc's and the first thing i could think of was automating my grow room.......Im glad to see you are already using it....
lorenzo08 - i've recently been getting into the automation thing, but i'm not using a PC... I am using some industrial automation equipment... programmable logic controllers (PLC)... they basically have built in relays and can interact with lots of stuff.
there is a thread about it here: https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/137251-anyone-here-controlling-your-grow.html
its like a computer, but it cant crash, and it only uses 7 watts to run and monitor everything... it can replace thousands of timers, and it has a timer resolution of 1/10th of a second. its crazy what it can do... although it might be more expensive than the old pc setup. (unless you dont have an old plc)
the one i use also has an RS-485 port that you can hook up touch screens and other devices too... you can get some kind of adapter for a computer to get the computer on the rs-485 network to log data and do other things with it also.
how did you go about getting the computer to turn on relays and stuff? what is the interface to the computer? serial port? usb?
i'm totally interested in the automation stuff... i dont think its "boring" or takes the fun out of growing. I think it makes it so you can just sit back and literally just watch the grass grow, i check on them every day, i spend time with them making sure they get what they want, and i use a screen so i'm always arranging the buds so they can get the best light, a better use of time than manually turning on water pumps or lights... it also gives you the ability to go do whatever you want without tying you to your grow room...
and my idea, is to not put all of my proverbial eggs into one basket... doing a 10KW grow can get you in some serious shit in my red state, but if you spread it out and have a 2K here and a 2K somewhere else - in a separate house, you can basically operate all of them as one large garden if they are automated
Hedgehunter
Well-Known Member
Anotheroldephart
Well-Known Member
Ah.We're looking into building a system using gumsticks, figure that the connectors will take up more room than the controlling brain, a simple plug and play kind of deal.
BigBudBalls
Well-Known Member
yeah, but I'm mainly a Mac guy these days. Still keep a 'doze machine for stuff that has to be doze.
tranceinme2
Active Member
Sweet! let us know when it is fine tuned and we can get the latest version.
Amigatec
Active Member
Any chance for a MAC version?
Amigatec
Active Member
I use a MAC myself, plus Linux, and I still keep a Windows box handy.
there could be a version in the future for linux and mac, maybe in a year or 2, unless someone else wants to write it.
BigBudBalls
Well-Known Member
Ponder REALbasic. You can write the program on a Win machine and compile for Win, Linux, & Mac. Of course there are a few things to worry about like path delimiters, but that can all be done in defines for simplicity)
I have a copy installed, just haven't put any time into checking it out yet. I just got a book, did a little reading, I think I'm liking it. they improved a bunch of things from vb6. it seems to compile a little slow on my computer. I might try using it for the next version, but I'm to far into it right now to start over again. if there's enough demand for it native on linux or mac.
BigBudBalls
Well-Known Member
have you checked out my program? needs some work yet. when demo mode is on, it wont try connecting to the serial ports or anything.
sorry, it's not for sale.. but if you'd like, you can have a copy for free. lol. will be posted to this thread when ready. not sure how to do the hardware side of it yet. you can buy parts and put it together yourself, but it takes some knowledge of electronics. I might be able to put them together cheap. I'm still using the first finished prototype of it. in due time.
MisterNiceGuy
Well-Known Member
yea let us nerd growers know
darookie2000
Well-Known Member
http://www.envirogadget.com/solar-powered/aleutia-e2-500mhz-pc-using-just-8w-of-power/ This would be an interesting platform, looks like it runs from a stick, so win won't work, but I'm very intrigued by the automation concept. I was thinking about monitoring first, like CO2, pH, light, temp, etc.