AvidLerner
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You got your hands full out there all that snow. The wifi has been tested to work in most residential environments sucessfully.
leadsled
GrowRU
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@lino Not sure if it helps you , but a xbee pro module uses RF and has a range up to 9 miles.
lino
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9 miles! WOW, IDK they can go that far,,, I getting ready to set up an xBee on Leonardo board very soon,,, thanks!
AvidLerner
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Today, I got the first set of sonoff and was successful with reprogramming one and getting it to sign into my router. :) works. Now I am working on the communications between openhab and MQTT.
lino
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im buying a a few sonoff 's today... I'll keep ya posted... The grow kits I purchased are not very good. I had to hack everyone to get it to work for us farmers. I'll tag you on my thread when I post these kits.
AvidLerner
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kewl. here are a coupe of links regarding sonoff
http://tech.scargill.net/home-control-2016/
https://www.itead.cc/blog/sonoff-esp8266-reprogramming-part-1-control-mains-from-anywhere
https://github.com/KmanOz/Sonoff-HomeAssistant
namaste
AvidLerner
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I have been playing around with a couple of different programming techniques with the sonoffs. I like the NodeMCU approach, as the sonoff can be programmed in MQQT using LUA as a language and it works providing on/off and more with otehr modules like DHT22 input. I also use the Boilerplate.ino sketch with wifimanager to setup a sonoff, that allows basic control of off/on which is excellent too using MQTT
EventHorizan
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Man brother when you speak I realize just how much I don't know... Damn I try to follow you but it's hard. I'm gonna keep trying tho because I can't bring myself to drop a grand on the Etherdose system. But that's what I want....
lino
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@EventHorizan I do not post for glamour or to impress. The grow knowledge here is to vast. My post are meant for avid google users. I'm not here to prove or debate.
I had a big set back at trying to make a Low Cost CPU for growers that provided software for a growers lab. It would also provide Hardware and Software for clone machines/box and suffice large grows room controls. Well lets say PLUGnPLAY is hard to do and I think we're a long ways from the average crowd setting up grow rooms on their CPU. But in yrs to come we'll run PRO-grow rooms from our phones with kits that we assemble with $200 kits but not yet.
I'm focusing on a clone box for now and put the LinoTron on hold for now, cost got to high but I'm still developing the LinoTron. Win 10 is not installed on all the LattePanda boards anymore. The time and cost to install Win1o raises my cost. So for now I'm focusing on low cost boards for a $200 automated clone box with phone controls and monitoring. LOW END BOARDS -
Uno vs Leonardo - I'm going with Uno for the clone box for now.
On the high end boards
We are in the midst of a single board computer revolution and the market is flooded with more and more new additions. Raspberry Pis, Orange Pis Banana Pis, BeagleBones, CubieBoards, Cubietrucks and many others besides have been around for some time.
This guy nails it, Read this to compare and learn about high end development boards:
https://www.dfrobot.com/index.php?route=DFblog/blog&id=566
I had a big set back at trying to make a Low Cost CPU for growers that provided software for a growers lab. It would also provide Hardware and Software for clone machines/box and suffice large grows room controls. Well lets say PLUGnPLAY is hard to do and I think we're a long ways from the average crowd setting up grow rooms on their CPU. But in yrs to come we'll run PRO-grow rooms from our phones with kits that we assemble with $200 kits but not yet.
I'm focusing on a clone box for now and put the LinoTron on hold for now, cost got to high but I'm still developing the LinoTron. Win 10 is not installed on all the LattePanda boards anymore. The time and cost to install Win1o raises my cost. So for now I'm focusing on low cost boards for a $200 automated clone box with phone controls and monitoring. LOW END BOARDS -
Uno vs Leonardo - I'm going with Uno for the clone box for now.
On the high end boards
We are in the midst of a single board computer revolution and the market is flooded with more and more new additions. Raspberry Pis, Orange Pis Banana Pis, BeagleBones, CubieBoards, Cubietrucks and many others besides have been around for some time.
This guy nails it, Read this to compare and learn about high end development boards:
https://www.dfrobot.com/index.php?route=DFblog/blog&id=566
mandalaman
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How are things progressing @AvidLerner and @lino?
C
Coronel
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Bro why don't you just use an unexpensive tablet able to run linux install a lightweight one or make a LFS only for you (If you have the time and the KH).
And you sell it as a dedicated tablet no more windows, you can choose to lock it up and be an iCrap like or leave it open for savvy users to get into it.
I dont know what is available to read the data from the automation layer under W10 but with linux you can just use so many easy approaches
I.E: setup a mailserver, have the data blocks sent in a text mail <<encapsulated BOD // EOF lags>> (I'm sure an arduino can be convinced to send a mail) and open it with php extract the information write it to a mySQL db in localhost and use any available script to display raw data values or line graphs...
If you go big, you can have any chinese company make the tablets branded for you with the specs you really want/need at very low cost.
More plug and play than that you cannot go.
Additional business idea:
Over the years develop a knowledge base, connect the grow rooms to a server that you provide G-room monitoring and data analisys as well with cross check with provided symptoms + real Grow room conditions over time and real time... to diagnose problems or proactively monitor the conditions against a set of rules that identify potential deviations before they cause problems.
As the monitoring ability becomes both more common and cheaper introduce the global online grow room competition, where growers shine in a data reality show in real time as your system monitors conditions, plant grow rate, etc...
Even with the permanent monitoring, through data analisys it will be possible to identify which conditions made the plant respond better for the particular grower setup.
In any case remember that the technology model is evolving towards "Key-in-hand" systems that monetize on added value not on the equipment itself. (Or as my sister likes calling it; the Mobile phone company model)
Today every grower is trying to dial-in the parameters of their grow space. By hand or with the help of timers and the such.
The added value in your market today, is the hardware/software development.
Then will be the transition from controlling with timers to controlling with computers.
Eventually we arrive to the automation part limit where the system does the dial-in. And move into the data acquisition boundary...
The way to use that information to enhance the grow becomes important.
When the limit of DA is reached we cross the beautiful border of Optimization through automation, and so on...
lino
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Adding a humidifier + Adding light relay so my board can control 110-120v & 240 lites. Done!
Then my engineer will fix wire looms to water proof to a 1 plug design, she's getting a 4x4 lexan cover. All add ons tho. you can see why in my next post to @Coronel . This is going to be a LinoARDUINO starter kit for Growers, Electric guys, Programmers , and if my Artist will do some art for packages, hint , hint../.
Ol McLino had a Farm, E I E I O
Now I can control a closet or a dispense grow house, green house with this board and at the same time instruct LinoARDUINO Kits for growers to have complete control for less that $100, maybe $200. The other Arduino Starter Kits are bout $150 and you got breadboard and flashing LED. With my starter kit you get a grow room controller. How Cool is that. And I'll have a Industrial Plug&Play grow controller also, but everybody already got that huh?
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jaybodankly
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Have you considered pairing temp and humidity together to maintain VPD? Recently got a Sensor Push. $50 logs temp/humidity sends to phone via bluetooth. Nice device for the plug and players.
lino
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You engineers get to complex for me. this is how I'll do it, mail server yikes,,, set those up yrs ago,,its the Cloud era now.
I have you guys seen this new board,,, I got em on sale!
1Sheeld+ Android Smartphone Multi-Purpose Shield for Arduino
I'm looking for developers for this one, 1Shield just came in and I havent even opened the box yet. I will have this board on the LinoTron for all the Phone functions at developers finger tips. So your phone will be you Win10 or NOW IOS too with 1Shield and for us developers we can develope to mother boards and now phone and most CPU operating system OS.
Technology is moving to fast rite now.
lino
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VPD? NO comprende` .
C
Coronel
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LOL, how do you know I'm one of those?
So i get complex and you want to build an automated grow-room?
You are installing W10 in a cheap tiny under powered headless PC and that is a good move?
Aso you are complaining about the cost of W10 when
I gave you a Free solution?
Mail is has been, but you want to connect the grow room to the cloud and the connect the little pc to the cloud to get the data ?
I don't really see the point in using a middle-man outside of the house connection for a grow room when you can do it securely from your local private network.
Not to mention that in many places growing this plant is still illegal.
No, i am wrong you are right! I'll go with my advice somewhere else :D
Good luck with the project!
Vapour pressure deficit if you search the forums there are a few posts about it, it is related to the water intake, the exudation trought the stomata and depends a lot on RH (Which depends on Temp).
lino
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You snd offended,,, no rock were meant for you,,,, The success of the LinoTron was is expense. I was not about to take on Billy gates or Apple on a level playing field even tho they have nothing but an OS to compare to the LinoTron (LattePanda with my software). My customers use Win10 for computing, not Linux, not Android, not IOS for computing. Many use IOS for cell phone and tablets but not for computing. I'm trying to simplify robotics for users, Linux is simple for us but not my clients.
I dont recall the term (Vapour pressure deficit ) but your description looks like a fancy explanation for plant transpiration, and w/o a google search I do recall that term I think, I think that is used more for scientific equipment. Baro, pressures, vacuums, gravity, magnetism and other influences have had very little impact on plant transpiration, some FX are noted but little effect as compared to the capillary action of transpiration in the plant and has the most impact over what and how much a stomata can exchange but again I not positive nor a expert on the term Vapor Pressure Deficit, American spelling
Complex - I was making fun of my own ignorance as I'm not an electrician, engineer, or PHD,,, Well that would be a lie. I did recieve my PHD from SHK a few yrs ago.
Skool of Hard Knocks....
lino
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I went and looked that term up,,,, AGAIN it is a MINUTE EFFECT over plant transpiration in 'optimal conditions', in nature when plants are fighting for survival and the morning dew rolls in the plants luv life. In a grn house with dew point Max'd already- added pressure, gravity, magnetism and other FX - it doesnt have much FX in optimal conditons, . Hard to measure in nature, Hot high pressure (dry) , rain low pressure wet , of course VPD would be HUGE. However harmonics are different and can over come this peak in Nute and soil moisture when the baro and humidity, air and soil have Maxed as Dr Carlson and other scientist noted in sonic and harmonic test have shown. All the pressure in the world wont open those stomas once they shut from excessive moisture and heat.
To over come the confusion of VPD, many sonic, harmonic and pressure test experiments were performed in Hawaii due to the optimal conditions.
C
Coronel
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I think we strayed waaaay off-topic HAHAHA! not nice i know i know...
Look VPD on this site there are tables to try and guide the manipulation of T and RH inside the grow rooms to keep them in aceptable levels (they claim OPTIMAL!) .
It is true that in nature or if someone is growing for fun a plant in a closet VPD has little effect, however in general indoors horticulture, specially in places where winter is harsh or in very hot places where AC green houses are needed. It is something to consider as the lights and the small air exchange modify the RH and it can kill whole crops, since the lower the RH and the higher the T; the air can absorb up to 100 times more water from the stomata for photosynthesis with takes an important toll on the plant, remember that there is a big industry and some amateurs behind all this growing stuff.
Look VPD on this site there are tables to try and guide the manipulation of T and RH inside the grow rooms to keep them in aceptable levels (they claim OPTIMAL!) .
It is true that in nature or if someone is growing for fun a plant in a closet VPD has little effect, however in general indoors horticulture, specially in places where winter is harsh or in very hot places where AC green houses are needed. It is something to consider as the lights and the small air exchange modify the RH and it can kill whole crops, since the lower the RH and the higher the T; the air can absorb up to 100 times more water from the stomata for photosynthesis with takes an important toll on the plant, remember that there is a big industry and some amateurs behind all this growing stuff.
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C
Coronel
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IS a simple 110/240V AC controlled network typology the Answer to plug and play, cost reduction and simplicity ?...
Now in the spirit of this post in mind i was thinking of best ways to define rules oriented in an OS level, not at a program level… What I mean is that standardization is what made PCs and Microsoft great back then.
Let me explain, I watched the video of Lino’s automated cloner and realized what the need for plug and play was! Absolutely no one will want to go to the process of building specific equipment and cutting pieces and stuff...
Here is where the analogy with Windows comes, what made it successful? That it ran in whatever machine you had (unless it was an apple but that’s another thing).
That is where the Bee Hive smart thing got it slightly right! They use a Controller on each outlet and the grower just plugs whatever equipment is related to the sensor in that outlet. So the grower doesn’t need’s to build anything nor buy any especial equipment, basically he uses what he has and if he upgrades he just buy’s the Bee module to go with his new grow room toy!
Their mistake is to distribute the control over a master and slave controller star topology that increases the cost of setting up the automation!
Why ? Because using a controller to be just a slave is overkill! It will evaluate only 1 or 2 inputs and then just control 1 or 2 outputs... when it is capable of much more... and also can be replaced by a relay...
So how to make this better! @lino ’s build has the key to it!
I suppose you went for an auto cloner prototype because of costs and restricted area (reduced wiring and such) amongst the main reasons...
Well that is the key for making the system plug and play.
Mix the auto-cloner with the Hive topology but centralize the control.
Let me explain this in detail:
You have in your Panda Latte thing, X number of Inputs and Y number of Outputs.
You arbitrarily connected Input 1 (let’s call it XI-1 from now on) to the Temperature sensor or whatever.
Also Output 1 (YO-1) by coincidence was connected to the fan control relay...
This means that we could speak of a kind of “port” consisting of the pair: XI-1 and YO-1, and it is dedicated to room temperature control...
This calls for a rule in the standard that you are making in your product.
Let’s call it the Grow Port definition (Inspired on Serial ports) and we call it for short GP-1T our pair combination defined above.
The relay output the needs to energize a 110/220 V on/off relay rated at at least 16 amps (maybe a more expensive version rated to 32 amps for bigger grow rooms) and this goes to energy a mains AC a outlet in the enclosure of your LinoTron thing...
Now it just occurred to me that the ports, for scalability could be a parallel array of Input output pairs...
Lets say Grow Port Temperature does not only consists of one pair of I/O but of 4 pairs (Pair 1 to 4 are for temperature in the Grow Port Standard you are defining) So it translates in 4 electrical outlets 110/240 V rated at 16 Amps that can easily run a row of 4 500W fans in a big grow room...
This is like for the big I/O for commercial grower operations Version like the LinoTRON GrowServer
And the need for and I/O is that since you are the one providing the Hardware you can make a rule to know if you are running the Big version or the Small versoin (LinoTRON GrowPC or whatever you choose to call it) then the Grow Port 1 is not anymore a 4 outlets coupled to temperature control sensors but works in single mode 1 pair of I/O.
I know i am complicating things, but believe me that a little bit of complication in the beginning can help develop between you and @AvidLerner a sort of standard to work with, where you can focus in the hardware build which seems to be your main interest, and he can focus on the rules development, that seems to be his objective... or i might be wrong...
But most importantly if you choose to share and publish them, it might set the ground standard for dedicated Plant Grow automation development system and other people can try and contribute by proposing a single rule or a set of rules to control what is needed for a particular grow room parameter.
Let’s use the VPD example asked by @jaybodankly , and this might help me explain my Operating system analogy.
How we control VPD optimal conditions with a LinoTRON made how I am suggesting:
To control VPD we need: To keep temperature, and RH within a range that the type of plant I am growing likes to thrive in !
So let’s say some is growing Cannabis, here in THCFarmer is a post that shows a table that claims is the optimal Relation of Grow Room temperature and RH for Cannabis so they don’t over excerpt their system giving water to the air during photosynthesis, well how you control it depends on what you have...
Imagine a grow tent inside a grower’s house during winter... Because of the house heating, the RH is very low and to make things worse the lights increase the T inside the tent and the RH is even lower... The grower who doesn’t have automation tries everything... Humidifiers, wet towels bla bla bla... When it suffices to have good Air extraction and good air circulation inside the room as well as proper watering... (In Soil, in Hydro I suppose that the nature of hydro adds water to the RH from reservoir evaporation) by doing this you not only improving the VPD conditions but general plant conditions.
When you want automation to be plug and play, it means that you already are monitoring visually your grow parameters in order to keep your plants thriving to improve yields. You also have over time spent money buying equipment that does the work, but since the conditions are not static, need real time monitoring and control...
Now the Grow Port 1 let’s forget about VPD (as we will achieve controlling it in my example as a secondary effect).
The GP1 will be the Optimal RH and T control conditions port, it will be paired to:
Inputs:
XI-1Temperature Sensor
XI-2 RH Sensor
XI-3 Soil humidity sensor (For soil growers only , its rules should be optional on the logic to suit Hidro and soil-less mixes)
XI-4 Timer, Real-time clock :D
XI-5 PH sensor
Outputs all AC 110/240V 16A (On/Off relay)
O-1 Fan 1 control mains outlet.
O-2 Fan 2 control mains outlet.
O-3 Air Extractor control mains outlet.
O-4 Humidifier control mains outlet.
O-5 Drip Irrigation control mains outlet.
O-6 Air conditioning control mains outlet.
O-7 Dehumidifier control mains outlet.
O-8 Lights on off control mains outlet. (Make this one maybe a 32Amps because of those crazy people with 2 1000W MH bulbs in tiny grow tents lol...)
So the Grow Port 1 (Which is dedicated For Light, Watering, RH and T optimal conditions control; and this eventually can even be “Advanced” user selectable! Or dynamically allocated if you decide to make O/I expansion module cards!)
Now we need a logic that defines a set of rules based on how the physics of what we are aiming to control work, and that provide with default generic values that work everywhere, but give the “Advanced” user the flexibility to change some variables to optimize the control to his personal liking.
Remember that we are aiming at fullest and simplest plug and play to suit the need of users that already have a setup that they are controlling manually and want to take to the next level with Real-Time monitoring and control of the grow room’s dynamic conditions.
So what will the user be able to choose? Of course, the set-point values of the Inputs!
So Desired: System units (Metric Vs Imperial) Light On/Off cycle (Either user selectable the most common or a time range from to so the user can use whatever lighting Cycle technique he likes) then: Desired RH, Desired Temp, Desired Soil Humidity, Duration of Watering in mins/secs. (The user can leave the set point to 0 if he doesn’t have for example Soil Irrigation pumps, or maybe send a mail/ SMS to the grower so he comes to water the plants lol)
If not provided, the system works with the generic factory defaults: 14/10 Light Cycle, RH 50%, Temp 22C/70F which work for many crops which are not photo-reproductive and/or a good vegetation starting point for Cannabis.
So how it is controlled? Answer: By how it works aiming to change the reason of the conditions and not to address only the symptoms.
Then the logic just goes: IF we are in the light ON Cycle, the heat will increase, as the heat increases, the RH drops dramatically, when this happens Evaporation from the surface of the soil or the Hidro reservoir increases, since the more the Temperature the Amount of water that air retains increases, the water evaporated is much more than with a lower Temperature and this is where fungus thrive... So out of optimal conditions.
How we address this: We buy a fan and plug it in the timer with the lights.
This increases air circulation, since hot air naturally goes up (Where the light is thus getting hotter) and trying to go up, so if the tent has a hole on top, and it is open just by putting the fan to move the air you increases the exit of hot air from the top and providing there is an opening by the bottom cooler air from the room should be entering the tent all naturally by using thermodynamics.
Well but sometimes this is not enough and we need to pull out the hot air with an extractor (Ideally connected to that top opening your Grow-tent has!
So we have improved the air exchange inside the tent/grow room, because the thermal exchange was simply not enough to keep your temperature inside the tent in the 70F/22C mark!
Remember since RH drops when T increases, the first thing to address is high T, this helps also saving money in electricity bills by using things to address the root problem by escalating the most natural/energy efficient available technique to the grower.
So by keeping temperature at bay control of the RH and the Soil/Reservoir evaporation rate, is achieved.
Now let’s say we need things to be energy efficient... Also those extractors are Noisy and usually pass through a Carbon filter (that gets spent every time there is air circulation trough it) So we want to keep their time on to the minimum necessary for optimal conditions. And here is where the need for the LinoTRON comes in play!
Once the temperature gets back down to the 70F mark if the RH is in the 50% mark i can turn the extractor off until the Temp goes above 75F again... (Savings in Carbon filters, electricity bills and Noise reduction)
Now if the Extractor still was not enough because the grow room is in a heated house during winter, it needs to be escalated to the next available thing.
We tried to lower the temperature and it didn’t work, or maybe it did but since the air outside is also hot and dry, you need to add water!
With the LinoTRON, we interrogate the Soil humidity sensor and if lower than desired turn on irrigation for the user selected amount of time, since we are at it, we interrogate the pH sensor to see if it is in the desired User selected value and if it is out of range and the user choose to activate a flush because this usually corrects it we turn ask the user by SMS/ Mail if he wants to flush with the irrigation on again 3 or 4 more times that he will decide if the water will not overflow and can be done unattended or say no because he needs to be there to deal with the water.
Anyway if Irrigation was available and RH still low because T was high and air exchange was not enough, the watering should have improved the RH... If it didn’t it needs to escalate.
So if escalation is needed, we turn on the Humidifier, remember we are not battling T anymore as we lost that battle so we are adding water to the environment to keep the RH in the desired levels, and we are still interrogating the T to see if it changed (day cooled off, Someone opened a window to circulate air, the lights went off) so we can stop escalating and de-escalate to improve energy efficiency.
If still the RH doesn’t goes back to the desired level then we have to resort to the most expensive (energy wise) equipment: Air conditioning...
This should cool down the grow room, thus increasing the RH to the desired levels... the only thing that could go wrong is that since we watered the RH now the room is cooler will go sky high and create condensation and all kinds of good environment for the development of fungi. So we interrogate T and if nice we interrogate RH if too high we turn on the Dehumidifier.
I know this is getting too long, but we almost finished...
See the process of escalating measures I described above is based in controlling the reason for grow optimal conditions deviations by modifiying the manipulating the underliying physics phenomena that causes those conditions to change.
This is a deterministic set of rules that apply to every grow-room regardless of the size, place etc...
IT means it works everywhere... Now the way we interrogate the sensors against the set point and activate the outputs using an escalated/de-escalated philosophy aiming to control the micro climate inside the grow room while remaining energy efficient means that if the user does not have any of the output equipment, he can be just notified and presented with suggestions like go home and open a window lol... And the LinoTRON will just escalate to the next output reaction in the logic in the next scan of sensors...
So to install the system; the user only needs to connect whatever grow-room equipment he already posses to the matching LinoTRON electrical outlet and the only requirement for these equipments to work is that they are able to be started unattended by a timer (which probably is the kind of equipment the grower already posses).
And place the sensors strategically in the grow room (you can provide a good length of wire with them or use a standard wire and connector that is common and easily found in the commerce).
So the control is centralized in only one equipment and the network topology inspired on the Bee hive is a star made at the Electrical supply level maybe the user will have to invest in some extension cords but that’s all and anyway usually grow-tents have already the electrical supply centralized.
So only a few initial inputs from the user, and just plug electrically his already owned devices in the LinoTRON controller.
If he ever buys equipment he just needs to plug it to the LinoTRON and maybe change the set point...
As the users familiarize with the equipment and with the logic they will want to have more interaction with the system and there is where those standards help to develop more and more and this is how I supposedly demonstrated the analogy with early PCs and Microsoft and the need to see the rule making at a Grow-Room Operating system much like a BIOS and an OS controls the basic functions of the PC the LinoTRON controls the basic functions of the grow-room while allowing the user the flexibility of their preferred dial in, using their already owed equipment, just plugging it electrically...
I know it is too long, hope you read it and if you did and are reading this, thank you! Hope it helps and if not well sorry.
Peace out
Now in the spirit of this post in mind i was thinking of best ways to define rules oriented in an OS level, not at a program level… What I mean is that standardization is what made PCs and Microsoft great back then.
Let me explain, I watched the video of Lino’s automated cloner and realized what the need for plug and play was! Absolutely no one will want to go to the process of building specific equipment and cutting pieces and stuff...
Here is where the analogy with Windows comes, what made it successful? That it ran in whatever machine you had (unless it was an apple but that’s another thing).
That is where the Bee Hive smart thing got it slightly right! They use a Controller on each outlet and the grower just plugs whatever equipment is related to the sensor in that outlet. So the grower doesn’t need’s to build anything nor buy any especial equipment, basically he uses what he has and if he upgrades he just buy’s the Bee module to go with his new grow room toy!
Their mistake is to distribute the control over a master and slave controller star topology that increases the cost of setting up the automation!
Why ? Because using a controller to be just a slave is overkill! It will evaluate only 1 or 2 inputs and then just control 1 or 2 outputs... when it is capable of much more... and also can be replaced by a relay...
So how to make this better! @lino ’s build has the key to it!
I suppose you went for an auto cloner prototype because of costs and restricted area (reduced wiring and such) amongst the main reasons...
Well that is the key for making the system plug and play.
Mix the auto-cloner with the Hive topology but centralize the control.
Let me explain this in detail:
You have in your Panda Latte thing, X number of Inputs and Y number of Outputs.
You arbitrarily connected Input 1 (let’s call it XI-1 from now on) to the Temperature sensor or whatever.
Also Output 1 (YO-1) by coincidence was connected to the fan control relay...
This means that we could speak of a kind of “port” consisting of the pair: XI-1 and YO-1, and it is dedicated to room temperature control...
This calls for a rule in the standard that you are making in your product.
Let’s call it the Grow Port definition (Inspired on Serial ports) and we call it for short GP-1T our pair combination defined above.
The relay output the needs to energize a 110/220 V on/off relay rated at at least 16 amps (maybe a more expensive version rated to 32 amps for bigger grow rooms) and this goes to energy a mains AC a outlet in the enclosure of your LinoTron thing...
Now it just occurred to me that the ports, for scalability could be a parallel array of Input output pairs...
Lets say Grow Port Temperature does not only consists of one pair of I/O but of 4 pairs (Pair 1 to 4 are for temperature in the Grow Port Standard you are defining) So it translates in 4 electrical outlets 110/240 V rated at 16 Amps that can easily run a row of 4 500W fans in a big grow room...
This is like for the big I/O for commercial grower operations Version like the LinoTRON GrowServer
And the need for and I/O is that since you are the one providing the Hardware you can make a rule to know if you are running the Big version or the Small versoin (LinoTRON GrowPC or whatever you choose to call it) then the Grow Port 1 is not anymore a 4 outlets coupled to temperature control sensors but works in single mode 1 pair of I/O.
I know i am complicating things, but believe me that a little bit of complication in the beginning can help develop between you and @AvidLerner a sort of standard to work with, where you can focus in the hardware build which seems to be your main interest, and he can focus on the rules development, that seems to be his objective... or i might be wrong...
But most importantly if you choose to share and publish them, it might set the ground standard for dedicated Plant Grow automation development system and other people can try and contribute by proposing a single rule or a set of rules to control what is needed for a particular grow room parameter.
Let’s use the VPD example asked by @jaybodankly , and this might help me explain my Operating system analogy.
How we control VPD optimal conditions with a LinoTRON made how I am suggesting:
To control VPD we need: To keep temperature, and RH within a range that the type of plant I am growing likes to thrive in !
So let’s say some is growing Cannabis, here in THCFarmer is a post that shows a table that claims is the optimal Relation of Grow Room temperature and RH for Cannabis so they don’t over excerpt their system giving water to the air during photosynthesis, well how you control it depends on what you have...
Imagine a grow tent inside a grower’s house during winter... Because of the house heating, the RH is very low and to make things worse the lights increase the T inside the tent and the RH is even lower... The grower who doesn’t have automation tries everything... Humidifiers, wet towels bla bla bla... When it suffices to have good Air extraction and good air circulation inside the room as well as proper watering... (In Soil, in Hydro I suppose that the nature of hydro adds water to the RH from reservoir evaporation) by doing this you not only improving the VPD conditions but general plant conditions.
When you want automation to be plug and play, it means that you already are monitoring visually your grow parameters in order to keep your plants thriving to improve yields. You also have over time spent money buying equipment that does the work, but since the conditions are not static, need real time monitoring and control...
Now the Grow Port 1 let’s forget about VPD (as we will achieve controlling it in my example as a secondary effect).
The GP1 will be the Optimal RH and T control conditions port, it will be paired to:
Inputs:
XI-1Temperature Sensor
XI-2 RH Sensor
XI-3 Soil humidity sensor (For soil growers only , its rules should be optional on the logic to suit Hidro and soil-less mixes)
XI-4 Timer, Real-time clock :D
XI-5 PH sensor
Outputs all AC 110/240V 16A (On/Off relay)
O-1 Fan 1 control mains outlet.
O-2 Fan 2 control mains outlet.
O-3 Air Extractor control mains outlet.
O-4 Humidifier control mains outlet.
O-5 Drip Irrigation control mains outlet.
O-6 Air conditioning control mains outlet.
O-7 Dehumidifier control mains outlet.
O-8 Lights on off control mains outlet. (Make this one maybe a 32Amps because of those crazy people with 2 1000W MH bulbs in tiny grow tents lol...)
So the Grow Port 1 (Which is dedicated For Light, Watering, RH and T optimal conditions control; and this eventually can even be “Advanced” user selectable! Or dynamically allocated if you decide to make O/I expansion module cards!)
Now we need a logic that defines a set of rules based on how the physics of what we are aiming to control work, and that provide with default generic values that work everywhere, but give the “Advanced” user the flexibility to change some variables to optimize the control to his personal liking.
Remember that we are aiming at fullest and simplest plug and play to suit the need of users that already have a setup that they are controlling manually and want to take to the next level with Real-Time monitoring and control of the grow room’s dynamic conditions.
So what will the user be able to choose? Of course, the set-point values of the Inputs!
So Desired: System units (Metric Vs Imperial) Light On/Off cycle (Either user selectable the most common or a time range from to so the user can use whatever lighting Cycle technique he likes) then: Desired RH, Desired Temp, Desired Soil Humidity, Duration of Watering in mins/secs. (The user can leave the set point to 0 if he doesn’t have for example Soil Irrigation pumps, or maybe send a mail/ SMS to the grower so he comes to water the plants lol)
If not provided, the system works with the generic factory defaults: 14/10 Light Cycle, RH 50%, Temp 22C/70F which work for many crops which are not photo-reproductive and/or a good vegetation starting point for Cannabis.
So how it is controlled? Answer: By how it works aiming to change the reason of the conditions and not to address only the symptoms.
Then the logic just goes: IF we are in the light ON Cycle, the heat will increase, as the heat increases, the RH drops dramatically, when this happens Evaporation from the surface of the soil or the Hidro reservoir increases, since the more the Temperature the Amount of water that air retains increases, the water evaporated is much more than with a lower Temperature and this is where fungus thrive... So out of optimal conditions.
How we address this: We buy a fan and plug it in the timer with the lights.
This increases air circulation, since hot air naturally goes up (Where the light is thus getting hotter) and trying to go up, so if the tent has a hole on top, and it is open just by putting the fan to move the air you increases the exit of hot air from the top and providing there is an opening by the bottom cooler air from the room should be entering the tent all naturally by using thermodynamics.
Well but sometimes this is not enough and we need to pull out the hot air with an extractor (Ideally connected to that top opening your Grow-tent has!
So we have improved the air exchange inside the tent/grow room, because the thermal exchange was simply not enough to keep your temperature inside the tent in the 70F/22C mark!
Remember since RH drops when T increases, the first thing to address is high T, this helps also saving money in electricity bills by using things to address the root problem by escalating the most natural/energy efficient available technique to the grower.
So by keeping temperature at bay control of the RH and the Soil/Reservoir evaporation rate, is achieved.
Now let’s say we need things to be energy efficient... Also those extractors are Noisy and usually pass through a Carbon filter (that gets spent every time there is air circulation trough it) So we want to keep their time on to the minimum necessary for optimal conditions. And here is where the need for the LinoTRON comes in play!
Once the temperature gets back down to the 70F mark if the RH is in the 50% mark i can turn the extractor off until the Temp goes above 75F again... (Savings in Carbon filters, electricity bills and Noise reduction)
Now if the Extractor still was not enough because the grow room is in a heated house during winter, it needs to be escalated to the next available thing.
We tried to lower the temperature and it didn’t work, or maybe it did but since the air outside is also hot and dry, you need to add water!
With the LinoTRON, we interrogate the Soil humidity sensor and if lower than desired turn on irrigation for the user selected amount of time, since we are at it, we interrogate the pH sensor to see if it is in the desired User selected value and if it is out of range and the user choose to activate a flush because this usually corrects it we turn ask the user by SMS/ Mail if he wants to flush with the irrigation on again 3 or 4 more times that he will decide if the water will not overflow and can be done unattended or say no because he needs to be there to deal with the water.
Anyway if Irrigation was available and RH still low because T was high and air exchange was not enough, the watering should have improved the RH... If it didn’t it needs to escalate.
So if escalation is needed, we turn on the Humidifier, remember we are not battling T anymore as we lost that battle so we are adding water to the environment to keep the RH in the desired levels, and we are still interrogating the T to see if it changed (day cooled off, Someone opened a window to circulate air, the lights went off) so we can stop escalating and de-escalate to improve energy efficiency.
If still the RH doesn’t goes back to the desired level then we have to resort to the most expensive (energy wise) equipment: Air conditioning...
This should cool down the grow room, thus increasing the RH to the desired levels... the only thing that could go wrong is that since we watered the RH now the room is cooler will go sky high and create condensation and all kinds of good environment for the development of fungi. So we interrogate T and if nice we interrogate RH if too high we turn on the Dehumidifier.
I know this is getting too long, but we almost finished...
See the process of escalating measures I described above is based in controlling the reason for grow optimal conditions deviations by modifiying the manipulating the underliying physics phenomena that causes those conditions to change.
This is a deterministic set of rules that apply to every grow-room regardless of the size, place etc...
IT means it works everywhere... Now the way we interrogate the sensors against the set point and activate the outputs using an escalated/de-escalated philosophy aiming to control the micro climate inside the grow room while remaining energy efficient means that if the user does not have any of the output equipment, he can be just notified and presented with suggestions like go home and open a window lol... And the LinoTRON will just escalate to the next output reaction in the logic in the next scan of sensors...
So to install the system; the user only needs to connect whatever grow-room equipment he already posses to the matching LinoTRON electrical outlet and the only requirement for these equipments to work is that they are able to be started unattended by a timer (which probably is the kind of equipment the grower already posses).
And place the sensors strategically in the grow room (you can provide a good length of wire with them or use a standard wire and connector that is common and easily found in the commerce).
So the control is centralized in only one equipment and the network topology inspired on the Bee hive is a star made at the Electrical supply level maybe the user will have to invest in some extension cords but that’s all and anyway usually grow-tents have already the electrical supply centralized.
So only a few initial inputs from the user, and just plug electrically his already owned devices in the LinoTRON controller.
If he ever buys equipment he just needs to plug it to the LinoTRON and maybe change the set point...
As the users familiarize with the equipment and with the logic they will want to have more interaction with the system and there is where those standards help to develop more and more and this is how I supposedly demonstrated the analogy with early PCs and Microsoft and the need to see the rule making at a Grow-Room Operating system much like a BIOS and an OS controls the basic functions of the PC the LinoTRON controls the basic functions of the grow-room while allowing the user the flexibility of their preferred dial in, using their already owed equipment, just plugging it electrically...
I know it is too long, hope you read it and if you did and are reading this, thank you! Hope it helps and if not well sorry.
Peace out
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