Arduinos In The Grow Room: My Project

[odam2k]

When I undertook my little side project, the freezer inventory system, it was mainly to play with barcodes and a barcode reader, and I suspected I might be able to take what I learn and apply it to Grow By Wire. Part of the Freezer Inventory System involves weighing items, especially meats, since we tend to buy those huge roasts, and carve it up into steaks, that sort of thing, so it's handy to know the weight. (Always looking for the biggest steak!)

I bought a kitchen digital scale, but it's a pain in the butt, having to weigh the item, then run to the computer to enter the weight, since you can't do that with a barcode scanner.

Why not a wireless Digital Scale? Scan the items barcode, place it on the scale, and the scale automatically sends the weight to the database.

Here's my prototype...

 

[odam2k]

Currently it's running on an ESP-01 module, so external inputs are limited... basically I can read the scale, and that's it!

I'm redoing it now with a WeMos D1 Mini which will allow me to add some buttons, and probably an LCD screen etc...

Anyhow, when I first started working on Grow By Wire, and was trying to determine when to water my plants, one method that came up was weighing the pots to determine when they are dry. At the time, I just presumed it would be prohibitively expensive buying scales for every plant, and then having to find a way to read them.

This one can be made for under $20. I would power them by wire, not batteries.

I doubt I'll actually pursue this, since I'm really very happy with the soil moisture sensors, but I might build one prototype if I get bored...

 

[ed the head]

Seems to be lots of good news...

So far, it seems the powdery mildew problem is no longer an issue. I did a very thorough job with spraying the entire room, including walls, floor, ceiling, closet, and the outside and inside of the tents. First day, I used a bleach solution (2tbsp per quart of water) and the second day I sprayed everything with a 3% Hydrogen Peroxide solution (straight from the bottle) Note, I did not spray any plants with the bleach or peroxide, I did use Safers 3 in 1, then let them sit in the dark to dry off. I soaked the tops and bottoms of all the leaves, sprayed the stems, and even the top of the soil.... The plants were ok with this, they never showed any signs of being hurt by the spray.

The vapes are working great. I need to get used to the fact that I don't get a big lungful of dense smoke... I'm still rolling the odd joint, but I'm working on it The pen is working great for the oil, I'm on my third reload of the cartridge. I wish I had made a better quality batch of oil, but I had actually planned on cooking with it, not vaping it. Picked up another cartridge, working on emptying it They don't sell a CBD cartridge, so I'll smoke the THC that's in it, then clean it out and I'll smoke the first batch of CBD oil in it too, so by the time my wife uses it, she will just get her CBD, and not any THC.

There are a couple reasons she doesn't smoke the THC, first off, she doesn't smoke THC often, so when she does, it really goes to her head, and she usually ends up going to bed. Me, I love to get high (wish I had her low tolerance) but her, not so much. I no longer drive the car, mainly because I ALWAYS have extremely high THC levels in my blood, and I probably smell like burning pot all the time as well. She is always popping out to the store, the pharmacy, etc, driving at a moments notice. Ontario has a really strict law, as a permanent resident (she is American, I am Canadian) if she were to be charged with impaired driving, she could be deported. When pot was legalized, I was worried there would be people, left, right, and center, being charged with having thc in their system while driving, even if they weren't high (like me most of the time, enough THC to get a whale stoned, but my high tolerance leaves me pretty well unaffected. Anyhow, that's why we need a pure CBD strain that she can use any time, she has Fibromyalgia and bad arthritis.
I haven't really heard of any real problems with people being charged with impaired.

Wish me luck .. just noticed powdery mildew growing on my four of my beautiful buds in my Mixed Tent Grow

Glad to have found this, hope it's not too late. Thank you for posting.

The only 'good' news out of this situation is learning. Ultimately, too many plants for the tent. Next grows onward will be better.

 

[odam2k]

During my last harvest, I found mildew that I hadn't noticed before, the buds were full of it... 90% of the plants were unsalvageable

I want to do one more spraying of the Safers 3 in 1 on the flowering plants (4 weeks now). I will disinfect the tent as well, I can move all the plants into the veg tent, only have 2 in veg right now.

The 2 in veg are clean, no mildew, or thrips, and they look very healthy,

I think you are right about the overcrowding, I've been putting 16 plants in a 4x4 tent, but for the next cycle, I'll try 9 maybe, let them get a little bushier.

 

[odam2k]

Wireless Digital Scales are done, at least for a while, I'll use them and see what needs to change...

 

[ed the head]

During my last harvest, I found mildew that I hadn't noticed before, the buds were full of it... 90% of the plants were unsalvageable

I want to do one more spraying of the Safers 3 in 1 on the flowering plants (4 weeks now). I will disinfect the tent as well, I can move all the plants into the veg tent, only have 2 in veg right now.

The 2 in veg are clean, no mildew, or thrips, and they look very healthy,

I think you are right about the overcrowding, I've been putting 16 plants in a 4x4 tent, but for the next cycle, I'll try 9 maybe, let them get a little bushier.

I got 'lucky' ... closer examination leads me to suspect bud burn over powdery mildew.

I raised the LED 8 inches and new growth is not stunted or bleached.

Switching my tent to 12/12 perennial - then inserting 1 short PP clone per month. This way, the 2x4 tent will carry two PP instead of 4 (or a pox upon me) 5

 

[odam2k]

I'm finally making the big switch.... I started growing well over 20 years ago, and I've always used HID lights, MH for Veg and HPS for Flower. Currently I run a 600W HPS in a 4x4 tent for flower, and a 400W MH in a 4x4 tent for Veg. The 1000W together draws about 8.3 amps. We are no longer allowed window air conditioner units, we have to use a portable unit (in any window above the first floor except over your balcony) They say to size a portable unit at double the size of a window unit for the same cooling. I can't find ANY portable unit that draws less than about 8 Amps (1000W) and on a 15A circuit, well, I wouldn't sleep very well even if it did stay running...

So, the plan is to switch to LED lights, for two reasons...
First, less heat produced. The two HID lights will heat the room up like a furnace if there is no cooling (either A/C or winter air through the window).
Second, less power draw.

The exception to the "no window air conditioners" is if you have it "professionally installed".
I don't want anyone in the grow room, and besides, an electrician, or whoever would do the install, probably won't install it where is so obviously draws way too much current... I had a window unit, and it ran ok, but we couldn't run a vacuum of hair drier when the lights were all on. So the plan would be to have one installed in our bedroom, since I know it will be ok, we are cutting the current dray of the lights by nearly half, and the installer wouldn't be snooping or asking questions... There is also an A/C unit installed in the living room (in a window onto the balcony) so with the entire apartment being cool, we should be able to suck some of that cool air into the grow room.

Lights should be here Monday, I can't wait...

 

[odam2k]

I'm loving the new LED lights, and so are the plants. II tried some "blurple" cheap lights a while back on my cuttings, but I hated them, the plants weren't too impressed either.

These new ones are the new Full Spectrum lights, so it looks just like sunlight.

 

[odam2k]

So the plants are happy again, and it looks like the powdery milder, and the thrips are gone. I'm at 5 and a half weeks flowering now, probably going 8, but we'll see how they do with the new lights.

I have to take new cuts now for the next crop, I should have done it sooner, but I've been playing with my new 3D printer I've debated whether I would actually use one or not, but it's been printing non stop for 3 days now. I'm already hinting to the wife that I'll probably end up buying another one.

 

[odam2k]

I've had my 3D printer for a week now, poor thing hasn't stopped...

My second printer arrived yesterday! As soon as I started playing with 3d printing I realized just how beneficial this is going to be.

Simple things, filter tips for my joints... rolling accessories to roll and fill perfect one paper cones, nose clips for your face mask so it doesn't fog your glasses, the list goes on... plus I've been playing with designing, like project boxes for my projects... I'd love to have all the modules for GBW in their own proper cases. I am also thinking I can come up with a replacements design for the terminal block I use to hold the probes on my soil moisture sensor. I'm sure I can come up with a decent looking sensor now...

So far, printer #2 has run non stop since I got it assembled...

 

[odam2k]

How in the world did I ever do without a 3D Printer?

Both printers are going non stop, and I'm sure glad I got the second one. Some things take forever to print, like 18 hours, I think that's the longest so far. If you are as old as I am, you will remember how SLOW regular printers were when they first came out. Remember dot matrix? I can remember lots of overnight print jobs... Anyhow, soon we'll just call them replicators like on Star Trek

It seems the most popular stuff to print, and my experience backs this up, is to print upgrade parts for the 3D Printer itself... Not only do you end up with a really nice printer, but it's a huge learning experience.

Today I completed my first real start to finish project, an enclosure for the WiFi Kitchen Weigh Scale. I had originally housed it in a custom made balsa wood enclosure, since that was all I had to work with. (left over from my R/C flying days) I did everything, from design to print, and here it is....

It's far from perfect, but for a first try, I'm pretty happy with it. Altogether it takes about 35 hours to print.

NOW I h I'm ready to start tackling enclosures for the Grow By Wire modules. I've been looking forward to this day for quite some time, it will sure make things look neater...

 

[odam2k]

Back to the grow room... Getting ready for the heat of summer, but as I explained earlier, we are very limited in the power available.

I replaced my 400W HPS and my 700W MH lights with LED's, what a huge difference in heat. We can't have window A/C units (if it fell, it would land right on someone's doorstep!) I ran a 5,000 BTU window unit up till this new rule kicked in, and last year, I even installed it inside, butted up against the screen, so nothing stuck out, but it still drips on the neighbors...

Anyhow, portable A/C units are allowed, so we stumbled across one at Walmart, it's 6,000 btu. From what I read online, you should get double the btu if you get a portable unit, so I was a little concerned, however, the LED lights aren't adding all the heat that the old HID lights were.

Since the A/C units has a hose and is ducted out the window, I'll do the same with the exhaust from my two tents, so the a/c unit will only be dealing with the natural heat of summer, and only needs to cool the room enough to prevent stressing the plants

We haven't had any HOT days, but the unit can throw LOTS of really cold air, in fact, the exhaust out the window is passing by my temperature sensors to monitor the outside air temp, and it's like 40c, so it's removing heat....

I think I'm set now for the summer...

 

[odam2k]

I no longer look down on portable air conditioners. The one in the grow room is doing a fantastic job.

I'm starting to try my hand at designing module enclosures to be printed on the 3D printer.

Simple right, a box maybe with a lid, and a couple holes? I'm sure someone who works with CAD software could whip together anything I needed in just a couple minutes, but this is my first foray into CAD design.

I'm using TinkerCad, which is quite limiting, but it's meant for the masses, a first step for beginners. It actually does a lot, while at the same time, staying simple and not completely overwhelming like Fusion 360 or something more advanced.

 

[GrowTek]

Hey odam2k, I love all this microcontroller stuff and cannabis growing! I'm using an ESP-32 to automate my grow as well. Mine is a lot smaller of a setup though Only good for 4 plants. I'm using a digital scale to weigh the runoff and use that data to determine how much to fertigate every cycle. If the runoff collected doesn't meet the runoff set point, it automatically increases the next fertigation cycle by 10%. I'm growing in coco by the way. I don't think my system would be very useful for soil growers.

 

[Braddah Waiheesohai]

Been thinking about all this stuff for a minute! awesome thread, thanks for sharing all this info.

 

[odam2k]

This might be the last piece of the Grow By Wire system, a wireless alarm notifier. I have an alarm module which simply monitors a table in the database looking for entries signifying alarms, such as temperatures out of range, plants that have been waiting more than 4 hours to be watered, anything that requires immediate attention. Attached to this Alarm Module is an IIC device with a "disco ball" flashing light, on a 10 foot long wire so it can be placed where it can be easily seen.

This new piece is basically that same "disco ball" idea, but is wireless, so it can be located in any room as long as it can log into the network

Power: Dim yellow light to let you know its getting power.
Alarm: Red and Blue LED give a visual cue that your attention is required.
Siren: If the LEDs don't get your attention, the siren will

Since it can take a few minutes to clear an alarm (like watering a plant, and waiting for the system to process that) this switch allows me to turn the sound on/off. I may make a change so that it is a button, and turns sound off for a fixed period of time, so you don't shut it off and forget.

Power can be supplied either a USB (Also used to program the microprocessor) or via the power input, and will accept anywhere from about 5v up to 48v I think it is.

The processor is a Wemos D1 R2 which is an ESP-8266 based module, giving me access to GPIO pins as well as WiFi Networking.

These operate independently from the Alarm Module, so you can make as many as you like, and put them in different rooms around the house.

If there is an alarm, the red/blue lights flash alternatively and the two piezo speakers make a police siren sound.
I also have the blue LED flashes by itself when there are plants to be watered. This means I don't need to keep checking the web page, or windows notifications, I can see it from across the room while watching tv for instance.

 

[odam2k]

This thing is so handy, I made a second one. They can go anywhere...

 

[nortti]

Hi odam2k. Thank you for your experience and mistakes. Noted. Don't have safe electronics workbench, and I have dog. Build my own on top of zigbee.... and so on and so worth. Thank you odam2k for everything.

 

[nortti]

My time is limited, why spend it making cables?

 

[DougD]

Some pics to help with perspective... you can see the mess of the modules and sensor wires, eventually that will all get cleaned up, it IS still a prototype.

Is that a Metal Halide/Mercury Vapor lamp in your “grow light” fixture?