Computerized X-10 garden control system

[Emilya Green]

This is the basic X-10 appliance module. They are readily available either new from the company or used on ebay for very good prices. Using these modules it is possible to control everything in the grow room, from lights to pumps to fans and anything inbetween. By using the same code, you can make multiple units come on and off at the same time, and you have the ability to switch on and off as much as once a minute.

Using the computer program, things can get very fancy. You can put date conditionals in your programing, allowing an automatic changing of a lighting schedule based on date. You can create macros that will repetitively do tasks based on time of day or on other triggers. You could automate changing your lighting period every day if you wanted to, simulating the sun outside.

My house lights know when it is sunrise or sunset. Some of my house lights come on 20 minutes before sunset without me touching a thing. Only at night, if there is movement in certain areas of our house, lights come on automatically and if I hit a switch, they stay on until 1/2 hour after sunrise, when all unneeded lights are turned off automatically. If I leave my house, a random setting makes it look like there is activity in the house at night with lights going off and on all evening, simulating someone walking through the house. I have a dryer box that I use with its own special timer. Its fan comes on for 3 minutes, every 20 minutes and does a wonderful job slow drying, keeping smell down, and preventing mold or mildew problems. I can easily automate a watering system, whether it needs to turn on a pump every 4 minutes or for 10 minutes every 5 days.

The drawbacks to this system is that the X-10 company is a bit hard to deal with. I had to send back the first control unit that they sent me because it did not have the battery backup that I required so that my system would not go stupid if the power failed. Then it was very hard to get them to give me the software that I had purchased. I finally found a copy in europe that worked and have been happy with it, but dealing with the X-10 folks for me was a bit stressful... you might have better luck.

Here are a couple of views of the software... Once you get it all setup and working, it is a beautiful thing. Now, via the internet, I have total control over my system... from anywhere in the world, but for the most part, it is totally automatic once I get it programmed in. If you are willing to deal with the hassles of getting it set up initially, being able to have precise control over your electronics via computer is a very cool thing.

 

[Release420]

Hey Emily. I am currently growing in an insulated room built in my garage. The garage is large and only used for minor storage. It is not connected to the house. It is in the yard. In the garage the was a spare room built. There is a sliding glass door and a ceiling and it is insulated. I sleep on a couch in there sometimes lol. In that room There is an ac in the window to keep the room cool in the summer. I have black plastic over the windows and two dark blankets hung by the door to block out light. In the winter it gets cold about 55 with a space heater. But as long as there are HID lights on the tents stay about70F. Being the space heater is 1500w I try to get away with not using the space heater. But if need be I will use it to boost the rooms temp. I have a 4x4x6(Gorilla) tent, that I want to use for flowering. I was also gifted a Hydrofarm Luminaire series AC Hood 1000w HPS and an e-ballast that works great and I just got a new bulb. I plan on using that hood for Bloom. I also have a 4x2x5(forget the name)tent for vegging. I have a hydrofarm sunburst 400w MH/HPS hood. I use the MH bulb to veg. And I have a Secret Jarden 2x2x5.8 tent. Im currently using that tent for drying/storage, I was thinking it could be a male tent for future breeding? Or maybe a mother/ clone tent(kinda small)? But anyways I figured out to run my flower light from 7pm-7am when my mothers husbands pool pump is off. There is a separate breaker out in the garage but I don't know how much it can handle. Currently it handles my 400wlight and the 1500w space heater. And in the summer it was able to handle the 400wlight and the air conditioner. My question is do you think I would be able to run the 1000wflower the 400w veg and the air conditioner? I am saving up for a co2 tank but for now will supplement co2 by opening the doors every so often to exchange air. This is my medicine! It is worth it to go the extra mile for them! If I can't use the Ac I will have to use a can fan and duct it out of the room. I only have a 4inch, I got this one when I was living in the city and had a small tent with no room. Being my AC1000w hood has an 8inch duct Im going to need a bigger fan! My next question and the reason I clicked onto this posting was with all these environmental controllers they make, do they make one with a breaker? I would only need something to control 2-3 lights a couple extraction fans and humidity. If there is Im going to start putting money towards that. I am currently saving to switch to an natural organic super soil. I use roots organic soil currently and a lot of advanced nutrient products. But I can't wait to toss the synthetics out! I want to build my super soil using all sub cools basic amendments and stick with Roots Organic soil being it has all the goodies in the base, without it being too hot! Anyways if you have any suggestions for my grow please let me know. I think i saw something that you have a wish list? anyways get back to me when you can! I hope your garden is doing great! I loved the thread on your fermented dandelions! get back to me via, here..email…boards…
stay high`
stay free~
Release the medicine

 

[Emilya Green]

Hey Emily. I am currently growing in an insulated room built in my garage. The garage is large and only used for minor storage. It is not connected to the house. It is in the yard. In the garage the was a spare room built. There is a sliding glass door and a ceiling and it is insulated. I sleep on a couch in there sometimes lol. In that room There is an ac in the window to keep the room cool in the summer. I have black plastic over the windows and two dark blankets hung by the door to block out light. In the winter it gets cold about 55 with a space heater. But as long as there are HID lights on the tents stay about70F. Being the space heater is 1500w I try to get away with not using the space heater. But if need be I will use it to boost the rooms temp. I have a 4x4x6(Gorilla) tent, that I want to use for flowering. I was also gifted a Hydrofarm Luminaire series AC Hood 1000w HPS and an e-ballast that works great and I just got a new bulb. I plan on using that hood for Bloom. I also have a 4x2x5(forget the name)tent for vegging. I have a hydrofarm sunburst 400w MH/HPS hood. I use the MH bulb to veg. And I have a Secret Jarden 2x2x5.8 tent. Im currently using that tent for drying/storage, I was thinking it could be a male tent for future breeding? Or maybe a mother/ clone tent(kinda small)? But anyways I figured out to run my flower light from 7pm-7am when my mothers husbands pool pump is off. There is a separate breaker out in the garage but I don't know how much it can handle. Currently it handles my 400wlight and the 1500w space heater. And in the summer it was able to handle the 400wlight and the air conditioner. My question is do you think I would be able to run the 1000wflower the 400w veg and the air conditioner? I am saving up for a co2 tank but for now will supplement co2 by opening the doors every so often to exchange air. This is my medicine! It is worth it to go the extra mile for them! If I can't use the Ac I will have to use a can fan and duct it out of the room. I only have a 4inch, I got this one when I was living in the city and had a small tent with no room. Being my AC1000w hood has an 8inch duct Im going to need a bigger fan! My next question and the reason I clicked onto this posting was with all these environmental controllers they make, do they make one with a breaker? I would only need something to control 2-3 lights a couple extraction fans and humidity. If there is Im going to start putting money towards that. I am currently saving to switch to an natural organic super soil. I use roots organic soil currently and a lot of advanced nutrient products. But I can't wait to toss the synthetics out! I want to build my super soil using all sub cools basic amendments and stick with Roots Organic soil being it has all the goodies in the base, without it being too hot! Anyways if you have any suggestions for my grow please let me know. I think i saw something that you have a wish list? anyways get back to me when you can! I hope your garden is doing great! I loved the thread on your fermented dandelions! get back to me via, here..email…boards…
stay high`
stay free~
Release the medicine

It sounds like you have a great plan but I don't know about your power situation. Have someone check out your breaker and if you have a normal 10a or 20a breaker you can do the math and figure out what the max on that circuit is. I had a situation where my grow room started to draw too much current with 3 600w Lumatek ballasts going, several fans and an airconditioner, and I started to occasionally pop the circuit breaker. I talked with an electrician and we decided to run a 220 line back to that room. The 220 circuit easily handles the ballasts now, and I use the regular 110 to control timers and fans and such. Things run a bit more efficiently this way too, and it reduced my power bill just a bit.
I also have had very good luck running my AC Hood air supply with a separate fan, and I simply run cool air from outside of the tent through it and out the other side of the tent into the room, with no filtering. It is very efficient, and when all the lights are on, it can raise the temperature of the room quite well. In the summer time when this is a problem, I simply duct this warm air out of a window, along with the filtered air from inside of the tent. I definitely run a different system here, depending on whether it is summer or winter. As far as the space heater goes, I just wired a $14 thermostat onto mine, and I set it for 60. I don't think that getting a little cool at night hurts our plants at all... and actually it seems to give some of them some very pretty fall colors when it is done right.

 

[Release420]

Kool Em, I have been checking out a lot of your forums and posts and advice and you had me glued to the screen all day yesterday, I can't wait to get some good genetics going!
Im sorry em, I have a few questions but they won't let me pm you until my posting are up(and i don't just click on random pics with nothing important to say, when I comment Im trying to help other as I was so kindly helped by you and some of the OGs.) So i apologize for posting these here, if this is going to confuse anyone, then delete and get back to me on email or we. Im still getting used to the rules and feel of the mag. Ok... I have my soil ready, just picked up 2 bags of my favorite stuff! I love Roots Organic soil, it has Mycorrhizae, worm castings, bat guano, pumice, peat moss, cocoa fiber, kelp, perlite, greensand, fish bone meal, non gmo soy bean meal, feather meal, alfalfa meal, and leonardite(humid acid). Good stuff! For now Im only using my rip off synthetic Advanced nutes this last run because thats all I have at the moment and I am saving up for all the amendments I need for the super soil. Organic buds taste so much better!
Im curious to know the exact ingredients you use in your super soil. Because even though there all about the same everyone always has a slight variation. Like this breeder I knew from Organ used neem seed meal for insect prevention and then I hear some people using insect frass. So Im putting my list together. And since My base soil has a lot in there it helps but I would add a little more beneficials I really like this product called Organism XL its made by same people who make my base Roots Organic soil. Now I don't mess with there bottled nutrients organic or synthetic, but the powdered bennies and the organic base soil works good for me. And I like using the extreme MYCOS when I transplant, yet to try the AZOS. Anyway, now to my list of amendments for my SS; ROOTS ORGANIC SOIL AS MY BASE, BLOOD MEAL, STEAMED BONE MEAL,(I hear you could also use FISH BONE MEAL, has calcium I just don't want to over do the Ca, because I have had a calcium toxicity and it messed 2 plants up bad, I started locking out other nutrients and I was drawing in too much nitrogen it was a mess...) back to list, HIGH PHOS. BAT GUANO, EPSOM SALTS, AZOMITE, A 25-50LBS OF WORM CASTINGS, DOLOMITE LIME, HUMIC ACID, EXTRA BENEFICIAL ORGANISM XL (the stuff I mentioned before, it has benificials bacteria and fungi, trichoderma bacillus and a few others) and i was also going to add; EITHER INSECT FRASS OR NEEM SEED MEAL for insect prevention, AND MAYBE SOME EXTRA CHUNKY PERLITE AND DEFINITELY SOME ORGANIC COMPOST.
I wanted to also ask you if you think any of the following ingredients are important as I see others using, additional compost, kelp meal, oyster shell, rock phosphate, greensand due to most organic amendments are low in potassium(my roots organic has greensand), also alfalfa meal is in my base but it contains microbes and and magnesium along with a natural growth stimulator.. would I need any more added to my Super Soil contains a few of these in the base?
So back to the original topic sorry, sorry really bad add/adhd... I medicating as I'm writing this lol.
So….. I was just on the the electricians website. Trying to learn lol. And a 20amp breaker can hold about 2400w, give or take a few watts.
I checked my two breakers and it didn't list the amps on the breaker in my house or the one in the garage. But I saw that some of the lines from the house breaker control some of the outlets in the garage. And the second breaker was added to the garage to add more outlets to accommodate my moms husbands room in the garage (before I lived here it was his man cave) and also to hold power for the pool pump. So I was reading and as long as i don't over power one breaker... I should be ok. And the breaker in my house controls a few out lets in the garage. Plus the added breaker in the garage controls a few other outlets back here.
With all that said I know I am able to run over 2000w while the pool is on. Because last august and september I was running my 400w HID, My window AC(what are they like 3000w?) and a few fans and the pool was running with no problem.
So as I was reading its not about how many watts your running, its about how many watts you have going to each breaker. And how much that breaker can handle. And I'm going to have to flip a couple of switches to see exactly what outlets are connected to the house breaker and which ones are being power by the garage breaker. LOL even if I have to run an electric cord from the deck(100ft away) to my room for the AC I will get her done! A few days ago I was testing shit out and I was able to run the 1500w space heater and the 1000w light at the same time back there thats 2500w going back there in winter! Anyways, so I don't think I have the average 10amp breaker. And if All I have is the standard 20amp and not 30amp then my garage definitely has outlets powered back here and in the house, and what also leads me to believe this is; I plugged the 1500w space heater in and the 1000w light in on two outlets that were the furthest apart. from each othe
r in the garage. And if those outlets were on the same breaker then I can handle a little more then I think.
Anyways Em Im poking around on here seeing all the talent! I hope your garden is flowing smooth!
stay high~stay freeRelease the medicine

 

[Emilya Green]

I will get with you via email regarding my exact mix... it is against the rules of this forum for me to share my wish list with one of the big box companies... but I will get the info to you. I didn't substitute anything from Subcool's original recipe, and it seems to have worked very well for me. regarding the electrical stuff, it sounds like you have a pretty good circuit running back there to the garage, and any electrician should be able to glance at that breaker box and tell you what you have... I am betting it is a 20a circuit. Its not that big of a deal to run a 220 circuit out there though, and with that much current flowing over 110 wires, things may get a little warm, and certainly the voltage drop in a 100' run is enough to notice a difference in power consumption just by using the more efficient 220 voltage. Higher voltage will actually heat up the wires less, resulting in less loss, and cheaper power bills.