Humidity and venting help

[HydroponicFireman]

Maybe grow electronics are build for high humidity situations (and its good they are) but I would be very careful mixing high humidity and electronics. They'll have a lower life span if constantly exposed to that.

 

[SamSmith]

There was some mention of high RH being bad for electronics. I received my inkbird temp controller today, the manual states: IT is designed to operate at up to 90% humidity. So I did some other research on electronics for the horticultural business. Like all grow tent lamps, fans, electronics are designed to operate in very high RH situations. ie a grow tent, or green house.

Not sure where you got that information. I have only run across high end equipment the carries any kind of IPX ratings. Most of the stuff is made in China and unverified. They can claim anything they want shy of a rating which must be 3rd party certified. YMMV

 

[SamSmith]

Maybe grow electronics are build for high humidity situations (and its good they are) but I would be very careful mixing high humidity and electronics. They'll have a lower life span if constantly exposed to that.

Yup. Even plastics that are hygroscopic can get weak as they absorb water from high humidity. It also has a negative affect on carbon scrubbers.

 

[Fuzzy1981]

Howdy, Sam just got my Inkbird today, it has one heating and one cooling 115v receptacle. If you are in the UP (beautiful country, been there many times) - then our situations are almost identical. Here is my CBDCritical at exactly 3 weeks. I don't know what your hydro rates are in Michigan, but here in Ontario they are insane. I did some research yesterday with kilowatt hours to see what my fan uses in one year of 24/7: $125 CDN and that's only 85 watts. So this Inkbird will pay for itself over a very short time.

your cbd mass plant is looking great! i ordered the inkbird off amazon today. what exactly we are per kilowatt hour im not sure but we keep having articles in the news paper about our electricity problems. there's not enough of a population to keep the rates down. with so few people spread out so far we have the second highest rates in the u.s. we even pay more than rural alaska. I believe hawaii is the only place that pays more than we do. so yeah keeping the price down as much as possible is a big one for me, espeacially having to run a 500 watt heater for the six hours the lights are off. that is the heater that my heat only inkbird is running. my wife bought it for me for christmas. i wish i knew then what i know now, i would have had her buy the other one instead. and hey if you have any tips for growing indoors in the winter i would love to hear them. this is my second grow, but it is my first one indoors in a tent. the last one was about fifteen years ago or so, and that was mostly an outdoor grow during the summer, i would bring them in at night then set it back out in the morning. didn't do great on that grow got about an eigth off of two plants. but i didn't know much of what i was doing and even if there were grow forums back then, i doubt i would have went on them being paraniod of getting busted some how since it was still illegal then. unfortunately i still don't know alot but growing but i have much better resources at my disposal to learn now.

 

[dakotamoon]

Y'all (my wife is from Texas so I can say that) - Inkbird arrived and installed - works like a charm. In cooling mode it's awesome: when my tent temp goes over 78F - my fan comes on till there is a 3 degree drop in temp, and then back off! RH is not an issue - as I have to have a cool mist humdifier at this time of year, and it's controllable. My girls will be so much happier now. Awesome for $56 CDN! This is my first winter indoor grow as well, it's totally different than summer time with temp and RH going way down. So I came across this switch, which will turn a load on for 20 minutes, then off for 20 minutes, there are other versions of this switch which are programmable. On/Off switch! I also have a speed controller set on low plugged in to the Inkbird, then the fan into that - so when it comes on it won't be full strength - which sucks the sides of my tent in when at full speed. This one is even nicer: Titan Controls Repeat Cycle Timer, Single Outlet, 120V

 

[dakotamoon]

Do you mean my inkbird, temp controller? Works like a charm. I haven't ordered the programmable switches, because the temp climate control works very well.

 

[On the Fence]

Y'all (my wife is from Texas so I can say that) - Inkbird arrived and installed - works like a charm. In cooling mode it's awesome: when my tent temp goes over 78F - my fan comes on till there is a 3 degree drop in temp, and then back off! RH is not an issue - as I have to have a cool mist humdifier at this time of year, and it's controllable. My girls will be so much happier now. Awesome for $56 CDN! This is my first winter indoor grow as well, it's totally different than summer time with temp and RH going way down. So I came across this switch, which will turn a load on for 20 minutes, then off for 20 minutes, there are other versions of this switch which are programmable. On/Off switch! I also have a speed controller set on low plugged in to the Inkbird, then the fan into that - so when it comes on it won't be full strength - which sucks the sides of my tent in when at full speed. This one is even nicer: Titan Controls Repeat Cycle Timer, Single Outlet, 120V

I use the ones like your first one but plugs into outlet for like $10 Mine is different as it plugs directly into outlet with no cords.

Plusmart 24 Hour Outdoor Lights Timer Waterproof, Programmable Mechanical Timer

Inkbirds temp/humidity and one for heat/cooling.
There are controllers for <$5 that are just the boards and you hook up probes and plugs or hard wire outside of tent in or not in any enclosure. Have one for every single thing you want to control.

We are in very dry climate at around 20 to 27%RH. My humidifiers ran non stop in the tent trying to keep it 60%. I took them out and hung cut up old sock rags with the bottom in water. I don't even need to run a fan across them as I just added more socks till I get the humidity where you want it with the lights on. Indirect breeze does hit the socks, less than the plants get. Now when the exhaust fan comes on for temp control the humidity drops to 31% and quickly recovers as soon as fan goes off to about 55% now. I had it to 80% when I had fans blowing on the socks but the tent needed more heating too.
I have 1x4 Botanicare trays with water in them and plants sit in their own trays in the water. Water in Botanicare trays is lower than pot tray. I'm going to make some wire hangers now that I know this works. I fill the buckets with warm water too to help keep temp more stable. Buckets raise the tray off the ground and make it easier to work on the grow and add more space for heater and fan underneath which I like, especially for the heater in a 2x4 tent.