Round 3 - Capn Style - Automated

[Skybound]

I am specifically looking for plastic valves because I am a hydro grower and I use salt based nutrients and as you may have guessed, the very corrosive nature of salts would quickly erode anything metal which would then further break down into oxidized compounds and pretty much poison my girls which is very BAAAAD. Plastics will also wear out over time, but that's in the years category and there is no poisonous byproducts to the plant.

I just did a quick search on Blynk's forums to see if anybody made any projects with the sonoff switches and there seem to be quite a few. In my setup, I use Sainsmart 8 channel relay boards that are then controlled via the microcontroller which itself is networked with Blynk, but I see the sonoff switches are networked directly.

 

[SamAndMax]

Damn. How could I overlook that. Brass will corrode over time with fertilizer... :-D

How about the hunter valves:
Hunter Irrigation Valves, SRV, PGV, HPV, ICV, ASV, HBV and IBV

They seem to have plastic and stainless steel components.

There is also a pure stainless steel version of the brass solenoids that I posted, but it seems it is already double the price.
But I am not really sure how stainless steel is reacting to fertilizer. Do you know more?

Yes it seems that you can use Sonoff switches with Blynk.

So is Blynk reliable and can I make complex rules which would run my solenoids in a synchronized way or make the running of my pump dependable of the sensor input of my water sensors? Also does Blynk need an internet connection, or would it work in kind of an intranet?

Also did you try some solenoids which you don't recommend? So I will not make the same mistakes.

 

[Skybound]

Blynk can be used as a local server hosted from something in the local area, though I've only used it over the web thus far which is dependent upon internet. Still, my project runs aside from that connection via programmed functions in the Arduino side. As stated above, I've suffered crashes, though I'm convinced these are due to shortcomings in the Arduino rather than the connection to the web, but being as though I'm migrating my project to ESPs, I will be able to rule that out over time. ESPs don't have as many pins as a mega, but each has way more RAM so splitting the functions up will further mitigate the chances of failure.

As it relates to my direction in my project, your valves linked above (the PVC ones) still won't work (for me) because they are one way valves meaning the fluids can only flow a single direction and not the other. I need the ability to flow either way, depending on which of my pumps is driving the flow. To my knowledge, brass is comprised of copper and zinc which are both micros and that alone will create a nutrient imbalance. Stainless might last a bit longer, but it will still oxidize as the salts really are aggressive and will actually attack the metal.

Above is my setup. The red lines represent the valves that are yet to be created. Currently, I carry no water, never. It is plumbed into the RO reservoir, and each of the sites ties into the waste plumbing, so the site reservoirs can empty themselves out and yes, I have buttons in my Blynk app that can activate those pumps (aside from their programmed feeding times) and empty that given site at the end of the week.

 

[SamAndMax]

ahhh... sorry I dont understand the chart. I tried to figure it out... :-D

yeah if you need two directional valves...hmmm I think in that way we are on different paths. Good luck with doing the valves.

Thanks for the ideas with blynk and sharing that you will use 8266ESP!

Luckily you mentioned the corrosiveness of the metals. It is a pain to find the proper valves. Luckily I could find a nursery over internet, which seem to sell what I need for cheap.

Its getting late here, I am off ;-)

 

[Skybound]

The yellow boxes are totes with a plant on each. The blue circle is my RO reservoir that gives 10 gallons to each site once a week. Each reservoir has a pump so I can pump from RO to the site, site to waste, or site past the probes on the right leg and/or past the nutrient lines on the left leg. I have 8 automated peristaltic pumps and will soon have 12-16 that are used for nutrient dosing. Due to the crashes, I've discontinued the nute pumps, but once I get the ESPs working, I will put them back into use. I already designed 3D printed motor boxes that houses 4 pumps, 2 motor drivers, an ESP8266 and a .96" OLED display. All I need to add to each is a 12 volt 2 amp power supply and all the ESPs will talk to Blynk and receive my instructions therefrom. I am still yet to get the pricey Atlas Scientific PH, EC and O2 probes, but they're in my near future and everything has been slowly progressing towards total and complete automation. When I achieve that level, I will only need to visit my grow roughly every 7-14 days for pruning, cloning and transplanting.

 

[WeedMonkey]

I really like what your doing here skybound.

 

[Weaselcracker]

I don't know if this company would have anything you need Skybound, but as a person who likes DIY maybe you'll like this place if you don't know of it already.

McMaster-Carr

It's incredible.

 

[Skybound]

Thanks for the link WC, I've been through their site before, but never found exactly what I'm looking for. If any of you guys ever get a 3D printer, let me know, I've already designed a bunch of shit to be used in my grow, and not just what's pictured above. I even made hydro halos and can adjust the sizes and opening positions, clone stands, cup holders, I also designed black out ducts, but I'm going for a patent on those b/c that one's a money maker for sure. Still, I got lots to share if anybody's interested.

 

[WeedMonkey]

I’m always interested in your wisdom and ongoing endeavors.

 

[Skybound]

Anybody have experience with OG Kush? I keep getting a combo of minor deficiencies just after the stretch. I see Phos def and copper def which usually leads to N toxicity. Are they related?

 

[Weaselcracker]

Tead would be a good guy to ask about OGK - he's been growing it a long time. I have my first seedling going....

 

[Skybound]

So far, my experience is she takes forever to show when put in 12/12, can be very stretchy, but not even across the top and finishes with really thin branches. I used to trim their under carriage 3 weeks after first sign of pistils, but my first round went bad, so I waited 4 weeks on my 2nd round and so far she's looking great save for the minor defs. Her colas don't stack well either.

 

[Crysmatic]

Some more tests revealed a few things to me. The lower the dose, the less accuracy I get. I'm thinking to find a different power supply with increased voltage and use PWM to regulate motor speeds.

Every mechanical system has a dead time, a rise time, a steady state region, and peak. You have to fully characterise the pump in order to precisely manage the flow. Meaning you should start low enough to find the dead spot, and the dog leg onto the steady region. Picture is for a car fuel injector.

 

[Crysmatic]

fwiw, MIT created OpenAG environmental controller in 2015. The idea is that any grower around the world could assemble a grow box from a common BOM, download the parameters and code for a particular plant, and successfully grow it. They already have loads of people collaborating on coding and solving problems in their forums. hth

 

[stipulus]

The pics. Bubblegum on day 66 (day 1 of flush). Beginning ppm was like 20, a day later, 350. Res change again tomorrow. Also removed most of the large fan leaves and will try to get the rest throughout the week. One of the lowest branches was doing so well that it snapped under its own weight and since I needed another sample, I just took it off today and it should be ready to smoke by the weekend. The last sample was very good smoking. Not the greatest tasting, but that wasn't flushed or cured properly, but the high, oh I love it! Super strong head stone that really wants to go down to the body, but just doesn't. It instantly relaxes the muscles in my neck making my head feel like a fidget spinner with a nice loose well oiled feeling, like the tinman I suppose.

I killed the other large Bubblelicious I had in veg. Her clones look like they'll take, but if not, she was the weaker performer and TBH, might not ever make it to bloom anyway. Always good to give yourself options though. The pic of the gloves was just 10 minutes of pulling fan leaves.

Edit - after trimming the nug, I brought it home and weighed it, 15.8 grams on the stick. I'll weigh it again before I smoke any. predictions?

I reckon you will get a maximum of 3.5g

 

[Skybound]

fwiw, MIT created OpenAG environmental controller in 2015. The idea is that any grower around the world could assemble a grow box from a common BOM, download the parameters and code for a particular plant, and successfully grow it. They already have loads of people collaborating on coding and solving problems in their forums. hth

Thanks for the tip Crysmatic!! A little digging and I found their forum, so I joined. Have you built growTech?

 

[Crysmatic]

I have not. might be worth doing CO2 with arduino instead of a $500 controller.

 

[Skybound]

That's exactly how I feel and the underlying reason I got started with any of this, the automation aspect I mean.