Minty Grow Diary - GR420 LED Grow Off

[Minty]

Firstly I hope this is the correct place to start a new thread to cover my personal progress within the current competition GR420 LED Grow Off Sponsored By Invisible Sun ?

I wanted somewhere to post updates with out cluttering up the main competition thread so if this is not the correct place I apologise and please advise / move as required.

I don't even have a working build as yet and medical conditions do slow my physical progress but mostly I am just un-motivated from a lack of knowledge with actually growing things (and lazy or otherwise easily distracted). So this competition is perfect for getting me to at least progress...

I live in a tiny little house (my Fallout 4 house) without a garden/garage or any outside estate but recently had my conventional heating replaced with a Combi boiler device which removed water tanks etc from the loft freeing up a very limited space of about 2 x 2 meters as follows:-



Obviously a 2 x 2 space is enough for a grow tent but unfortunately being in a loft area this space does come with some height restrictions due to the joists crossing over so the tent had to be modified somewhat:-



But still a good area to host a 2 x 2 grow tent even if not exactly perfect being located within the loft.

These cross beams basically split the tent in half which is why I found Invisible Sun as the R Strips are ideal for building your own custom lights:-



Allowing me to construct an LED fixture consisting of 2 banks of 2 and a bank of 4 = 8 R Strips in total



I also made a DIY humidifier which self fill via the RO water supply



This is all controlled via an Arduino with a couple of motor shields and a Raspberry Pi providing the web server and wifi connectivity



Final Automation will include dosing via some Peri pumps built into the main control unit



Now all I need to do is finish all the software which is being written mostly in JavaScript using various open source projects such as Node, Johnny-Five, Figma to name just a few.

I appreciate my build is very Ghetto with much hot glue etc, but who cares, it's all just for fun, understanding and to save money right.

Trust me doing it this excessive does not save money but it is a hobby.

[Minty]

The setup consists of two pots within the tent with a Res outside for recirculating and to hold pumps, probes, etc, with a main RO water tank to the left:-



with the tank, res and pots overflowing and draining into the waste via:-



Intake air is via a 4" fan and Phresh intake filter



with extraction via a 6" Hyper Fans Stealth with a Assassin Carbon Filter

[Minty]

Couple of other random pics such as the 'pool' used to secure any major leaks as this tent is in the loft after all



Another pick of the res showing the pump and water heater:-



and another pic of the main unit build in progress:-

[Minty]

For more information on the automation side for those that are interested:-

The main control route is via RF433mhz transmissions allow the base unit to remote control a number of devices as follows:-

* DIY Humidifier - RF controlled 2 speed
* 5x single wireless remote sockets - lights, dehumidifier, fans, heaters, etc
* 4 Gang extension - Oscillating fans, camera, etc.
* Intake fan - remote controlled speed
* 4 channel remote relay - Fill / Drain / Drip & nutrient mixings

It can basically learn any RF code and replay these on demand either via a web / mobile UI or via a schedule.

It does also contain a two channel relay for controlling the main water recirculating pump and water heater but only really because the position of the unit (directly above the res) made this more convenient.

The unit also contains the following sensors:-
* BME280 environmental sensor for air temperature & humidity
* Atlas Scientific Tentacle Shield including stamps for E.C., P.H. and water Temp

The system consists of 5 water pumps in total:-
* Pump from main R.O. Water tank to Res
* Pump from Res to Drain
* Pump from both pots to Drain
* Recirculating Pump between Res and Pots

[Point 5]

Wow that's some cool set up!

[Minty]

Wow that's some cool set up!

Not yet my friend, it is still yet to be "turned on" but I am getting there hopefully.

Well I did, BETA test it only to hit the first problem of 'SIPHON' - god damn you siphon, I hate you physics...

Anyway, resolved that with a one way filter at the high point of the drain pipe (Thanks to some YouTube Dude - sorry can't remember your name, was panicking)

[Point 5]

Seems you have a plan which I good. Look forward to seeing it all in action

[Minty]

Thank you, but I do spend way to long making various plans before actually doing things.

[Minty]

Last points to note are the water level sensors shown in the following image as RES and TANK



These basically consist of high and low water level sensors within both the main Res and the backup R.O. water tank so that the system can determine water levels when both filling and draining during reservoir changes.

While the 8x Dosing pumps are all functional I still need to complete a PWM controller to operate magnetic stirrers before any automatic dosing can be done and my plan is to incorporate a weigh scale to allow the pumps to be automatically calibrated prior to dosing.

All good fun in my new world but I do not expect these to be completed in time for this competition. As such manual dosing may be more reliable at the moment.

[Minty]

The current UI is terrible and purely for development but it does work on both desktop and mobile. Note the values for E.C. P.h. etc read false as the probes are not connected.



The software is of course Open Source and available from GitHub MintyHydro but is by no means finished.