I like programming and I like working with electronics, so I have built my own control system.
It's pretty cheap with electronics now, like you said.
I have a Raspberry Pi as a control unit with a 7" touch screen. I made my own interface and use Arduino Nano as slaves (via RS232) and collect temperatures, control light and fans with relays. I use VNC Viewer as a remote desktop if I want to take a look at things from my Windows 10 PC.
I haven't finished the software yet, but there are many cold and dark days ahead
Endeavouring to grow Aylostera, Echinocereus, Echinopsis, Gymnocalycium, Matucana, Rebutia, and Sulcorebutia. Fallen out of love with Lithops and aggravated by Aeoniums.
Currently being wooed by Haworthia, attempting hybridisation, and enticed by Mesembs.
Thanks for all the helpful comments. I hope to update once something is set up. I’m trying to keep it low budget as it is temporary. Hope to use a grow tent in the future.
Nice, Christer.
I use an ESP8266 board to send temperature readings to a Raspberry Pi, which then logs them, and a bit of code turns it into a web page. But I've done nothing on the control side, for which I have a professional unit.,
Ralph
I am going to build a wooden framed plywood cabinet, internally painted white, in the cellar to house the LED grow light, heating mat and propagator top (an old stewart one with a broken heating element). I will have to see how much heat is produced and may need to further insulate it if it does not reach the required temperature. My mother-in-law has given me a Biogreen thermo 2 thermostat she no longer needs. Humidity should not be a problem as I use the baggie method.
Would the heat (10x20”) mat be more efficient if I taped it down round the edges over a piece of aluminium foil covered plywood? I may also need another heat mat.
I’m hoping that it will be adequate for raising cactus seedlings within an area of about 20”x20”. Anyone tried this light? Eventually I hope to set up something a bit more robust in a proper grow tent.
I promised an update on how things went, so here we go, almost a year on!
I built the cabinet out of repurposed wood and some new plywood. The inside was painted with matt white paint that I had lying around. The window was made from an old microwave door glass. I taped the heat mat to a piece of plywood backed with aluminium foil to reflect the heat upwards and to keep it as flat as possible.
The light was hung over the tray and the thermostat tip buried in a pot of damp compost inside a ziplock bag and placed with the seed pots. I sterilised the soil and covered the surface thinly with coarse sand after sowing. The pots were soaked and sealed inside the ziplock bags (some “old” non-biodegradable ones I had!) I set the thermostat for 20oC and the LED light on a 15 hour timer 50cm above the floor of the enclosure. This is how it all stayed for 10 months. All I did was make sure the pot with the thermostat tip in was kept moist. (The propagator lid shown in one of the photos was in fact not used).
This week I removed most of the pots and transferred them to an enclosure with a grow light (more on that in another post). I had previously transplanted some Gasterias and another plant which had grown vigorously). You can see the result in the photo.
