Arduino Controlled Grow and PC Program - Work In Progress

Originally Posted by Afistakis

My room has auto controls on ac, water chiller, humidifier and lights. I run my vent fan all the time which I could use a speed controller for based on when lights are on and difference of temp inside and outside the room. I would also like to have a difference in temp when the lights are on vs off (day/night) which my unit does not allow for. Water chiller is a constant.

Alerts for all system failures or out of range sensor results and remote viewing of the readings are key to what I am trying for.

Are you happy with your touch screen? What should I get to play with based on your recent experience?

I'd recommend an ITDB02... It's directly compatible with the UTFT library @ http://www.henningkarlsen.com/electr...rary.php?id=51. I had to do a little hacking to the library to get my SSD1963 up and running, but now that I know how I really do like this screen. I agree with the PID loops, I'm going for the on/off range set. I just updated the code to check the times to see if light / water(nute) pump should be on. So both timers are working and are testing to be okay. All the settings save automatically now too. I agree with the priority being the alerts and remote monitoring. I'm going to work on the Ethernet side of things next so hopefully those will be implemented soon too

Edit: Never thought about the difference in temps for day/night. Good point/idea.

One more frivolous but possibly useful thought: when I go pro, and I want separate systems so that I can harvest every few weeks. I haven't thought much about the control logistics but what do you think of running seperate unos that control the environment and report back to a master or to a computer via xbee or even hardwire? The goal being individual system monitoring and remote control.

I can't tell how much sense I am making... I apologize that I am not sober but I wanted to put this thought down while i was thinking about it.out it...

Originally Posted by Afistakis

One more frivolous but possibly useful thought: when I go pro, and I want separate systems so that I can harvest every few weeks. I haven't thought much about the control logistics but what do you think of running seperate unos that control the environment and report back to a master or to a computer via xbee or even hardwire? The goal being individual system monitoring and remote control.

I can't tell how much sense I am making... I apologize that I am not sober but I wanted to put this thought down while i was thinking about it.out it...

lol... Makes sense to me and should be possible through any protocol really, you could go xbee, or wifi but there are security risks to running wireless. Shouldn't be hard to have multiple 'nodes' either, just change the firmware to a different IP address and if you have a SQL Database running, you could just add a new table for each different unit. This should keep everything nicely organized

Edit: Double Post ^^

Does anybody know where to get a cheap EC sensor?

Very cheap But it should work fine enough...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NPtmHdbW3k
And here is a EC sensor shield:
http://www.practicalmaker.com/produc...ield-assembled
or
http://www.robotshop.com/ec-probe-shield-3.html

Edit: self censorship due to unfriendly honesty...

Originally Posted by AdvancedNewbie

lol... Makes sense to me and should be possible through any protocol really, you could go xbee, or wifi but there are security risks to running wireless. Shouldn't be hard to have multiple 'nodes' either, just change the firmware to a different IP address and if you have a SQL Database running, you could just add a new table for each different unit. This should keep everything nicely organized

I do believe using a separate table for each "site" or "node" as you put it is the best bet to result difference systems and simple PHP management/display. However, having a web server send signals to the device is where the tricky stuff comes in.