Autopilot greenhouse master controller. Any opinions?

He just told you what the amp draw of the A/C is.Any appliance drawing MORE than that much juice needs to have its OWN circuit drawn to it anyway.If you were going to draw a circuit to the relay whats the difference in drawing it to the appliance? NONE..?If we are talking about a window unit MOST..i didnt say all are under the 15 amp range AND you can purchase a Plug in programable t stat for them.:idea:
 
Aeroknow said:
Lots of people on here will tell you that you don't need to, but i've seen lots of problems with 100% sealed rooms. I've found that dumping your room a few times while lights are on, and right when lights go out works best. So maybe put your intake/exhaust fans on a timer? You'll lose a little co2 though naturally. Personally, i've given up on sealed rooms. I grew for 15 years without. 5 with sealed and I've given up.
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yea I guess I could just suck it up. I can't imagine I'd lose that much co2 over the course of 5-10 minutes of exhaust. My room isn't terribly large to begin with so adding co2 will be cheaper than most. My flower room is only 4x4x5. I only plan on keeping ppm around 700-800 ppm as well.

But I'm curious as to why you have up on the sealed rooms? Seems to me the way to go for a perfectly controlled enviroment.
 
max420thc said:
He just told you what the amp draw of the A/C is.Any appliance drawing MORE than that much juice needs to have its OWN circuit drawn to it anyway.If you were going to draw a circuit to the relay whats the difference in drawing it to the appliance? NONE..?If we are talking about a window unit MOST..i didnt say all are under the 15 amp range AND you can purchase a Plug in programable t stat for them.:idea:
Click to expand...

I don't know how much a Plug in programable t stat costs, never used one of them, but i do know how much it would cost for a contactor/box/trigger cable. 35-40 bucks?. Again, the controller he might pick up has a day/night temp switch in it. Why not utilize it?
 
Well for the sake of ending the fuss, my A/C won't be drawing enough amps to have to worry about any of this. I have found multiple 8000-9000 dual hose portables that draw between 7-9 amps. That's plenty of cooling for my room (4x4x5... With air cooled 600w). And the controller should handle that a/c unit along with the co2 solenoid no problem.
 
The surges from the ac COULD damage other electronics(your controller). You TECHNICALLY shouldn't plug ur Ac into a wall outlet with anything else plugged in on that circuit. I would either do the contactor thing. Or i would do the plug in thermostat, as Max420 says. The real slick thing about using your controller to control the temperature, is you can move the temp probe up and down to stay right above the tops of the plants, to have precise control of temps. Where the temps really count.
 
With good airflow through the room as you should have already it will mix the air well and have even temps through out the room.The dehumidifier i use pulls almost 15 amps by itself.
Because of the amp draws on everything that could be plugged in by me to one of those total controllers i find these controllers more of a novelty item not anything that has much use..at least for me in a practical world.
When you set up air movement through your plants you want a constant steady airflow going through the plants.Nothing hitting them hard.When you have your air flow ajusted smoke a bowl or a cig and blow the smoke around the plants in the room and watch the how the smoke moves with the air through them.This will help you set up airflow in your room to cover and constantly move air through and about your plants.
Another reason i do not have a practical use for these total controllers is if you have a failure of one section of the controller you cannot compartmentalize the failure and more than likely will have to change the whole controller .
The controller would not be able to handle a dehumidifier or a decent size A/C at the same time..nor the circuit it plugs into would be able to handle the amp draw.The only thing it really does this controller is turn the co2 off when the ventilation is running.You will normally still need a seperate co2 controller for the generator anyway.Most of the good ones have a photo cell on them to turn the generator or injectors off when lights are off.Most of the larger dehumidifiers have digital humidity controls on them from the factory.
If you are running a sealed room like aero says you will need to vent the rooms a couple of times when lights are on for complete room air change over and regeneration of co2 and fresh air.If you do not do this you will see some sick looking plants..if you do vent it you will see some turbo charged beasts.
As the room is vented only a couple of times a day and LP for my generator is cheap
.I use a little smaller generator than what is needed so as it vents the generator runs to try and keep up with the loss of co2 for.It takes a little longer to bring the room up to the desired co2 rate but i lose less of it when it vents.The ventilation is set up on a separate timer. To figure out how long the ventilation needs to run figure the volume of the room WxLxH. This will give you Cubic ft of the room.Then you need the cubic ft a min of your exhaust fan.This will give you how many min the exhaust has to run before a complete room change over of air and co2.Let the fan run long enough to complete about three room change over in the room before it shuts the exhaust back down.
You ever see picture of someone burning down their grow? Well that's what happens when you don't run separate circuits for your appliances from the breaker box's plugging to much shit into one circuit.
I might have or see a need for one of these controllers If it held enough amp draw through it to be useful.
Ive looked at peoples equipment for years now.It seems almost no one makes commercial grade quality equipment professionally made.I see a huge market for a company that would build quality equipment with a practical use with extreme reliability.
There is very little equipment i see out in the market that is sold commercially that could not be greatly improved on.
CAP and other companys are all using the cheapest chinese made junk timers you can purchase for 50 cents. The relays are junk.The over all product put out by most of these companys is over all junk.
There is a huge opportunity right now for someone to start a company making quality equipment.
A digital prog.plug in wall t stat is around 30 to 40 bucks on ebay.
 
I absolutely agree with most of what you say. But Is there a plug in thermostat for an ac, or multiple ac's running at 240v? I still see the use of a contactor. That is the reason I got into using contactors in the first place(and for lighting). He already stated he was aware of overloading a circuit. The autopilot master contoller has a fuzzy logic co2 controller integrated in. No need for an extra controller.
 
And before you say, why are you using multiple window ac's and not just one split system, well, sometimes it just aint practical. BTW, my brother is a union electrician, He should probably be the one discussing this with you. Lol
 
I didn't know hydrofarm bought them out, but i'm pretty sure hydrofarm distributes Autopilot brand. C.r.A.P(R&M) went to shit, rite when there was a divorce between owners a few years back. I still have some, well, quite a few cap products online. I'm in the process of replacing them though. I haven't had/heard of one bad thing from autopilot yet. We'll see huh?
 
Aeroknow said:
And before you say, why are you using multiple window ac's and not just one split system, well, sometimes it just aint practical. BTW, my brother is a union electrician, He should probably be the one discussing this with you. Lol
Click to expand...
Some times the situation of our grow dictates how we can grow and what we can use and there is nothing that can be done about it.
Im not going to be specific but i have a strong back ground in electrical/mechanical field With a degree from one large company as a senior electrician/mechanic.That and 25 years experience.
 
rickymac21 said:
But I'm curious as to why you have up on the sealed rooms? Seems to me the way to go for a perfectly controlled enviroment.
Click to expand...

I just don't find the results worth all the extra power needed. I would rather rock more lights. Now, in hot climates it can be very useful. But, i'm not. And, it could be the difference between growing fire, or growing boo-boo, If your intake air is to warm. I visit sealed rooms all the time, we yield almost identical with same strains.

I don't know how you would fit a portable ac, dehu, fan on the floor blowing up^, all in that small space you got. If your dead set on using some Co2, i still highly recommend the master controller. Plug ur intake/exhaust to "cooling output". Plug ur Co2 into the "CO2 output" adjust the settings to your liking. Now you have supplemental CO2 enrichment, without going through all the hoopla of a "sealed growroom".
Naturally, this is just my opinion, just trying to save you some money
 
Aeroknow said:
I didn't know hydrofarm bought them out, but i'm pretty sure hydrofarm distributes Autopilot brand. C.r.A.P(R&M) went to shit, rite when there was a divorce between owners a few years back. I still have some, well, quite a few cap products online. I'm in the process of replacing them though. I haven't had/heard of one bad thing from autopilot yet. We'll see huh?
Click to expand...
like someone said earlier, they are pretty much a sentinel with different plastic casings. either way, sentinel and autopilot are better than crap.
 
rickymac21 said:
On the other hand the Sentinel chh-4 isn't that much more expensive and it seems everyone is using them. http://www.plantlightinghydroponics...ating-humidity-and-co2-controller-p-2778.html but what I concerns me with these controllers is that they have a max amp rating of 15 amps. So probably 11-12 amps safely. Considering I would only be running a 9000 btu AC unit and co2, would the controller handle that? Most 9000 btu units I've seen draw roughly 9-11 amps. And a bottles co2 tank and regulator probably won't even draw 1 amp. So I should be good right?
Click to expand...
Get a relay. Let the controller turn on the relay and run your stuff off the relay(s). The reason they made them to handle only 15 amps is that's all one wall socket can handle.
 
a mongo frog said:
Although I have the chhc4 that u hate. The auto pilot looks cool. What I do is hook my exhaust to the cooling port on my controller. Just in case my room gets a little to warm for my liking. This shuts the co2 down and then in minutes cools the room. My a/c is hooked up to a day and night cheap thermostat. Works great this way. U will find that the dehumidifier and heat ports u will maybe never use. But either way those controllers r awesome and I don't think one is better then the other.
Click to expand...
If you're using A/C and co2, why have an exhaust?
 
max420thc said:
He just told you what the amp draw of the A/C is.Any appliance drawing MORE than that much juice needs to have its OWN circuit drawn to it anyway.If you were going to draw a circuit to the relay whats the difference in drawing it to the appliance? NONE..?If we are talking about a window unit MOST..i didnt say all are under the 15 amp range AND you can purchase a Plug in programable t stat for them.:idea:
Click to expand...
They have to be located at the wall socket, or use a heavy-duty extension cord to the thermostat (if in a tent) and another one to the A/C. The A/C makers advise against this. As do the thermostat makers.
 
rickymac21 said:
Well for the sake of ending the fuss, my A/C won't be drawing enough amps to have to worry about any of this. I have found multiple 8000-9000 dual hose portables that draw between 7-9 amps. That's plenty of cooling for my room (4x4x5... With air cooled 600w). And the controller should handle that a/c unit along with the co2 solenoid no problem.
Click to expand...
The co2 solenoid draws almost nothing.
 
max420thc said:
With good airflow through the room as you should have already it will mix the air well and have even temps through out the room.The dehumidifier i use pulls almost 15 amps by itself. Because of the amp draws on everything that could be plugged in by me to one of those total controllers i find these controllers more of a novelty item not anything that has much use..at least for me in a practical world. When you set up air movement through your plants you want a constant steady airflow going through the plants.Nothing hitting them hard.When you have your air flow ajusted smoke a bowl or a cig and blow the smoke around the plants in the room and watch the how the smoke moves with the air through them.This will help you set up airflow in your room to cover and constantly move air through and about your plants. Another reason i do not have a practical use for these total controllers is if you have a failure of one section of the controller you cannot compartmentalize the failure and more than likely will have to change the whole controller . The controller would not be able to handle a dehumidifier or a decent size A/C at the same time..nor the circuit it plugs into would be able to handle the amp draw.The only thing it really does this controller is turn the co2 off when the ventilation is running.You will normally still need a seperate co2 controller for the generator anyway.Most of the good ones have a photo cell on them to turn the generator or injectors off when lights are off.Most of the larger dehumidifiers have digital humidity controls on them from the factory. If you are running a sealed room like aero says you will need to vent the rooms a couple of times when lights are on for complete room air change over and regeneration of co2 and fresh air.If you do not do this you will see some sick looking plants..if you do vent it you will see some turbo charged beasts. As the room is vented only a couple of times a day and LP for my generator is cheap .I use a little smaller generator than what is needed so as it vents the generator runs to try and keep up with the loss of co2 for.It takes a little longer to bring the room up to the desired co2 rate but i lose less of it when it vents.The ventilation is set up on a separate timer. To figure out how long the ventilation needs to run figure the volume of the room WxLxH. This will give you Cubic ft of the room.Then you need the cubic ft a min of your exhaust fan.This will give you how many min the exhaust has to run before a complete room change over of air and co2.Let the fan run long enough to complete about three room change over in the room before it shuts the exhaust back down. You ever see picture of someone burning down their grow? Well that's what happens when you don't run separate circuits for your appliances from the breaker box's plugging to much shit into one circuit. I might have or see a need for one of these controllers If it held enough amp draw through it to be useful. Ive looked at peoples equipment for years now.It seems almost no one makes commercial grade quality equipment professionally made.I see a huge market for a company that would build quality equipment with a practical use with extreme reliability. There is very little equipment i see out in the market that is sold commercially that could not be greatly improved on. CAP and other companys are all using the cheapest chinese made junk timers you can purchase for 50 cents. The relays are junk.The over all product put out by most of these companys is over all junk. There is a huge opportunity right now for someone to start a company making quality equipment. A digital prog.plug in wall t stat is around 30 to 40 bucks on ebay.
Click to expand...
Don't smoke pot in front of your plants. It upsets them. The controller has a built-in co2 monitor and digital control, so no additional co2 controller is needed. I use a Growzone switcher plugged into my Sentinal so only one of the A/C or dehumidifier can run at a time. The A/C has priority. There are 4 or 5 companies making units identical to the Autopilot. Only the case and the graphics differ. Notice all the controls, indicators, read out, operation are exactly the same? The last time I checked, the computer interface to your PC wasn't available.
 
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