Minty - GrowRoom420 - Grow Tracking add on / automation idea

[weedabix]

That's awesome, thanks for sharing! I'll have a good look at that. I am about to start controlling a little grow space I made for some carnivorous plants that need high humidity and I need to turn a diy humidifier on once humidity drops. I won't go far beyond that and maybe some fans, so your setup is a little overkill for now but I will definitely take a lot of inspiration and bits of code from it! I really like the user-friendliness and number of options you put in there!

[Minty]

For me as I'm hand feeding I would t use that aspect of it but I would potentially use the data collection side if it for notes but as everyone's environment is different and for me, that is everyone's unique growing element that's key, so I'm sure if opening it up to the entrie forum would be of value for someone looking to Run a strain that say kbag or Nanook had run and wanted the info, sure it would provide an overview I'm not saying it wouldn't be helpful and interesting but because every one has a different environment it's tricky. But saying that if you collected three to five years worth of every grower then you could do some cool data mining and analysis through a fairly basic AI algorithm.

The data collection is purely for the person using it - and like you say some possible charts for fun to look back on data but nothing more really.

I think I may have over complicated things by including the automation side at all in this discussion.

Minty, after the prototype, you selling em? ;)

No, I am not selling anything, every thing I do is open source.

[Nanook]

I didnt mean the software minty, I meant the built product hahahaha

[Minty]

I didnt mean the software minty, I meant the built product hahahaha

I know mate, but it is all open source, the Firmware to go on the Arduino, the OS it all runs on, all the software of course. In terms of hardware that is literally just me getting time to document the whole build process so that people can use what ever they want. I could never sell a solution to cover every persons requirements and I wouldn't try. There are already things that cover this for each of the growing methods we use. My idea is more of collating the things that are common to all grows such as temperature, humidity, nutrient feeds etc.

The hardware is obviously the automation side to this and if there is a requirement - it would basically work in 2 ways - input and output.

For example, most people would at most consider the input, which is just basically recording sensor information in what ever form. Manually entering your temps into a web page or linking up a BME280 and using that, totally your choice. What I am suggesting we offer is a type of API where you can import or upload in realtime the stats.

The second part and obviously much more complicated would be to act on these stats in realtime and I don't think you should trust a web site to do that but what you could have is your controls online so you can say turn you lights off from in bed and that would not take much and would not cost much. Basically using the GR420 as a secure HUB so that you do not have to run a dedicated web server (like I do).

My current automation uses RF433mhz radio signals (think cheap remote controls) and IR infra red (think even cheaper remote controls) so all you need is a little Arduino with a few plug in sensors and this can control all your equipment.

I've been doing it since day one mate and I can tell you being able to control everything from my phone is very useful. That obviously doesn't stop me getting in the loft and watching while I do a Res drain/fill cycle but after a few months I reckon I will trust the software to just do it.

My side is obviously work in progress and the forum side is just an idea to see what people think so thanks for all the feedback. Could do with some more negative if I am honest because I can't currently see many down sides?


The main area of what I am really suggesting is really just simple forms for information input and output such as the following conversation I had with 2 Scoops:-

I`m not sure what 363ppm is EC wise but i googled it and looked at some charts which say it`s equivalent to anything from 0.5 to 0.7ec dependent upon type of ppm pen your using

So for me this would be a form where we collect the different types of PH pens (from user feedback) and show a conversion from PPM to EC or visa versa - simple useful forms like these which are often found online but made a little bit more dynamic in that we make them really easy to use. It is stuff like this I usually return back to a random web page for just because they have a really good chart or grid showing the information well.

This is my main idea and has been cluttered up with the talk of automation (by me - before that was ready to be talked about) to be fair.

Thanks Nanook, I'm glad your interested and I have seen you have played with this before so know roughly what I am talking about ;o)

Feel free to ask any questions mate as this does clarify things for everyone - including myself ;o)

[Minty]

On a technology side note - the web is progressing so fast and you would be amazed at what is possible. This following video shows me controlling a Light (ok an LED in the example, but replace that with a cheap RF433 socket with your grow light plugged into it) :-

That example shows a Web Page (think your own personal page on the forums), controlling an Arduino on a different network and that was the basis of my software approach / hardware infrastructure side of things. These components are cheap as feck and if we can have an API for the GrowRoom420 I think it would work really well from simple data collection to others wanting to get much more advanced.

But I am still mixing TWO different ideas into a single thread and the automation side excites me but the point of this thread was for the other much simpler side so I should stop posting automation type updates.

[Captain Beefheart]

fuk me i aint got a clue wat the fuk im looking at......... but i think it might bump start the hadron colider ? tbh bach wtf am i looking at its mind boggling shit. does it grow dope ?

[Minty]

does it grow dope ?

Yes, that is the number one requirement Captain.

[Nanook]

i keep things simple, but, this could lead to full automation. Cant get more simple than that :)
Always been my dream to have a turnkey setup :)

[Minty]

Takes away the whole process for me, pointless doing it, I like a hands on approach

You take from it from ever you want, that might be a simple conversion chart from PPM to EC, or a recommended FAN grid showing what people are using.

The initial goal is just another page on the forums with some useful information where if you decide to leave notes etc they will still be there next time. To help make the forums more useful and make it a place of reference.

The automation side is totally above the simple idea of the information collation. But at the very basic level a simple form where you put in what you currently have in terms of a grow room and your actual stats in terms of temps etc with your 'disclosed' hardware would be valuable information for other growers looking at similar hardware in a similar environment. Obviously every grow is different but information is GOLD.

[Minty]

i keep things simple, but, this could lead to full automation. Cant get more simple than that :)
Always been my dream to have a turnkey setup :)

Thanks Nanook, hopefully you see the bigger picture which is just an API and people can do with that what they please ;o)

There is no subscription or hidden agenda, just a cool idea to collate all the most important threads/information into a central area for facts / stats / hints / useful stuff that can be later displayed in a friendly manner (either your own stats just recorded in an online (cloud) table for your reference - that will also show you some pretty charts) - or if you want to contribute your stats, they will be included in the more global stats showing the bigger picture.

Imagine if all we did was to each upload a single stat - "AIR TEMP" - with a location as broad as "UK" or "USA", just ONCE a day - even the manually uploaded data would be useful and than is not considering the data my stuff collects (which is a full record ping every 5 seconds)

I will get off my arse and just plot the data I already have so you can see my Plant Being Killed By Root Rot - in realtime - OK 'history' now, but I watched it in real time!! - as the stats have been recording since day one.