Environmental Controllers & Automation

Hello all,

I'm experiencing issues, & have in the past, with room temp issues causing me to loose precious genetic material. I believe it is simply because my spring & fall temps fluctuate so much from night to day. (Up to 40°F) I've been using a room that's just panda plasticed up all the walls w my light hanging in it. Problem is, I can't seal any heat in or the cold out & it causes wild temperature delta in my clone reservoir which in turn promotes the nasty slime.

I've got a brand new 5ft X 5ft tent to put the equipment in and was basically wondering what yall would suggest for controllers...

First... Should I get an integrated unit that will control temp, humidity, pumps, etc or should I get separate controlers for each parameter that needs to be delt with?
Please include pros & cons from your perspective.

Second...
What brand controllers would you suggest & why?

Experience with suggested products counts more than "s/he said" bs.

Thank you, in advance, for your recommendations & experiences.

edit:
I'll add that C.A.P. & AutoPilot controllers are readily available at my local shop.

In my experience, I think individual controllers are the way to go. The fully integrated ones are expensive and if it breaks, you are pretty much screwed. Plus you would have to replace that the entire expensive unit, instead of just one instrument.

Once you get in the territory of automating and controlling things remotely, wifi or bluetooth, you are introducing some relatively risky points of failure into your setup. The "dumb" controllers work very well as they were originally designed for industrial applications and then repurposed/rebranded for cannabis cultivators. CAP and Autopilot have a bad rep, I like Titan controllers personally, mine have held up well and I put them through hell (just a quick note-- I've been told that Titan products in black plastic casing are made in China, while the white metal ones are made in the US).

As far as automation and controls, this is really all you need -- I've been using these exact models for years:

Humidity controller - keeps your RH in check

Day/night temp controller - turns fans on and off when temps hit the set levels

7-day digital timer - for lights (assuming you have 120v)

Short cycle timer - keep your nutes mixed / aeroponic cloner pumps

In the past, I tried using wifi cameras and wifi outlets so I could see when I needed to water and activate my drippers remotely. This sounded good in theory but the reality is that these WiFi outlets are not reliable. Sometimes they don't turn on, sometimes they turn on by themselves and empty my reservoir (fortunately I have solid drainage). So I had to stop with that, now I use these local remote control things. That way I can walk around my room and watch the watering, then turn the pump off without having to walk over and unplug it.

Not much else to it. This isn't really automation but I do use a wifi grow room monitor. The product is not released yet but I've been using it for a few months (I'm in their beta program) and it is definitely worth the $199 to sleep easily at night, not worrying about the conditions in your grow. The interesting part is the way you can visualize your grows data over time and it really helps you dial in your setup. I believe the beta program is now closed as they will be opening up for preorders soon, you can sign up at https://getpulse.co for more info.

Hope this was helpful! K.I.S.S.

^^^ This. I've blown a stack on C.A.P equipment and it was all garbage. My mlc-4x melted to shit and almost burned my house down, as did my 15 minute hot start delay, and my $600 xgc-1e "all-in-one" controller had huge and unpredictable dead bands on the humidistat, thermostat, co2 controller, and short cycle timer. Not to mention, the company has been out of business for years, so..

My humidifiers and extraction fans are now hooked up to $45 inkbird temp/humidity controllers, which keep me within .5%/.5 degree of my set rh/f values in my tents. The units are extremely easy to program and control any kind of 110 equipment.

Temp and humidity are monitored from anywhere in the house using $50 "sensorpush" bluetooth thermometer/hygrometers, which are dope af.

I also use a 20-30 dollar "wemo" to turn small things on and off via wifi, but not often.

This dejavu is killing me, tho. I'ma raise up outa here before I loc up.

Temperature controlled thermostat <$50 Lux-100 Works awesome! (Though the inkbird looks to be higher quality? .5 degree... Oi!)Save

I picked up 2 of these controllers which will control my dehumidifier, humidifier, vent/intake fans, heater. They are WIFI units as well...

https://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=37&products_id=642

[YOUTUBEIF]sI1kG_BKWk0[/YOUTUBEIF]

p0opstlnksal0t said:

I picked up 2 of these controllers which will control my dehumidifier, humidifier, vent/intake fans, heater. They are WIFI units as well...

https://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=37&products_id=642

[YOUTUBEIF]sI1kG_BKWk0[/YOUTUBEIF]

Click to expand...

This looked pretty interested until I installed their app "AuberSmart" -- it requires full permissions to your location, phone, and photos/media. Literally no reason they need that data, no thanks!

I've had a Sentinel CHH4 enviro controller for five years I like. Seems well built, always worked. Heat, cool, humidity and co2. About 500$ depending where you find it, the company doesn't sell direct. I did finally spray the sensor last year and it was fixed for 60$. Good support in Santa Rosa Ca.

Could probably get a couple thermostats and a humidistat to do it cheaper.

The CHH4 has a plug that can be connected to a computer to get all info on conditions at all times if wanted as well.

Big issue is mediating that transition from warm to colder in the room, I'm having to exhaust a lot at lights out to get rid of the onslaught of moisture that comes, doing what I can to prevent dew point from forming, creating ideal conditions for botrytis, etc.

not sure about CAP quality standards now, as i think they were bought out years back. But when I was working retail around 2012, I wouldnt touch any CAP controller with a 10 foot pole. Really high rate of failure and return.

Never had problems with sentinels.

For individual controllers, Inkbird makes quality temperature and humidity controllers for a great price.

getpulse.co said:

This looked pretty interested until I installed their app "AuberSmart" -- it requires full permissions to your location, phone, and photos/media. Literally no reason they need that data, no thanks!

Click to expand...

hrm interesting. maybe i'll shoot an email hit them up on FB see why they need that data.

Thanks yall,
I will stear clear of C.A.P. controllers...
Why are they still in the Hydrofarm catalogues? LAME!

The info yall have shared is great thus far. I was leaning toward individual controllers to begin with & still am.
Please keep the reviews coming.
I know there are quite a few controllers out there so would like to hear about all I can before making a final decision on what to acquire.



Oh yes... I guess "automation" probably wasn't the right term for the thread title either. I'm basically looking at controllers... I'm not really into adding watts to the airspace around me that isn't already there.

p0opstlnksal0t said:

I picked up 2 of these controllers which will control my dehumidifier, humidifier, vent/intake fans, heater. They are WIFI units as well...

https://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=37&products_id=642

Click to expand...

way too expensive, these are a lot cheaper (and the firmware is flashable, so you can put other software on it):

https://www.itead.cc/smart-home/sonoff-th.html

sethimus said:

way too expensive, these are a lot cheaper (and the firmware is flashable, so you can put other software on it):

https://www.itead.cc/smart-home/sonoff-th.html

Click to expand...

I wish I would have known about these things! They look slick. How reliable are they?

so far no problems, i use the dual, some singles and a 4ch switch from then, original software. planning to flash them in the future though, as every switch only has 8 timer slots

I can use the th16 in my tents for atmospheric controls and for the main res heater. These will be much cheaper than the auber units I bought

I'm going to test the raspberry route...

For you DIY guys an RPi + modules and sensors to control 8 AC outlets, and 5 DC outlets (PWM DC fan control) + assorted components goes for less than $200.

But what makes it a potentially interesting project is coupling it with PID (Proportional Integral Derivative) control software like the great mycodo project to have a flexible and extensible control and monitoring solution.

Yes, I'm also concerned regarding reliability, will make my best so that all connections are reliable and suitable for the environment, documenting everything in my Garden Shed thread.

Pretty badass. This raspberry pi stuff is beyond my knowledge repertoire. I wish there was a company selling these units already built and ready to roll. Could have completely custom software for each build.

I ran some autopilot master greenhouse controllers.
Completely reliable, flexible and accurate.
When you look at the price of a good CO2 controller, the master greenhouse controller gives you a lot of extra stuff for just a little more cash.
The Dehu control was excellent too.
The data logging feature and software was nice. RFI from my digital ballasts made it unusable though. never got around to shielding the CAT5 data cable better.

One thing that helped me with humidity at lights out in my sealed rooms was having a lung room. 2 rooms on flip with shared lung room. Both rooms constantly doing exchange with the lung.
Keeps the temp from dropping so much, increases water holding capacity. Temps come down slower and never had a precip problem.

Yeesh. That intrusive equipment is expensive.

A robust 2-stage temp controller that can handle high electric loads for analog heater or analog AC - OR - act as kill switch for lights if AC fails (plug ballast in to heating side and set 'desired temp' to the highest temp you're willing to allow in your grow:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KMA6EAM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For humidity concerns you intend to remedy with simple ventilation:
https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Dehu...D=41p3jLw61%2BL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

I use ITEAD devices regular. Easy to use and program. They have 4 channel two channel etc. The four channel pro is a good model to use for light controllers. It cn control four channels. If you use a 5v power supply with it and some outlet controlled relays, you have a four channel led controller. The th16 nis good for temp controls with actions based on temp. Easy to use no programming necessary. I build and sell led controllers, but these Sonoff's work just as good and cheaper too.

I use both, my controller and Sonoff's I program time schedule and they are fine, until daylight savings time and uyoui have to adjust them, but they work fine all the time. I have some for my remote light units in kitchen garden, LR garden all have sonoff's and schedule time control great. Buy from Itead direct beats.

https://www.itead.cc/smart-home/sonoff-4ch-pro.html

https://www.itead.cc/smart-home/sonoff-4ch-pro.html

sethimus said:

so far no problems, i use the dual, some singles and a 4ch switch from then, original software. planning to flash them in the future though, as every switch only has 8 timer slots

Click to expand...

Are you able to trigger other switches with the th10/th16 temp humidity controllers using the stock ewelink app?