Utopian Submarine - 2000W, Indoor, Perpetual

Quick update - got a basic test run. Here's a pic of the frankenstein machine. I will definitely clean up wires and stuff for the final - this is just the proto stage.

 
Thought I had posted the other a while ago, so you get 2 for the price of one this time.

This ones of the 556 timer. (556 is a dual 555) I am only using half of the timer so far. These timers are ALL over the place in industry. Almost guaranteed your A/C has at least one or two in it, and you car has a few like for almost all your windshield wiper control units. They can be wired a bazillion ways, and I'm not gonna explain 555s here, except:

555 timers work by measuring how long a capacitor takes to charge. You can slow that charge by putting a resistor in front of it. Bigger resistor, takes longer, and smaller capacitor charges faster, combine them as necessary. So you can build the timer in hardware to have a fixed time every time. The time is basically the Resistor x Capacitor. This timer would run without the stamp being involved at all, and in fact it is lighting the led here without any input from the chip - strictly on analog components. Is handy here because it will free up clock cycles from the chip, and it only costs about $4.75 for the dual timer and another $2.00 in capacitors and resistors. And once its built, we can count on it.

I have added a variable resistor in this one so it has an adjustable time. When I press the button, the blue LED lights for .25-5 seconds, then turns off automatically. All with analog everything other than the 555 which runs autonomously (there's no programming it - when it gets triggered it does its thing) on 6v from the board.

IMG_0146_5.JPG


If anyone wants more detail on any of this - its all commonly available on the web. Or I'll be happy to put stuff in here - but I don't want to bog down the thread TOO much - unless folks want or care about the gory details.
 
What is the Stamp?

It occurs to me that I really have not explained the Stamp. The stamp is just a micro-chip. It is called a Stamp because originally they were about the size of a small stamp. Now they are much smaller. This one is called a BASIC STAMP. That's simply because the programming language for the chip is BASIC - BASIC STAMP. There are ones for Java, Assembly, Etc... This one is the BS2px from Parallax. From now on I'll just be calling it either the stamp or the bs2px. A have also found 2 SX28 chips here. I will likely make one of them control the lcd and a video out, and save the other. They are a little more complicated to use - slightly harder programming. But just remember they are still a stamp. All stamps are just micro-chips, or microcontrollers.
 
Love the progress Whiskey. Really cool. :peace: Have a Happy New Year and I'll check in when back from vacation and probably see you marketing your new controller, lol.
 
420 Update coming a little late. But its a good one.
:slide:

1st of all - found my camera while looking for parts for the controller!!! Yeah - trust me when I say everyone will be glad about that! Now can take pics in the HPS!

Now for the controller. Zowza. I've made good progress. If I had a Dremmel it woulda been much faster - took forever to cut out for the AC Plugs.

first_relay_on_controller.jpg

CO2_plug_and_Power.jpg


I am too tired to write anything about it tonight - I'll get more up tomorrow. And some real pics of the girls.
 
Barney's Farm Seeds are Here !!!!!!!

After almost a year of waiting - this is a big moment for me. My Barney's Farm Utopia Haze.

There's no doubt about these genetics. I really couldn't be more excited. They'll soak New Year's Eve - and go into the Rockwool on Jan 1, 2010. Perfect way to start the new year, and very easy day to keep track of.

For anyone not familiar with Utopia Haze, recent Cannabis Cup Winner in multiple categories. Barney's Farm has won a shit ton of awards for their stuff. And they took 1st in both Hash categories same year. They know what they are doing. I literally set out to find what I thought would be my perfect strain from anywhere in the world, and the Utopia Haze was my choice. Literally, if I could have any medicine - this would be it. Then I went looking - nearly impossible to get.

Now finally - its here! And the other is simply the strongest stuff they grow, with very high amts of both THC and CBD. I dont even know what to make of that. They say its a "trippy" high and that's why they gave it that name. I'll certainly let you know.
 
Last quick update before I tend the girls then get to work on the controller stuff. All's well in the Submarine, its been a roller coaster 36 hours for me. Found a male - bummer. Then Found my camera, Got the relay and timer working, and began contruction of the enclosure. And finally now - the Barney's Farm seeds have arrived. All's right in my world for the time being. I hope I didn't just jinx it.

1st new pic under MH and HPS - back with a real camera. Not stellar camera, but better than a phone for sure.
IMG_0013_rez.jpg
 
New Years Eve - Morning Update:

All's well in the Sub. The HPS lights have not come on yet so no update on the flowering yet, but everything seems to be fine. Fingers crossed that the Kali Mist is a girl. It will bum me out if that one is male. The veg area is cruising along doing it's thing. The limiting factor there is going to be space I think. The branches of the plants are gonna overlap a little more than I hoped. We'll see - I don't think its gonna be too bad.

The controller is coming along well. Parallax is closed for the holidays so I have to wait till next week to order the other parts I need. I should be able to make some more progress with the stuff I have here, and I can work on the code some. I'll post some programming today, along with the pics of the controller.
 
Afternoon Update:

The leak is back in my bucket controller. Gonna have to take it apart and fix the plumbing. Kind of a pain in the ass, but not a major hiccup. Will cost less than $10 in plumbing repairs. Glad to fix it now - rather than in a week when the plants are in those buckets.

The controller is coming along. I have the light sensor on there now and some of the most basic code written. Gonna start exploring the "intelligent" aspects of the programming soon. Right now its all basic compare and switch on or off. But if I had the CO2 sensor here ($20 to be ordered for next week) it would work to control the CO2 tank with day and nite setting automatically. So I'm feeling pretty good that at the least my experiment was a hell of a lot cheaper than a CO2 Meter and Day/Nite Timer, and mine is not timer based but sensor based which is better.

Gonna take a little break, get some pics, smoke a little, then I'll post some code and pics.
 
Alpha Code for the Controller

OK - here's the first little bit of code. Its only a day old, so its very unsophisticated, but I put it up here in case anyone wants to make suggestions at this early stage. Its definitely in the alpha stage (not even a beta yet) so DO NOT USE THIS IN YOUR GROWROOM!

Code: 
' Whiskey Papa's Test Program for the 420 Controller
' {$STAMP BS2px}
' {$PBASIC 2.5}


'   Pins and Constants
Master                 PIN    0                 ' TBD
F1                     PIN    1                 ' Button 1
F2                     PIN    2                 ' Button 2
RedAlert               PIN    3                 ' will have Red LED and Piezo on it
VExhaust               PIN    4                 ' Veg Exhaust Fan
FExhaust               PIN    5                 ' Flower Exhaust
FTempHum               PIN    6                 ' Flower Area Temp and Humidity
VTempHum               PIN    7                 ' Veg Area Temp and Humidity
FlowerLights           PIN    8                 ' Power to Flower Lights
VegLights              PIN    9                 ' Power to Veg Lights
TimerTrigger           PIN    10                ' timer is on pin 10
TimerReset             PIN    11                ' timer reset is on pin 11
ACMain                 PIN    12                ' Power to main Air Conditioner
DayNite1               PIN    13                ' input from Flower TSL Light to Freq Converter
DayNite2               PIN    14                ' input from Veg TSL
CO2Sensor              PIN    15                ' input from 15 - CO2 sensor

IsOn    CON     0                               ' LED is active high
IsOff   CON     1

'   Variables
isFlowerDay     VAR     Bit                     ' Day = 1 , Nite = 0
isVegDay        VAR     Bit                     ' Day = 1 , Nite = 0
vegTemp         VAR     Nib
flowerTemp      VAR     Nib
vegHum          VAR     Nib
flowerHum       VAR     Nib
rValue          VAR     Word                     'reading from RCTIME
rValuePrev      VAR     Word                     'previous value
ppm             VAR     Word
targetPPM       VAR     Word
cnt             VAR     Byte



'       ****************   Setup Vars     ******************
Setup:
'               pin#  1111110000000000
'                     5432109876543210
CONFIGPIN DIRECTION, %0001111100011000
CONFIGPIN PULLUP,    %0001111100001111
CONFIGPIN THRESHOLD, %0111101111000000
CONFIGPIN SCHMITT,   %0000000000001111

  isFlowerDay = 0
  isVegDay = 0
  TimerTrigger = IsOff
  TimerReset = IsOff
  F1 = IsOff
  F2 = IsOff
  ppm = 390
  targetPPM = 1500


'       ****************   Start Main Program  ******************

Main:

'Main Menu
DEBUG CLS,
"          WHISKEY PAPA'S 420 CONTROLLER", CR,
"               ** MAIN MENU **", CR,
"      1 - Start Timer    2 - Reset Timer    ",CR,
" Central Area:",CR,
"  A/C On | Temp  |  Hum    |",CR,CR,
" Flower Area:",CR,
"   Temp  |  Hum  |   CO2   |   In   |   Out   |   D/N",CR,CR,
" Veg Area:",CR,
"   Temp  |  Hum  |   CO2   |   In   |   Out   |   D/N",CR,CR,
" Controller Status:"


  DO
    IF F1 = 0 THEN GOSUB startTimer
    IF F2 = 0 THEN GOSUB resetTimer

    ' DAY / NITE
    DEBUG CRSRXY, 3,13,"Checking Day/Nite"
    GOSUB checkLight
      DEBUG CRSRXY, 3,14,"Pulse Count: ",DEC cnt,"    "
    IF   cnt < 10 THEN
      IF daynite1 = 1 THEN GOSUB resetTimer
      DEBUG CRSRXY, 3,15, "Nitetime Settings"
      isFlowerDay = 0
    ELSE
      DEBUG CRSRXY, 3,15, "Daytime Settings "
      isFlowerDay = 1
    ENDIF
    ' CO2
    DEBUG CRSRXY, 30,13,"Checking CO2", CR
    GOSUB readPot
    ppm = rValue * 2
    DEBUG CRSRXY, 30,14,"CO2: ",DEC ppm,"ppm"
    IF   ppm < targetPPM THEN
      IF daynite1 = 1 THEN
        DEBUG CRSRXY, 30,15, "Adding CO2   "
        GOSUB addCO2
      ENDIF
    ELSE
      DEBUG CRSRXY, 30,15, "No CO2 Needed"
    ENDIF

    GOSUB updateDebug
  LOOP



END

'       ****************   End Main Program  ******************

' Subroutines

readPot:
'reads a variable resistor (such as a potentiometer or
'photoresistor) with RCTIME

'DEBUG CR,"Reading Pot on Pin 15: ", DEC rValue," ...",CR
    HIGH CO2Sensor                   ' set pin high
    PAUSE 1
  RCTIME CO2Sensor,1,rValue          'read the pin
    IF rValue <> rValuePrev THEN     'check if value has changed
      'DEBUG "Changed"
      rValuePrev = rValue            'record new value
      'DEBUG CR, "current value: ",DEC rValue,CR
    ENDIF
RETURN

addCO2:
  'DEBUG CR, "Starting CO2 Timer"
  GOSUB startTimer
RETURN

startTimer:
 TimerTrigger = 0
 'DEBUG CR,"Timer Started"
 PAUSE 5
 TimerTrigger = 1
RETURN

resetTimer:
  'DEBUG CR, "Timer Reset"
  TimerReset = 0
  PAUSE 5
  TimerReset = 1
RETURN

checkLight:
    COUNT DayNite1, 100, cnt 'COUNT on P2 FOR 100 ms, store value in cnt
RETURN

updateDebug:

DEBUG CRSRXY, 3,8,"77.8","F"
DEBUG CRSRXY, 11,8,"49.8","%"
DEBUG CRSRXY, 19,8,DEC ppm,"ppm  "
IF isFlowerDay = 1 THEN
  DEBUG CRSRXY, 50,8,"Day "
  ELSE
  DEBUG CRSRXY, 50,8,"Nite"
ENDIF

DEBUG CRSRXY, 3,11,"77.8","F"
DEBUG CRSRXY, 11,11,"49.8","%"
DEBUG CRSRXY, 19,11,DEC (ppm/3),"ppm  "
IF isVegDay = 1 THEN
  DEBUG CRSRXY, 50,11,"Day "
  ELSE
  DEBUG CRSRXY, 50,11,"Nite"
ENDIF

early_alpha_screenshot.jpg
 
Hey WP, I'm really interested in DIY stuff like this, as it is fairly technical... I however have no "micro electronics" knowledge, and i'm quite thrilled to watch it be brought together with growing marijuana in a step by step fashion.

nice stuff!
 
ultrasonic said:
Hey WP, I'm really interested in DIY stuff like this, as it is fairly technical... I however have no "micro electronics" knowledge, and i'm quite thrilled to watch it be brought together with growing marijuana in a step by step fashion.

nice stuff!
Click to expand...


Awesome! Welcome Aboard.

The amazing thing about this stuff is how when you learn a few key concepts, its really just a matter of repeating those things. I bet there will be lots of folks here (yourself included) who can help make this a better project.

Also, while I can't build it for you, I'm happy to help in any way I can, and I'll certainly post all relevant code.

Thanks for coming aboard.
 
Speaking of learning a few key concepts...I knew I was going to be learning more pruning techniques on this grow, cause I've never grown in a space this small. Its a fact. Its a whole 'nother art in itself.

There are some pics below of the ones in Veg. I would definitely appreciate any advice that anyone would like to offer. I don't really have to do it with this bunch, and if I need to adjust the schedule, then now is a good time to do it. Like add another week or two to veg to allow for 1 or 2 cuts. On the next batch - can't slow these up cause there's 6-9 more already started behind them.

So the question is: could I FIM or top the biggest of these plants and expect it to be ready for 12/12 in 8-10 days? I know all of them will be small - but I'm using the formula 1ft tall at end of veg = 3ft tall at harvest. That leaves me a little extra, beyond what's needed for the light.

IMG_000110.jpg

IMG_000213.jpg
 
Kali-Mist Hairs !!!!

I think we have good news on the Kali-Mist:
IMG_0009_edited.jpg


P.S. - I didn't color correct or change the pic cause to me those colors look and feel like Kali-Mist
 
Congrats on the Kali showing you her feminine side.
I don't really have any experience with topping yet. I usually take care of height problems with LST and HST. However, I seem to recall reading that you might need from 10-14 days for them to fully recover from topping. Maybe one of the grow mods can help out here. You can also post a question here, Problems, Pests & Disease Control. I realize your plants aren't sick but it is a good place to get quick advice if the mods haven't had time to catch up with your thread here yet. Good luck
 
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