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hydroponic DIY Hydroponic System Controller - V1

any movement on this?im curious to see how this turns out, that chip is certainly alot cheaper than my hach gli 53.
im going to start working on my ph controller soon ish :D
 
Congrats on the new rugrat! Kids are why I haven't tried hydro yet. My schedule is too hectic at times to keep up with it. Sweet write up, might have to try this out now.....
 
Thanks to lazy, I was able to start working on this again. He keeps saying I should build kits.. maybe.



This is the prototype for the environmental controller portion, funded by lazy. It is setup to regulate temperature and RH in a grow tent. Far more switching power than what is needed (25A) :crazy:, but I tend to overbuild. Still plenty of digital pins for later expansion, only about 1/3 of the available program space is in use (It's mostly just for the menus). - Plenty of refinement to go..



I'm thinking I'll divide the functions I originally listed over a handful of modules that can control one another.




On a completely different note, does anybody know of any IT openings in the greater Montana area?

On the pH front, I'm thinking of using this Atlas Scientific Stamp and setting up simple feedback loop. Instructing the microcontroller to power either of the dosing pumps for the PHup and PHdown solutions.


//// Something like this
int phup = 4;
int phdown = 5;

float PHreading;
float PHswing;
PHswing = .2;

loop
{
PHreading = ReadPH();

if((PHreading + PHswing) < desiredph )
{
digitalWrite(phup, HIGH);
delay(3000);
digitalWrite(phup, LOW);

}else{

digitalWrite(phdown, HIGH)
delay(3000);
digitalWrite(phdown, LOW);
}


}
 
that stamps pretty cool, if i understant correctly its outputting a linear analoge signal 0-xvdc that corresponds to a ph value and your controller assigns that value to your floating vlaue 'PHreading'?

is there going to be a way to interface with that controller without reflashing that chip? i guess i dont know much about this kind of technology...but will you be able to recalibrate this guy from reference solutions once its setup? i imagine it would be as simple as reassigning one or more values to the value you read from ph4 and or ph7 buffer solutions... then use that as a reference to read your current ph value(?) could you set this up in such a way as to read button inputs and trigger a 2 or 3 point calibration or even calibration from a single buffer without reflashing the chip?

oh and you might want to look at adding an over run timer function. something that tells the controller that if the relay is powered for x amount of time it needs to trigger an error state, and stop untill you can evalate the problem. this would stop the system from running constantly when there is no acid to dose, or if the probe fails, or even if the pumps fail.

also, why dosent firefox pickup my egregious spelling errors in THP anymore?
 
That stamp communicates with the MCU via a serial connection, accepting commands and is setup for 3 point calibration tests via serial commands.

As far as keeping a desired pH value, I can use the same method the setup currently uses to set target temperature and relative humidity via a menu button and a rotary encoder. You can save alot of little values of that sort in EEPROM right on the chip.


1st revision - single sided


Soldering will be a bit tricky, I'll probably update the layout with a larger space between traces & thicker traces.

Edit #1 - broke my last freaking drill bit!!!!!! I hate when shit of that sort happens!!
 
pretty damn cool, you know of any decent books where i could get a grounding on these microcontrollers in general? id love to be able to do simple things like monitor an analog signals from sensors and flip relays accordingly.
did you print and etch that bord?

edit: spelling
 
I don't know of any books off of the top of my head. I'd start with an Arduino or a PICAXE and use the various communities and forums for each for a reference.

I developed and etched the board with a common photographic process using a positive image from Eagle.

Edit: Moved design files to GIT
 
I probably will set it up to measure out the Flora series GH nutes for an arbitrary volume of water.

Edit: Grammar

Maybe set up a special mix for topping off the reservoir.
 
are you going to be using a conductivity controller? id be interested in seeing how that works out. conventional conductivity cells are quite spendy.
 
Not entirely sure, I'll need to tear my setup down in the next few months (moving). Perhaps after the rebuild, assuming there is one.
 
well, good luck the move.
if you do end up diying some kind of conductivity probe be sure to post it! id love to see what you come up with. i picked up a conventional .1 k value cell from ebay not to long ago, like alot of analytical equipement you find in an industrial/lab environment its way to spendy to buy new for a hobbiest.

id be interested to see if you could adapt the el cheepo hanna probe to some sort of bnc connector and a bushing or gland so it could be inserted into the flow of a pipe. its my understanding that someone makes an arduino stamp kit for conductivity, but that the it uses probe itself costs something like 80 bucks? dosent sound right imo, but if its actually a good cell or just better than the hana, that might be the way to go.
 
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