Grow-Tron, For Sale!

`Expert Cultivator Products

Unattended Solar Drip Irrigator

A five gallon bucket or dozens of feet of line to a reservoir spike with wet meter waters accordingly, low profile solar cell/battery pack motion activated ultrasonic pest repeller

soil water content wireless sensor net, wireless pump activation

Grow-Tron

For maximizing fruiting plant yield and vigor

Super High Efficient LED and Compact Fluorescents

Space-age Light Emitting Diode technology! All-Electronic Instant Start High Frequency Compact Fluorescent Ballasts!

Water-resistant and case grounded low noise regulated power supply and electronics.

Uses less power than two 100W incandescent bulbs with the photosynthesis efficiency of dual 1000W MH/HPS!

Inner reflective, light-tight design promotes photoperiod control.

CO2 generation module, simply add yeast and sugar for maximum fruiting yield! Air insertion to grow media! Optional electonically controlled regulator, tank, and CO2 counter.

Water bath temperature control, humidity controller.

Fan-vented, optional charcoal filter/deionizer!

Locking, Stackable, Modular, Closet Cabinet Design, grow compact plants or full height, stack modules in vertical space and other restricted space applications.

Digital controller of all automatic functions! Programmable via simple USB connector and provided software for Windows, Mac, and Linux. SDK available.

Variable photoperiod real daylight emulation! Community strain performance optimization download!

12/24 VDC, 115/120, 220/230 V 50/60 Hz AC operation! Optional solar module + battery pack!

Automatic Ebb/Flow Hydroponic

Optional Ph/fertilizer buffering and management, water and power alerts

nutrient drip solutions

electric plant stimulator

Instructions included in five languages.

$1200

Plant respiration diagnostics, Aeroponic and optional zero-gravity root aeration module and water/nutrient reclamation and processing, closed system air loop.

Flown on the International Space Station

$14000

Recommended Accessories: a bucket. International Space Station not included.

Germination Chamber.

"Also, current MEA-type scrubber designs require gravity to work."

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stomatal opening: 450-460 nm

spectral region of plant response, 380-750 nm

red/far-red reversibility

658/667/ 677 nm, "not statistically different"

electric stimulation,

electrodes in the grow media are gently pulsed to partially ionize the electrolytes in the water

mini-electrode clips are connected to the plant branches stimulating fruiting yield

reservoir flood/drain hydroponic

need a timer, a pump

basically have the reservoir in the bottom, and a single drain that is a trickle drain

then, the pump fills the tray, because the pump has such high volume, then it trickles out, so as long as the drain doesn't clog, which it won't if correct, then the plants don't flood

otherwise for longer duration soaks there's the notion of an electronically controlled valve, to drain the tray

sometimes the reservoir needs to be changed out, that can involve a siphon hose, basically a hose into the reservoir

the reservoir can be smaller, and repumped several times. It is designed for short cycles anyways, so that the reservoir would be changed out every week or two anyways, with a mind towards buffering and controlling pH and nutrient densities.

The idea here is still to fit the lights into the tank. The tank needs a light-tight lid to be able to control the photo period. If this CF reflectors are 22" long, and the maximum height in the tank is 26", then that is not really enough. to have both a reservoir and growing media in the tank at a four inch depth, to flood the entire level of grow media instead of having separate pot systems.

If I want the center light to be variable in height, then it needs to hang on some chain system or have modular ladder plugs or something. For example, it could be a circle with legs on it, so it can be lifted and thread through posts on the side supports. Then it only has one wire to it, and the wire length if managed. Then, it needs to have supplemental cooling. so the fan(s) can be on that board, eg low speed CPU fans. They should be somewhat moisture resistant.

So the board is all red LEDs. The CF lights on the sides are these blue lights, and white lights. It is presumed that contact with any of these lights is not going to hurt the plants or be a fire danger.

So I'm thinking some hundreds of LEDs would go into the tank.

So, that will involve getting some scores of LEDs, and then powering them with a regulated power supply. Also, I might want to be able to control pulsing of the LEDs.

So, then there will be three sides with CF lights, barriered into the grow medium dealie, which will be smaller than the tank size. In that way, the sides of the tank are out of the way, yet still care must be taken that there is no overflow of the reservoir which might lead to water contacting the bulbs which is not to be allowed. That might be good for it to be round so it can be spun around in the chamber.

LEDs are in terms of mcd, millicandles, then the idea is to get high efficiency LEDs, and they're already pretty high efficiency as they are targeted wavelengths, and so on.

then, find some fully electronic CF ballasts for 55W CF bulbs to power three CF bulbs, they are to be wired into the control board, which will have simple switches for connection to a simple timer circuit or so on.

temperature to fan / constant fan

germinate->

sprout

transplant to grow media

CF

transplant to pots

vegetate->

blue bulbs and CF

nutrient solution for veg

foliar application

train

flower->

red bulbs, blue bulbs, and CF

sex

nutrient solution for fruit

plain water for leech

foliar application

So, have in the LEDs separate circuits for the blue and red, or separate circuits for the various blue and various red, or separate for each bank of the various blue and various red

lots of small LEDs means lots of wiring. That can be accomplished wiring sockets into prototype board material. Then that involves finding LED sockets besides LEDs. That would be good though for modular LED arrays, and bulb replacement.

making LED clusters - get some plastic or similar material and cut and drill it and insert the LEDs through to a circuit board.

well maybe I should put the reds on the sides and have the blue light only from above, for having the growth directed up, but then again if the blue light is from all sides and mostly from above that's as well and might encourage side growths. Reds again should be all over.

Traffic lights are what to get, 3 eight inch, 200mm, red traffic lights, because they run at 15 or 20 watts and peak at 657 nm. The green light's photometry has peak around 500 with dropoff to include low amounts of lower frequencies. Basically these red lights are to supplement the light in the flowering period. So there will be wide-spectrum lights for most of it, and then fo phototropic growth they should be reflected off of the roof deck of the thing. Then, in the flowering period the reflective roof deck is replaced with these red traffic bulbs that are selected for the highest red wavelength available, but not more than 700 nm, preferably 660 nm. Then, those might be aroud only 30w of lights, but they will be extra and be good.

The traffic lights are designed to match daylight visibility instead of

660nm P.A.R. which is indistinguishable to colorblind people, so the LED traffic signal lamps are not very good for the application. They're OK for chlorophyll b primary peak absorption, but not really. Some of the older red LED traffic signals were 660, now they're not.

Then there's a question of what lights to select for the side lighting, and it seems that the aquarilux type lights might be the best. Then, consider, if the traffic lights are slimline, having _them_ on the sides, and the aquarilux on the top. Because, like, a dozen 200mm red lights could be put in there.

Those will be cheaper, plus, the LED lamps are dimmable.

So, then, the notion is to have the CF aquarilux on top, er, and then the red 200mm 657nm two per side. Then, if those are 9w, that is around 108w, that is a lot of heat to dissipate. Then, they are too big, the entire sealed housing is almost 4 inches thick, that is too big, but it is nice to be in a sealed housing.

So, get six of the "High Powered 24 LED Aquarium Jumbos" in Red, and 3 in Blue. Then have six around and three on top to be risen. Then, I still want a broad spectrum light, but something simple, even just a nightlight, because otherwise its complicated in the power supply. How about just a white LED?

6 red 3 blue 3 white

runs 10-14.5V, Volts Direct Current, with 120 mA, milliamps and says

480000 mcd, millicandelas. That doesn't seem right in comparison to the 3 and 8 LED deals.

120 * 12 = 1440 mA = 1.4 A

So the power supply could be producing 120 VDC? That doesn't seem right. They have a wall-wart that runs 11.99 that is said to be able to handle 13 of the 24 LED domes, so that should do, then a dimmer will be included.

So, put the blue and white on the roof deck. Then, there might be two power circuits, one for those and the other for the red ones, and that would imply the use of two of those transformers.

So, the roof deck is raised to start the plants, and then when they are forced into flowering the red lights are put in on the side panels. Either that, or they are fixed in anyways, and just turned higher on the dimmer for that.

So basically then in a box would be a transformer, grounded power line, urkh, scary, two or maybe four or six biggish capacitors, two power diodes, er, and a couple potentiometers with dials out the box, with room in the box for more circuits if there is not enough, but there should be quite a lot, of light. .

I think I might order 6 of the Red ones, 3 of the Blue ones, and 3 of the White ones, and maybe a couple of the power adapters. I'm interested in something with higher power factor than a regular "wall-wart" style transformer/rectifier. I'd like to have a regulated or rather current limited power supply so as not to ruin any of these nice LED arrays, and also I would like to have dimmers or potentiometers in line to manage the various levels of two circuits of LED array, arrays, one circuit with the Whites and Blues and the other with the Reds.

I've heard that if the LEDs are pulsed they can be overdriven safely. I wonder about that. Because if a half-cycle pulsed operation at 24V wouldn't hurt the LED, then I would consider just half-waving a 5:1 transformer to one or the other circuit with a dimmer on each leg. Does that make sense? What about having a half-wave rectifier for a circuit of six of the LED domes with a 10:1 transformer, and then the other half to the other circuit? Would that have a higher power factor than a transformer/full-wave rectifier? Then again it could be that a capacitor network could be charged to a higher voltage on the capacitor side and then drip through the current-limiting resistor to attenuate the half-wave.

The dominant wavelength of those is still not where it is best for photosynthesis. A diagram from

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has peaks for phytochrome R of 660 nm, and peaks for chlorophyll a and b at 430/662 and 453/642. The dominant and peak of the LEDs varies, so look for

640nm LEDs as they will peak at 660nm sometimes.

Red: GaAlAs, 660nm

Back to Compact Fluorescent / Power Compacts, with electronic ballasts. Also it would be good to find these traffic lights with 660nm red bulbs and a slim form factor.

Thinking about 24W lamps with the 2G11 base, straight four pi

Reply to
Ross A. Finlayson
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Back to Compact Fluorescent / Power Compacts, with electronic ballasts. Also it would be good to find these traffic lights with 660nm red bulbs and a slim form factor.

Thinking about 24W lamps with the 2G11 base, straight four pin, where the blue marine lamps are available, then the notion is about getting an actual electronic ballast for them, with the aquarium outfits saying $40 and the magnetic ballasts being around $4. So, there are ballasts for $31, and they run two 24W twin CF/PC apiece, at high frequency. So, three of those is around a hundred dollars, and then figuring those out is a deal, with getting locking lamp bases and hanging them vertically from clips and having an open roofdeck. Then that can be emplaced and start things and then the red LED accent lighting in the centers and maybe with the trainlight come in later. The Blue RV lights look good for a 475nm or so, which is kind of high, and they describe 425nm violet LEDs, but not in the cheap clusters.

There is some question about phototropism, but as the blue light will be equally spaced around the polygon, that should be OK.

Manufacturing the LED arrays:

broad spectrum light arrays, various surface mount technology cooling pipe, outlet to external heat sink, high temp. superconductor modular power supplies

hydroponics and pots

want to be able to lift out the plants to prune them and so forth. should be able to scaffold over for tie-downs.

nutrient reservoir(s) are compact in tank. consider having a rich nutrient and a plain water nutrient, or ionized water.

so then there is a pump which pumps for a short time to fill either each of the pots separately or together. That might involve a distributor, eg a five way tap where the pump has enough power to run each of them but not so much as to overflow and spray about. Then the drain is a trickle drain right through to the holes in the reservoir(s). It would be good to have one pump and two reservoirs, if a clean reservoir is to be used, but that is not so important, with the nutrient solution being changed every couple of weeks, and to plain water at the end. So, there should be an outlet so the pump pumps the water right out of the tank, and as well the reservoir should be fillable from a spout at the tank edge. So, that involves some valves on the line.

The pump and light timers will be part of the controls board. The pump timer will basically have to start and stop the pumps. If the pump can run dry and needs no prime, that is good. Otherwise it needs to be timed carefully to stay primed and not run dry. It would be good to have an inline pump, so then it would not actually be submerged in the nutrient solution. There could be a ... water level sensor.

Maybe it is better to just use a drainback and set the pots on an open drain tray, and then, the pump is to fill the tray, and then the drain back is supposed to allow it to run basically continuously, and then it's not run continuously.

without a pump, then I'm looking at some kind of manual pump.

It might be simpler to just grow in dirt, and water sometimes. The pots can just be on a rack, watered daily to filling and then they drain right out, and then reclaim the nutrient solution from the bottom of the tank.

Then, the bottom of the tank just fills with the nutrient solution. That is not so good if the reflective material covers the inside of the tank walls. However, a rack in an open container might work just as well. In that way, then, there would still be a requirement for a siphon of sorts, which is what lungs are for. The siphon could be primed and then plugged into the distributor, but that's complicated. The rack could be raised and lowered into the bath, but that would jostle the plants. If the scaffold is connected to the rack, that's ok. As well, then the rack can be lifted out. So, the rack can be a scaffold, and it is just raised and lowered into the bath once a day or so. Then, the bath need be only as deep as the pots, and the pots fit into the rack somehow. The rack could be just wire tied together, or that would be pretty good.

CO2 generation - in the later stages of plant growth, after during vegetative state the stomata are developed, then CO2 dosing starts.

Then, it would be a kind of weekly schedule, starting from germination and going through as above.

So, the rack is a scaffold, and basically it is used to dunk into the nutrients.

Then, I'd still want a imer for the lights. There's one timer for the CF ballasts, and another for the DC LEDs, because I haven't seen a dual timer. Then, there's the notion of having separate light circuits for separate light times. If the actinics have so much blue light, then maybe all the LEDs will be Red, and then it will be simple.

Put the tank on a base, then it will be easier to siphon out.

So, then I get some chili seeds and start growing. Start with the reservoir and rack, and trellis. Get some pots and grow media, and some nutrients. Get the CF bulbs, and set up that. Germinate the chilis, then get them going.

One problem might be humidity, don't want it to be too humid. That involves the ventilation, just get a DC fan and run it with the LEDs, and maybe full time.

So, a parts list in order is something along the lines of:

mylar, lightproofing, lid, cover

reservoir

tubing

rack, scaffold

pots

power board

fan, fan power supply.

ballasts bulbs connectors wires power supply timer

LEDs LED clusters power supply timer

Those 24w compact fluorescents are looking pretty good, but it seems as well that it might be much cheaper to just run cheap magnetic ballasts and so forth, but having high power fluorescents or even a compact fluorescent with integral ballast might be just easier. Yet, high light output is key for this kind of thing. For example, 3 of the ballasts can run 3 or 6 of those lamps, and that would be around $200. Yet, with a hanger off the lid, then those could be much cheaper, as anyways they will be reflected. Hanging off of the lid is one thing, and another. Basically it involves a dropped reflective ceiling for the fixture mount, and that should be ventilated itself. Then, it can be lifted, but that involves complex cabling of some sort or tie and clip or something along those lines.

Yet, I want the three 24w PC CF lights. So, that involves three ballasts, to drive each equally, argh, and later six bulbs with the same ballasts.

6 x 2G11 endcap 12 x lamp clip, maybe some rubber bands for the clips 3 x all-electronic high power factor high-frequency ballast wiring

Then, they go on the walls. The LEDs will also be on the walls, with the mongo train light on the top, or a reflective cone that is made from mylar sheeted with a lock bolt to tent the roof. Having the roof open allows the consideration of alternative lighting options.

square pin / straight pin, currently in the air

Then, the CF lights will be on vertical "inserts" of lath or something similar, then they need to be attached correctly. Get the 3100K bulbs.

Then, about the LED systems, they will be the afterburner for the thing. There are available lots of blue, Deep Blue, and then Orange and then Red LEDs. I would get an orange LED traffic light that would be good. Might as well just go with Luxeons.

Royal Blue Luxeon Stars...

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@455 = Chlorophyll b secondary peak The 1W emitters are on sale at futureestore.com @2.41, prob. forever

B.G. Micro 's Illuminator printed circuit boards.

Consider using the illuminator boards, then getting a hold of a bunch of cheapish LEDs, and then having panels for: Blue a and B, Phytochrome A and B , Orange, and so on, Far Red and Violet, and then figure out where that should be set up.

Reply to
Ross A. Finlayson

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