Craigph86 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Hi everyone. Just curious to know how to survive the load shedding with indoor grows? Do you use a generator for lights? Have you gone solar and used LED? Any tips would be great as I want to move my grow indoors for winter on the highveld. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkunkPharm Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Rather build a greenhouse and grow autos in winter. Normally Eskom only have issues in summer as the don't have enough dry coal to burn. But it is up to you. I have emergency lights that go on when the electricity goes off. But that is just to not interrupt the light cycle. Eskomsepush.Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkunkPharm Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 If you are looking for a geni, I would go for one that starts up automatic when the electricity goes off. The problem is that you would then need to grow with LEDS or have a battery back up for the switch over period, as HPS will not like the drop in power. And probably not go on immediately after the generator kicks in. LEDs would be fine. The other option is to have battery backup for LEDs. Or just invest in an solar system, if you have 25-30k. You will probably save in the long run. And you would have electricity. Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenkush Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 18 minutes ago, SkunkPharm said: Rather build a greenhouse and grow autos in winter. Normally Eskom only have issues in summer as the don't have enough dry coal to burn. But it is up to you. I have emergency lights that go on when the electricity goes off. But that is just to not interrupt the light cycle. Eskomsepush. Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk Thankfully its the dark cycle you don't really want to interrupt, as that is when the plants do most of their growing. As long as you don't have extended periods of dark in veg your plants will be fine, otherwise they'll switch to flower. I have been thinking about this a lot and thinking about getting a genny and lights and all that jazz. But decided its more effort than its worth. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CG420za Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I've got one of those emergency LED's in my tent, it turns on when the lights on off. Only problem i have is that when the lights go out during my dark cycle, the emergency light comes on. This is a problem. If the shedding wasn't so erratic, it would be easy to manage. Yesterday it was off from 06:00 to 08:30, 14H00-16H30 and the 22H35-23H06. Every day it's at different times and my light period is from 18H00-12H00. So yesterday the ladies got 2 and a half hours or light in the middle of the dark cycle FML! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkunkPharm Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Luckily we have loadshedding at the same time every day so I can control it. Will be going away this weekend so it will be an f-up. Luckily it's all autos so will just leave the lights on.Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CG420za Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I'm thinking of doing 24hrs on hey. Also auto's in my tent. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pandy Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I'm having the same issue.also autos few weeks away from harvest. I have one of those magneto emergency lights you talking about ,they really are handy during loadshedding. We've been getting power outages like 3 times a day and it's just hectic.I'm just worried when lights go out mould or p.m would settle in and ruin everything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McB Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 (edited) digital timer and a few emergency lights. Timer governs schedule,its battery and the emergency lights Batts recharge when eskom is actually online. How the timers will help telling an auto switch over switch to not switch is going to be fun Sadly that's about all I can afford to do right now. Looking at battery fan options for some humidity control Edited March 20, 2019 by McB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailblazer420 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I haven't really put any though into this as loadshitting hasn't been an issue... Until it was...My thought process is as follows... 12v LED strips, connected to a battery, perhaps via an arduino connected to a 9v battery just to power the unit. One could connect an RTC board to ensure time is always correct, breaking out to relays for on and off. Lights will run on a 12v battery, perhaps alarm battery. These lights will run at the same time as primary light cycles, however, if power goes out, the arduino will ensure that the 12v strips remain on. May not help the flowering process, but definitely help not to stress the plants too much.Digital timer will still be needed for primary lights so they don't lose time. When power comes back on, the 'sun' will simply come out behind the 'clouds' again Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McB Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 1 minute ago, Trailblazer420 said: I haven't really put any though into this as loadshitting hasn't been an issue... Until it was... My thought process is as follows... 12v LED strips, connected to a battery, perhaps via an arduino connected to a 9v battery just to power the unit. One could connect an RTC board to ensure time is always correct, breaking out to relays for on and off. Lights will run on a 12v battery, perhaps alarm battery. These lights will run at the same time as primary light cycles, however, if power goes out, the arduino will ensure that the 12v strips remain on. May not help the flowering process, but definitely help not to stress the plants too much. Digital timer will still be needed for primary lights so they don't lose time. When power comes back on, the 'sun' will simply come out behind the 'clouds' again Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk Cvmon... Write it ... I have the test hardware Arduino nano if I'm not mistaken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailblazer420 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Actually, one could use the arduino board as digital timer for both 12v and 220v. The relay boards should be able to run from multiple inputs. I'll see if I get a chance over the weekend to work on this coding and will share if successful.Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CG420za Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Wait a minute. I have my lights on a digital timer @Trailblazer420. Are you saying that if i connect my emergency light to it, it won't power up during lights off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailblazer420 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 It probably still will because the emergency light switches on when mains are disconnected. The digital timer doesn't power the lights itself, but relies on an external power source. The purpose of using the arduino is that once the 220v disconnects, the 12v portion will remain active, keeping the light cycles constant, even though during load shedding you won't run at full capacity. Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailblazer420 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Allright, I'll give this a try tonight or tomorrow, my thinking is as per rough diagram for those who can make sence of it.Code should be something like the following for 12/12:digitalWrite(RELAY1,LOW);delay(43200000);digitalWrite(RELAY1,HIGH)delay(43200000)Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailblazer420 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 The issue with this way is you will need to power it up at the exact time you want your light cycle to start due to the lack of an RTC module. This could however become an interesting little project over time with addition of a real time clock module, temp and humidity sensor and LCDyou could potentially control Temps and humidity by controlling fans based on readings Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenkush Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I've spent time designing a similar system, primarily to control all my grow components. Just never got around to actually building the hardware side of it. Primarily due to laziness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CG420za Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 4 minutes ago, Trailblazer420 said: The issue with this way is you will need to power it up at the exact time you want your light cycle to start due to the lack of an RTC module. This could however become an interesting little project over time with addition of a real time clock module, temp and humidity sensor and LCD you could potentially control Temps and humidity by controlling fans based on readings Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk I've been thinking of doing something similar with a Pi. Was super baked one night and i had this brain fart. My mate was like, "lets do it, I have a Pi". And then we forgot 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailblazer420 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I'm lazy to do the coding side Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenkush Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Just now, Trailblazer420 said: I'm lazy to do the coding side Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk You build it, i'll code it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailblazer420 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I've been thinking of doing something similar with a Pi. Was super baked one night and i had this brain fart. My mate was like, "lets do it, I have a Pi". And then we forgotI also have a pi lying around, but again, the coding.... Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CG420za Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 11 minutes ago, Trailblazer420 said: I also have a pi lying around, but again, the coding.... Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk my mate codes for a living, so i'm hoping he'll do it as a favour Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenkush Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 5 minutes ago, CG420za said: my mate codes for a living, so i'm hoping he'll do it as a favour So do I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McB Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Wait a minute. I have my lights on a digital timer [mention=1249]Trailblazer420[/mention]. Are you saying that if i connect my emergency light to it, it won't power up during lights off?Nah my head was up my arse. Needs a dedicated circuit and a ups inline to work. Then timer off would equal lights on Sent from my ANE-LX2 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailblazer420 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 It happens Here is the code: Only change is the connection between relay and Arduino plugs into D13, not into 7. void setup() { pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT); } void loop() { digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH); // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level) delay(43200000); // wait for a second digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW); // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW delay(43200000); // wait for a second } 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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