Smart Controller & Smart Tent

Zeca-do-Jardim · Dec 13, 2020

Hi guys,

I'm currently developing a smart controller prototype that measures light intensity, temperature, humidity and co2. I will be able to set my lights schedule, desired temperature and humidity inside the tent. The controller will have 8 electric sockets (lights, outlet fan, inlet fan, oscillating fan, dehumidifier, humidifier, heater and 1 extra socket just in case I'll need it for something later) and it will also have an ip camera. I'll be able to control everything with my phone and I will also be able to see my garden 24/7 plus I'll be able to take photos, record videos and time-lapses directly to my phone, tablet, computer, hard disk, cloud, etc. It will also have an LCD on the box where I can read all the information and change the settings manually there.

This will be programmed to use all the equipment mention above but it will also work if you only have 1 or 2 products (light and outlet fan for example). Making it an option for everyone, if you're starting and you only have basic equipment, it will do the job with what you have. If you already have all the equipment to guarantee stable growing conditions (or if you're planning on buying the rest of the equipment later) this all in one controller will make your life much easier while guaranteeing you a top quality bud. This controller will send you notifications if the temperatures go too high or too low, the same goes for humidity. It will also send you a notification if something is not running properly.

Since this is a prototype for a potential product to sell, I would like to know if you're interested in this type of technology? Also, is there anything I'm missing that you would like to add? My goal is to automate as many tasks as possible so I can (and if everything goes according to plan, later you will be able too) guarantee that I can grow top quality weed without consuming me a lot of time. For the ones interested, how much are you willing to pay for a product like this? Would you prefer a cheaper lower quality product or a better more expensive option?

If I feel there's a market after testing and launching this product and with all the user's feedback, my goal is to use the money of the smart controller to develop a smart tent for organic growing. Combining HID & LED with a water tank, nutrients tanks, mixing tank, fans, heater, cooler, humidifier, dehumidifier. It will measure literally everything, even the pH of your soil. It will measure and correct your solution's pH and EC before watering. You'll be able to choose how many ml/L you want for each nutrient. All this being extremely efficient and using as little electricity as possible. I still don't know the measurements of the tent as I'm still studying a few topics and running some tests with the knowledge I currently have. This product will be tailored for the people who choose to smoke organically and want to choose which strains to smoke. It will consume very little of your time and it will be a very cheap option compared to buying weed from your dealer all year round. Plus, if you live in a place (like me) where Cannabis is still illegal you don't need to buy from dealers anymore.

I'll ask exactly the same questions for this product. Are you interested in this type of technology? Is there anything you would had it and/or remove it? How much money are you willing to pay for a product like this? Would you prefer a cheap lower cost product or a good quality higher price option?

I'm very eager to know your opinions and I'm looking forward to making grow high quality cannabis an easy option for everyone.

Kind regards and happy grows,
Zeca-do-Jardim

Tht_Blk_Guy27 · Dec 13, 2020

price range a product like that probably isn't going to be cheap but id shell out $250+ USD for something with the base attachments. the more automated the better as i was looking for an all in one automated hub or something of the sort and can only find small ones but now all in ones like you've spoken about. im definitely interested if you do

Ns950641 · Dec 13, 2020

hmm you got my attention, however i would let the pre-existing basic climate controllers cater to the budget market and cater yours towards the mid to higher end devices. Considering it could do more than the basic 3/4 plug controller, besides i would hate to buy anything that could control that much of a grow yet was made with cheap/inferior parts jmo. but the phone connectivity sounds cool as shit.

ilovereggae · Dec 13, 2020

check out https://www.supergreenlab.com/

they use small led boards and have a pcb microcontroller that you can hook up various components to, and then put them into various Ikea style cabinets.

ive been watching the project for a while, they used to have like 4 or 5 different packages but recently have scaled it down to just one main product based on what was in demand. but might give you an idea of what people will pay for something similar.

not exactly the same idea as yours but what I like most about the project is that all of their code for their controllers and everything is open sourced on github. lots of people will be trying to solve the same problems it is probably best if we all collaborate and learn from each other.

Zeca-do-Jardim · Dec 13, 2020

I just want to be sure and say that I am only building a prototype for myself. I'm just trying to gather as much feedback as possible and understand if there are more people interested in having this problem solved as I am. I'm not trying to advertise anything here, for that I already have my strategy defined once I have the final product finished.

Zeca-do-Jardim · Dec 13, 2020

Tht_Blk_Guy27 said:
price range a product like that probably isn't going to be cheap but id shell out $250+ USD for something with the base attachments. the more automated the better as i was looking for an all in one automated hub or something of the sort and can only find small ones but now all in ones like you've spoken about. im definitely interested if you do

Thank you for your feedback and don't worry if this goes as I'm planning you will definitely hear it

Zeca-do-Jardim · Dec 13, 2020

Ns950641 said:
hmm you got my attention, however i would let the pre-existing basic climate controllers cater to the budget market and cater yours towards the mid to higher end devices. Considering it could do more than the basic 3/4 plug controller, besides i would hate to buy anything that could control that much of a grow yet was made with cheap/inferior parts jmo. but the phone connectivity sounds cool as shit.

Thank you for your feedback and I totally agree with you but sometimes it's not about what I want but what the market wants. But I'm happy there's still people out there who still look for quality, that's my type! :cool:

Zeca-do-Jardim · Dec 13, 2020

ilovereggae said:
check out https://www.supergreenlab.com/

they use small led boards and have a pcb microcontroller that you can hook up various components to, and then put them into various Ikea style cabinets.

ive been watching the project for a while, they used to have like 4 or 5 different packages but recently have scaled it down to just one main product based on what was in demand. but might give you an idea of what people will pay for something similar.

not exactly the same idea as yours but what I like most about the project is that all of their code for their controllers and everything is open sourced on github. lots of people will be trying to solve the same problems it is probably best if we all collaborate and learn from each other.

Thanks for the heads up. I gave it a quick look on their website and definitely it's not what I am trying to do but without a doubt I'm going to check their code on Github. Might find some pearls there

KillaKane · Dec 14, 2020

Thats very cool !!

solakani · Dec 14, 2020

Zeca-do-Jardim said:
Hi guys,

I'm currently developing a smart controller prototype that measures light intensity, temperature, humidity and co2. I will be able to set my lights schedule, desired temperature and humidity inside the tent. The controller will have 8 electric sockets (lights, outlet fan, inlet fan, oscillating fan, dehumidifier, humidifier, heater and 1 extra socket just in case I'll need it for something later) and it will also have an ip camera. I'll be able to control everything with my phone and I will also be able to see my garden 24/7 plus I'll be able to take photos, record videos and time-lapses directly to my phone, tablet, computer, hard disk, cloud, etc. It will also have an LCD on the box where I can read all the information and change the settings manually there.

This will be programmed to use all the equipment mention above but it will also work if you only have 1 or 2 products (light and outlet fan for example). Making it an option for everyone, if you're starting and you only have basic equipment, it will do the job with what you have. If you already have all the equipment to guarantee stable growing conditions (or if you're planning on buying the rest of the equipment later) this all in one controller will make your life much easier while guaranteeing you a top quality bud. This controller will send you notifications if the temperatures go too high or too low, the same goes for humidity. It will also send you a notification if something is not running properly.

Since this is a prototype for a potential product to sell, I would like to know if you're interested in this type of technology? Also, is there anything I'm missing that you would like to add? My goal is to automate as many tasks as possible so I can (and if everything goes according to plan, later you will be able too) guarantee that I can grow top quality weed without consuming me a lot of time. For the ones interested, how much are you willing to pay for a product like this? Would you prefer a cheaper lower quality product or a better more expensive option?

If I feel there's a market after testing and launching this product and with all the user's feedback, my goal is to use the money of the smart controller to develop a smart tent for organic growing. Combining HID & LED with a water tank, nutrients tanks, mixing tank, fans, heater, cooler, humidifier, dehumidifier. It will measure literally everything, even the pH of your soil. It will measure and correct your solution's pH and EC before watering. You'll be able to choose how many ml/L you want for each nutrient. All this being extremely efficient and using as little electricity as possible. I still don't know the measurements of the tent as I'm still studying a few topics and running some tests with the knowledge I currently have. This product will be tailored for the people who choose to smoke organically and want to choose which strains to smoke. It will consume very little of your time and it will be a very cheap option compared to buying weed from your dealer all year round. Plus, if you live in a place (like me) where Cannabis is still illegal you don't need to buy from dealers anymore.

I'll ask exactly the same questions for this product. Are you interested in this type of technology? Is there anything you would had it and/or remove it? How much money are you willing to pay for a product like this? Would you prefer a cheap lower cost product or a good quality higher price option?

I'm very eager to know your opinions and I'm looking forward to making grow high quality cannabis an easy option for everyone.

Kind regards and happy grows,
Zeca-do-Jardim

Interesting. Please describe your development hardware, software environment, timeline of project plan, your expertise in growing to get better estimates of what I would pay for "this type of technology"

Zeca-do-Jardim · Dec 14, 2020

solakani said:
Interesting. Please describe your development hardware, software environment, timeline of project plan, your expertise in growing to get better estimates of what I would pay for "this type of technology"

So big story short... I have the knowledge about growing, a friend of mine has the knowledge about electronics and another one is a programmer. The 3 of us are very interested in developing this project, at the moment we are using arduino to test how it works. When it will be to sell I will need to order custom boards as you can not sell anything done in arduino. Regarding the timeline of the project, I would like to be selling units in the first quarter of 2021

solakani · Dec 14, 2020

Zeca-do-Jardim said:
So big story short... I have the knowledge about growing, a friend of mine has the knowledge about electronics and another one is a programmer. The 3 of us are very interested in developing this project, at the moment we are using arduino to test how it works. When it will be to sell I will need to order custom boards as you can not sell anything done in arduino. Regarding the timeline of the project, I would like to be selling units in the first quarter of 2021

I wish you and your team success.

ilovereggae · Dec 14, 2020

Zeca-do-Jardim said:
So big story short... I have the knowledge about growing, a friend of mine has the knowledge about electronics and another one is a programmer. The 3 of us are very interested in developing this project, at the moment we are using arduino to test how it works. When it will be to sell I will need to order custom boards as you can not sell anything done in arduino. Regarding the timeline of the project, I would like to be selling units in the first quarter of 2021

love the idea but imho you need to test whatever you are going to sell to the rest of us for a few cycles so we know it works.

going to need to get a few test protoypes in other peoples hands to help identify issues and implement changes based on feedback from other unbiased growers. you should to plan for a few rounds of QA and bug fixes before you put it out for sale or you are going to have a ton of customer service issues that could overwhelm you.

Would recommend that you add someone to your team who has experience developing and selling physical products. Or hire a consultant.

Best of luck cant wait to see what you come up with!

Zeca-do-Jardim · Dec 14, 2020

solakani said:
I wish you and your team success.

Thank you very much buddy

Zeca-do-Jardim · Dec 14, 2020

ilovereggae said:
love the idea but imho you need to test whatever you are going to sell to the rest of us for a few cycles so we know it works.

going to need to get a few test protoypes in other peoples hands to help identify issues and implement changes based on feedback from other unbiased growers. you should to plan for a few rounds of QA and bug fixes before you put it out for sale or you are going to have a ton of customer service issues that could overwhelm you.

Would recommend that you add someone to your team who has experience developing and selling physical products. Or hire a consultant.

Best of luck cant wait to see what you come up with!

Totally agree with you.

My goal is to develop products for all the cannabis enthusiasts who want to grow their own buds while barely spending time looking after their garden. Assuring that you get a top-quality production.

Once I finish the Smart Controller prototype I'll be testing myself. If the first prototype runs smoothly after a few calibrations, I'll build a few more for my friends and sell them to my friends at cost price. Listen to their experience and what they have to say.

By the way, if any of you is interested, I am more than happy to do the same for you.

I want to gather as much feedback as possible. After all that I'll know which changes I'll need to make in order to get the best performance. Test it again, if it will run smooth I'll be ordering the custom boards, all the components to have a small stock and finally start selling the smart controller.

My vision at the moment is to start with the smart controller, after I'll do a smart irrigation system (so I can get my hands dirty on that too) and once I finally understand and tested all the concepts needed to grow top quality bud I'll do a smart tent.

An example, if I get to reach the point where I'm building the smart tent, the goal is for someone with zero experience and zero knowledge to being able to grow some nice fat buds on their first grow.

I know I have nothing to show yet and these are all big promises but what can I say? I like big challenges!

My only goal here is to speak with the community and understand if this is a need for many people, if those people are interested in this technology and how much money are they willing to pay for it. I want to be sure that I'm solving a problem which people are interested in having a solution.

I don't want to be wasting my time and my money developing a product that people gives no value. One thing is building one for myself has a hobby, another thing is turning that into a business.

I'll be posting all the updates so you guys can stay in touch.

Thanks for the support and happy grows to everyone.

Smart Controller & Smart Tent

Zeca-do-Jardim

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Tht_Blk_Guy27

Well-Known Member

Ns950641

Active Member

ilovereggae

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Zeca-do-Jardim

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Zeca-do-Jardim

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Zeca-do-Jardim

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Zeca-do-Jardim

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KillaKane

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solakani

Well-Known Member

Zeca-do-Jardim

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solakani

Well-Known Member

ilovereggae

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Zeca-do-Jardim

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Zeca-do-Jardim

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