One way to control lights
When I started to set up my growing area, I only had a few lights to control. Over the years the lights seemed to multiply and so did the timers. It became increasingly difficult to get everything on or off at the same time and if there was a power outage or a change in time to daylight savings or back, I would have to adjust a half dozen timers. The solution I found was to use a programable or smart relay. I have included a couple pictures of the setup. The unit I am using has 10 outputs and 16 inputs which means that I can control 10 separate operations and I can utilize 16 different inputs like humidistats, thermostats or whatever to trigger an output. There are also eight clocks in the relay and most contacts can be programed as always on or to switch on and off for specific intervals. I know this sounds more complicated than it is. One of the pictures shows the program running on my computer. To build a program, you can just drag and drop timers or contacts into the circuit. I only have two circuits programed at this time, the top circuit controling the lights, on at 7:00AM and off at 9:00PM and the other turning on the misting pump for one minute each hour from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. This unit can also be set to change to daylight savings time and back. I was thinking that I could use a humidistat to control the misting pump or a thermostat to control an exhaust fan in the future. According to the manufacturer, these controls have been used in greenhouses to control heat, cooling and lights. I just wanted to throw this out there so maybe someone might find an idea they can use.
John
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