Inside the PLC is two main boards one is a computer board, the other is the internal power supply. This is my #2 unit it has a damaged casing still fully functional
if someone is interested in learning more just shout out. I used one of these to automate a legal “moonshine” still, well the permit says it is for motor fuel but we are talking no difference. It tastes the samethe timer i got today is not quite that fancy, but i was happy enough because it can be set by the minute! and has a backup battery… it’s just for running the pump in my 5gallon bucket diy aerocloner, still needs to painted black or something
That PLC is nice, I made my own cycle timer with an Arduino and relay board for less than $50.
There are a lot of toys for Arduino that will become a good to great system. It brings electronics engineering to the masses
Indeed, with a RF unit and some RF sockets, one could easily automate their entire grow fairly easily. It’s on my bucket list… 
Salutations Uncle_Al,
It’s all fun i imagine but i’d want to add one more layer to such nicely illustrated thoughtfood: using multiple independant cultivation spaces and non-standard sequencers it may be possible to scramble the overall signature to a point Hydro’s collected 3-dimensional (Voltage/Current/Phase) data no longer makes sufficient sense to a pseudo-AI search engine, i’d hope… Though i figure the system also probably needs to integrate air filtration and cooling, for example by recycling wasted lamp energy to pre-heat water for the bath-room’s heater. M’well i sure wonder, but i’ll bet even a tablet can do this. Supplying the rest of the hardware being another challenge in itself…
In any case go for it!
Good day, have fun!! 
I had to read and re read that 3 times before I understood the point, stoners sure can make things interesting,lol I genuinely appreciate the input to the conversation, please keep up the heady thoughts
Salutations,
More thought-food, though it’s 18 months old the text seems creative or at least it sounds credible. See for yourselves:
http://blog.surna.com/a-62-light-schedule-could-increase-plant-growth
Surna: A 6/2 Light Schedule could increase plant growth (2016-Mar-10)
Good day, have fun!!
Thanks for the input, intelligent and thought provocative an interesting perspective. I would say that the primary reason we remain married to 18/6 is most growers do not have ready Access to a timer that will control a non standard 24 hr. Grow cycle. I have made comment before that non standard light cycles need non standard timers. At a 6/2 there are three day cycles instead of one. Those three days fit on the standard 24hr. Timer.
@LemonadeJoe don’t mean to be picky but since it’s light cycles we are discussing, should probably correct the typo on “12/2”. Nobody’s going to be flowering on that cycle. But I agree with your conclusions.
Light cycle manipulation can work to meet specific goals, but there are always compromises. Mainly, shortening hours of light below about 18 per 24-cycle, or using a shorter day cycle in bloom, may “scramble the energy signature” or finish crops faster, but at the cost of growth rate and flower production. So it becomes a trade-off between finishing a room say, 15% quicker, but losing 20% of finished weight. Each combination of strain and lighting regime will yield different results, but I’ve yet to see significant, reproducible results from light cycles that strayed much beyond the standard formats.
It doesn’t have to be a guessing game as to how much light is optimum for growing cannabis. The greenhouse industry uses a species-specific metric called Daily Light Integral (DLI) to measure the intensity over time of light needed to bring a healthy crop to optimum harvest. Here’s a good primer on DLI:
The specific optimum DLI for cannabis has not been rigorously established, but it is assumed to be similar to other C3 species such as tomatoes and peppers.
There was a very good discussion of DLI and PFFD requirements of cannabis in an ICMag thread a few years ago by researcher focused on this area. The quote below is his conclusion on DLI requirements:
In our experience between 30 and 55 DLI (mol/m-2/day-1 in the PAR range) is good for Cannabis in all growth stages. Like PPFD, only use higher DLI in well controlled environments, such as temperature, VPD and CO2.
Here’s a quick way to convert PPFD to DLI; this is only valid for indoor or supplemental lighting greenhouses:
(PPFD)(hours of light per day)(0.0036) = DLI
Now, 55 DLI is equal to Northern California latitude mid-day sun in July. Difficult to achieve in most indoor spaces. A 2016 High Times article puts optimum indoor DLI at 25-30, and suggests any more intensity requires CO2 to use effectively.
-b420
Salutations Uncle_Al,
Indeed. Maybe having an exact succession of three 6/2 cycles every 24 h shall conveniently allow some savvy computer-controlled mixing of dark/light blocs so the overall electric signature gets significantly scrambled, if not reduced to a meaningless reading. So, does it take 2, 3 or 6 independant cultivation rooms to break the timing down into manageable blocs which totalize as a rock-steady consumption rate (with no variations seen from outside)?
Anyway this is one kind of topic i’d wish to see developped, if that makes sense at all, eventually.
Good day, have fun!!
I always run 11/13. I feel like I get the same same results in my yield and quality as 12/12, and certain plants show some interesting genetic expressions. Plus I save 1/12 of electric from my flower rooms.
Salutations HerbRastafari,
…11/13. I feel like I get the same same results in my yield and quality as 12/12…
How would a “photo” survive compared to an “auto” going through 12/12 from seed to harvest? Or was this intended to mean that’s what got tested perhaps? In the same way there are super-autos are there super-photos too?..
Good day, have fun!!
Not sure I understand the question?
I also have run different light schedules with out much notable difference. ( I never use electricity costs as a factor)
18 hours on 6 off for mom’s and veg cycle. (have done 24 hours, ok if no reliable timer is around.)
12/12 for flower
24 hours flouros for clones
what I am going to do in my next cycle is install 74O nano-meter red leds to come on before the lights and stay on 15 min after lights out. supposedly the plants sleep faster and you can cut off 3-4 days per flower cycle.
I don’t think that is possible. Depending on light source used, for example HPS have peak at their start (until bulbs can get into operating temperature it can be many times their normal output) so even if you could switch one cabinet of and another on at the very same time, there will still be peak visible probably. Same peak can be seen with fluoros too. So I think two 12/12 cabinets would be identifiable and not 100% “covered”.
But you are right that 6/2 cycle couldn’t be possibly identified as typical “growing” cycle 
by anyone watching… I don’t think that 6/2 would be any improvement to classic schedule though.
Sure, thanks for noticing, typo corrected
Salutations LemonadeJoe,
Yes, even with 5 min. granularity and 3 dimensional data it’s still too slow switching loads when HPS or even CFL possibly, as you’ve rightfully pointed out. But then there are LEDs, power relays and “autos” which i find most appropriate for each other, if my hypothesis could verify:
Although i could be mistaking i believe in this present scenario illustrated above there’s a change of status every 2 hours and yet ZERO timing information transmitted to an eventual logging meter. It has 3 cultivation spaces under light at all times and no overall load variation: e.g. a flat “fingerprint”… So if all 4 spaces are 100 Watts each then the total consumption pedestal becomes 300 Watts only, which could as well correspond to a dedicated computer or else…
Good day, have fun!!
Hummm…
Want more hints? How about:
12/4 = 16 h days, e.g. 3 synthetic days in 2… With zero timing transitions visible as a bonus (conditional to proper load-balancing, over 3 cultivation spaces among 4)…
So, how would an “Aufo-Flowering” genetic behave when submitted to similar scheduling?
Now a regular photo-sensible?..
Just curious.
Good day, have fun!!
what does that image represent? i’m not sure i understand it
