Micro Adventures with Mr. Sparkle

[sillyhead123]

They should fill out real fast. Mr. Sparkle, any suggestions on doing this same build with just 1 pc case for flower? The clones, small veg could go in a black rubbermaid, then transfer to the case for flower? I dont have the budget for 2 of these..

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

fuckin' shitty deal man.

but hey, it's a fresh start! more keepers to be found!

For sure,we will definitely find some good ones.

I hate the return from a long trip. I had a buddy of mine water things for me while I was on a family vacation a couple years back and I came home to a bone dry cloner...

Shitty, and things happen that aren't always in our decorum of control, but without this issue i would of never thought of a watchdog timer like Ice-cream has suggested , and by eventually implementing it ill have better code in the end, and a more rock solid setup

They should fill out real fast. Mr. Sparkle, any suggestions on doing this same build with just 1 pc case for flower? The clones, small veg could go in a black rubbermaid, then transfer to the case for flower? I dont have the budget for 2 of these..

Oh Definitely, as for 1pc if i was limited to just one i would either go one of two kinda three routes, first would be to either run cycle grows where you switch from say 18/6 to a 12/12 light cycle 2-3 weeks after you have seeds break soil, or if wanting to run from clones have a small veg area setup in some Misc random box lit with a screw in led bulb, which would be plenty of light for its purpose.

Or i'd honestly just run auto's and make my own seeds, they're pretty good now adays, and so quick with the right strains.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Also here's my weekly update:


Bogan: Has come back around, and will be good shortly, also just put 4 Dark Devil seeds from that last run into mix today they will be running in 800ml pots, and when the other plants leave i will be running 4 C99xDarkDevil crosses, but to note they are only half auto so we will see what we get, if they are autos they will stay in Bogan but if not they will get moved over to Ashla to finish out.

Ashla: Is doing well, have some very minor root rot, but that's cause the box has been running a bit wet, as i haven't adjusted it yet and wanted to see how it would do running a bit wetter. The AK48's are all looking nice, i'm not expecting them to bulk out crazy like with their structure but we will see, and the Dark Devil is filling out, definitely less that if had a 18/6 schedule but that is expected, but we will see with the end result shortly the actual difference.

 

[Tbonegrower]

Sounds like a good plan on the halflings. Always a bummer when your cab is cleaned out for you...

 

[ice-cream]

So i did a bit of reading on the watchdog, and some say it can be unreliable... I'm going to guess this is based on the code more than anything else.
Also worth noting is that if you set it up incorrectly at the start you will need to reload the bootloader as the dog gets caugh in a race condition and just keeps reseting before it even starts.
thats where i saw the idea of an external electronic reset based on a heartbeat. Hope i can upload a schematic ? let see ?
https://www.icmag.com/ic/attachment.php?attachmentid=391972&stc=1&d=1484133955


its just a basic 555 timer connected to the arduino's reset line, and you just need to make sure it see a I/O pin go high every 5/1 minutes to stop the reset command.

Sorry guys for the nerd talk, back to the buds

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Weekly Update:

Bogan is moving along, the Lemon Kush And Cherry Bomb Clone's are now pretty good, could even throw them over to the other box shortly if i had room. The Dark Devil Seedling have been above ground for about half a week now. Just moving along.

Ashla, the AK48's are done their stretch at 3 weeks of flower now and are starting to throw on buds, had one picked out "#5" that i liked the smell on initially, but currently i can't smell a thing, so im gonna have to wait till i can to retest to see which ones i like, also moved over the two remaining Bahia Blackheads, they will both be female, as they have pre-flowers, i threw them somewhat into the center just cause they will receive a tad more light which will help reduce a little bit of the stretch that will occur in the next three weeks. Also Slightly trimmed the lowers of the ak48's to remove the shoots that will just become useless stuff once done, but left enough behind to reveg if needed. Also i very tiny bit of tip burn, so i may dial back the nutes a tad in the future.

Also i changed the tray to be flat again instead of angled, and located the soil sensor in the furthest plant away from the dump tube, with this change the plants are being more evenly watered in compared to how it was running, im gonna maybe change Bogan to do the same, the short frequent watering cycle is allowing it to work better this way, then a longer less frequent tilted tray watering cycle, only issue is the plants stay a tad wetter which can cause some root rot, bacteria issues, if i don't keep up on adding a sterilizer to my rez's once a week, vs just doing it every rez change.

Also will be harvesting this Dark Devil shortly, not as much yield as if i ran it under 18/6 but still a respectable little plant. It was topped a week or two after being moved over to Ashla, just for references, as it grew too tall as it got crowded out.

 

[ice-cream]

WOW, love that last photo. it's one monster of a micro

 

[Tbonegrower]

Those dark devils are beautiful man. What is the flavor like on those?

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

WOW, love that last photo. it's one monster of a micro

Thanks Ice Cream

Those dark devils are beautiful man. What is the flavor like on those?

This last one is a selfed F2, so the smell is a tad different, but the majority of them have a really "Sweet" smell, mixed in with some grape-iness and some mild earthy undertones, i enjoy it compared to most, and are worth looking into in my opinion, if you're into that kinda stuff.

 

[sillyhead123]

What type of training are you doing to your plants, veg time, and cloning method?

Thank to you I ended up with 2 trash bins, 27" tall, and plan on running 4-5 plants like you, running some micro COBS at 30w veg, 50-80w flower

 

[doams]

what sterilizer do you use for keeping the rez fresh?
thx!

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

What type of training are you doing to your plants, veg time, and cloning method?

Zero training if needed, but usually defoliation when needed, topping if they get too tall, and i usually chop out the lowers as in my case it just creates useless fluff. Veg time from seed popping the soil is usually 2-3 weeks, and cloning method is whatever works, i don't have a good cloning setup with these cases, as things are a little too crowded and i have too much light, ideally i should have a separate area, with a heating mat, domed container and a small say 8w screw in led bulb. But i haven't done that just cause i don't really need another grow area/box.

what sterilizer do you use for keeping the rez fresh?
thx!

All honestly, simple Bleach added once weekly when i'm diligent and at a concentration of 4ppm, which with my stuff "Concentrated Clorox" is 0.5ml per 10l, or 7 drops with a dropper bottle i use, it works well if i stay on top of it, if i don't the bleach burns off relatively quickly and then my res can get a light slime coating usually after about two weeks.

I also periodically wash out my reservoirs, typically once they run low and i haven't been diligent with the bleach, which is more or a reactive type cleaning situation.

There is some good info out there on bleach and dead reservoirs but it takes a bit of hunting to find it as most people usually use some diluted hydro product or hydrogen peroxide.

For me it's either i run a dead res or i have to go fully the other way and run beneficial bacterias to keep things in line, but the dead res is the simplest for me at the moment.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Weekly update:

Bogan: Transferred in 4 C99 x Dark Devil Seedlings today, they have all popped but will be above soil in a couple days, and the F2 Dark Devils are doing decent

Ashla: Trimmed up the AK48's, it wasn't needed, but doing so in turn gave some more room for the Bahia Blackheads, and the Lemon Kush and Cherry Bomb clones i transferred over a couple days back. #5 out of the AK48's is my favorite so far but i'm gonna wait another week or two before i make my selections and cull the rest.

Also the recently harvested 12/12 grown F2 Dark Devil yielded around 6.4g

 

[Soulrebel239]

Just wondering about the smell coming from the pc boxes. Is it only noticeable when you open them because I've been watching your show since the beginning so I can pick up some ideas to use when I rebuilt my server box.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Totally depends on the strain, some you notice nothing till you open the side and bump plants around, other can slightly over power the carbon, especially if its old and i haven't changed it in awhile, but i also typically avoid really skunky odorous strains mainly because i just don't enjoy them.

I do occasionally use a floor standing electrostatic air purifier when needed, such as in situations where i have extra old carbon and really odorous strains in the peak of flower.

Generally though regular carbon changes every 6-9 months in my case deals with any odors, with the purifier backing things up when or if needed, which i actually mainly use just for household dust and other odors, like say new paint or furniture with them off gassing VOC's, but it works pretty good for that.

 

[kstrader]

Hey Mr.Sparkle! Will you be able to share the Arduino code for your setup?) I really like your setup!

 

[riigori]

I would also like to see the code because I'm building similar system for myself. And can you post an image of your moisture sensor? You have built so great system!

 

[Soulrebel239]

That would be interesting to find out how to automate things in a pc box with a Arduino or Rasberry Pi.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Hey Mr.Sparkle! Will you be able to share the Arduino code for your setup?) I really like your setup!

I would also like to see the code because I'm building similar system for myself. And can you post an image of your moisture sensor? You have built so great system!

That would be interesting to find out how to automate things in a pc box with a Arduino or Rasberry Pi.

I'll post a pic of a sensor once i get home, and i'll explain it abit.

As for the code I could post it later, but hear me out on something first, most of the code is setup specific, It's not hard to learn, or change once you know, but will look like another language if you don't, even if i have a lot of annotations in my code, it just takes a bit of time, and there isn't really any short cuts around it.

So any copy and pasting of my code for your own project will most likely cause some issues as my code pertains to how i specifically built my own setup, so my values for what are outputs, what are inputs, or what specific component im using that requires its own library or setup of base values is specific to my own build.

If you build differently or use different parts, your code will be different, and everyone setup will be a bit different.

Saying that everything i've learned and or written has been from arduino learning projects the arduino forums or open source projects on the web, which is the whole point behind arduinos and raspberry pi's.

So i could post it because i believe in openingly sharing knowledge, but more specifically i will post sections of my code if you want to know specifics and i'll explain what i've done, but i don't necessarily want to post my base code and then end up in the "hey this code doesn't work can you rewrite it for my own application" type situation, as honestly i can code and understand a bunch of it but it's not really enjoyable for me, coding has always been a means to an end for me.


So that aside what specifics do you want to know about. My specifcs break down as follows

Relays (even though they are linked to other functions)
Real Time Clocks and Light Control
PWM Fan control (2 speed)
Temperature and humidity display
Button control
Soil Sensor readings with automated watering (which ties into a lot of things)

 

[ReikoX]

My Arduino starter kit will be here tonight.