Stuart,
The last area of greenhouse automation I am going to cover with this
discussion in one where I have no positive comments. When I started
working with this stuff I thought it would be a great way to control
various misting and watering systems in my greenhouse.
I hate to say this, but under my conditions X-10 hardware is junk. I
have some interference in my home electrical system that interfere
with the communication between X-10 hardware, so it can not
communicate with each other. If you are not familiar with it X-10
hardware uses your home electrical wiring to communicate to turn
devices on and off. Unfortunately, X-10's support is pretty
worthless. They told me my problem was interference in my electrical
wiring, they were not willing to offer any help in figuring out what
was causing the interference or how I could figure out how to
eliminate it or filter it out. I could not figure out what was
causing the problem, so I sold the X-10 stuff I had.
They have lots of stuff for home security and monitoring, it you are
interested, get their basic test kit with the controller you hook
into your PC and the controller you can use to turn on and off a
device. http://www.x10.com/automation/ck18a_s_ps32.html is the web
address where you can buy the basic starter kit for home control from
your PC. I cannot say anything good about the company, but I have
friends that love them.
I know there are probably lots of other things that people are using
to monitor or control their greenhouses. If you have any comments on
what I have posted or on other equipment, get into the discussion on
ODG.
I hope this has given you some ideas on how to automate your greenhouse.
Tom Hillson
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