Need ideas for Sailboat LED grow

[Weezard]

Thanks for the very scary and unfortunate information. Sad how little freedom we have these days and no privacy. Even sadder still is those who punish us do as us, the ultimate hypocracy.

Suppose I am already down and out on this one, but I have to finish this project. Maybe sell it off or use it to grow legitimate plants, I think that would still be quite a kick. If it is no longer used to MJ, is it alright to continue a log of the build for use with solar panels as informational? Would like to contribute some info and experience to this board as many other contributions have helped me.

Got some heatsinks and nice MCUs, looking into some MOSFETs to drive the LEDs with PWm handled by the MCU. Roughly looking at 135watts total.

Anyone have any experience with constant current ICs, the real efficient all in once packages from linear and maxim? Looking for circuit ideas that optimize efficiency.

Thanks again!

That would be a very useful thread
We have folks here who live "off the grid".
Your input would be much appreciated.
It's one of the reasons I keep futzing with the LEDs after m,y needs are met.
I love to help get a PWM setup running.

Am under educated and under budgeted, but I do have spare time and a talent for electronics.
Also mess around with DWC. and am giving serious thought to GIC, (Growing in Clouds).

The last bubbaponics module was a 5 Gal. bucket with a screw-on top.
No water pump, no timer, just a honkin' big airstone and decent air pump.
Drilled a 3/4" hole in the top and mounted a 5" net pot filled with Hydrotron clay balls to the bottom of the lid.
Tied 12" lengths of cotton string all around the bottom of the pot and filled the bucket with nutes so it just wets the strings.

Not critical, the bubbling keeps the strings wet, the strings wick water up to the clay and the clay draws in enough water to keep the roots happy until they reach the water.
It's a tight system for vegging, you can leave it unattended for weeks.
Come flowering I'll use the "Bubba-res" that I mentioned in Opies fogging thread to keep the water level constant and an embedded tube w/valve for sucking out the old nutes.
The res. hose will then serve to add the new nutes.
At least that's the current plan.


Let me know how I can help.
Weezard

[stinkyattic]

Portable herb garden?
Yes, please!
There's no stressing enough the value of fresh herbs when you have grown tired of putting Adobo and Montreal Steak Seasoning on everything left in your nasty 'refrigerator' towards the end of a trip... try finding fresh herbs of the sort you're accustomed to in port, lol... and we all know that anything you put into the boat's icebox comes out as unidentifiable mush within jut HOURS haha... reminds me of Jerry telling Elaine while she is apartment-sitting... :And NO SOFT CHEESES of ANY KIND!!!"
Just check on agricultural guidelines if you are leaving the country or going to Hawai'i, where farm products are inspected and quarantined or seized to prevent spread of disease into a fragile ecosystem.

I'd look at prone varities of herbs- creeping lemon thyme, creeping rosemary, etc. because they naturally grow quite flat and thus are perfect for LED culture.

It will be a really welcome addition to your cabin, having a visible herb garden with cheerful lights to putter with and trim, on those grey days when you're becalmed with nothing to do and there's not a square centimeter of the boat you haven't already cleaned twice... I think it's a GREAT idea and I really hope you will share it with us!

When I was working in Alaska on the commercial fishing fleet, I came very close to buying a liveaboard and renting a mooring in Seattle. If I'd stayed on the west coast, you guys would never have met me because I'd be that crazy lady who lives on a sailboat with a fat bulldog and potted tomatoes on the deck, and only works just enough to pay for supplies and marina fees, lol.

[SnSstealth]

lol....Please do share! Im sure the applications and intrest in seeing this through with or without MJ involved....subscribed!
whiskeytango

[highSailin]

Howdy All!
I love that herb garden idea! We will be living off the fish we catch and large bag of rice, so some fresh herbs would be great. I can see foreign border officials being a bit pissy about bringing plants in. This isn't to say that while we have our castle we won't be growing ourselves a going away present.

Wife and I have almost finished our simulation box. It measures: 40"L x 36"H x 24"D
I will post some pics of it here soon.

What I am having the most trouble with is the CCS PWM circuits for so many LEDs. I have decided to go with a 24v system (still chargable with wind and solar), will be able to get 6 LEDs per CCS (Constant current source).
CCS: duel transistor looping; burning a max of 1.67w in heat
-any ideas on a better method for efficiency?

So we have CCS then LED bank then a N-Chan. MOSFET with gate being controlled by a pinout on the TI MSP430. (Just bought a few of these things and they are amazing little chips!) This config would require 8 sets of CCS circuits and 8 MOSFETs, 8 pinouts on the MSP (since each color will be controlled uniquely, hours in a day wise) for PWM and light cycles.

Other idea is to forget the CCSs and throw a 0.1ohm resistor after the LED bank but before the MOSFET with a A/D sensor, from the MSP, before and after the resistor in order to measure the drop in the MCU and use that data to control when the MOSFET gate is open or closed via software. This would take 3 MSP chips and a common EEPROM to run the whole setup, which is more of a pain put could also have really good future scalability.

Any other ideas of driving these LEDs??
Anyone with experience with these LEDs, or similar, know what a good voltage is to drive each LED at 3a??? Is that even smart, given the datasheet specs 1500ma max pulse current.
All but the reds have a max of 4.95v or 4.47, reds are 3.6v

I will post a scan of the circuit diagram when I finally pick one.

Thanks everyone!!!

[highSailin]

stinkyattic,
Mrs. highSailin loved your vision of living at dock! What a hoot and how fun! What did you end up going instead? We lived out of a homemade teardroptrailer in alaska for 4 months, inspired the boat idea. And I was definetly thinking some plexiglass greenhouses for a few tomato plants mounted on the pulpit rails. How long did you work/live in AK? What are your end impressions? All the rain got to us, cold ass rain.

[stinkyattic]

Yeah, the rain there and also in Seattle got to me too.
My impression of Alaska is that you have to be there for work to really appreciate the place- a tourist will never see the real Alaska in the short time alloted. I was there about a year commercial fishing out of Dutch and it is a harsh, unforgiving place in all ways, but the people make up for it with their warmth, and the diversity of the fishing community is just wonderful. The landscape makes you feel small and insignificant, and at the same time important as the only living thing in view often, while also allowing time for a lot of introspection- there is little distraction there from things that matter, like survival and real community. The recreational shopping/display of wealth/Starbucks/TV obsession thing just isn't part of the lifestyle, and that is refreshing.
I returned to my home state to pursue my career in a more temperate climate where I actually know how to ski the local conditions Me and actual powder do not get along. I learned at a resort affectionately known locally as 'Berkshire Ice'. I almost moved back last year but couldn't sell my house in this crap economy, and there's a man in Soldotna who I miss very very much.

I don't know the first thing about wiring that shit, but my dad is a photovoltaic/LED expert, literally; it's his career and I have been on him to join here for quite some time now, lol!

You NEED fresh herbs to live on fish n rice. Haha. I'd also see if you can't find a source for freeze-dried vegetable flakes of all sorts- spinach and red bell peppers being good choices, along with dried onion flakes and dried sliced shiitake mushrooms. I like to cook a lot myself and my 'survival food' cabinet would include the dried veggies mentioned above, plus brown rice and Indian red lentils, for protein and fiber, which cook quickly compared to other legumes, and couscous which also cooks fast and conserves cooking fuel.

For your herb garden, I would definitely try to build something up under a modified section of deck that has had a piece of the fibreglass cut out and replaced by a piece of THICK plexi, with a GOOD QUALITY gasket, and bolted down well- take as much advantage of natural sunlight as possible, and use your LED array for supplemental lighting, and to extend daylight hours. You will definitely want to have a way to catch rainfall for use as watering liquid, and an EC meter to be certain that you have not introduc ed salt water into the tank. You need CalMAg plus to enrich your rain water with the minerals that plants need- Calcium deficiency is a killer and you won't necessarily think that you need a Ca additive, so I'm telling you now.

The open part of your yacht- do you have benches in the cockpit that have tops that fold up and open? Consider turning THOSE into your greenhouses by replacing the bench with plexi. That gives you WAY more space than you would have had in the cabin, and a lot of the crap that is usually stowed in there like PFDs and extra lines can be lashed to the deck, and you can get a large tool box with a waterproof gasket and tie that down elsewhere too to free up space. Those bench stowage compartments are usually around 4' x 2' wide by 18-24" deep, and can give you a really nice garden. In fine weather, you can simply leave them open. If you need the seating, fire up the LEDs and put the cushions back on. The advantage to this is that you have not altered the structural integrity of the craft, or damaged the molded fibreglass in such a way that you can't put it back together- just stuff the old bench tops in a friend's garage until you go to sell the boat.

Then every time you change tack, on top of changing the set of the sails, you swap the cushion from one side to another and open the garden on the leeward side of the boat. HAHAHA!!!

What model is it if you don't mind posting (if you do, send it to me in a rep message), and I'll look at the layout and make recommendations.

[the image reaper]

arrrrr, a seafarin wench, me pretty ... arrrrr :wtf:

[stinkyattic]

YAAAAARRRR!!!! I got booty!