- Mon Sep 20, 2021 8:00 pm
#388796
First off, I have to thank Taylor Davis ( @incectivorouscircus on instagram) for her help and guidance. The integration into Home Assistant and some other aspects are my own dorky contributions, but she really helped me along with answers to basic questions.
My motivation is that I live in Florida, where the heat (even inside an air conditioned house might not allow for the temperature swings that highland Nepenthes need). Also, I am lazy, and was tired of bringing lots of ice packs out from the freezer each sunset to put in a thermal cooler for my Jamban, and then remembering each morning to get the ice packs out and back into the freezer.
List of things I used:
Next, I measured and made the PVC stand to raise the bottom of the egg crate. I also measured and cut the egg crate to size using some gloves and a pair of diagonal cutters. I like using egg crate and having it raised because it gives me room for (one of) the fans, provides a place for the water to go, and also brings the plants closer to the top / light source. I went with a design like this, but I am sure there are many different ways I used some tie wraps to hold the egg crate to the PVC. Here it is, looking down into the chest freezer.
Next, I laid the weather stripping around the top of the freezer, so that it made a nice seal between the top of the freezer and the plexiglass. Placed the light on the top of the plexiglass and plugged everything in for a test. I put one of the fans under the egg crate, blowing one way, and another above blowing the other way, like this: At this point you could use a controller like I listed above to set the day and night temperature, plug the freezer into the controller, remember to keep the controller's probe inside the freezer, and be done. But I chose to integrate it into my existing Home Assistant instance. See my previous post on my grow tent automation post370483.html#p370483 for more background.
Read on for part two, the automation of this chest freezer.
My motivation is that I live in Florida, where the heat (even inside an air conditioned house might not allow for the temperature swings that highland Nepenthes need). Also, I am lazy, and was tired of bringing lots of ice packs out from the freezer each sunset to put in a thermal cooler for my Jamban, and then remembering each morning to get the ice packs out and back into the freezer.
List of things I used:
- a 7 cubic foot chest freezer. I went with this one from Walmart, and I bought it new because I wanted something with a warranty https://www.walmart.com/ip/Arctic-King- ... hbdg=L1100 ~ $200 USD
- a piece of "egg crate" similar to this one https://www.homedepot.com/p/Plaskolite- ... /202025149 ~ $18 USD
- some 1" PVC and couplers (used to raise the egg crate off of the floor of the freezer) - ~ $15 USD
- a yescom 225 LED light - I had a spare red/blue one, but probably would have preferred a white one ~ $25 USD
- some DC fans to keep air circulating (in the enclosed environment, this is very important). I chose these, only because they came with a AC to DC adapter, and some sore of variable speed control. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MZ ... UTF8&psc=1
- some sort of thermostat controller - You would want one with a day and night temperature, for example one like this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CG ... UTF8&psc=1 ~ $65 USD, although in my design, I used some different smart outlets - see section on automation for more info
- a piece of 1/4" or thicker clear acrylic / plexiglass to be used as the new lid. In my case, this measured about 21 1/4" x 32 1/8" with fillet (rounded) corners ~ $70 USD
- some weatherstripping to go between the top surface of the chest freezer, and the piece of plexiglass ~ $10 USD.
Next, I measured and made the PVC stand to raise the bottom of the egg crate. I also measured and cut the egg crate to size using some gloves and a pair of diagonal cutters. I like using egg crate and having it raised because it gives me room for (one of) the fans, provides a place for the water to go, and also brings the plants closer to the top / light source. I went with a design like this, but I am sure there are many different ways I used some tie wraps to hold the egg crate to the PVC. Here it is, looking down into the chest freezer.
Next, I laid the weather stripping around the top of the freezer, so that it made a nice seal between the top of the freezer and the plexiglass. Placed the light on the top of the plexiglass and plugged everything in for a test. I put one of the fans under the egg crate, blowing one way, and another above blowing the other way, like this: At this point you could use a controller like I listed above to set the day and night temperature, plug the freezer into the controller, remember to keep the controller's probe inside the freezer, and be done. But I chose to integrate it into my existing Home Assistant instance. See my previous post on my grow tent automation post370483.html#p370483 for more background.
Read on for part two, the automation of this chest freezer.
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Supercazzola's Grow List
Supercazzola's Grow List