Computer controlled orchid house
 

It took me a year to design, a year to build, a year of growing, but I finally have a website for my Ultimate Orchid Case.

A computer controls heating / cooling, fans, lights, misting, and it even plays music if temperatures get out of whack. It is also hooked up to the internet so you can see the current temperature, and what stuff is running.

What do you think? It is really more for growing stuff than display, but it works as a piece of furniture.

My orchids grow really well. I crowd it a little more than I should, and I have had some problems with scale. But I've got that licked now.

Barron's Orchid Case

mister interval
 

The fogger, and all the rest of the circuits, can be controlled to go-and-off at fixed times, or run at intervals. After 1 year of operation, the fogger stopped working (though it is still getting current). I think I need to clean the ceramic disc, but I can't get it open because I lost the key. So it is currently set not to come on at all. I just need to spend the time to either fix it or replace it. Because water runs through the whole house, it stays plenty humid without the mister.

..oh, and the fans. Check out the jpg at the top of the webpage... the circulation fans run 2 minutes every 25 minutes; the exhaust fans run 1 minute every 40 minutes. The fountain runs whenever the mister or the climate control is running. Also on today's graph, you can tell that the case ran low on water in the middle of the night because the heating (of the water) wasn't warming the case (as indicated by the same temp 2 hours in a row).

WOW! I don't have words to express my feelings! It's a dream of any orchid hobbyist.

Wow! Excellent work

Nice
 

Nice work. I can understand it took long to put together.
//Henke

Wow! Very very nice!

I have some additional Questions
What is the total growing volume?
The TEC, at what power is it rated? (watt)
Is it correct that the light is inside the cabinet? Or is they in a separete compartment?

/Magnus

My goodness! You put a lot of loving thought and care into this! Thank you for sharing!
--Carolyn

For Magnus, ... the dimensions inside the grow area are 4'x26"x30" high at its lowest point (which is just the right depth for my 5'10" frame to reach the farthest corner). The TEC is 30watts if I remember correctly, which was one of the smaller versions on Ebay. The lights are inside the cabinet mounted on the top. There are fans in the top up there, so it doesn't get too hot.

I've added a few links to pictures since my original posting.

Thanks.

Barron