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Solution Temperature
Heating: A water heater is used to maintain correct water temperature, which is important not only to the plants, but to the correct mixing of the pH and nutrient solutions. The water heater, like the main pump, is operated by the central controller, but the temperature setpoint can only be changed by the computer. The heater must have an over temperature shutoff or a self contained thermostat. An additional relay will be required at the time of installation, depending on the type of heater selected.
Cooling: In some situations, a chiller is necessary to reduce the temperature of the solution. In general, chillers have self contained thermostatic controls, and so will operate independently of the central controller. The controller will monitor the temperature of the solution and will alarm in the event of a chiller failure.
LIGHTING
Lights are turned on and off at pre-programmed times of the day. There are four lighting timers, and the number of lights that can be switched is limited only by the number of relays installed in the system and the capacity of your electrical service. For those who are using lights to supplement natural sunlight, a light sensor is available to turn the lights on when the light levels drop below a minimum set value during the day. The clock inside the master controller uses a standard 9V battery to maintain the time even when power is lost. If power is lost during a lights-on period, the controller will hold the lights off for 10 minutes to allow the lights to cool off before re-starting. This insures proper restarting of the lights and protects them from premature burn out.
THE HARDWARE
The SES9000 system consists of a master controller and one or more "slave" controllers. The master controller is equipped with four relays and six sensor channels. Each slave module adds another four relays and six sensor channels. There can be a total of 5 controllers connected on the network (one master plus four slaves) for a total system capability of 20 relay outputs and 30 sensor channels. Each controller has the capacity to switch a total of 10 Amps. For heavier loads such as lights, air conditioners and electrical heaters, we offer a power several power relay panels with two to ten 25Amp relays, switching either 115V or 230V.
SES9000 Master Controller
The heart of the SES9000 is the master controller. This device connects to the host computer through an RS-232 serial port. The unit connects to up to 6 sensors and can be configured to read voltage, current or resistance type sensors.
Slave Controllers
Slave controllers look identical to the master controller, only the slave controller operates relays and reads sensors as directed by the master controller. The slave controllers connect to the master over a three wire multi-drop serial interface. Several versions of slave controllers are available, relay only types, and relay plus sensor types.
SENSORS
A variety of sensors are available to measure just about anything. We offer sensors for air Temperature, humidity, light, CO2, pH, conductivity, water temperature, ORP and dissolved oxygen.
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