LED Growers Forum

hey guys. im working on a grow controller project, box of electronics at the moment but eventually I will try and get it turned into a proper PCB.
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=384
Idea is a low cost expandable way to do all this kind of stuff, log readings, sync timelapse, control the environment.
On the comms side, im with being cautious though, careful what is stored where. seen other things that can upload data to cloud etc, but that don't sound like a great idea. Its nice to have an app to view and control the thing, but I will probably restrict it to the local network. Running MAC filtering for wifi clients and, the good way is to VPN back here if I need to remotely, so things should be more secure this way.

Gonna take a while getting this thing together, but im in no hurry. Setting up with some airpots pretty soon to cover till I have my nutty DWC system running

Well, I thought I would tie up this loose thread.

Sure, Grolog is a nice app for storing all of the parameters of your grow.
It's easy to set up, and easy to modify settings once a grow is on the go.

Personally, IMHO, it's just a number cruncher - at any stage in the grow you can plot graphs of any parameter, well done, very pretty.

A notepad will do much better though, there's space for notes on the app, but you can't customise the appearance at all. You can't just scribble down a quick note and then find it easily and you can't draw pictures etc. You would also have to make a new journal for each plant if you really want to keep track of things.

Then there's the security implications, as LEDDWCRigger pointed out, if you get stopped by the cops, it would be hard to explain what you were growing, especially if you use the app to take photos (and don't forget the iPhone also adds location info to pictures). Plus who knows if any data is getting sent back to some server out there.

Therefore, to summarise, don't bother. You could run it alongside the good old trusty pen and paper, but I'm sure an Excel spreadsheet would do more for you in the end.