Cli-Mate Mini Grower. Video Tutorial

Transcript of Cli-Mate Mini Grower. Videotutorial :

I present the Mini Grower, the climate controller from Cli-Mate.

The box comes with instructions in several languages, including Spanish, the unit is obviously also here… and a spare fuse. This unit, as you can see, can control up to four 600w grow lamps. We can control the intake fan, the extractor, a heater, a humidifier or dehumidifier that we would change with this switch, and we have a continuous output for a small fan.

We have put the Mini Grower in the grow space and connected all our equipment. First of all we’re going to keep in mind that the Mini Grower has 2 power inputs, here they are in this plug. Why 2? To separate the Illumination circuit (which is the top part), from the equipment control (which is below). So we’re going to connect both of them.

What else do we have? We’ve connected… as I said, in the upper part we can put up to 4 lights. In this case in output 1 we’ve connected our ballast to this socket. What else have we got? There’s a plug for a heater if necessary and it’s cold in the closet, we can set the unit to increase the temperature.

We also have the socket for a humidifier or dehumidifier, in this case we’ve got a humidifier but by flicking this switch we can do the opposite, run a dehumidifier to remove humidity from the grow tent. We also have, in this socket, the connection for the intake fan, which in this case I have down here, and here, where it says "Fan2", is  the output to the extractor.

Through the filter, and the large extractor fan to outside.

Let's see how it works, it’s just like normal timers. We turn the wheel, hear the relay that supplies the ballast, and lights the bulb. We’ll start with the control part of the unit and to help me, Edu will be with me. We’ll look at the bottom part of the unit, and all the equipment, buttons, potentiometers and switches that we have.

We have the main button with 3 positions: On, Off & 100x100. Edu, what does this mean?

EDU - Basically, the "On" part is to control the equipment at the set parameters, the "Off" switch totally disconnects the equipment and the "100x100" button activates all the equipment at maximum power.

Next we have a humidifier/dehumidifier switch...

EDU - Right. This simply means you can use 2 appliances according to need. High moisture= dehumidifier, less humidity = humidifier, and with a simple switch you control it.

And with this knob that says “% relative humidity” is where you set the levels so that one appliance or the other is put into operation…

EDU - Correct, depending on your needs, you use one or the other.

Very good. The temperature wheel is one of the most important, right?

EDU - The central point of the device. This basically is about fixing the required temperature in the grow, usually at 24, 25 or 26ºC depending on which one you want, and from there you can control the intake and extraction fans, the temperature and that’s it. From here we could go on to the different controls.

Intake and extraction. It has margins, right? And also hysteresis control in this case, which are these 3 knobs, what’s the function of each one?

EDU - There's the first one, which would be the 2nd button from the left (this one here), which regulates the power of the air intake fan. This means it doesn't always have to be at 100%, you can regulate it at your convenience. In the next button, in it we have the Minimum and Maximum in this case of the extractor, and we would do the same as with the intake fan, regulate the extraction power according to need.

Great!

EDU - And the last button, and perhaps the least well known, is the "hysteresis" button. In this case the hysteresis helps us to not have the fans working alternately, and continuously. Because let’s say, it gives you a range, if you want 28ºC, you set 2ºC of hysteresis, until the probe doesn't reach 30ºC (which would be 28 + 2) the extraction equipment would not activate 100%.

That's so you're not always turning on and off the equipment in tenths of a degree, right?

EDU - Right.

Basically, it's like a margin of temperature control of the equipment…

This is the probe that will read the temperature in the cabinet. It has a 4 meter cable connected to the unit and you can put it anywhere in the closet.

Well, Thanks to Edu for the explanations, and know that Edu will be answering the comments you put here below on the web, okay?

We’ve seen the Mini Grower, the most complete Cli-Mate unit to control the whole grow tent.

Well, that's all Amigos!