This video is part of a series where I show how I build an automated, bioactive vivarium.
In this video I build the lighting panel. There are LED 14 lights in total all from V-Tac (https://www.v-tac.eu/). Five lights are 210 lumens and ten are 500 lumens giving a total of 5840 lumens across the vivarium (they use just over 80 watts and do not generate a lot of heat). I measured the lux at the soil level at 2500-3000 lux. This should be adequate for the plants I am growing.
The fan is mounted at a 10 degree angle between the lights and help to circulate the air internally. Two fans are mounted on the lid to extract air see more about these here: https://youtu.be/GJKF9WaQCKk
All the electrical components are controlled by a Raspberry Pi. I use a app to run some of scripts manually allowing me to turn the lights on and off.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
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