PinderPonics Mk1 - £99
6 Plant NFT System
- 25ltr Slimline Resavoir
- Twin channel Root Zone
- Transparent Water Level Indicator
- Automatic Refill/Topup Mechanism
- One Touch Nutrient Sample Outlet
- 240ltr/Hr NFT Recirculation Pump
- Dedicated Waste Flush Pump
PinderPonics Auto Mk2 - £179
9 Plant NFT System
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 45ltr Space Saving Resovoir
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Transparent Water Level Indicator
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Twin Channel XL Root Zone Tray
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Automatic Refill/Topup Mechanism
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Auxillary Backup Pump
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Fresh Tank Fill Pump
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Fresh Tank Transfer Pump
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Nutrient Film Technique Pump
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Flush Pump
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Mixing Pump
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Sample Pump
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Wash Pump
PinderPonics ASPEC Mk3 - £395
This 12 plant "Automated Solar Programable Enviromental Controller" is a Super Energy Efficient fullly NFT System allowing all the benefits of hydroponics whilst saving you an amazing 100% on your current energy compsumption by the clever use of solar cells. The purpose built solar powered controler is capable of charging inbuilt batteries during the day in order to provide enough free energy to keep the system consistantly running without having to worry about electricity bills:
In manually controlled hydroponics, the following tasks heavily rely on a human operator. The following Problems & Solutions show how these processes have been automated resulting in more efficient and effective crop growth whilst benefiting the enviroment.
Problem - Ensuring the water level of the tank is constantly topped up to a specified level
Solution - Float valve maintains water level at the maximum volume (25ltrs)
Problem - Turning the air pump on when necessary to cool, mix and oxygenate the nutrient solution.
Solution - The air pump automatically switches on when the temperature of the nutrient solution exceeds 15oc or when nutrients have just been added.
Problem - Opening greenhouse windows to reduce humidity or switching on a fan to cool the greenhouse air temperature down
Solution - Humidity is maintained between the recommended 80%-95% for clones, 60%-70% for Vegetative and 40% - 60% for flowering plants. The integrated dual fans also ensure the air temperature never exceeds 29oc. In very large greenhouses/poly-tunnels an external 230VAC more powerful fan can be easily connected to assist the integrated dual fans.
Problem - Turning on a heater during the early cold months and at night to prevent frostbite .
Solution - An external 230VAC heater can be easily connected to the controller which ensures that temperatures never drop below 10oc
Problem - Ensuring the NFT pump is always on and does not become blocked
Solution - The filtered NFT pump is activated at 6am until 9pm each day where it then switches on and off intermittently to reduce power consumption at night when there is less chance of the root zone drying out.
Problem - Once a week a hand held Electrical Conductivity (EC) probe is used to test the nutrient solution concentration.
Solution - The permanently submerged EC probe constantly checks how concentrated the nutrient solution is every day so that the next feed can be reduced, cancelled or increased depending upon the uncertainties of the weather.
Problem - If the nutrient concentration is too high, the human may drain some of the nutrient solution away to waste and then top up with fresh water to lower the concentration.
Solution - If it has been a cold and cloudy week then the probability that the nutrient solution is too concentrated is very high therefore the scheduled feed may be reduced or even prohibited. In the event of a dangerously high nutrient concentration, 25% of the nutrient solution is automatically flushed away resulting in fresh water mixing to achieve a lower safe concentration of nutrient solution.
Problem - If the concentration is too low then more nutrients will be added little by little until the desired concentration is achieved for that specific type of plant.
Solution - If the weather has been a very hot and sunny one week then nutrient uptake is increased hence the probability of increasing the recommended feed concentration is high therefore the exact volume of delivered nutrients is calculated based upon the current EC value and the volume of water present in the nutrient reservoir.
Problem - Approximately every month, the concentration of each individual micronutrient will become unbalanced so the entire contents of the tank should be flushed to waste and fresh water and nutrients should replace the old unbalanced nutrients to maintain optimal growth conditions.
Solution - Each month after 9pm the NFT pump stops recirculating the nutrient solution while the flush pump empty’s the contents of the nutrient reservoir. Once empty, the flush pump stops while the nutrient reservoir refills with fresh water. Finally the new nutrients are added to the water, followed by 10 minutes of mixing by the air stone pump, then the NFT pump re-activates to achieve balanced nutrients; mixed to the optimal concentration.
Problem - Once a week the potential of hydrogen (PH) within the nutrient solution is also tested with a hand held probe to check if the solution is too acidic or too alkaline.
Solution - The permanently submerged PH probe constantly checks how acidic/alkaline the nutrient solution is every day so that it can be automatically altered using PH UP and PH Down correctors.
Problem - The human operator must painstakingly record a history of all environmental factors such as EC, PH, Air Temp, Tank Temp, Humidity, Date & Time, Dosage Volumes and battery levels in order to predict future discrepancies or potential problems.
Solution - The ASPEC system automatically logs every value recorded so that graphs can be automatically generated at the end of each month which highlights any problems and most importantly at what date and time they occurred. Each grow season, the results from these graphs can be used to further optimise the feeding schedule in attempt to reduce the amount of waste flushed away each month.
Problem - The hand held probes are difficult to rerad whilst partialy submerged in the nutrient solution and therefore NFT recirculation must be stopped during the probing process to prevent nutrient solution from leaking away.
Solution - The developed TFT touch screen Human Machine Interface (HMI) provides an intuitive way of configuring the system on the fly whilst also displaying real-time information, manual functions and system alarms. The data on the HMI can also be accessed wirelessly using radio frequency communication to a PC or tablet. Alternatively a mobile smart phone can also be connected to monitor serial communication and even be used to re-programme/customise the default control software
PinderPonics SARAH 4.0 - £499
This 16 Plant Artificially Intelligent Nutrient Film Technique (AINFT) hydroponics system is capable of self-optimising crop growth without the need for human intervention meaning you can relax and be guaranteed that your plants are thriving while your away on holiday. Its essentialy a massivly upgraded version of the ASPEC mk3, bringing state of the art Industry 4.0 technology into play.
Pictures coming soon!
Downlaod the FREE and easy to use Android application to your mobile device to monitor everything from temperature & humidity to nutrient strengths & reservoir levels from anywhere in the world. You can remotely control the SARAH 4.0 to manually correct the PH of the nutrient solution if you so desire or even activate the self-cleaning and flush cycle to avoid the hassle of decontaminating reservoirs when moving from the grow phase to the flowering phase.
PinderPonics Industrial - £975
For large commercial growers, whether your growing lettuce, cress, micro greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, melons or courgettes, you will most likely require a distributed control system which is where PinderPonics offer a full customised design, integration, 24 hour technical support and an annual lifetime service. Our dedicated team of Agronomists and entomologists with over 70 years of combined scientific experience will ensure your growing success so why not Scan the QR code be low to send our sales team a free SMS text message enquiry responded to within the hour or email johnpinder1986@gmail.com and receive a reply within 24 hours.
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A Grow Pump