Display Cooler

Hope it ran well according to design. I like that you're able to view your plants from the front like a vivarium. I was looking into making an acrylic container of some kind to house some of my plants. Mainly to maintain decent humidity levels but still keeping it little to no tech.
 
First run was a success!
The thermostat timer is a little bit of a pain in the ass because it doesn't know what time it is.
So I have to program it with: Designate 3 time periods, set first period = 12 hours @ 27º>>set second period = 4 hours @ 17º and so on.
Anyway, I think it worked. At lights out, it goes down to 17º for 4 hours, then 13º until 6am. Then lights turn on at 8am (and max temp is set to 27)
Maybe in future I will add more timer settings and make it cool down more gradually but this will do for now.

I was actually looking around at wine coolers when I found this unit. I still have a wine cooler that I picked up real cheap that might get repurposed as an ultrahighland chamber (I dont drink so its not going to chill wine, whatever it does :P)
 
OK plants are in, temp and humidity look good, lighting levels are good.
I think I am done! (with the exception of some wire routing)
Coolerfull.jpg
 
That is incredible man. I think you should now have everything to grow some amazing and rare highland/UHL plants. I wish I had one like that man. haha. :D So cool. Looking forward to seeing how you fill it with more neps. :)
 
How has your system been running? Have there been any issues you didn't account for?
 
It is running great! the only thing is the condensation.
I bought a product that claims to be a superhydrophobic coating but it doesnt really do anything
I am going to add more fans in and try to position them pointing at the glass to see if that helps.
Other than that, some plants that werent doing anything before, like my singalana x hamata have started to really take off! it is working on 2 pitchers at once now after not doing anything for a couple months.
I removed the humidifier that was in there and installed one of those reptile enclosure style humidifiers with the long hose so that I am not wasting grow space (also i got my order of nepenthes from Brad so I needed the space!)
Sorry about the black bars on the nepenthes side of the cooler. The lights dim by causing a really fast flicker and with the rolling shutter it ends up making dark bars in the photos
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And obviously I still need to work out some minor wire routing issues :P
 
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Just checking in since I'm curious. Is your setup still running smoothly? Cost of running the system? Any observed improvements in growth?
 
Yeah, It is working really really well so far! The environmental stability seems to have sped up the growth of all my plants and im seeing some really nice leaf jumps in my nepenthes plants. The heliamphora have their automatic misting system so they dont need me to do anything but appreciate them. They are growing really fast for helis though!
I got one of those reptile tank style humidifiers with the long hose because I was thinking i could save on space by having the humidifier outside the enclosure but I ended up needing to put a container under it to catch the water drips anyway so i didnt save any space there. at least i can refill it without opening the cooler :P
Here is how it is set up currently. ignore the hanging bags, those are releasing neoseiulus mites onto my plants to protect against thrips and other pests.
Honestly, it doesnt seem to suck up much power. the lights during the day are probably the most power hungry part but they are dimmed down close to min on the nepenthes side and only about 80% on the heliamphora side.
I havent noticed much of a difference in the electricity bill.
The big thing i noticed with this unit that needs to be monitored is: when it kicks in to cool down, it cools the coil and fin assembly thing up top pretty quickly but it ends up totally frozen by the time the thermostat turns it off so the temp keeps dropping by a few more degrees than i have it set to.
With a bit of trial and error, I was able to set the thermostat (it can be set with up to 12 different settings at different times) so that it maxes out at 28º in day time, then after lights out, it starts gradually cooling until it reaches 13º by 4 or 5 am so that its as close to nature as possible.
I am almost out of space in there now!
DC.jpg
 
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