Fan & Lighting Controller
Two independent 12-bit 0-10V channels. Run two sets of lights, two banks of fans, or one of each — the channels don't care which job you give them.
PID climate control against temperature, humidity or VPD. Sunrise and sunset ramping. A battery-backed clock and onboard memory so it keeps running with no network at all.
Standard 5V USB power — any phone charger works as a replacement.
One Signal, Two Jobs
Modern LED drivers dim on a 0-10V control signal. EC fans set their speed from the same 0-10V control signal. Two entirely different pieces of equipment, one shared electrical convention — which means a channel precise enough to dim a light is, without modification, a channel precise enough to drive a fan.
So rather than sell you two boxes with the same hardware inside, this is one box with two channels, and you decide at setup what each one is for. Assign both to lights and you have a veg room and a bloom room on separate schedules. Assign both to fans and you have intake and exhaust under independent control. Assign one of each and a single $200 device runs a tent.
Current production models ship configured for DigiLumen fixtures and other equipment using RJ11 or RJ12 connectors. We can build to suit almost any brand — just ask.
Three Ways to Set It Up
Lighting presets: 12/12, 18/6, 20/4, or fully custom
Technical Specifications
Off-board precision DAC, not the microcontroller's internal one. 4,096 discrete levels per channel.
Each assignable to lighting or fan duty, with its own schedule or setpoint
The industry-standard control voltage for LED drivers, EC fans, and variable speed drives
Rated beyond 10 years of continuous timekeeping. It won't forget what time it is.
DAC calibration in its own EEPROM; schedules, setpoints and state in non-volatile flash
Any phone charger works as a replacement
12-Bit Precision on Both Channels
The quality of the control is only as good as the signal driving it, so we generate that signal with an off-board 12-bit DAC rather than the converter built into the microcontroller.
Twelve bits gives 4,096 discrete levels between off and full. For lighting, that's fine enough that a sunrise ramp has no visible stepping. For fans, it's fine enough that the PID loop can make small corrections without the audible surging you get from coarse control.
Calibration for the DAC lives in dedicated EEPROM, and your schedules and setpoints live in non-volatile flash. Cut the power and restore it, and the controller resumes exactly where it left off with nothing to reconfigure.
On Lighting Duty
In a sealed room, flipping lights instantly causes a humidity spike. Plants transpire differently in light than in darkness, and an abrupt change gives you condensation, drip, and the mould risk that follows. Ramping is the fix.
On the question of whether ramping grows better plants: there is some evidence that gradual transitions help, and it certainly does no harm. The reason we consider it essential is the humidity behaviour above, which is measurable and immediate.
On Fan Duty
A channel assigned to fans isn't a relay with a thermostat bolted on. It runs a PID control loop — the same class of algorithm used in industrial process control and HVAC — against whichever target you choose.
Give it a setpoint and it continuously trims fan speed to hold it. Not hunting between too fast and too slow, not overshooting and correcting, but converging on the number and staying there.
Once configured, it runs on its own processor. Lose the internet, lose your phone, lose our servers — as long as it has power, it keeps controlling your fans.
Control Modes
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Temperature
Hold a target temperature — faster as the room climbs, backing off as it settles
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Humidity
Target a relative humidity figure, increasing ventilation to shed moisture or easing off to retain it
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VPD
The metric that actually governs transpiration. Calculated onboard from temperature and humidity, then held.
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Cut-offs and limits
Minimum and maximum speeds, emergency thresholds, and defined fail-safe behaviour
Sensirion SHT41 Included
Every unit ships with a Swiss-made Sensirion SHT41 temperature and humidity sensor — ±0.2°C and ±2% RH. Climate control is only as good as the measurement underneath it, so deploy it wherever the reading actually matters.
Built to Run Forever
Plenty of smart controllers stop being smart the moment your internet does. This one stores its schedules and setpoints in non-volatile memory on the device, and keeps time on a real-time clock with its own battery rated beyond ten years.
Lose power, lose your connection, lose us — it carries on doing exactly what you told it to. If you never connect it to the internet at all, it still works: configure it once over Bluetooth or on your local network and it will execute indefinitely.
Remote access is a convenience layered on top, not a dependency underneath.
What Sets This Apart
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Dedicated peripherals
Clock, EEPROM and DAC are separate parts rather than functions borrowed from the main processor
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No dependency on anything
No WiFi required, no cloud required, no app required. Program it once and walk away.
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Dark room aware
When the sensors report lights-off, indicator LEDs stay off completely, so the equipment can't pollute your dark cycle
Hardware & Connectivity
Processing & Wireless
- • Dual-core 240 MHz microcontroller, with the clock, EEPROM and DAC offloaded to dedicated parts
- • 2.4 GHz WiFi (802.11 b/g/n) for remote monitoring — better wall penetration than 5 GHz, and not required for operation
- • Bluetooth LE for local configuration with no network access at all
- • Over-the-air firmware updates — new features arrive automatically while it's connected
- • Ambient light sensing, used to confirm your lights are doing what the schedule says and to catch light pollution during dark hours
Access From Anywhere
- • TLS-encrypted connection to our servers — monitor and adjust from any phone, tablet or computer, anywhere
- • Local-first at home — on the same network the device answers directly, without a round trip through the internet
- • Historical graphs included — free, with no subscription. The app can also build an archive of its own going back as far as you like, provided it syncs with the server at least once every 48 hours.
- • In-app and push alerts included, along with SMS and voice call alerts — currently at no charge, prepaid rather than a subscription if that changes, and dormant until you choose to enter a phone number. No third party ever sees your number until you do.
- • Web app works in any browser. Native Android and iOS apps available.
- • No subscriptions, no monthly fees. One purchase, lifetime access.
Materials
The enclosure is 3D printed in Bambu Lab PLA Pure, a bioplastic made from fermented plant sugars. Its declared formulation is PLA resin and colour pigment, with no plasticisers — the additive class responsible for most of the migration concern around conventional flexible plastics.
The manufacturer publishes SGS test reports covering EU food contact and toy safety requirements, including heavy metals and phthalate screening. Nothing here is in contact with your nutrient solution, but a grow room is warm and humid, and we would rather the box sitting in it had less to give off.
More on why we chose a bioplastic over conventional injection-moulded plastics in our write-up on bioplastics and endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
Two channels, whichever way you need them
$200 with the Sensirion sensor included. 2 week lead time, shipping worldwide.