“Hello...testing...is this thing on?” | News and Updates | Forum

Hydroid beta testing officially begins this week! This represents a quantum leap forward for us, and we're so excited to start this new phase of our project.

Not sure what 'beta testing' is? Not to worry…

From Wikpedia:

“Beta testing comes after alpha testing and can be considered a form of external user acceptance testing. Versions of the software, known as beta versions, are released to a limited audience outside of the programming team. The software is released to groups of people so that further testing can ensure the product has few faults or bugs.”

Like the quote above says, we're releasing the Hydroid automation system to a small group of people so we can get some feedback on the product. Over the last 6 months or so we've amassed literally tens of thousands of lines of code that govern the operation of the Hydroid, and now it's time to methodically run through each and every line to make sure it all works as we expect it to. Since there are a dizzying number of functions and facets to test this beta evaluation really becomes a numbers game. The more people we have evaluating the system, the quicker we'll get through this process and begin offering the Hydoid to the general public. We go through this process because if you can't trust to leave your automation system alone for long periods of time, then really what good is it?

Let's consider a hypothetical situation: You just bought brand XYZ automation system (be it a Hydroid or some other garden automation product) and it has been shown to be absolutely 100% reliable. That means you'll never have any surprises in your grow room, right? That's unfortunately far from the truth. Even if your automation system properly doses nutrients for your plants, runs your lights properly, and maintains the ambient conditions that are ideal for your garden, what happens if your nutrient pump fails? Will your automation system recognize this condition and alert you to the problem? For a moment, consider how many devices you absolutely rely on in your garden, and what could happen if one of those machines fail without anyone taking notice until it's too late.

Thankfully the Hydroid can indirectly detect faults that could otherwise wreak serious havoc on your plants. This is because the Hydroid has the ability to accept both analog and digital inputs, which can be used as fault detectors. We could have easily eliminated this feature and released our product to market sooner, but this kind of versatility is absolutely indispensable for any good automation system. Here's an example why.

Consider this scenario: You've spent thousands on your garden and bought all of the best equipment available…pumps, lights, fans…it's all top of the line. You get everything set up and running, and when you least expect it your ballast fails. Under normal circumstances you wouldn't be alerted to the failure until you walked back into your garden. If you leave your garden for long periods of time you can imagine how damaging it could be for your plants to sit in the dark like that. If losing a crop is disastrous, how about a serious fire or flood?

In the case of the light dying, if you had a light meter attached to the Hydroid it would be able to monitor the light output of your bulb. If the ballast were to fail then the Hydroid can be programmed to text or email you notifying you of the situation. In the case of fires or floods, the end-user may connect a fire or flood sensor to the Hydroid and it'll notify the user if either of those sensors are tripped. The sky is the limit though. You can attach sensors that can detect is pumps, fans, lights, or any other devices fail, or anything else you want to monitor. This ability to immediately report problems can be an incredibly powerful safety service if you do leave your garden for long periods of time.

The name of the game in garden automation really is reliability and dependability, and we're working hard to ensure that our customers get a product that they can rely on. In the coming weeks we'll do our best to update everyone on our progress, and in the mean time please feel free to contact us for more information about our Hydroid automation system. And thanks for checking us out!