Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
willcausethevoltageto“sag”,orlowerit'svoltage.Ifitsagstoomuch,thentheamountof
power present in the soil may not be high enough to cause a plant to physiologically react.
To compensate for this, a stiffer power source would need to be used. What this means is
that the battery would need to have a higher power capacity. With higher capacity comes
the ability to handle higher current draws, if needed. More than one hundred years ago,
experimenters were able to get by with only 1.5 volts or less by using large plates that
effectively acted like a large, stiff power supply, providing a means for the current to flow
over large distances without dropping the voltage much. These were equivalent to using
multiple single-cell batteries in parallel, giving them the ability to have much more power
on hand, negating the voltage droop problems that occur when low-powered batteries
are put under too much of an electrical load. Today, this would be accomplished using
larger-sized batteries, or a number of smaller ones connected in series via a battery holder.
Large-sized batteries that may suffice could range from a lawnmower battery to a few 'D'
cell batteries connected together in series, as they are used in large handheld flashlights.
Unless there is extra circuitry present to alert the user that the voltage is too low, over
long-periods of time, you will not know whether the system is working correctly. To get
around this you could consider using a multimeter to simply test your battery to see where
its power levels are. This approach would need to be repeated every so often and would be
ahassle.Ifthevoltageendsupbeingtoolow,thenthebatterywouldneedtobereplacedor
recharged. At the same time though, since only very minute amounts of power are needed
to cause a physiological effect (micro-Amps to milli-Amps), a decline in battery voltage
maynotbedetrimentalinelectroculturesystemsascomparedtonormalelectronicdevices.
In fact, I would argue that small-scale electroculture experiments could be a great way of
utilizing the last bits of charge that are present in 'dead' batteries.
Power Generation Equipment
Lastly, with the cost of solar cells falling and the emergence of new forms of power
generation, it'sworthsharing the benefits ofusingpower-generating equipment, especially
for remote operation. In the past decade or so, a number of tried and true, as well as novel
power-generation systems have become available. By using these systems in your remote
electro-horticulture applications, you can be assured of year-round success with little need
for worrying about the power system failing. Let's discuss some of the possibilities:
• Solar power
• Wind or water power
• Microbial power
