Crops grown in commercial greenhouses need optimal climate conditions to grow properly and efficiently. The climate of commercial greenhouses consists of not only temperature conditions, but also humidity, lighting, nutrients, irrigation etc.

Greenhouses are delicate ecosystems that need high quality climate control to ensure the best growing conditions. The different climate components and processes need to be adjusted to one another – and this is most effectively done through electronic climate control.

Why climate control can be vital for your production
Climate control enables you to monitor and control complex processes in greenhouses to create the optimal climate for your plants.

All commercial growers have extensive knowledge about their own crop, however manual climate control lacks data insights and a higher degree of controllability. Maybe you know the right temperature, the correct amount of light and the optimal irrigation processes. But do you know if they could be even better – and create even higher crop quality?

The electronic climate control creates several benefits for your production. The main advantage is created through a focus on data, which lets you become more intelligent with your production processes and your own business.

The data lets you explore optimal growth conditions across seasons, lets you control your future climate based on previous data – and it further gives you a visual insight to better understand various processes. All of this will lead to the possibility of increased production output and higher product quality.

All sizes of commercial greenhouses can benefit from electronic climate control. The larger the production, the larger the need for electronic climate control, as there are critical savings to gain.

Smaller greenhouses, though, are also able to benefit from climate control – but the choice of climate computer will differ.

It is important to always work on the basis of your specific greenhouse, and here are some of the considerations to make when choosing your climate computer:

• Firstly, your choice of climate computer depends on the number of compartments you have in your greenhouse. If you have more than one compartment, you will need to consider whether you need several 1-compartment climate computers or one climate computer that can control more compartments through the same system.
  
  
• Secondly, if you already operate with LED grow lights in your greenhouse, it will be an advantage for you to choose a climate computer, where you can integrate the control of your LED lights. This way, you will be able to control all climate components from just one system.
  
  
• Thirdly, your demands for how advanced the system should be will impact your choice of computer. If you need visual overview, a wider data collection and control over as many climate features as possible, you will need a more advanced high-capacity computer.
  
  
• Lastly, you need to consider possible future expansions or changes in your production. If you wish to expand with more compartments or cultures in the future, you need a climate computer that will be able to expand and change with your business.

The LCC4 climate control is the high-capacity climate computer. It is possible to control up to 16 different compartments from the same computer, where an expansion box is connected to each compartment; the computer instructs, the boxes execute. 

The LCC4 is for growers with advanced climate control demands, but it is extremely user-friendly. It communicates via Ethernet with the installed expansions – therefore it is flexible for future expansions, where only new hardware needs to be purchased, not new software.

The several functions of the LCC4 make it a great choice for growers with demand for advanced data management and the highest degree of control in one or more compartments.

It is possible to invest in the LCC4 without the SuperLink, but the computer alone does not collect data – SuperLink does. Therefore, it is SuperLink that enables advanced data management, sends commands to the computer to react on, saves historic data, connects to fertilizers and makes the climate computer accessible from a central installed pc.  

• Software supports future hardware expansions
• 4 ventilators with 4 temperature sensors
• 8 layers of curtain (shading and black-out)
• 6 time zones
• 3 steps of grow light (HPS)
• 4 heating valves
• Co2 control
• Light controller including LED installations (light amount, different light/time zones, triple tariff)
• Aircon and pad fan control
• Alarm output
• Integration to SuperLink
• Available in several languages
• And several more....

The LCC1 climate computer is the basic of the LCC computers and is optimal for growers with less data and control demands and a smaller commercial greenhouse. The LCC1 is able to control temperature, humidity, light and screen in one compartment at a time.

The LCC1 climate computer is also available for tunnels - you can find more information here.

The functions of the LCC1 enable you to control several of the most vital climate features in your greenhouse, but it is much less advanced than LCC2 and LCC4. The LCC1 does not give you access to extensive data management through SuperLink, and it is not as flexible if you have future plans of expansion. However, the LCC1 still provides you with more automated and accurate control than manual climate control.

• Software supports future hardware expansions
• 1 heating valve
• 2 ventilators
• 1 shading
• 1 suppl. light
• 1 irrigation valve
• Alarm output
• Available in several languages

Before choosing the optimal climate computer for your production needs, you need competent advice.

At DGT by Senmatic, we have more than 60 years of experience and insights within horticulture and climate control. Several of our consultants are educated within horticulture, why we are able to have an extensive understanding of the circumstances you as a commercial grower face.

We have a strong interest in your business and in creating strong relations to our customers. We are advisors much more than sales consultants and we value close dialogue with each of our customers and partners.

Our product range contains innovative solutions through which we ensure low downtime and high efficiency. And the better we know your business and your production, the better we are able to help you find the optimal climate control for your needs.