Climate Czar is a lightweight web server that runs on your local network and is powered by WordPress. Don’t let the word “server” scare you, it doesn’t require a high powered computer to operate. You can run it on something as small as a Raspberry PI, or natively as a background service on a Mac or Linux PC, or even in a Linux virtual machine on a Windows PC. However, it is strongly recommended that you dedicate a machine for this, even if it’s just a simple $90 mini PC running any flavor of Linux.

If Linux and maintaining server updates aren’t your thing, fear not, you can purchase a pre-configured mini PC running Linux and Climate Czar, ready to plug in to your router. Yearly maintenance plans via RMM service are also optionally available so your server is always kept up to date for you with the latest Climate Czar source code and OS patches, as well 7 days of rotating database backups. Live remote troubleshooting services are also available as an on-demand option. Hop on over to the Products and Services page here if you are interested in these offerings.

However, if Linux is your thing and you want to roll your own Climate Czar server, you can do that! The system is 100% open source and available for download from GitHub. This code repository not only includes the server code, but also includes code for the Climate Czar Raspberry PI Pellet Stove Controller and Esp32/Arduino C++ code for the Climate Czar Combo Hub.

All source code for every part of the Panhandle Ponics greenhouse automation system is now available as open source!

OK, that’s all nice, but exactly what does Climate Czar do? It simply reads sensors on its input side and controls switches on its output side. It doesn’t matter what brand the sensors and switches are, so long as they can be read and controlled from the command line of a computer.

Sensors can provide a variable value or a binary on/off value and can be for any purpose. The only thing that Climate Czar looks at is a number and you decide what action (if any) action needs to be performed (output switch turned on or off) based on the sensor values.

While there are plenty of professional grade sensors on the market, they aren’t absolutely necessary. You can just as easily use sensors contained in Arduino and Raspberry PI educational kits. These are so simple to build that kids in STEM classes do this regularly these days.

It seems as if there is a sensor for everything now. Whether it’s for temperature, humidity, daylight, pH, total dissolved solids, fluid levels, motion detection, window/door open or closed, magnetic field, RFID, you pretty much name it. Climate Czar allows you to bring all of these together in one unified system and use them to perform automated actions, no matter what they’re monitoring.

Climate Czar allows you to combine variable value sensors together in a group so you can perform actions based on the average of all readings. You may also combine binary value sensors together in and/or/not logic gates. Being able to make decisions based on multiple simultaneous sample points is just one feature that sets Climate Czar apart from other monitoring and automation systems.

Another unique feature is that Climate Czar isn’t designed around one single brand of sensors and output switches or intended purpose for the system. This helps keep the software simple and lightweight because all of the heavy lifting is done with external scripts that read sensors and control output switches.

Climate Czar also provides built in schedulers, charts and graphs, the most popular online script editor, unlimited devices and groups, assignable security levels, safety overrides, and the most flexible visual customization since it’s based on WordPress.

Feel free to check out the Panhandle Ponics Greenhouse Climate Czar system any time. Aside from the live view of the greenhouse stats, additional demo device groups have been created to show all of the features mentioned in the above. Let Climate Czar help you make your grow operation easier to manage and help you sleep better!