Using heaters in Desert Biome without losing plant yield.

This is a guide on how to use Digital Clocks to regulate heaters while farming in the Desert Biome. Plants are highly sensitive to temperature so it is necessary to use Electric Heaters to keep plants healthy during the frigid nights. However, if heaters aren't turned off during the day, the yield can also suffer due to excess heat.

Introduction

Farming in the Desert Biome can be challenging particularly because temperatures range from hot in the day to frigid overnight, which has drastic effects on plant yield. This guide gives instructions on how to use Digital Clocks to regulate when heaters are on or off in order to ensure maximum yield for your plants.

Basic method for controlling Electric Heaters

A simple method of controlling when heaters are on or off involves the use of two solar panels and a blocker, as well has putting heaters on a switch.

Two Solar Panels, one facing to where the sun rises and one where it sets, are connected together with a Root Combiner.


The Root Combiner outputs to the side input of a Blocker, which prevents power from continuing to the heaters as long as the sun is up.


This method definitely works, but it is not precise enough to prevent at least some yield from being lost. This is because temperature remains high in the Desert Biome even after the sun has set, and remains cold for awhile after it rises.

The next section describes a much more precise method of heater control.

Advanced method for controlling Electric Heaters

With the introduction of the Digital Clock, it became possible to control electrical devices with precision. The clocks have both a power input and output. They consume one power to function and require a second unit of power to send through the output once the alarm has been triggered.

In this layout, an Electric Switch is installed to control the clocks, which leads to an Electrical Branch which distributes the power accurately.

'4' power is sent to the bottom input of the Switch, which then leads from the Switch output to the bottom input of the Electrical Branch. The Branch is configured to '2', which exits on the left output at the top, sending the remaining '2' power to the right output. The left output is connected to the 'Power In' of one Digital Clock, while the right output is connected to the input of a second clock.

In the example image above, the upper Digital Clock is for turning the heaters on, and the lower is for turning them off.

The upper Digital Clock is configured to add an alarm set to 21:10 (9:10 PM).

The lower Digital Clock is configured to add an alarm set to 9:10.

Make sure that the check mark to the right of the alarm is activated or it will not trigger when the correct time is reached.


Next, connect the upper Digital Clock's 'Power Out' to the connector at the upper-right side of the Electrical Switch that controls the heaters. The connector is labeled 'Switch On'. Then connect the lower Digital Clock's 'Power Out' to the connector at the bottom-right side of the Electrical Switch, which is labeled 'Switch Off'.


When the Switch controlling the clocks is turned on, the alarms will activate or deactivate the Switch that controls the heaters.

Conclusion

The times indicated for the alarms (21:10, 9:10) were obtained by paying careful attention to the Temperature reading while hovering over a planted clone. Once the temperature dropped below 100%, the time was noted. Similarly, it turned out to be the inverse time of 9:10 AM which caused the Temperature reading to again drop below 100% due to excess heat. Your times may vary slightly depending on where you are located in the Desert Biome, but the times I have given are a good starting point to let you fine tune the system.