Hello All,
I’m taking the time to create my own support thread to detail my many issues since owning a grobo and hope that I can find some resolution in which isn’t attributed to wireless.
Order to deliver was seamless and my unit arrived before the suggested time 
Everything was going fine until day 3.
- On day 3 the front LED stopped functioning altogether. After posting the issue in the forum and reading the LED list on the grobo support page I submitted a helpdesk ticket to make them aware and I closed the ticket myself as the front LED for me wasn’t truly necessary.
On day 3 or 4 (not totally sure), I changed my light settings. I still keep my AC at 74. On this day or change is when everything seemed to stop functioning properly.
On day 8 I submitted another ticket
- “I’ve returned home to find my Inside LEDs are not on. My light settings have been 7am to 3am and when I go into the office I leave before the lights come on. I adjusted the light settings in the “app” and the inside LED kicked on, but this is a serious concern as nobody can be home to constantly monitor their grobo. Basically this plant got an extra 9 hours of sleep. I will now adjust the lights so they get the full 20 hours of light…”
- lights should be on, but they were off
The answer provided
- “Looking at the data, they have been functioning correctly from 7am to 3am with the exception of on August 2nd. It looks like they were off for longer than normal. We don’t have any data for an ~11 hour period so it’s likely the system had disconnected from WiFi.” “From our side, everything looks good right now. If you have any more concerns with the light timing please let us know!” “In terms of the wifi connection, it would be the system itself that had disconnected and not your internet. On our side we will eventually review why that happened but as it stands your system is online and running correctly.”
keep in mind, my reporting tools both arp entries on router and 3rd party software (SolarWinds) show full connectivity. Never dropping ever and my router/AP is 26 feet away from the grobo on 2.4 ghz w/ policy in place to pass all traffic. Also doesn’t explain why the inside lights did not come on as expected and I was required to powercycle the grobo to get them back on.
Day 10
- I was able to do a drain and fill partially. I was able to drain successfully, but filling did not work. So I manually filled which explains no nutes entering the grobo, but doesn’t explain why the pump wouldn’t pull water (distilled only) into the grobo. Not getting nutrients this week pushed the plant further back. It kept growing and looking healthy, but slow
Day 14
Grobo allows for draining. Would not fill. The app kept saying that draining was still in progress. An hour later with no water in the grobo the whole time I kept smashing the drain and then pause button until after many many attempts the app kicked over and allowed me to fill. If this is WiFi why did it allow a drain? This answer is not the cause.
- no answer was given other than “grobo Chris” suggesting the water chiller isn’t necessary even though they themselves are considering adding one in future models
and to validate 2.4ghz wireless connectivity. Using the free WiFi analyzer suggested signal strength on top of the grobo is 98% for that ssid. Again not wireless. An hour passed while clicking drain and pause before the app kicked over and allowed a fill.
Just pushed air - there was no water left in the grobo.
Day 17 (today)
- my plant is now showing signs of nute issues. Leaves are browning at the tips and curling
To recap issues
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Order related waiting for add-ons - finally came - solved.
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Outside LED doesn’t work at all - not an issue for me - but zero actual answer to the fix/cause or what is intend to be done or if this is the cause of additional issues.
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Inside LED not coming on and forced to powercycle as none of the buttons both app and physical were responding to commands. Unit let the plant sleep an extra 9 hours. Only corrected with a power cycle and engaging the light settings via the app.
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Water wouldn’t fill so I had to fill manually on day 10. Drained fine, wouldn’t fill.
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A test water drain on day 14 (8/8) resulted in the app just continuously draining even though there was no water in the unit and now after the fill my nutrient bottles have finally dispensed bottles 3/4/5, but it was a lot in my opinion
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Today the Plant looks like it’s having nutrient problems on day 17 seen as browning tips, curling leaves. Plant is no longer healthy.
Today is only day 17 of ownership and I am beyond frustrated with support or lack there of and the answers given to these issues. My plant is behind a least a week and showing signs of nute issues. I have an opened helpdesk ticket which I keep adding to and was replied to at end of day Friday and asked to wait for Stephen on Monday.
I have done everything on my end to provide the grobo the ideal conditions such as temps, adding a water chiller to combat the 78 degree water temps. Purchased blue labs meters and take readings daily. Moved the grobo to a different room closer to the WiFi on marble tile to promote cool temps. AC is always on. Absolutely zero sunlight gets into this room. I’ve checked internal components for blockages and or twisted/pinched tubing and found no issues. Not sure what else I can do other than wait for Stephen and hope he has an answer that can fix these issues. Many others are not experiencing these troubles which is why I continue to believe this is software or a defective unit/part causing these issues.
Does anyone in the forum have an idea what’s going on here? I will be doing a drain and fill around 4pm CST to hopefully correct the current nute issues affecting my plant negatively
Has anyone engaged grobo for an RMA? What was the process like for you? I did purchase the extended warranty.
I really want to keep the grobo and im committed to growing in this unit as I’m invested both emotionally and other, but I can’t and don’t want to keep jacking around with this everyday. I often leave for a day or two on business and have a vacation coming up. I do not want to come home to a dead plant because the automation process failed.
Meter readings from today are as follows (I have multiple meters, but all are inline with the bluelabs equipment)
I use gallons of distilled water.
Ph 6.0
Ppm 800
Water temp 66 degrees
Grow area temps 76.4 / rH 64
Light schedule is currently 20/4 off during hours 11:30 am to 3:30pm
Day 17 of grow 7/14 early veg
Generic hybrid photo recipe
I really just want my unit to function properly and not be a pest both in forum and support, but this has not been the case on either.
Please Advise
-James
(Edit) Added a video
