Gavita EL1F & EL2F Master Controllers

Optimise Growroom Conditions by Regulating Lighting and Fans from the Same Controller

Fine-tune your environment with an EL1F or EL2F, which regulate Gavita lighting and EC fans from a single point. Let the powerful onboard algorithms maintain an optimal environment and make your indoor garden as productive as possible. You’ll reap the rewards come harvest time!

 
If you don’t need EC fan control functionality, take a look at the regular Gavita EL1 and EL2 models.

 
How EL1F and EL2F Master Controllers Work

The EL1F and EL2F take the original range of Gavita lighting controllers and improve on them by adding precise EC fan control functionality. This allows you to run Vector EC fans without needing a separate controller. These controllers utilise intelligent PID (proportional, integral, derivative) control algorithms, which are designed to regulate temperatures without too much oscillation (swings between states). PID control continuously monitors temperatures and ‘learns’ how to regulate fans to maintain temperatures consistently without fluctuations, for a more stable environment. The EL1F has one fan socket and supports up to two fans; the EL2F has two sockets and supports up to four fans.

 
These controllers are also capable of logging events that will shed light on how well your grow room has been working while you’ve been away. Metrics include high / low temps, autodim events, shutdowns and power outages.

 
The EL2F model features the same ‘inverse’ mode (otherwise known as ‘flip flop’ mode) found on previous models. This allows you to stagger two different rooms, each running a 12/12 lighting cycle. Now, you can also run different cycles across the two channels if necessary, such as 12/12 on one channel and 18/6 on the other, giving you the flexibility to control your grow rooms exactly how you need them.

 
Inside the box, you’ll find a cone-shaped plastic hood that fits around the temperature probe. This hood prevents the probe from getting hit with direct light, which helps to ensure accurate readings, enabling the controller to work more effectively.

 
Seasoned growers know that replicating plants’ natural conditions as closely as possible is the key to successful indoor gardening. In the outdoors, the transition from light to dark (and vice versa) is very gradual. However, when using a contactor and timer, lighting switches on and off almost instantaneously. The Gavita Master Controller’s sunrise/sunset feature takes care of this issue by easing the light levels up and down gently. You can even select the length of time that you’d like the lights to take to do this. The possibility of experiencing botrytis (rot) is then greatly reduced. If lights switch on suddenly, it takes a little while for the temperature of plant matter to reach an equilibrium with the temperature of the air in the room. During this period, the colder outer edges of fruits and leaves make contact with warm air. When warm air hits cold surfaces, condensation forms, and this causes big problems! Moisture sets into delicate areas, triggering botrytis (rot), which can devastate entire crops. By doing things gradually, you’ll greatly reduce the chances of this ever happening.

 
The EL1F and EL2F keep your growroom running sweetly by automatically dimming lighting whenever temps creep above user-selected settings. This helps to keep leaf stomata open, maintaining rates of photosynthesis. You can also choose an emergency setting that switches lights off altogether should temperatures get too high, giving you peace of mind when you leave your growroom.

 
The Gavita EL2 also deals with issues to do with inrush current – a problem that particularly affects growers running multiple lighting systems, as ballasts tend to cause a spike in power when they are first switched on.