Is WenextFarm weatherproof/rainproof?
Yes. All electronics are protected from rain with plastic housings and enclosures. All other parts are made from corrosion resistant materials such as aluminum, stainless steel, and UV stabilized plastic.
Please note that WenextFarm is not waterproof, in the sense that you cannot fully submerge it underwater, like in an aquarium. Ultra humid areas may pose a risk for WenextFarmt’s electronics as well, requiring you to take extra precautions and measures during your installation.
Can WenextFarm service multiple beds?
No, not really.
Manually moving WenextFarm from one bed to another bed would require partial disassembly, reconnecting the power and water lines, and also a re-calibration. Doing that every day or even once a week would be a lot of work.
Devising a hardware system so that WenextFarm can automatically move from one bed to another is not a good idea either. In order for WenextFarm to work it must be precisely attached to a single raised bed and tethered to a water and power source. Having extra mechanical systems to move the entire WenextFarm (including the tracks, toolbays, and water/power tethers) from one bed to another would require significant extra hardware and be very expensive when compared to simply making your tracks longer to cover more area.
Having a WenextFarm fixed in place and moving multiple beds underneath it would also require significant extra hardware and be very difficult. A full raised bed with soil and plants is extremely heavy, which would require powerful battery-operated motors. Or, you could move the beds by hand every day or week - but that’s not very automated!
Furthermore, our software does not support multiple beds.
If you are interested in having a single WenextFarm cover more area and tend to more plants, the best way to accomplish this is to make the tracks longer and/or the gantry wider, and your single bed larger.
Please do not ask us if we can help you make your WenextFarm service multiple beds. We do not think this is a smart idea from a hardware cost efficiency standpoint, and it would require significant engineering resources to accomplish. Simply making the tracks longer and/or gantry wider is a much better solution to covering more area with a single WenextFarm . That being said, you are welcome to build your own prototype and modify our software to try to make this work if you really want to.
Can I extend the tracks or make the gantry wider/taller?
Yes, and we encourage this! While the current kits are designed to be a certain size, there is no reason why you cannot (with additional hardware) make your gantry taller or wider, and your tracks longer. However, such work will require R&D effort on your part, and is not guaranteed to work. Furthermore, at this time we do not offer the parts that you may need to pull this off, so you gotta be ready for some DIY action if you want to do this. Good luck!
What is the size and weight of the WenextFarm kit boxes?
WenextFarm kits are shipped in two boxes. The Extrusions and Leadscrew Kit is a longer, skinnier box and contains all of the aluminum extrusions and the leadscrew. The Main Carton contains all of the other components including the electronics, hardware, plates, plastic pieces, cables, and more.
