Best RaspberyPi Grow Room Software

Niwashi said:
@Ringodog I'm still debating which way I want to go for my first grow. Soil seems so much more forgiving.

I have gotten together a few people to help me dev this. I hope to start making some real progress soon. Most likely we are going to fork reef-pi and go from there. On missgreenbud's suggestion I am going to be mindful of how home assistant reads data because I think having integration with an automation suite is important. I would love to hit one page and manage my growroom, nest, Alexa, smart plugs etc
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I can't wait to see something awesome come together on here! Subbed subbed subbed.
 
@Scrogdawg You don't know who I have on my dev team :) I was about to post a bit of background on the team and past projects but decided against it due to identifying information. For these guys(not me), building something like this is child's play. It's just a matter of getting the code to line up with their hobbies, that are not exactly the same as ours :)

@missgreenbud glad to have you here!
 
Niwashi said:
You don't know who I have on my dev team :) I was about to post a bit of background on the team and past projects but decided against it due to identifying information. For these guys(not me), building something like this is child's play. It's just a matter of getting the code to line up with their hobbies, that are not exactly the same as ours :)
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The world needs more pothead programmers. ;)
 
Ok, work has been crazy. Going to carve out some time this weekend to get the basic sensors going and build a 6 plug relay. I absolutely need to get the sensors going, at a bare minimum, so that I can start logging data. At the moment, I am using smart outlets to control my exhaust fan and grow light so I at least have basic scheduling, but by running the fan all the time my humidity is dropping too low and I am unable to tell the fan to come on for x minutes every x minutes :(

Does anyone have experience using a smart power strip with the raspi? I'm thinking that the path of least resistance would be to use the Pi to gather info from the sensors, and for simple on/off tasks such as fan, power and circulation pumps, send instructions to the power strip. This would be much safer than using homemade relays/outlets. Thoughts?
 
Niwashi said:
Ok, purchased a bunch of Temp/humidity sensors, water temp sensors and light sensors.

I've been so busy trying to figure out how to not kill my plants I have been neglecting the automation side of the house ..
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I need to get back after mine also.
 
Niwashi said:
Ok, work has been crazy. Going to carve out some time this weekend to get the basic sensors going and build a 6 plug relay. I absolutely need to get the sensors going, at a bare minimum, so that I can start logging data. At the moment, I am using smart outlets to control my exhaust fan and grow light so I at least have basic scheduling, but by running the fan all the time my humidity is dropping too low and I am unable to tell the fan to come on for x minutes every x minutes :(

Does anyone have experience using a smart power strip with the raspi? I'm thinking that the path of least resistance would be to use the Pi to gather info from the sensors, and for simple on/off tasks such as fan, power and circulation pumps, send instructions to the power strip. This would be much safer than using homemade relays/outlets. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I think what you want is the same setup they use in refineries. All of the motors, lights, sensors, etc, are all controlled using PLCs. The computers in the operations room only read, log, and display data, and give the operator a UI to send commands to the PLCs. Realistically, your Pi shouldn't be actively controlling anything. It should just display what is happening, and provide you with a way of inputting commands. You can make a cheap PLC with a $5 arduino to read sensors, switch relays, and carry out whatever routine you like.

For example, an arduino with a clock add-on, can turn lights off and on at the same time every day. Unlike a mechanical timer and other timers, losing power will not mess it up. Once programmed, it will slave away forever. The only thing your Pi should be doing, is reading a signal that the light is on or off, and give you a place where you can select hours and minutes, and send the on/off times to your arduino. This can be done over serial protocol by wire, bluetooth, or wifi. The Arduino can even record total amount of hours the light has been on, to keep track of bulb wear. The advantage of building independent units for various tasks, is that they can be easily constructed by others, and interfaced with a Pi, Android device, IOS device, or PC. This makes them more valuable to everyone.

Ideally, I think that if a whole lot of us on here are going to start making various controllers, it would be wise to agree upon a coding system that gives each type of device an 8 digit code.

For example: 1000 0012
1000 = light
0012= light #12

2000 0003
2000 = fan
0003 = fan #3

Now If I want to send on an off times to a light 10:30 AM to 10:30 PM

1000 0012 1030 2230
light #12 10:30 22:30

This is how I've been communicating from an Android app to an Arduino over BlueTooth. Everything works in sets of 8, cause this makes it easy to do many things. Usually, at the beginning of a chunk of code I'll put TX and send END at the end of the code.

RX1000001210302230END Set light #12 to 1030 on and 2230 off.
RX10000012ONEND Turns light #12 ON.
RX10000012OFFEND Turns light #12 OFF.

See, if we all use similar code, then I could share an entire program with you, and you could simply upload it onto the microcontroller, and add the send and receive code to your UI program, and you can adopt my device in a few hours, instead of us all designing our own stuff, that isn't compatible with then next guys stuff. Just my two cents. If you have a better system of sending and receiving over protocol that would be easy to adopt for everyone, please share.
 
Just found this thread, subbed.
I'm just starting to mess around with Arduino to automate 2 mini grow cabs, and at some stage I hope to hook it up to a Pi, I'm also looking at using some of the ESP8266 as small wifi controlled modules. I've ordered most of my bits from ebay, so some are taking forever to get here, I think Chinese New Year holidays isn't helping lol.

@iNeedMeds I like your approach, I intend to get the arduino unit and wifi connections all operational and then add links to the Pi system, I'd like to have it so that even if the main Pi base unit were to fail the individual modules will continue to operate.

Finding the time to put it all together will be the hardest part, so being able to share code and or modules will benefit all.

:)
Pyr0
 
@iNeedMeds, what protocol are you using to communicate? I am looking at building wireless probes for Air temp, humidity, light, PH, TDS, water temp, dissolved O2 and co2 levels. So far it seems that MQQT is the way to go.

Currently I am hard-wiring all of my sensors and using Home Assistant to read the sensors then preform "automations" on my smart plugs.

Here are the sensors I am using:

Air Temp/Humidity: DHT11
Water Temp: DS18B20
Light Sensor: BH1750
PH: Pending
TDS/EC: Pending
Air Quality: css811 (have not bought)

Would anyone like to coloborate on a build based on Home Assistant and the above sensors?
 
Niwashi said:
@iNeedMeds, what protocol are you using to communicate? I am looking at building wireless probes for Air temp, humidity, light, PH, TDS, water temp, dissolved O2 and co2 levels. So far it seems that MQQT is the way to go.

Currently I am hard-wiring all of my sensors and using Home Assistant to read the sensors then preform "automations" on my smart plugs.

Here are the sensors I am using:

Air Temp/Humidity: DHT11
Water Temp: DS18B20
Light Sensor: BH1750
PH: Pending
TDS/EC: Pending
Air Quality: css811 (have not bought)

Would anyone like to coloborate on a build based on Home Assistant and the above sensors?
Click to expand...

I'm using UART. You probably know more about programming than me. My projects are sidelined right now. Renovating my house.
 
Just wondering if anyone who is subscribed to this thread has any exciting updates?
 
TorturedSoul said:
Just wondering if anyone who is subscribed to this thread has any exciting updates?
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:hmmmm: Not I, I stalled at downloading the Operating system, 3 tries -14 hrs each- I'm wayyyyyy out in the sticks at the end of the line. very unreliable. I ordered the OS on a flash drive, put it away and misplaced it. Fast forward-I had a overloaded TV tray fall over two days ago and there was the OS flash drive. Your inquiry has motivated me. I'll get back to you- hopefully soon :Namaste:
 
DrDoob said:
You guys seen this: Growduino I don’t have time for it right now but it looks pretty nice.
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Sweet. Yes, it looks nice, albeit somewhat expensive when it's all said and done. On the positive side, of course, there are far more options available for arduino devices - which makes sense, as such things are used in the industrial world.

The Raspberry Pi is what it is, an extremely cheap computer for the "homebrew" crowd that is capable of running a linux OS. But that's part of the appeal - I like linux, although I'm a user, not a programmer. And I'm thinking that my next computer will probably be one (if I'm lucky, lol). I like the fact that I could - in theory, at least, and with some patience - use one for other "computer" tasks, such as basic web browsing.

Both are interesting, but for slightly different reasons. I'm only a spectator in this sport at present, and like seeing what people have done, are doing, and will do with both devices.

Open source rules!
 

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