Secretchief
Vegetating
- User ID
- 1502
There has been some talk about DIY automation so I figured I would start a thread to show what I am doing, and hopefully share a few ideas.
This is all very much still a prototype and many things will change (mainly sensors) so consider it more of a proof of concept than a working system.
I have experimented with 2 different programs: Mycodo and Home Assistant, both programs have their pros and cons but HA is better documented and more user friendly, in particular for remote access and MQTT/Wifi Nodes (we will get to those) Mycodo can do PID PWM and is much better at controlling the host pi GPIOs (HA has removed this for some reason).
The core of my system is currently a raspberry pi 4 running Home Assistant, ethernet to modem and hidden out of site:
Next we have an ESP32 module, this communicates with Pi over Wifi:
The Esp32 is fucking awesome, cost about $13. this one is running 2 DHT11 temp sensors (one for tent, one for external temp. they are garbage, i will replace with BME280 or senseair k30 units), a 1 wire ds18b temp sensor (just so i have one good sensor until i replace DHTs), 2 Mosfets for PWM fan control and a optocoupler (could just be another FET) to dim my LED driver. I also have a co2/TVOC sensor but it doesn't give any useful data. the other PCB is just breaking out different pins.
On the left is a smart power strip, these can be flashed with Tasmota, which is capable of running its own timers and will execute regardless of network connection, I use this as a backup timer. i will add at a second when i can.
Small aquarium pump circulates coolant through rad and lights, as it is mixed metal I am running anti corrosive car coolant. I am out of smart power points but eventually this will turn off if the temp is low to heat the tent. fans are barely spinning and lights run about 2c above ambient according to the IR thermometer, so definitely works even with my dodgy heat sink job:
Water cooling is a little over the top but I have 260w of leds and am not running an AC for a 2x2, I can easily bring the tent to the temp of lung room so I am toying with the idea of Co2 just for temperature resistance.
Humidifier is just using smart strip to switch on and off according to VPD and a humidity limit.
picked this one up for $10, only 1.5L so will end up in the Veg chamber eventually.
Now the fun part:
The main dash is just giving read outs, I have days/weeks since planted and watering, the buttons on the right are more indicators but will switch if you press and hold, water icons just reset the watering counter.
pic 2 is graphs showing last 24hrs and sliders adjust fan speeds at low, med, high as well as target temp, max humidity. VPD High and Low are automations that switch humidifier and fans on and off, these can be set on a schedule (I turn off the VPD high 15 min before lights off and on 15 min before lights on as the humidity rises as temp drops and I like it to get a chance to dry out.
Temp automations are basically: if temp less than 1 over target or within 2 of room temp then run low speed. if temp >1 but <4 over target, set to med, if >4 set to high. I used to do an additional check to see if VPD is high or low and add an off period (say 2 min on, 1 min off) but unless you have multiple sensors being averaged I found this more stable.
Pic 3 is just inputs for the plants, the buttons at the bottom execute scripts that turn on the relevant timers and adjust temp targets so I can switch from veg to flower. toggles are just giving me feedback as I am still working on this.
last page is just stuff I am playing with or have not found a home for.
If you look under the light you will see a small camera, this is an ESP32-Cam, pretty poor image quality but for $20 its worth having.
HA is setup to send email and phone notifications, for example if my temp goes over 34 HA will send me an email and notify me through the phone app. you can also use events from things like google calendar as triggers, for example at a certain date you could switch the flower button and of you go, this would be useful if you are using dosage control and want to adjust EC targets over the cycle, or even regulate your PH swing through the day.
Remote access can be done a number of ways but I use the Nabu Casa service (they the same company as HA, $6 a month goes towards further HA development). I can easily access my HA from anywhere in the world and have complete control.
There is too much to really go into detail, but happy to answer any questions.
Some good watching:
Home Assistant
Mycodo
This is all very much still a prototype and many things will change (mainly sensors) so consider it more of a proof of concept than a working system.
I have experimented with 2 different programs: Mycodo and Home Assistant, both programs have their pros and cons but HA is better documented and more user friendly, in particular for remote access and MQTT/Wifi Nodes (we will get to those) Mycodo can do PID PWM and is much better at controlling the host pi GPIOs (HA has removed this for some reason).
The core of my system is currently a raspberry pi 4 running Home Assistant, ethernet to modem and hidden out of site:
Next we have an ESP32 module, this communicates with Pi over Wifi:
The Esp32 is fucking awesome, cost about $13. this one is running 2 DHT11 temp sensors (one for tent, one for external temp. they are garbage, i will replace with BME280 or senseair k30 units), a 1 wire ds18b temp sensor (just so i have one good sensor until i replace DHTs), 2 Mosfets for PWM fan control and a optocoupler (could just be another FET) to dim my LED driver. I also have a co2/TVOC sensor but it doesn't give any useful data. the other PCB is just breaking out different pins.
On the left is a smart power strip, these can be flashed with Tasmota, which is capable of running its own timers and will execute regardless of network connection, I use this as a backup timer. i will add at a second when i can.
Small aquarium pump circulates coolant through rad and lights, as it is mixed metal I am running anti corrosive car coolant. I am out of smart power points but eventually this will turn off if the temp is low to heat the tent. fans are barely spinning and lights run about 2c above ambient according to the IR thermometer, so definitely works even with my dodgy heat sink job:
Water cooling is a little over the top but I have 260w of leds and am not running an AC for a 2x2, I can easily bring the tent to the temp of lung room so I am toying with the idea of Co2 just for temperature resistance.
Humidifier is just using smart strip to switch on and off according to VPD and a humidity limit.
picked this one up for $10, only 1.5L so will end up in the Veg chamber eventually.
Now the fun part:
The main dash is just giving read outs, I have days/weeks since planted and watering, the buttons on the right are more indicators but will switch if you press and hold, water icons just reset the watering counter.
pic 2 is graphs showing last 24hrs and sliders adjust fan speeds at low, med, high as well as target temp, max humidity. VPD High and Low are automations that switch humidifier and fans on and off, these can be set on a schedule (I turn off the VPD high 15 min before lights off and on 15 min before lights on as the humidity rises as temp drops and I like it to get a chance to dry out.
Temp automations are basically: if temp less than 1 over target or within 2 of room temp then run low speed. if temp >1 but <4 over target, set to med, if >4 set to high. I used to do an additional check to see if VPD is high or low and add an off period (say 2 min on, 1 min off) but unless you have multiple sensors being averaged I found this more stable.
Pic 3 is just inputs for the plants, the buttons at the bottom execute scripts that turn on the relevant timers and adjust temp targets so I can switch from veg to flower. toggles are just giving me feedback as I am still working on this.
last page is just stuff I am playing with or have not found a home for.
If you look under the light you will see a small camera, this is an ESP32-Cam, pretty poor image quality but for $20 its worth having.
HA is setup to send email and phone notifications, for example if my temp goes over 34 HA will send me an email and notify me through the phone app. you can also use events from things like google calendar as triggers, for example at a certain date you could switch the flower button and of you go, this would be useful if you are using dosage control and want to adjust EC targets over the cycle, or even regulate your PH swing through the day.
Remote access can be done a number of ways but I use the Nabu Casa service (they the same company as HA, $6 a month goes towards further HA development). I can easily access my HA from anywhere in the world and have complete control.
There is too much to really go into detail, but happy to answer any questions.
Some good watching:
I'll keep following so I'll learn
