We're excited to have you join this course, where you'll be working with plants, Arduino boards, moisture sensors and watering systems.
The aim of Make Days is to explore and learn new thing. You don't need to achieve specific goals. The structure caters for varying levels of experience and different Makers will learn different things by playing with the same tools.
Makers that arrive well prepared get the most out of their experience. Before you attend your Make Day, there are a couple of activities to complete.
Here's a list of things you'll need to prep before you can set up your biltong maker.
- Install the Arduino IDE
- Read the Quick Start to Nodemcu (ESP8266) on Arduino IDE
Important: if you want to use the ESP8266 WEB Server in this example you will need to downloand the following two libraries. These libraries are not available in the library manager.
The ESPAsyncWebServer library is not available to install in the Arduino Library Manager. So, you need to install it manually.
Follow the next steps to install the ESPAsyncWebServer library:
https://github.com/me-no-dev/ESPAsyncWebServer/archive/master.zip
Unzip the .zip folder and you should get ESPAsyncWebServer-master folder Rename your folder from ESPAsyncWebServer-master to ESPAsyncWebServer Move the ESPAsyncWebServer folder to your Arduino IDE installation libraries folder
The ESPAsyncWebServer library requires the ESPAsyncTCP library to work. Follow the next steps to install that library:
https://github.com/me-no-dev/ESPAsyncTCP/archive/master.zip
Unzip the .zip folder and you should get ESPAsyncTCP-master folder Rename your folder from ESPAsyncTCP-master to ESPAsyncTCP Move the ESPAsyncTCP folder to your Arduino IDE installation libraries folder Finally, re-open your Arduino IDE
You may also need the driver for the usb-uart
- ESP8266 module
- Dopunt f-f wires (x10)
- Moisture sensor
- Micro usb to usb A cable
- Watering pump
- PVC tube + tie
- TIP31C Transistor
ESP8266:
Mini Submersible 5V Water Pump:
TIP31C Transistor:
Moisture Sensor:
- Soil Moisture Sensor Tutorial for Arduino, ESP8266 and ESP32
- Soil Moisture Sensor Setup for Arduino
- ESP8266 smart plant irrigation system
If you coding isn't your strong suit, just use the code provided in the repo:
- Extend you project with an RGB LED to indicate moisture levels with colors.
- Send messages on slack or telegram.
- Let your system update you via text on when to water your plants with the MessageBird API
- Telling your plant to water itself - by speech! Blogpost + code
- Check out the OfferZen Make Subreddit and upvote any answers you find useful. Feel free to add your own questions and comments!
- Join Make Slack, introduce yourself in #meet-and-greet, and check in with your team channel
- Learn about the how, where and why of Make Days with the Make Manifesto
*Know somebody who would enjoy this course? Tell your friends to register here.