basihetplantje

This is my first attempt playing with the arduino enviroment working with embedded c++ Many thanks to https://www.offerzen.com/nl/make

used hardware

ESP8266 module N
Dupont f-f wires
Moisture sensor
Watering pump
TIP31C Transistor
Extra led(for dry testing) https://www.benselectronics.nl/3-watt-led-module.html

first setup

Go to https://lastminuteengineers.com/esp8266-nodemcu-arduino-tutorial/ and first get your board to blink. Then open basihetplantje.ino with the arduino enviroment and upload it to the board. Open Serial monitor and upload a wifi.json just copy and paste the whole json and send it. In the monitor you should now see that a connection will be made with your wifi network.

Now the you can upload the config.json to the board using postman or any other tool of your liking. http://basihetplantje.local/configuration using post with a raw text/json body with the content of your config. F

If you do not have bonjour installed you can use the ip adress of the board instead. The serial monitor will give you the ip address when connected to your local network.

config.json

{
  "pumpOnTime":  2.25,
  "pumpOffTime": 60,
  "pumpOnValue": 500,
  "checkInterval": 0.1000,
  "dryRun": false
}

pumpOnTime how long should the pump be switched on. If this value is to high you might drown your plant.
pumpOffTime how long should the pump be off to give to ground time to get saturated.
pumpOnValue When the sensovalue is above this value the pump is switched on. Be aware this is the value from the moisture sensor where 0 (although mine gave 200 when in a glass of water) is wet and 1024 is dry.
checkInterval how much time should there be between checks
dryRun: do not switch the pump on(port D6)

extra led and dry run

IF you have a extra led you can connect it to port D7. When the pump is switched on the led will also be switched on. In dry run mode only the led is switched on and not the pump. This is very helpfull since this makes it possible to test without giving your computer water instead of your plants.

checking the status of the plant

http://basihetplantje.local will give you back a json with the current status of the plant

{
    saturation: 402,
    saturated: true,
    pump: false,
    totalPumpTime: 83677,
    dryRun: false 
}

saturation: the current value of the moisture sensor
saturated: The digital value of the moisture sensor
pump: is the pump currently switched on(also will be true if we are in dry run mode)
totalPumpTime: how much milliseconds has the pump been switched on....
dryRun: when true the pump never will be actually be switched on.

manual switch the pump on

http://basihetplantje.local/manual/on will manually switch the pump on. In the dry run mode only the the led is switched on

manual switch the pump off

http://basihetplantje.local/manual/on will manually switch the pump off.

todo list

Have fun doing what ever you do.
Make an interface to configure the wifi using the serial port
Make a web interface to configure the plant. Show the status and make some graffics. Should not be a big problem since it's looking like an api interface
Add a led display just because it's cool
Solve the problem: When the pump has filled up the tube the whole water container is emptied, after the pump has been switched off
Make sure the wires don't come off that easy
Put everything in a box

who can contribute to this project

Anyone who wants to. I hope somewhere in 2021 we can do it in the same room and have fun....

disclaimer

Plants love a little bit of water computers and water is not a very good idea

ronaldf2000/basihetplantje