Water your plants with a Raspberry Pi
Conclusions
For all three plant pots, I finally had to determine empirically the limit values of all combinations of plant and pot soil and substrate (Listing 4). A fourth sensor, which Figure 1 does not show, was finally placed in the water tank. It is monitored by its own thread starting in line 124 of Listing 3; the budding digital gardener has to connect the red cable to another free GPIO port on the Raspberry Pi Zero. If there is no water in the tank, the script sends email and blocks the other threads until the plant owner gets round to refilling the tank (Listing 3, lines 130-136).
The data for the tank sensor can be found in the YAML file in the tank block (Listing 4, lines 36-40), and the email parameters are in the mail block (lines 42-45). Depending on the configuration of your local email system, you might need to adjust the code so that it contains more detailed information with a clear-cut subject line to keep it from ending up in the Spam folder. The configuration file also contains the debug parameter (line 53), which makes the script more verbose at runtime.
For larger plant containers, such as a flower box, several sensors and water supply systems would have to be used in each box. Here again, some experimentation would be necessary to achieve the desired average soil moisture. Meanwhile, the scripts enter the measured values into an Influx database (Listing 3, lines 39-55). On the basis of this database, it is then possible to obtain an overview (e.g., with Grafana), so you can better adjust the parameters after analysis.
Infos
- "The sys admin's daily grind – PomodoPi" by Charly Kühnast, Linux Pro Magazine, issue 177, August 2015, pg. 56: https://www.linuxpromagazine.com/Issues/2015/177/Charly-s-Column-PomodoPi
- Irrigation kit: https://www.amazon.com/WayinTop-Automatic-Irrigation-Watering-Capacitive/dp/B07TMVNTDK/
- Adafruit Python library for MCP3008: https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Python_MCP3008
- Raspberry Pi Zero W: https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-zero-w/
- Fritzing: https://fritzing.org/home/
- GPIOs: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/usage/gpio/
- Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- Code for this article: ftp://ftp.linux-magazine.com/pub/listings/linux-magazine.com/236/
« Previous 1 2
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Direct Download
Read full article as PDF:
Price $2.95
News
-
Mozilla VPN Now Available for Linux
The promised subscription-based VPN service from Mozilla is now available for the Linux platform.
-
Wayland and New App Menu Coming to KDE
The 2021 roadmap for the KDE desktop environment includes some exciting features and improvements.
-
Deepin 20.1 has Arrived
Debian-based Deepin 20.1 has been released with some interesting new features.
-
CloudLinux Commits Over 1 Million Dollars to CentOS Replacement
An open source, drop-in replacement for CentOS is on its way.
-
Linux Mint 20.1 Beta has Been Released
The first beta of Linux Mint, Ulyssa, is now available for downloading.
-
Manjaro Linux 20.2 has Been Unleashed
The latest iteration of Manjaro Linux has been released with a few interesting new features.
-
Patreon Project Looks to Bring Linux to Apple Silicon
Developer Hector Martin has created a patreon page to fund his work on developing a port of Linux for Apple Silicon Macs.
-
A New Chrome OS-Like Ubuntu Remix is Now Available
Ubuntu Web looks to be your Chrome OS alternative.
-
System76 Refreshes the Galago Pro Laptop
Linux hardware maker has revamped one of their most popular laptops.
-
Dell Will Soon Enable Privacy Controls for Linux Hardware
Dell makes it possible for Linux users to disable webcams and microphones.