Your Smart IOT

<p><em>Monitoring is the first step to understanding and fixing almost all issues.</em> As a hobby I have been growing my own chillies with varied success; my issue has been remembering to water the poor things. So after countless disappointing harvests, I decided to monitor my chilli plants and automate their care as much as I could by using cheap, off the shelf components. This post will detail my experiments with electronics, APIs and the <a href="http://ift.tt/13W6Isy" target="_blank" title="Server Density monitoring tool">Server Density monitoring tool</a>.</p>
<h2>Chilli <a href="http://ift.tt/1q9AJ7J" itemprop="url" target="_bank" title="Irrigation"><strong>Irrigation</strong></a> System</h2>
<p>My first step was to set up the technology behind the components, for this I needed a <a href="http://ift.tt/iRv29v" target="_blank" title="Visit the Raspberry Pi homepage">Raspberry Pi</a> and an <a href="http://arduino.cc/" target="_blank" title="Visit the Arduino website">Arduino board</a>. The Raspberry Pi to connect the <a href="http://ift.tt/25oS3pH" itemprop="url" target="_bank" title="Arduino"><strong>Arduino</strong></a> to my network, and the <a href="http://ift.tt/1pCdnqV" itemprop="url" target="_bank" title="Arduino"><strong>Arduino</strong></a> to add analog inputs to the setup (which the Pi is unable to do). Although there are <a href="http://ift.tt/PamYLx" target="_blank" title="Making Raspberry Pi analog">converters and hacks</a> to give the Pi an analog reading, none of them seemed 100% reliable and I had an Arduino Nano spare.</p>
<p>Server Density don’t currently have a packaged agent for the Raspberry Pi but as it’s Python, you can easily clone the source from <a href="http://ift.tt/1Jlp4ZZ" target="_blank" title="Github">Github</a> or download it from <a href="http://ift.tt/1S5tjyR" target="_blank" title="Agent">Server Density</a>.</p>
<p>Once I did that, it was time to have a look at the basic sensors I was able to attach to the <a href="http://ift.tt/1q9AJo0" itemprop="url" target="_bank" title="Arduino board"><strong>Arduino board</strong></a>, that would help to prolong the life and improve the yield of my plants:</p>
<ul>
<li>Temperature – averaged from the humidity and pressure sensors</li>
<li>Humidity – detect water vapour level in the air</li>
<li>Moisture – two prong sensor embedded into the soil and into the water reservoir</li>
<li>Light – light dependent resistor</li>
<li>Pressure – barometric air pressure (not directly related to plant health but fun to graph)</li>
</ul>
<p>When I started I had little experience with electronics and Arduino boards, luckily there are a lot of very simple guides available for using each of the sensors – <a href="http://ift.tt/1S5tjyT" target="_blank" title="Simple guides for Arduino sensors">let me Google that for you</a>. I was able to mount the Arduino directly into the breadboard to make it easier to connect up the sensors. Below is a close up of the board:</p>
<p><img alt="Automatic Plant Watering System" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3917" height="auto" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" src="http://ift.tt/1q9AJo4" srcset="http://ift.tt/1S5tjyX 300w, http://ift.tt/1q9AJo6 404w, http://ift.tt/1S5tjyZ 1000w" width="100%" /></p>
<p><img alt="Nano Close Up" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-3907" height="auto" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="http://ift.tt/1q9AJo8" srcset="http://ift.tt/1S5tjz1 300w, http://ift.tt/1q9AIAx 1024w, http://ift.tt/1S5tlXI 266w" width="100%" /></p>
<p>The Arduino connects to the Raspberry Pi via USB and sends the data back over serial in a JSON string. The cable powers the board and provides a serial link to allow the data to come back from the sensors. A plugin then runs in the <a href="http://ift.tt/1o7SuCW" itemprop="url" target="_bank" title="Server"><strong>Server</strong></a> Density agent which reads the serial device until a complete set of readings is received (or 20 seconds is exceeded) – then the PI’s WiFi dongle allows it report the data back to Server Density for<a href="http://ift.tt/1S5tjz5" target="_blank" title="Server Density Monitoring Graphs">graphing</a>.</p>
<p><img alt="Monitoring a Chilli Plant" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3918" height="auto" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" src="http://ift.tt/1q9AIAz" srcset="http://ift.tt/1S5tme0 300w, http://ift.tt/1q9AIAD 443w, http://ift.tt/1S5tjz8 1000w" width="100%" /></p>
<h2>Full setup:</h2>
<h3>Plants</h3>
<p><img alt="monitoring chilli plants" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3911" height="auto" sizes="(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px" src="http://ift.tt/1q9AJog" srcset="http://ift.tt/1S5tme6 313w, http://ift.tt/1q9AIR0 900w" width="100%" /></p>
<p>Once the basic monitoring was in place and working reliably I added a pump to <a href="http://ift.tt/1UDKUyD" itemprop="url" target="_bank" title="How to automatically water your plants with the Raspberry Pi"><strong>automatically</strong></a> water my chilli plants. It would draw water from a reservoir, that holds roughly a litre of water. From this point, I wanted the following to happen:</p>
<ol>
<li>When the soil becomes too dry, the pump is triggered.</li>
<li>Once the water level is too low in the reservoir, I get an email alert from Server Density.</li>
<li>I fill the reservoir back up.</li>
</ol>
<p>So far this has worked very well despite some early issues with pump performance. The pump is cheap kids kit from Maplin as luckily it fitted the pipes I had.</p>
<h3>Seedbox</h3>
<p>I purchased some <a href="http://ift.tt/1caWF8K" target="_blank" title="Bhut Jolokia">bhut jolokia</a> peppers and removed the seeds to grow my own plants. With a few failed attempts with seeds already, I set out to monitor as much as possible. Using a basic incubator box I added light and temperature sensors inside and out, along with 2 moisture probes in the soil. I also added an LCD panel so I could view the internal settings at a glance.</p>
<h3>Basic Environment Monitor</h3>
<p>I decided to extend the monitoring to the basic environment my chillies were in. I had a spare temperature and light sensor which I hooked up to a Arduino Nano clone. With minimal code I was able to create a basic set of sensors connected to an old laptop. The laptop has the Server Density agent running and using a plugin reports the output back for graphing. The Nano I used is a Chinese clone from eBay of the <a href="http://ift.tt/sKuSdd" target="_blank" title="Nano">Arduino</a>. It needed the headers soldering and the bootloader to be installed, but at £4.50 instead of £20 (ish) for a genuine board, it was worth the effort.</p>
<p><img alt="Arduino board" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3912" height="auto" sizes="(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px" src="http://ift.tt/1q9AIR2" srcset="http://ift.tt/1VbHJOq 300w, http://ift.tt/1SCTbfW 329w, http://ift.tt/1S5tmea 900w" width="100%" /></p>
<p>Once the headers were soldered on, I installed the bootloader using <a href="http://ift.tt/1q9AJEx" target="_blank" title="avrdude">this</a>. It didn’t work initially, but after dropping <code>-U flash:w:blink.hex"</code> from the command:</p>
<div id="crayon-5706894a3cfbe306235200" class="crayon-syntax crayon-theme-classic crayon-font-monaco crayon-os-pc print-yes notranslate" data-settings=" minimize scroll-mouseover">
<div class="crayon-plain-wrap"></div>
<div class="crayon-main">
<table class="crayon-table">
<tbody>
<tr class="crayon-row">
<td class="crayon-nums" data-settings="show"></td>
<td class="crayon-code">
<div class="crayon-pre">
<div id="crayon-5706894a3cfbe306235200-1" class="crayon-line"><span class="crayon-v">avrdude</span> <span class="crayon-o">–</span><span class="crayon-i">c</span> <span class="crayon-v">arduino</span> <span class="crayon-o">–</span><span class="crayon-i">b</span> <span class="crayon-cn">57600</span> <span class="crayon-o">–</span><span class="crayon-v">P</span> <span class="crayon-o">/</span><span class="crayon-v">dev</span><span class="crayon-o">/</span><span class="crayon-v">tty</span><span class="crayon-sy">.</span><span class="crayon-v">usbserial</span><span class="crayon-o">–</span><span class="crayon-v">A501S641</span> <span class="crayon-o">–</span><span class="crayon-i">p</span> <span class="crayon-v">atmega328p</span> <span class="crayon-o">–</span><span class="crayon-v">vv</span></div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
<p><em>(N.b. Connecting to the board required the latest <a href="http://ift.tt/Pkbed9" target="_blank" title="ftdi drivers">ftdi</a> drivers for my Mac.)</em></p>
<p><img alt="server density monitoring" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3913" height="auto" sizes="(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px" src="http://ift.tt/1q9AJEB" srcset="http://ift.tt/1S5tmec 300w, http://ift.tt/1q9AJED 451w, http://ift.tt/1S5tmee 900w" width="100%" /></p>
<p>PC with light and temperature sensors reporting to Server Density</p>
<p>Again, I started these fairly basic projects with no real background in electronics, and owe a great deal to some of the excellent tutorials available. All of the parts were bought from eBay mostly for less than £2.</p>
<h3>Light Dependent Resistor</h3>
<p>For light measuring I used a basic LDR connected to the analog input on the Nano. With help of <a href="http://ift.tt/1q9AJEF" target="_blank" title="Lux conversion">this post</a> I was able to convert the analog 0 to 1024 value into lux. It’s an approximate measurement but close enough for this project.</p>
<h3>Pressure Sensor BMP085</h3>
<p>The BMP085 is a great little board that contains a pressure sensor and a temperature sensor. It must be connected to the analog pins 4 an 5 on the Nano to work correctly. Adafruit have a great <a href="http://ift.tt/17bYlJ7" target="_blank" title="BMP085">tutorial</a> for setting it up, again a simple case of hooking up power and the signal connections. Using the pressure reading and the temperature it’s possible to calculate your current altitude with your current sea level pressure but that was a bit beyond what I needed.</p>
<h3>Soil Moisture Hygrometer</h3>
<p>I used a basic <a href="http://ift.tt/1q9AIRg" target="_blank" title="Hygrometer">sensor</a>, a simple two pronged device that is pushed into soil. This model has an LED on it as well that is either red for dry or green for moist. You can use it either analog or digital mode. I used analog and connected directly to the analog port on the Nano.</p>
<h3>Humidity  DHT22</h3>
<p>This gives the percentage of water in the air using this <a href="http://ift.tt/1dtFDoP" target="_blank" title="DHTLib">guide</a>. It also has a temperate sensor which I average with the temperature from the BMP085.</p>
<h3>Sound LM393 Electret Microphone</h3>
<p>I am waiting for this to arrive. Noise was the last aspect of the environment I could think of to measure. I am hoping to adapt <a href="http://ift.tt/NGXqxi" target="_blank" title="Microphone">this</a> to read the decibel level and log it.</p>
<h3>Improvements</h3>
<p>The main limiting factor at the moment is the Arduino board needs to be connected to some thing with a network connection. Ideally I would like to build in some wireless protocol so the boards could be placed anywhere.<a href="http://ift.tt/HQ0IqL" target="_blank" title="Xbee">Xbee</a> looks like a valid solution but each transmitter costs twice as much as all the sensors and Nano board combined!</p>
<p>Monitoring soil PH is another sensor I am investigating. I have bought <a href="http://ift.tt/1q9ALMI" target="_blank" title="Soil PH">this</a>, a basic soil monitor and am hoping I can take it apart and log the soil PH values.</p>
<p>Thanks for reading. It’s been really fun experimenting with our software outside of the realms of infrastructure – it’s incredible how important and useful monitoring can be and how available the technology is to buy now. It’s also proven to be a rather addictive hobby – so there’s plans to keep on monitoring and I’ll keep you posted on how we get on! In the meantime, what are you monitoring with your server density account that isn’t a website or server?</p>
<h2>Resources</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://ift.tt/14ErcuO" target="_blank" title="Light Sensor">http://ift.tt/14ErcuO</a> Light Sensor</li>
<li><a href="http://ift.tt/1lGOfYO" target="_blank" title="Liquid Crystal Display">http://ift.tt/1lGOfYO</a> Liquid Crystal Display</li>
<li><a href="http://ift.tt/1S5tjPA" target="_blank" title="DHT 22">http://ift.tt/1S5tjPA</a> DHT 22</li>
<li><a href="http://ift.tt/1eBOlLE" target="_blank" title="BMP 085">http://ift.tt/1eBOlLE</a> BMP 085</li>
<li><a href="http://ift.tt/1S5tmuw" target="_blank" title="Water Pump">http://ift.tt/1S5tmuw</a> Water Pump</li>
</ul>
<div id="huge-it-share-buttons-top" class="huge-it-share-buttons nobackground">
<h3>Share This:</h3>
<ul class="huge-it-share-buttons-list">
<li class=" nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1LIxY7s" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1LIxY7s','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -0px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class=" nobackground"><a href="https://twitter.com/share?status=http://yoursmart.mobi/feed&text=Automatically%20watering%20your%20plants%20with%20sensors,%20a%20Pi%20and%20webhooks" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('https://twitter.com/share?status=http://yoursmart.mobi/feed&text=Automatically watering your plants with sensors, a Pi and webhooks','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -30px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class=" nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1q9AJEN%20watering%20your%20plants%20with%20sensors,%20a%20Pi%20and%20webhooks" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1q9AJEN watering your plants with sensors, a Pi and webhooks','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -60px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class=" nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1LIxZZ0" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1LIxZZ0','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -90px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class=" nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1S5tmuy%20watering%20your%20plants%20with%20sensors,%20a%20Pi%20and%20webhooks&mini=true&url=http://ift.tt/1LIxZZ4" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1S5tmuy watering your plants with sensors, a Pi and webhooks&mini=true&url=http://ift.tt/1LIxZZ4','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -120px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class=" nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1q9ALwk%20watering%20your%20plants%20with%20sensors,%20a%20Pi%20and%20webhooks" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1q9ALwk watering your plants with sensors, a Pi and webhooks','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -150px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class=" nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1S5tjPB%20watering%20your%20plants%20with%20sensors,%20a%20Pi%20and%20webhooks" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1S5tjPB watering your plants with sensors, a Pi and webhooks','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -180px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class=" nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1q9AJV4%20watering%20your%20plants%20with%20sensors,%20a%20Pi%20and%20webhooks" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1q9AJV4 watering your plants with sensors, a Pi and webhooks','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -210px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class=" nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1LIxY7u" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1LIxY7u','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -240px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class="none nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1S5tjPD%20watering%20your%20plants%20with%20sensors,%20a%20Pi%20and%20webhooks" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1S5tjPD watering your plants with sensors, a Pi and webhooks','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -270px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class="none nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1q9AJV6%20watering%20your%20plants%20with%20sensors,%20a%20Pi%20and%20webhooks" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1q9AJV6 watering your plants with sensors, a Pi and webhooks','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -300px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class="none nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1o7SuTq" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1o7SuTq','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -330px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class="none nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1S5tk5T%20watering%20your%20plants%20with%20sensors,%20a%20Pi%20and%20webhooks" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1S5tk5T watering your plants with sensors, a Pi and webhooks','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -360px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class="none nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1o7SuTs" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1o7SuTs','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -390px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class="none nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1q9ALMU%20watering%20your%20plants%20with%20sensors,%20a%20Pi%20and%20webhooks" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1q9ALMU watering your plants with sensors, a Pi and webhooks','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -420px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class="none nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1S5tk5X%20watering%20your%20plants%20with%20sensors,%20a%20Pi%20and%20webhooks&pic=&ralateUid=&" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1S5tk5X watering your plants with sensors, a Pi and webhooks&pic=&ralateUid=&','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -450px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class="none nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1q9ALMW%20watering%20your%20plants%20with%20sensors,%20a%20Pi%20and%20webhooks" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1q9ALMW watering your plants with sensors, a Pi and webhooks','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -480px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
<li class="none nobackground"><a href="http://ift.tt/1S5tk60%20watering%20your%20plants%20with%20sensors,%20a%20Pi%20and%20webhooks" id="backforunical413" name="backforunical413" onclick="javascript:void window.open('http://ift.tt/1S5tk60 watering your plants with sensors, a Pi and webhooks','1410949501326','width=700,height=500,toolbar=0,menubar=0,location=0,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,left=0,top=0');return false;" style="background-position: -510px -120px" target="_blank"></a></li>
</ul>
<div class="clear"></div>
</div>
View more at: <a href="http://yoursmart.mobi/">http://yoursmart.mobi</a>

Automatically watering your plants with sensors, a Pi and webhooks

Monitoring is the first step to understanding and fixing almost all issues. As a hobby I have been growing my own chillies with varied succ...

Automatically watering your plants with sensors, a Pi and webhooks

Contact Form