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Discussion in 'Introduce Yourself' started by carl, Dec 3, 2014.

  1. Dec 3, 2014 #1
    carl

    carl Active Member

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    Finally got signed in. I've been growing orchids for close to 40 years, mostly species, and under lights. I especially like miniatures, and of those, I seem to be drawn to those with tiny flowers.

    I'm currently working on a Arduino-based control system for my cool growing space - it will control light cycle, ventilation, humidification and cooling, with a Raspberry Pi-based web interface.

    I live in the Philadelphia (US) area.
     
  2. Dec 3, 2014 #2
    Natureman

    Natureman Active Member

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    Wow! Sounds great... I for one, love hearing about sophisticated control systems!
    Can't wait to hear and see more of your project.
    -John
     
  3. Dec 3, 2014 #3
    KellyW

    KellyW Orchid wonk Staff Member Supporting Member

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    Welcome, Carl. Sounds like you have lots of good information to share.
     
  4. Dec 3, 2014 #4
    naoki

    naoki Well-Known Member

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    Carl, I'd love to hear about your arduiro + rapsberry pi system! So you can control arudiro from raspberry pi? That sounds pretty cool. I haven't stepped into arduiro world yet, but I'm working on a RH + temp logger with raspberry pi. There are cheap loggers, but all of them seem to require Windows, which I don't want to deal with.
     
  5. Dec 3, 2014 #5
    carl

    carl Active Member

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    Well, I'll put some info together a little later, but the basic idea is that the Arduino has a bunch of DHT22s for humidity and temperature, and some relays to control all the electric stuff, and the logic to turn things on and off. The Pi [will] have a Python script/daemon that talks to the Arduino and both logs current conditions (currently using sqlite) and will change any setpoints based messages on a web interface (probably PHP). The Arduino part is pretty much done software-wise, but I need some more hardware. Most of the Pi stuff is yet to come (except the Python is about half done).

    As I get things satisfactory, I'll put the source code on github, so everyone can giggle and point, and start a thread in the appropriate forum for this.
     
    naoki likes this.
  6. May 31, 2015 #6
    sq5rix

    sq5rix New Member

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    Carl,

    how do you measure soil (substrate) moisture?
    For me it is main showstopper. I have both resistive and capacitative probes, there don't work too well.
    Other things, temp, LEDs etc are not an issue.

    Greetings,
    Tom
     
  7. Jun 1, 2015 #7
    carl

    carl Active Member

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    I don't measure substrate moisture - it's too variable. I'm just interested in controlling temperature, humidity, lighting.

    There's really no substitute for picking up a plant and looking at it.
     
  8. Jun 2, 2015 #8
    sq5rix

    sq5rix New Member

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    I see - thank you for sharing.
    I try to measure moisture with flat capacitor, but the results are not very satisfying :(
    Air humidity around plant may give a hint and is easier to probe.
    Sure that looking is better and more pleasant !!
     
  9. Jun 2, 2015 #9
    naoki

    naoki Well-Known Member

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    Tom, I was participating webinar by Onset HOBO. I think you can still watch it with free sign up here:
    Best Practices for Soil Moisture Field Measurements | Onset HOBO Data Logger

    I asked a question if it is possible to monitor the soil moisture of coarse media like bark-based media. The expert said that it is possible, but certain calibration is required. The technical details escaped me, but you might want to contact them if you are serious.
     
  10. Jun 2, 2015 #10
    sq5rix

    sq5rix New Member

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    Naoki, thanks a lot! I will check that webinar now. I programmed my little computer with calibration procedure, you press the button when flower is ready to be watered, and it reads base moisture. Also, you keep pressing until proper amount of water is dispensed. After that, all works automatically.
     
    Last edited: Jun 2, 2015
  11. Jun 2, 2015 #11
    naoki

    naoki Well-Known Member

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    After thinking about it, I realized that the absolute calibration is not needed for your purpose of trying to get the timing of watering. You should make a (probably a separate thread) post of how you are doing it and which probes you are using. I'm interested in seeing how it works!
     
  12. Jun 4, 2015 #12
    sq5rix

    sq5rix New Member

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