GrowOS - DIY Arduino CO2/Temp/Hum Automation

[CasaBonita]

Hello everyone,

I wanna share with you my DIY Arduino project that controls CO2, Temperature and Humidity levels. As far as I've seen most commercial solutions tackle those variables independently, the purpose of my project is to have them talk to each-other and work together. Right now I'm in the testing stage of development and there are a few bugs to work out, but its generally going pretty well and the plants seem to love it ! When everything is ironed out I will share the schematics and code for interested parties to duplicate. The cost should not exceed 200$.

So the logic behind GrowOS:

If it's dark, keep the exhaust vent running on the LOW setting while monitoring for Temperature and Humidity levels. If those levels are exceeded the exhaust fan kicks in at HIGH or a dehumidifier is turned on (depending on max temp or max hum).

If it's day, check CO2 PPM levels, pump CO2 and maintain it at a predefined level (e.g. 1500ppm). If levels drop below the predefined delta ppm value (e.g 200ppm) the CO2 is engaged to bring levels up to 1500 again. While this constant CO2 monitoring/spraying routine is engaged the system keeps track of Temperature and Humidity levels as well. If the dehumidifier is unable to bring humidity levels to an acceptable range the CO2 stops and the exhaust fan kicks in at HIGH setting as a last resort until we have acceptable temperature or humidity levels again.

The display shows Temperature, Humidity, CO2 PPM and the state of each relay (right now the second line has temporary debug data).
A rotary encoder is used to program the device. If the button is pressed for more than 1.5 seconds GrowOS enters programming mode.
In programming mode you are requested to enter the values for: Max Temp, Delta Temp, Max Hum, Delta Hum, Dehum, Delta Dehum, Max PPM, Delta PPM.
To describe"Delta" I will give an example: If we have our Max Temp at 35c and our Delta Temp at 10c, the exhaust vent will engage when temperature exceeds 35c but will only stop when temperature is brought down to 25c (35 - 10 = 25).

The hardware used:

Arduino Uno clone (Funduino)
A photoresistor (light sensor)
MH-Z16 NDIR CO2 Sensor with I2C interface
DHT22 Temperature / Humidity sensor
A 4 relay board for arduino.

All sensors were neatly packed in a box that resides in the grow room, mounted on a telescopic pole to match canopy height.
The relays are in a bigger box but I still need to add a separate 5v transformer in that box for the relays.

 

[veinz]

 

[TorturedSoul]

Homemade DIY computerized growing equipment! +REPs!

 

[CasaBonita]

Use a 7-7.5 vdc power for the arduino to keep the regulator temperatures low
and add 5vdc power to drive the relays inside the relay box.

 

[keefy69]

Awesome stuff, I planned to do something similar for my first grow but didn't have time, summer just hit tho so

This would be great I think to have different grow profiles for plants and when everything is constant you're able to easier change variables and see how it affects the plant.

 

[CasaBonita]

the moderators removed the download link here, so if anyone wants it you can pm me.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Bummer. It was to another cannabis-related forum, I take it? Perhaps you can find the same thing that is hosted on a "neutral" website (IOW, not a competitor to this forum and/or the entities that choose to sponsor it).

I hope you keep us updated on your "gadgetry" and how well it works for you.

I have hoped to see someone doing something with a Raspberry Pi (or one of its imitators) that related to indoor cannabis gardening. Or indoor gardening. Or even gardening in general, lol. There don't seem to be a lot of linux software about it.

 

[415friendly]

What are you trying to accomplish? It could maybe even go in a separate thread.

 

[415friendly]

I don't know if it's the same thing, but do a search for "yieldbuddy".

 

[cahillybilly]

A lot, I'd ideally like to control every aspect from the arduino, hopefully eventually wirelessley.

Lets start with the basics.

Lights on/off
Read temp/humidity
Record temp/humidity
Relays to turn on Dehum or humidifier
Relays for my Mini split (????)
Automate my watering with soil sensors
Inline meter that reads hwow many gallons
sensor that lets me know the approximate amount of nutrient liquid
PH and PPM sensors
Eventually Dosatron or atleast something to keep PH stable

Auto cutoff for heat
Alarm if a pump fails/ heat

Texts / emails if out of any said parameters
Connectand be able to make changes wirelessly
Wireless camera
Alrm that sensos movement/ heat

I am sure there are many things I am ofrgetting, but I'd lkike to do alot. I know, I need to start simple.

And I have yieldbuddy bookmarked, its a good one! Thanks for reminding m, I forgot about that one. I think I just need to go back over all my resources s everyhting i need is there.

I can't find a wiring diagram on yieldbiuddy or am I blind? I haven;;t looked that hard yet.

 

[415friendly]

I'll be honest, I haven't looked too closely at Yieldbuddy; it was mentioned to me by someone when we were talking about Arduino's and I said I was looking for some "greenhouse control for my indoor herb garden". It looked like way more than what I was looking for, but I have it bookmarked anyways.

It looks like the files are kind of all over the place. Some are on Github, some are on his website in the "forums" section, or at least the links to his Dropbox. A full parts list is there.

All of his stuff is a bit too technical for me; I'm a newbie grower, and a newbie to Arduino's and micro controllers. I think logging temperature/humidity and using relays to control my dehumidifier and winter heater are as far as I'm going to get this year.

 

[Skybound]

I like finding old "automation" type threads as I am in the same boat. For about the last 3 years, I've been doing nothing but advancing this topic with hopes of one day growing again. Well as of the beginning of 2017, I got me a new spot and though there were some bumps in the road, my project has been slowly coming together.

What I have running is a version of Arduino Mega and Ethernet Shield called Ethermega. Connected to it is 2 temp/humidity sensors, one for each of my 2 bloom rooms. Also an in circuit digital clock for local time keeping, an 8 channel relay module to control AC powered devices and finally an 8 head peristaltic pump dosing module for all my nutes and PH Down. The best part (IMO) is that I can control all of it from my cell phone with a free app called Blynk. The more advanced your project becomes while involving Blynk will determine how much code adjustment is needed, but I assure you it's not that difficult to extend our knowledge of the Arduino programming language to include some Blynk code. On top of that, the members of the Blynk forum are sooooo helpful when debugging or building code.

I am still building upon this myself, so I still need electric valves and PH and EC probes, but I hope to have all that finished by the end of this summer. As of now though, I can control my lights and fans, my RO pump is programmed to dose out in 1/4 gallon increments and the dosing pumps are in the process of being nailed down, but if I really wanted to, I can still achieve 1/4ml accuracy, but most of the accuracy is changed in the Blynk app on my phone and requires no additional code. My time display is updated every 2 seconds, sensor reads every 3 seconds and the dosing pump counter 5 times per every second. There is also a text display monitor, virtual LEDs to indicate when a dosing pump is running, and light up buttons that stay lit when one of the reservoir pumps is on and running.

Because I was having issues, and already killed 2 plants in the beginning of bloom, I reverted my lights and pumps back to mechanical timers and ventilation on 24/7 so I can still grow my buds while I continue to develop my project and make it run stable, but the RO pump and dosing pumps and sensors are still connected and run smoothly for days and days. Here's my latest update so you can see how Blynk works.

[video=youtube;GfTond6pa5g]

[/video]

 

[TorturedSoul]

I'd like to grab one of these, or a Raspberry Pi (or the like) - I've used linux as my OS of choice for years now, so it wouldn't quite be an alien environment (even though my terminal experience is mostly limited to cut & paste ever since that one address shut down and I was no longer able to run a terminal, telnet into a server, and watch an animated ASCII version of Star Wars, lol).

Therefore, I'm glad to see new activity in one of these old threads. Cannabis gardens should be great places for automation - or even just monitoring - devices.

 

[Skybound]

Rpi is geared more towards computer related tasks and Arduino more towards basic calculations and turning things on and off. That's the general difference between micro computers and micro controllers. A better option for you would be Udoo which has many I/O pins to control things, but has a shit load more memory and RAM than an Arduino. The only thing I don't like about it is that it's logic level is 3.3 volts, whereas Arduino is 5 volts. 5 volt MCUs have more options when it comes to hardware to be controlled, and because of that, all the other tech is cheaper. That's not to say there aren't work arounds to accommodate the 3.3v logic, but those involve extended circuitry. The Udoo also runs Linux, and to my knowledge can utilize the Arduino software to write and upload code.

Whatever the case, I want to make growing indoor hydro brainless so I can enjoy my meds and also enjoy growing my plants w/o having to worry about this, that and the other.

 

[Canresearcher]

Well said sir. Udoo is great but 3.3v logic makes adapting many sensors not very friendly.
DHT22 is a very accurate temp/humidity sensor.

As a group project we should make a CannaOS/OpenGrow for open source grow tent monitoring.
What do you guys think?

 

[Skybound]

What is CannaOS/OpenGrow?

 

[Canresearcher]

What is CannaOS/OpenGrow?

It's an idea for a opensource monitoring platform (linux based operating system) distro from monitoring plant health.

CannaOS/OpenGrow... Idea? Any programmers here?

 

[Skybound]

<--Just entry level basics of C/C++. I started getting into Linux a few years back using Backtrack, but soon after lost interest. Do you have something already setup to expand upon, or is this ground zero day 1 of the project?

 

[AvidLerner]

setup a Github site for your code. I have a site for my GrowGreen Controller that is also open source six channel led light controller.

 

[Canresearcher]

setup a Github site for your code. I have a site for my GrowGreen Controller that is also open source six channel led light controller.

Just a thought a this point.

The open Terrarium project that already exists would be able to be modified for our use. Still thinking about a CannaOS/OpenGrow for our community.