Good Afternoon all:
I have been reading this site for a few months, and have purchased a few (I think 7) Moteinos to test out on small projects. I am happily satisfied with the results so far. It’s now time for me to move on to the project that motivated me to test the Moteinos in the first place.
Everything I am about to describe has been done in one form or another using Raspberry Pi, Arduino Uno, and Arduino Nano, along with Ethernet, both wired and wireless. My project was previously all in one room in my house, so range was not an issue. That is about to change. The place where I work has offered to let me use some space in their warehouse for the project, and my office is at least 100 feet away from this spot. There is no internet available in this section of the warehouse.
There will be three growing trays set up, each one utilizing a different method of aquaculture. No, it is NOT Pot, its Lettuce. Tray “A” will be Aeroponic, tray “K” will be the Kratky method, and tray “D” will be drain and fill. Each grow area ( A, K, D) will be enclosed, and measures 2’ x 4’. Each grow area will require the following common items: Led grow light, heater, air temp and humidity sensor, H2O temp sensor, H2O level sensor, small led screen, light sensor, SD Card Holder, warning light, a Relay board, and a battery backup. It would also be nice to have a PPM sensor, and PH sensor attached too, although this can be accomplished with a portable unit that I currently have. In addition, the “K” unit needs an Air Pump and Air Stone, and the “A” and “D” units each need a small H2O pump.
The LED Grow lights are controlled by a relay, based on 16 hours of light. The Heater is controlled by a relay, based on the air temp sensor. It heats the grow area only. Lettuce requires high temp to grow, and even a hour of cold will kill it. H2O temp and H2O level are reported, but the system does not act on the results. I am thinking about a warning light, and or email or SMS notification. H2O Pump is timed, and the cycles are 24/7. I am thinking about changing this, as water is not necessary during the DARK period. Led screens (20 x 4) just show sensor data with once per minute update. The PPM and PH sensors would only be used once or twice per 24 hours. The light sensor and battery condition are reported with all the other sensors to the led screen, website, and SD card data logger. SD card logs data once an hour.
Here are my questions for the group.
1) Will the 3 Moteinos “nodes” be able to handle this with a Raspberry Pi Gateway?
2) Would it be better to skip the “node” SD cards, and just use a Gateway SD card?
3) I have been using connection shields with the nano and Arduino uno. Any ideas for connecting up the Moteino to everything , besides a breadboard?
4) I am worried about the library’s all fitting on the Moteinos along with the code.
5) I welcome any suggestion or criticism of the project. Once its up and working I plan to put it up on video feed through my dyndns account.
Thank you all for your inspiration over the last few months, and thank you to Felix for creating a great little device.
Don Medon