as an engineer, I was looking forward to the video behind the programing and web interface of the microcontroller set up. I'm sure it would have been a bore for "normal" people, but niche/nerd people like me would have been interested.
Hi Sean, this is exactly what I'm looking for. I took over my dad's allotment a couple of years ago and need to move with the times. In the process of converting to no dig and have 3 greenhouses I want to add. Excellent channel. Much obliged.
Absolutely brilliant, i'm looking forward to seeing the other vlogs. A pdf, booklet or otherwise on your set up, parts & costings would be great. I'd happily pay for info as I'm sure others would.
Awesome video! Made me return to microcontroller programming which I had abandoned 20 years ago. I will definitely start building my own plant watering solution. Thanks a lot!
Its a pleasure! Glad to be able to provide some inspiration. I will be doing some more on the microcontrollers in the coming months with some changes I am making to the system.
I quite like this, as I have a 40W mono panel going to an MPPT converter, that then goes to 1) a 12V battery bank (retired UPSs), and 2) a 12V timer. I then use the timer to feed the tomato and chilli plants from a 100L reservoir with a little pump (there is also an air pump and stone that keeps the water extra oxygenated), and the 100L tank is then kept topped up from a gravity-fed source with a float. Just have to manually adjust the pH and EC from time to time (every few weeks it seems, unless it rains or a frog gets into the piping). Thanks for the awesome content, as always! PS I use 'real' electronics for any sensor components (currently just night/day pickup); capacitors and transistors, not a digital program :P
Fascinating info. I use solar off-grid here in florida for an electric fence and to pump water from a reservoir into our little cabin. I use drip tape irrigation and automation to water when i'm not there would be ?great! Unfortunately i've only just heard of "arduinos" on the website "Instructables" but now i have reason to dive further in.
Many thanks - very useful. Came across your video looking for cooling methods for my greenhouse - I currently have the wax filled type like yours .. but over time I have learnt to """hate""" them! :) The "cunning plan!" Use a 12v dc car radiator fan 14" approx £16 - 90Watt with volume over oscillation :(
Great vid! I want to automate my garden's water needs. Would the little guys you used be able to work with capacitive moisture sensors? It gets 40C and over and I want the system to account for that.
Mount your fans the opposite direction. Instead of pointing them down, point them up. You can still have them oscillate. It will be a remarkable difference in moving hot air out, and the bees will be fine.
The fans are not for cooling. They are for helping with pollination, as well as keeping mould away by moving air around. The temperature is controlled by the autovents
Just stumbled across your channel after looking for something else unrelated (PC fan cooling) but have been mulling over how I could automate and collect data points from around our homestead for some time. Got a bit of a background interest in electronics (more from childhood) and have done some php/JS programming but am no engineer. Know nothing about audrino etc but am excited about the possibilities. We have large ibc water tanks about the place and various barrels and I need to know the water levels in the IBC, temps in 2 greenhouses and now I've installed drip tape I would like to automate that as well as climate control etc. My gig was doing web based back office management systems and user interfaces so am excited by getting that going much like you have. I will head over to your other channel and dive in over here. I can see it's going to be a busy/fun winter ahead, indoors, whilst it's -25 outdoors.
Welcome to my channel! I will be sharing details about my new setup soon. But there are some good intro videos that you should find interesting! There will be some interesting things coming to my SeedsIO.com platform too around IOT and automation, that should be useful for you too!
@@ChilliChump thank you, will check it out. Forgot to say, what was funny was I had also bought the same pump in anticipation of playing about with some solar projects. Guess that will be staying on the shelf then :)
Thank you for subscribing! Just to let you know, it you want to see more on my automation...I am doing s beginners guide to it on my second channel ruclips.net/user/chillichump2
I planned crazy stuff like that a few weeks ago for my greenhouse and the I discovered Autopots! A dynamic system works much better I think. Nevertheless great work!
I like the control I have with my system. For example at the moment the temperatures have really dropped...so my plants will only need to be watered once this week. Last week we had really high temperatures and lots of sun...I was watering everyday, sometimes twice. That is all automated with this. It takes into account average temperatures, waters accordingly. My system is also doing visual analysis, if the plants start to droop then they also get some water. Plus it's just fun being able to track the stats and optimise the growth year after year
Realy cool. Try incorporating more sensors to help the automation. Start with rain and soil moisture sensors. I Think it be awesome. You could also try to create an automated climate or something.....🦧
Hi Nick, have a look at my second channel, ruclips.net/user/chillichump2 , I am doing a beginners guide to automation there thatr you may be interested in!
I recently moved house to a place with a greenhouse. Today I installed a solar panel and the epever controller. I have been following your other channel on automation, so I am really interested to know how you connected to the com port on the controller to get the information on your pc.
I really appreciated the detail in all of what you covered. It has a lot of cross over for other projects. I'm looking forward to watching more of your videos on hot sauce. I was actually looking for hot sauce vids and saw this one and had to watch as I too am a tinkerer. Thanks again for sharing!
Auto window vents I use don't have energy consumption.... They are hydraulic. They contain a beeswax compound that expands when a temperature is reached that then opens the vents
Hi, incredible thing that you have done here!! Complete admiration to you sir. I`d have couple of questions. 1) As a beginner I see this project and it is completely overwhelming - where and how would you recommend to start? 2) Did you do the second video about the actual coding (could not find it). 3) Someties what we see is just the end result - assuming that you are normal working human being - how long did it take to make? Do you work on this in all your free time? Or is there a lot of iterations step by step? Thank you.
Hi Ivan 1. I have a playlist with a few of my other videos on automation which may be worth a look: ruclips.net/p/PLuQ_ySnkV1emMZ6KkHx49zA5PJNLzEx16 As a starting point, I would just get hold of an Arduino or ESP8266/32 and have a play. This may be a worthwhile first project: ruclips.net/video/yqmOp7m4szA/видео.html and then after that maybe look at this one: ruclips.net/video/ldvtDrwesoo/видео.html 2. I haven't yet unfortunately, I work full time....and finding time to do all my videos,editing, as well as looking after my garden etc can be a challenge. I will be doing a video on this once things quieten down (it is the height of the growing season right now) 3. This is an ongoing project. Even since this video I have made some changes to things. I switched from ESP8266's to ESP32's (more GPIO). I have added another pump to service my polytunnel. I changed out the fans in the greenhouse, as well as added one to the polytunnel. I have also made changes to my interface so that I have a better view on my mobile phone. I addded some graphs to visualise the temperature across my various sensors. And lastly I am playing with some machine learning to help automate things even further (although I am doing this for a bit of fun...and as a learning experience. I am not sure this will be ultimately helpful as a lot of what I do when it comes to my chilli plants is based on instinct and experience. It took me about 4 days in total to get the original setup done (coding, and setting up the hardware).
Hi Sean. This is a great video and one that I've been particularly keen on revisiting. I have two allotments with two glass greenhouses and soon to be built 16ft X 24ft polytunnel. I noticed in your later videos that you have IBCs for water storage now. It would be great to see an updated video about your irrigation automation system, water storage and how you manage automation of fertiliser too. I think I recall you had an extra water pump and water butt just for the fertiliser. Was wondering if you still go by the same system or if you've upgraded? I've been trying to decide between purchasing an off the shelf solar powered irrigation system from a company called Irrigatia or whether I should build from scratch, allowing me to add things like fans and usb/laptop power. (My allotment is off-grid). Cheers
Hey Peter, you may be interested in my second channel. I have a beginners guide series on automation. ruclips.net/user/ChilliChump2 The concept for my watering is the same...collect water off the green house. Pump from the main collection tanks into a smaller tank in the greenhouse. Mix nutrients when I need, and irrigate from there. Cheers, Shaun
Microcontrollers can also crash. It's not common, but it does happen. As for a raspberry pi I have, it runs pihole and some vpn hosting software. It's ran for months on end without ever having issues. I'll occasionally run updates on it, and restart it, but I've never actually had to go up to it and pull the plug.
With the microcontroller....you have the WDT which will reset it if it "crashes". I also have other code running which kicks in if the WDT doesn't do its job. I have been running my ESPs on fluctuating voltage (solar, battery) for 3 years now without a failure.
I am busy making quite a few modifications to this system over the next couple of months so will be doing a few videos on it. I just have to find the time to film it in-between all the other stuff I am doing!
Some don't have links how much did it all cost I like a heater and cold fan maybe watering for my green house and temperature control by solar power, regards
Very cool project. Do you have a GitHub repository where we can find the code? Have you thought about more enhancements like adding a flow sensor to the pumps and adding the fertilizer automatically?
I am doing a beginners guide to automation on my second channel that you may be interested in. In fact I am busy working on the next episode at the moment. ruclips.net/user/chillichump2
The louvres and windows are on an auto vent system...it works by hydraulics. When the temperature gets to a certain point then the oil/wax inside the hydraulics expands and opens the vents/windows.
Just wondering did you ever make changes to this system, any updates? After seeing this I'm looking at trying to do something at my allotment, starting with perhaps a small hydroponics system and expanding from there.
I have made quite a few changes. Also I have a second channel where I am doing a beginners guide to automation that you may be interested in ruclips.net/user/chillichump2
Hi. Your video nspired me to set up an automated system, though not yet with all your bells and whistles. One question (Why is it the simple things are often the most difficult to work out) : As the fertiliser is added to the tank and is continuously provided whenever water is added am I right in thinking that it is very diluted (much more than usual). Using chilli focus as an example what level of dilution are you using?
Hi David. The way I control this is by having a resovoir in my greenhouse that is seperate from my outside rain barrels. That way I control the concentration. So I fill up the 230l barrel in the greenhouse with pump1. Then if I am doing fertilisation with that barrel, I will add the fertiliser (depending on the stage of growth, either seaweed fert, tomato fert or chillifocus). Then I don't add more water to that resovoir until it is empty. I don't fertilise with every barrel either. That would be overdoing it. Also if you are interested in more of the automation type content, have a look at my second channel, I am doing a beginners guide to automation there: ruclips.net/user/chillichump2
@@ChilliChump Many thanks for the speedy reply. I am setting up my pumps and solar panel this week. Once I get the basics working I will be nerding out on your second channel. I have copied your set-up with the separate barrel in my polytunnel. The mix in that is standard? I am frightened of killing my plants with too much love! (I came across this video when I ordered my polytunnel and reckon my first strawberry has cost around £3k. I need the chillies to thrive to get the cost per unit down a bit! ) Much better than the usual gardening channels. Keep up the good work.
I don't feed with the recommended dilution rate. I change through the year depending on how my plants are doing. But half recommended dose is a safe bet.
I don't really, not with my Solar setup that I show in this video (way too much power draw with a heater). And I also don't really grow in the winter, I try working with the seasons.
Hello, my name is William Blood and I am working with Maine Math and Science Alliance on a project about sustainable agriculture and we are looking for footage about using Solar energy to power green houses. I would like to ask if you would be willing to give us permission to use this video. The purpose of what we are doing is to educate school children about the technology that is out their and the children will use it in their classrooms to give them ideas with their project on creating a virtual sustainable economy. Thank you in advance.
Great Video. Do you have your code available for the esp8266? I'm trying to write something similar though with physical switches as well as a timer schedule for the relays.
Hi Stephen, thank you. I'm busy doing a series on my second channel as a beginner's guide to automation. I will also be putting some of my more technical videos on that channel. ruclips.net/user/chillichump2
@@ChilliChump awesome, I'm currently building a similar system around the Arduino Mega2650. I noted that you went with the WeMoS instead of the Uno but did you still code these in C++? not sure I caught that bit (only halfway through at the minute - keep flicking between videos and Arduino IDE when I get an idea haha!)
@@stephensimmons1537 I am using the esp32 and esp8266 which are both far more capable than the arduinos, plus they are WiFi enabled. And yes I'm coding with the Arduino IDE using c++
@@ChilliChump Aye I've got a fair few WeMoS, i've got a WeMoS mega coming but it's on the slow boat from China. As I'm going to be zoning out my garden I'm going to be needing a lot of analogue and digital pins which anything smaller than the Mega doesn't give me and I'm not getting into I2C addressing any time soon! Analogue pins for the sensors and their values then digital pins to power them up momentarily for a read and then set state back to low when complete.
I would recommend looking at the esp32...the wemos mega you are going to use is a combo of the uno and esp8266. The reason I switched from the eap8266 to esp32 was because there are plenty more gpio and a load more analogue pins. Plus dual core, more memory, better sleep mode etc. Plus it only costs about $5.
For the sake of simplification I'm just going to call your board an Arduino. It's technically known as an 'Arduino Clone'. 1. Your battery shouldn't be inputting varying voltages to the Arduino. Just because the input voltage has a range doesn't mean that circuit operation will tolerate changes to that range. You should have a voltage regulator in between the Arduino and the Battery, especially if you also have a charging system connected to the batt as well. :/ 2. You wouldn't have more loss of power on the 5v side than on the 12v? The 12v gets converted down to 5v as well...that's where your power loss would be. The 5v USB connector is only there to power the Arduino enough to upload your sketches. You use the 12v barrel plug for running your circuits. The reason is that the 5v USB connector is limited to a maximum of 500milliamps, 30 of which are used by the Arduino itself. Meaning on USB your entire system can't be drawing >~450mA. If you draw more than that it start tripping the polyfuse, and with repeats damaging the fuse. When you swith to the 12v barrel plug, on your model, it increases that limit to 1A. 3. The difference between a RaspberryPI and an Arduino is not that the PI is a computer. They're both computers. There are not more chances for something to go wrong on a PI, both it and the Arduino crash for the same reasons. The Arduino is not a machine. It boots up just like any other computer. It does have drivers. RaspberryPI's can be configured to boot up, automatically log in, and continue running...just like an Arduino. You do not get stalls in a Pi, you just have software you don't need for the purpose running on it because you have the wrong type of OS. For a project like this try the lightest version of Raspbian and then add only the software you need. The difference that you're looking for is that the header pins on a Pi have much lower current limits and take a greater understanding of programming and electronics to deploy. But the real answer is that you need both. The Arduino is built for interfacing with harware, and the PI for interfacing with humans, while at the same time they're both extremely good at communicating with each other. So code that allows human interaction with the settings that control the greenhouse should be on the PI, it then tells the Arduino what to do, the Arduino knows how to do...it does, and then the greenhouse is. 4. If you put those DHT22 sensors inside small Stevenson Screens, inside and outside the greenhouse, you'll get much more accurate temp and humidity readings. On a side note, the pressure release valve system on your irrigation inlet manifold (water hose that goes back into the reservoir to manually control pressure) was brilliant. I'm going to use that in my design. An upgrade to consider: they make solenoid valves for water hoses that are controlled by 12v. Couple one of those with this bad boy, uk.rs-online.com/web/p/pressure-sensors/2355891/ and you could automate that pressure release system automatically. You could even code it to preemptively open the relief valve just prior to pump shutoff to reduce water hammer and thereby decrease the stress on those expensive motors as well as your entire irrigation system. Just out of curiosity how are you managing the back electromotive force generated when your pumps kick off? And what's your transistor setup for triggering the relays that control your pumps?
Hey Stephen, thanks for the comment! I will admit I tried simplifying what I was talking about, not all my audience are that into this side of things (most are here for the chillis and sauces!) 1. I'm not using arduinos or arduino clones. They are ESP8266's...specifically they are ESP8266's on a Wemos D1 R2 Dev board. This particular board has a decent switching mode voltage regulator built in (I believe it is a CJ2301, and the board is rated for 9-24V input). It is pretty efficient too, I have compared the power loss to a good buck converter, and there wasn't much in it. 2. I wouldn't ever power this with the usb plug...if I was going to use 5v, I would just put it into the 5V vin pin, using a regulated supply...for the reason you mentioned, limited amps through the USB. I have in fact switched to a regulated power supply now, as of the beginning of the week! I did this because I put in place an Arduino nano too, also powered by by the 5V buck converter. I am using the Arduino to have redundancy with the watchdog timer. I have had problems in the past where I would lose access to the system, because it didn't reboot when there was a problem connecting to the internet or maybe caught in a loop. The Arduino checks for a keep-alive signal from the ESP8266, and if it times out it resets the system. I know this is overkill, but I don't want to be away for 2 weeks and my plants don't get watered! 3. Again, I was probably over simplifying. I meant that the ESP8266 (and the Arduino for that matter) is a microcontroller, a simple computer. The Raspberry Pi is a general purpose computer which is running a full stack operating system...way more to go wrong! But more importantly, the Raspberry Pi (even the rPi Zero) uses way more energy than the ESP8266...which is important because I don't get a load of sun to charge up my system during the winter. But with the ESP8266 i have no problems. I am using 30Wh per day with updates every 30 seconds via wifi (and not running fans, pumps, lights etc). If I was doing this using 2 raspberry pi zeros, I would be using 48Wh with them just idling. 4. Good idea...I am having issues with my external temp monitor. i have tried a few different placements. I will have a look at the stevenson screen...hopefully I can get a small one. I did consider using something like you mention to monitor pressure of the system, but honestly once I have my plants setup and I get the pressure right...it is set and forget, the drippers I use need a specific pressure to work optimally, and don't really vary. I was thinking about maybe getting a controllable valve though to seperate watering zones...maybe a project for next year! My pumps power is isolated from the microcontroller, I haven't had any issues with surges coming back. I am using a 4 port relay (like this: www.sainsmart.com/products/4-channel-5v-relay-module). It needs 5v to activate, and the Wemos board is able to do that easily with the GPIO.
Not all of use I don't use a green house but I could use every thing you have there worked up I just have no need for fans so I would have far less power usage and my growing season is mid April to end of September and in the heat if the year the temp here is 95-110 F about 33-39 C ruffly converted and need to water twice a day and am not going to have time early and late in the day so I am very interested in what we can all come up with
I have experimented with water sensors...but found them a bit unreliable. Unless you put multiple of them in each pot, your readings will be too erratic to rely on for a watering schedule.
Thanks! kW would be a point in time measurement, whereas kWh is an accumulated measurement over an hour....which is more useful when discussing the storage and use of power.
yip, id pay for a pdf on your set up, also on your mains feed into your greenhouse, how have you earthed the structure, im led to believe a 10mm copper cable back to earth is reqd
Oh, and what cable are you using? I've been running it all with 4mm (12awg) that should handle ~22A perfectly fine, but find over my 5m run I'm dropping about 300mA.
I use 12awg too , mostly (just some twin and earth I had spare). I also use 14awg for my seperate hookups from my controller Actually I am just rewiring everything at the moment...I have been modifying my setup a bit (adding things). I find the wire is fine, I don't get bad voltage drop (
What about a hybrid system? like a backup and log system for the microcontroller tha can be remotely controlled through rasberry pie and also be a back up system
That's not really necessary with the way I have built and coded the system. This communicates with a website I've created. If for whatever reason the devices can't access the web, they fail back to a default schedule which will keep things running until I have a chance to address the issue. The website alerts me if it hasn't had communication from my controllers for a set amount of time. I considered a raspberry Pi running a LAMP server to do something similar, but honestly this is working just fine and means I don't have to maintain another device (I already have a webserver I pay for). Also I stayed away from using raspberry pi's on my solar system...they are power-hungry compared to the ESPs
This is pretty awesome, thanks for sharing. Which programming languages did you use? I second the comments about making a video coving the programming.
@@ChilliChump Oh ok, that may be a bit out of reach for me, I just know front end web development. I've heard there is something called Johnny-5, an internet of things and robotics platform for Javascript, I might try that. These videos are pretty cool, I mainly started learning programming to eliminate repetitive simple tasks from my life. People could give themselves so much more freedom.
That is the setup for my current system. What I am teaching on my second channel is a little different, and definitely more user friendly. Have a look, I am targeting that series to absolute beginners.
There may be a simple solution depending on a couple things. Do you have a tap near where you are growing? If you do then you could use a battery powered timer for the tap. Alternatively the battery powered timer with a gravity fed system. I am building something like that this year as soon as my vegetables die in the raised beds. I will be filming the process. Hopefully that will help you out. Otherwise if you want to get as techy as my current greenhouse solution, we can have a chat.
Hi i'm interested in the ESP8266 programming, have you made a video about this? I haven't seen one on your channel or overlooked it. Is the source code available, i'm interested in the scheduling part.
When you turned the fan on, why did the battery's charge current go up? Shouldn't the battery be left alone if the solar panel is producing enough power to run the fan? I'm not sure why running the fan would require more power to be fed into the battery, potentially overcharging it.
The battery charging is managed by the charge controller. If there is a draw on the battery, the charge controller will decide whether it is able to charge during load. It is all managed automatically. It keeps the battery topped up when it can (if it is day time and there is enough sun hitting the solar panel). Temperature and voltage is monitored so overcharging cannot occur.
@@ChilliChump It just seems like the wrong figure is being reported. The way it shows in the video, if you run nothing, the battery won't be charged, and if you run 70 W of equipment, the battery will be charged at a rate of 70 W. It's almost like the load current figure is being shown instead of the charge current figure. What I would have expected to see is that the battery charge current doesn't change much with the load changes, unless the solar panel can't deliver enough power for everything, at which point the controller reduces the charge current (or even draws power from the battery, making the current go negative) in order to power the load. Have I missed something?
The figure is definitely correct. I have confirmed with a multimeter. The solar panel I am using is 100w (19v max). Instead of the traditional PWM tech, the charge controller uses MPPT (maximum power point tracking) technology. This allows the charge controller to maximiuse the efficiency of the power coming in via solar panel but utilising the full voltage provided by the solar panel and shifting the voltage down, and increasing the amps to charge the battery. (check out this article, it will explain it better than I can www.solacity.com/mppt-vs-pwm-charge-controllers-whats-difference/ ). Of course if I am drawing over 100w, then my solar panel won't be able to push that amount of power back into the system. I just switched my fan on to get some figures for you: Load output: 2.01A, 13.19V, 26.51W Solar input: 1.41A, 17.07V, 24.13W You can see that the load is at 13v, and drawing 2amps. The solar panel is providing the charge controller 17.07v (it is an overcast day, so not running at full spec) which the charge controller does its magic with and optimises the battery charge.
@@ChilliChump Sorry I think I am not explaining myself very well. Very familiar with MPPT and understand what you're saying, but if you look at 24:27 you will see that the web page says you are putting 0.98 amps into the battery to charge it (the "Charge Current" figure) - which sounds fine. But skip ahead to 25:43 and once the lights are on, it says you are now pumping 5.65 amps into the battery just to charge it! I would expect to see 5.65 amps as the total load on the system (most of that being used to power the lights) but it seems to be showing as if it's the amount of power being fed into the battery itself. When I say "the wrong figure" I mean it looks like the value shown for "Charge Current" and "Charge Power" is coming from the total output power, not just the portion of that used to charge the battery. I am of course assuming you have a charge controller that measures the battery current and the connected load current independently, however perhaps you have the load connected in parallel with the battery, and that is why the charge current figure seems to represent the total load? Hopefully this makes sense!
I get what you are saying....but have a look at this screenshot I just took. This is on a less ideal day, in terms of sunshine for the Solar system, it has been raining most of the morning. Which means that the battery has to play catch-up to get the charge back to 100%. i.imgur.com/JpD55gs.png . The charge current is at 3.44 amps, the incoming amps from the solar panel is 2.49 amps. The watts is the same on solar input and charge output due to the conversion. As you can see I am only using 6w on the load (my microcontrollers). Then I turn on my fans, and a couple pumps. The watt draw is now at 146w (11amps) but of course my solar panel is only rated at 100w. The sun is shining a bit right now, so I am getting 80w (5amps) from the solar panel, the charge controller is converting that to put in 6amps. i.imgur.com/xLgl8a6.png Now, when the battery is full, and I switch on a fan or pump, and it is drawing less than the solar is able to produce at that time...then the charge controller puts the same amount of amps into the battery as is being drawn, effectively running the load from the charge from the solar panel instead of drawing down on the battery. Does that make sense?
Thumbs up, its an excellent video, but to be truly offgrid you'd need some way of "dialling in" to your device remotely as you're extremely unlikely to have wifi offgrid ;-)
In general, I agree with you. I run multiple Linux servers which are very stable. But compared to devices like the ESP or even Arduino, it's a whole different story. No chance of file corruption. Also "boot" is instant. And most importantly, power consumption is significantly less with these devices.
Hi, I am really interested to put up green house with automation as of yours. Can you supply the basic system for a price, I mean besides the solar panels, battery, fans , pumps , drippers etc. I am based in India.
Howdy all. My name is Mike and I happen to be a blind home distiller. I want to build a talking/audible PID controller for controlling the heating element in my Stainless Steel Combination Pot/Reflux still. Would anyone here know of an audible type PID unit? It would have to support 20 amps120 volts. I’d like to find one that would run through an IPhone app. I operate my IPhone in what’s known as “Voice Over” mode; this is how blind people use their IPhones. So this app would have to be Voice Over accessible. Any suggestions would be so greatly appreciated big time!
Maybe paying a radio station to plants classic or classic rock to plants they will produce better! look up video of Myth Busters about plants and music!
@@ChilliChump I'm not going to use it the way you are I'll be running a air conditioner in the summer and a heater in the winter .what I like to know is ,does the Solar panel come with a bracket that you can mount it on to the side of the house with. All I'll need is a solar panel, a battery, and a DC to AC converter
@@rustyridenour2136 you are going to have quite a challenge running heating or air-conditioning from a solar setup. They are both very power hungry. So make sure you size the system up accordingly. My solar panel is 100w. Which on a good day can generate 1.2kwh. A typical heater uses 3kw per hour.
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It’s a little more than what I am used too. But never boring. Always a pleasure
as an engineer, I was looking forward to the video behind the programing and web interface of the microcontroller set up. I'm sure it would have been a bore for "normal" people, but niche/nerd people like me would have been interested.
I will be doing that in the off season, when I am not so busy with my growing and sauces, recipe videos etc!
Hi Sean, this is exactly what I'm looking for. I took over my dad's allotment a couple of years ago and need to move with the times. In the process of converting to no dig and have 3 greenhouses I want to add. Excellent channel. Much obliged.
Absolutely brilliant, i'm looking forward to seeing the other vlogs. A pdf, booklet or otherwise on your set up, parts & costings would be great. I'd happily pay for info as I'm sure others would.
Awesome video! Made me return to microcontroller programming which I had abandoned 20 years ago. I will definitely start building my own plant watering solution. Thanks a lot!
Its a pleasure! Glad to be able to provide some inspiration. I will be doing some more on the microcontrollers in the coming months with some changes I am making to the system.
@@ChilliChump It would really be great if you made a video on that :)
I quite like this, as I have a 40W mono panel going to an MPPT converter, that then goes to 1) a 12V battery bank (retired UPSs), and 2) a 12V timer. I then use the timer to feed the tomato and chilli plants from a 100L reservoir with a little pump (there is also an air pump and stone that keeps the water extra oxygenated), and the 100L tank is then kept topped up from a gravity-fed source with a float. Just have to manually adjust the pH and EC from time to time (every few weeks it seems, unless it rains or a frog gets into the piping). Thanks for the awesome content, as always! PS I use 'real' electronics for any sensor components (currently just night/day pickup); capacitors and transistors, not a digital program :P
Fascinating info. I use solar off-grid here in florida for an electric fence and to pump water from a reservoir into our little cabin. I use drip tape irrigation and automation to water when i'm not there would be ?great! Unfortunately i've only just heard of "arduinos" on the website "Instructables" but now i have reason to dive further in.
Take a look at my second channel, I created a beginners guide to automation which you may enjoy! ruclips.net/p/PLuNMHKjpHK56q8DmeFk1TjucQNN7MWpCo
I would also like to start a greenhouse automation project. You video helped me to understand what challenges I could have, thank you very much
Hi Viktor, have a look at my second channel, I am doing a beginners guide to automation that you may be interested in ruclips.net/user/chillichump2
Thank you so much I was wanting some ideas for growing in winter. I will refur to this and may contact you in the future.
Many thanks - very useful.
Came across your video looking for cooling methods for my greenhouse - I currently have the wax filled type like yours .. but over time I have learnt to """hate""" them! :)
The "cunning plan!" Use a 12v dc car radiator fan 14" approx £16 - 90Watt with volume over oscillation :(
I actually like the autovents (wax filled). As long as you keep them lubricated, once a year, then they seem to work great!
Great video given me a few brilliant ideas for next year
Thanks for the Video , very helpful and good n clear narrations on the Automation Devices for Remote and Automatic Controls.
Thanks Paul. You should have a look at my second channel, I go into more detail on the tech side of things RUclips.com/chillichump2
Great vid! I want to automate my garden's water needs. Would the little guys you used be able to work with capacitive moisture sensors? It gets 40C and over and I want the system to account for that.
Mount your fans the opposite direction. Instead of pointing them down, point them up. You can still have them oscillate.
It will be a remarkable difference in moving hot air out, and the bees will be fine.
The fans are not for cooling. They are for helping with pollination, as well as keeping mould away by moving air around. The temperature is controlled by the autovents
You are a very knowledgeable man. Keep the vids going. Thanks
Just stumbled across your channel after looking for something else unrelated (PC fan cooling) but have been mulling over how I could automate and collect data points from around our homestead for some time. Got a bit of a background interest in electronics (more from childhood) and have done some php/JS programming but am no engineer. Know nothing about audrino etc but am excited about the possibilities. We have large ibc water tanks about the place and various barrels and I need to know the water levels in the IBC, temps in 2 greenhouses and now I've installed drip tape I would like to automate that as well as climate control etc. My gig was doing web based back office management systems and user interfaces so am excited by getting that going much like you have. I will head over to your other channel and dive in over here. I can see it's going to be a busy/fun winter ahead, indoors, whilst it's -25 outdoors.
Welcome to my channel! I will be sharing details about my new setup soon. But there are some good intro videos that you should find interesting! There will be some interesting things coming to my SeedsIO.com platform too around IOT and automation, that should be useful for you too!
@@ChilliChump thank you, will check it out. Forgot to say, what was funny was I had also bought the same pump in anticipation of playing about with some solar projects. Guess that will be staying on the shelf then :)
Subscribed because of this video. This is greatness. Thank you.
Thank you for subscribing! Just to let you know, it you want to see more on my automation...I am doing s beginners guide to it on my second channel ruclips.net/user/chillichump2
@@ChilliChump Thank you! I'm onlyiwillremain on twitter. Great information!
@@grateful4068 ah of course 😄
I planned crazy stuff like that a few weeks ago for my greenhouse and the I discovered Autopots! A dynamic system works much better I think. Nevertheless great work!
I like the control I have with my system. For example at the moment the temperatures have really dropped...so my plants will only need to be watered once this week. Last week we had really high temperatures and lots of sun...I was watering everyday, sometimes twice. That is all automated with this. It takes into account average temperatures, waters accordingly. My system is also doing visual analysis, if the plants start to droop then they also get some water. Plus it's just fun being able to track the stats and optimise the growth year after year
Realy cool. Try incorporating more sensors to help the automation. Start with rain and soil moisture sensors. I Think it be awesome. You could also try to create an automated climate or something.....🦧
Very informative - subscribed - a lot of knowledge shared.
welcome to my channel! If you are interested in the more techy type content, I share that over on my second channel. Https://RUclips.com/chillichump2
tks again for your tips that i should have on my last search!
omg, you're a genius. I would love your system... we could swap knowledge. I'm into soil, composting and feed
well done. thanks for sharing. all of us novices greatly appreciate it.
Thanks for the explanations. One question I still have about those pumps... Was that a 2 pin JST connector? What were you running it back to?
I'm keen to see how you set up all the coding and interface. I have similar projects that this type of setup would be perfect for 😍
Hi Nick, have a look at my second channel, ruclips.net/user/chillichump2 , I am doing a beginners guide to automation there thatr you may be interested in!
ChilliChump will do. Cheers.
I recently moved house to a place with a greenhouse. Today I installed a solar panel and the epever controller. I have been following your other channel on automation, so I am really interested to know how you connected to the com port on the controller to get the information on your pc.
I will share that in a future vid. Won't be too long to wait. Most likely on my second channel
Genius. I like everything you've done here with the automation. Definitely interested in your coding, subscribed in case you do make another video.
I really appreciated the detail in all of what you covered. It has a lot of cross over for other projects. I'm looking forward to watching more of your videos on hot sauce. I was actually looking for hot sauce vids and saw this one and had to watch as I too am a tinkerer. Thanks again for sharing!
impressive & concise! but there is no illustration on the energy consumption of auto window vents?
Auto window vents I use don't have energy consumption.... They are hydraulic. They contain a beeswax compound that expands when a temperature is reached that then opens the vents
Hi,
incredible thing that you have done here!! Complete admiration to you sir.
I`d have couple of questions.
1) As a beginner I see this project and it is completely overwhelming - where and how would you recommend to start?
2) Did you do the second video about the actual coding (could not find it).
3) Someties what we see is just the end result - assuming that you are normal working human being - how long did it take to make? Do you work on this in all your free time? Or is there a lot of iterations step by step?
Thank you.
Hi Ivan
1. I have a playlist with a few of my other videos on automation which may be worth a look: ruclips.net/p/PLuQ_ySnkV1emMZ6KkHx49zA5PJNLzEx16
As a starting point, I would just get hold of an Arduino or ESP8266/32 and have a play. This may be a worthwhile first project:
ruclips.net/video/yqmOp7m4szA/видео.html
and then after that maybe look at this one:
ruclips.net/video/ldvtDrwesoo/видео.html
2. I haven't yet unfortunately, I work full time....and finding time to do all my videos,editing, as well as looking after my garden etc can be a challenge. I will be doing a video on this once things quieten down (it is the height of the growing season right now)
3. This is an ongoing project. Even since this video I have made some changes to things. I switched from ESP8266's to ESP32's (more GPIO). I have added another pump to service my polytunnel. I changed out the fans in the greenhouse, as well as added one to the polytunnel. I have also made changes to my interface so that I have a better view on my mobile phone. I addded some graphs to visualise the temperature across my various sensors. And lastly I am playing with some machine learning to help automate things even further (although I am doing this for a bit of fun...and as a learning experience. I am not sure this will be ultimately helpful as a lot of what I do when it comes to my chilli plants is based on instinct and experience.
It took me about 4 days in total to get the original setup done (coding, and setting up the hardware).
Hi Sean. This is a great video and one that I've been particularly keen on revisiting. I have two allotments with two glass greenhouses and soon to be built 16ft X 24ft polytunnel. I noticed in your later videos that you have IBCs for water storage now. It would be great to see an updated video about your irrigation automation system, water storage and how you manage automation of fertiliser too. I think I recall you had an extra water pump and water butt just for the fertiliser. Was wondering if you still go by the same system or if you've upgraded? I've been trying to decide between purchasing an off the shelf solar powered irrigation system from a company called Irrigatia or whether I should build from scratch, allowing me to add things like fans and usb/laptop power. (My allotment is off-grid). Cheers
Hey Peter, you may be interested in my second channel. I have a beginners guide series on automation. ruclips.net/user/ChilliChump2
The concept for my watering is the same...collect water off the green house. Pump from the main collection tanks into a smaller tank in the greenhouse. Mix nutrients when I need, and irrigate from there. Cheers, Shaun
Fantastic work, I really liked it. What is the black colour box that you used to enclose arduino and where can I find that, thank you
Microcontrollers can also crash. It's not common, but it does happen.
As for a raspberry pi I have, it runs pihole and some vpn hosting software. It's ran for months on end without ever having issues. I'll occasionally run updates on it, and restart it, but I've never actually had to go up to it and pull the plug.
With the microcontroller....you have the WDT which will reset it if it "crashes". I also have other code running which kicks in if the WDT doesn't do its job. I have been running my ESPs on fluctuating voltage (solar, battery) for 3 years now without a failure.
Absolutely awesome, well done mate 👍
Neat stuff. Looking forward to your next video in this series....
I am busy making quite a few modifications to this system over the next couple of months so will be doing a few videos on it. I just have to find the time to film it in-between all the other stuff I am doing!
Some don't have links how much did it all cost I like a heater and cold fan maybe watering for my green house and temperature control by solar power, regards
Very good job, i very interested by your project, congrats
Have a look at my second channel, I am doing a series on automation ruclips.net/user/chillichump2
Very cool project. Do you have a GitHub repository where we can find the code?
Have you thought about more enhancements like adding a flow sensor to the pumps and adding the fertilizer automatically?
I have a second channel where I deal with more of the technical side of things (automation etc). ruclips.net/user/chillichump2
Great video! Just what i’m looking for! Can you share the code for running the pump? Thx!
I am doing a beginners guide to automation on my second channel that you may be interested in. In fact I am busy working on the next episode at the moment. ruclips.net/user/chillichump2
ChilliChump 👍👍👍
Nice video, excellent detail. But the total exenditure on your watering and electric ventilation system must surely be at least £1K, yes?
I would say it is around £500. Depends on a few things really. Could be done for less..but then you would be replacing parts more frequently
Amazing! Do you have any video showing how the louvers or windows open and close?
The louvres and windows are on an auto vent system...it works by hydraulics. When the temperature gets to a certain point then the oil/wax inside the hydraulics expands and opens the vents/windows.
@@ChilliChump Thanks for your response! You installed that system right? It doesn't come with the greenhouse does it?
@@greenspanfx easy to buy and install anytime
@@momontiego8705 Do happen to have a link to where I can buy it?
Hey @greenspanfx, sorry I didn't get back to you before. RUclips doesn't always alert me. Try this link geni.us/Baylissautovent
Just wondering did you ever make changes to this system, any updates? After seeing this I'm looking at trying to do something at my allotment, starting with perhaps a small hydroponics system and expanding from there.
I have made quite a few changes. Also I have a second channel where I am doing a beginners guide to automation that you may be interested in ruclips.net/user/chillichump2
Hi. Your video nspired me to set up an automated system, though not yet with all your bells and whistles. One question (Why is it the simple things are often the most difficult to work out) : As the fertiliser is added to the tank and is continuously provided whenever water is added am I right in thinking that it is very diluted (much more than usual). Using chilli focus as an example what level of dilution are you using?
Hi David. The way I control this is by having a resovoir in my greenhouse that is seperate from my outside rain barrels. That way I control the concentration. So I fill up the 230l barrel in the greenhouse with pump1. Then if I am doing fertilisation with that barrel, I will add the fertiliser (depending on the stage of growth, either seaweed fert, tomato fert or chillifocus). Then I don't add more water to that resovoir until it is empty. I don't fertilise with every barrel either. That would be overdoing it.
Also if you are interested in more of the automation type content, have a look at my second channel, I am doing a beginners guide to automation there: ruclips.net/user/chillichump2
@@ChilliChump Many thanks for the speedy reply. I am setting up my pumps and solar panel this week. Once I get the basics working I will be nerding out on your second channel. I have copied your set-up with the separate barrel in my polytunnel. The mix in that is standard? I am frightened of killing my plants with too much love! (I came across this video when I ordered my polytunnel and reckon my first strawberry has cost around £3k. I need the chillies to thrive to get the cost per unit down a bit! ) Much better than the usual gardening channels. Keep up the good work.
I don't feed with the recommended dilution rate. I change through the year depending on how my plants are doing. But half recommended dose is a safe bet.
Very impressive!
Really nice video and explanation. Thank you.
Thank you. I have started a second channel to go into this in more detail if you are interested ruclips.net/user/chillichump2
@@ChilliChump Thanks for the info. Looks very interesting.
I am working on setting up a solar powered greenhouse. Is the 100W panel still sufficient with the grow lights you have added?
Like I mentioned in reply to your other comment, running things like heaters or lights off solar power wouldn't be viable
Hi there have you had a look at pc fans? they are cheap a do 12v
Yes, I tried setting up a panel of them. Not really worthwhile, doesn't move enough air. They work better in closed systems
I do appreciate this info. Question: How do you heat in cold weather?
I don't really, not with my Solar setup that I show in this video (way too much power draw with a heater). And I also don't really grow in the winter, I try working with the seasons.
Great video and very informative.
Hello, my name is William Blood and I am working with Maine Math and Science Alliance on a project about sustainable agriculture and we are looking for footage about using Solar energy to power green houses. I would like to ask if you would be willing to give us permission to use this video. The purpose of what we are doing is to educate school children about the technology that is out their and the children will use it in their classrooms to give them ideas with their project on creating a virtual sustainable economy. Thank you in advance.
Hi Sean, I’m half way programming my Arduino and have a question. Your fans, how are they triggered? Time based, humidity or temperature 🤔
All three....I have multiple triggers.
@@ChilliChump would like to learn more in upcoming videos 😉🌶
Deep cycle is the name for that battery :p
Very interesting setup thanks.
Great video, lots of good info. I'm still in the planning phase of my greenhouse. Definitely will watch again.
Great Video. Do you have your code available for the esp8266? I'm trying to write something similar though with physical switches as well as a timer schedule for the relays.
Very cool.
Very Cool!
Awesome video and explanations, any code examples for this project?
Hi Stephen, thank you. I'm busy doing a series on my second channel as a beginner's guide to automation. I will also be putting some of my more technical videos on that channel. ruclips.net/user/chillichump2
@@ChilliChump awesome, I'm currently building a similar system around the Arduino Mega2650. I noted that you went with the WeMoS instead of the Uno but did you still code these in C++? not sure I caught that bit (only halfway through at the minute - keep flicking between videos and Arduino IDE when I get an idea haha!)
@@stephensimmons1537 I am using the esp32 and esp8266 which are both far more capable than the arduinos, plus they are WiFi enabled. And yes I'm coding with the Arduino IDE using c++
@@ChilliChump Aye I've got a fair few WeMoS, i've got a WeMoS mega coming but it's on the slow boat from China. As I'm going to be zoning out my garden I'm going to be needing a lot of analogue and digital pins which anything smaller than the Mega doesn't give me and I'm not getting into I2C addressing any time soon!
Analogue pins for the sensors and their values then digital pins to power them up momentarily for a read and then set state back to low when complete.
I would recommend looking at the esp32...the wemos mega you are going to use is a combo of the uno and esp8266. The reason I switched from the eap8266 to esp32 was because there are plenty more gpio and a load more analogue pins. Plus dual core, more memory, better sleep mode etc. Plus it only costs about $5.
For the sake of simplification I'm just going to call your board an Arduino. It's technically known as an 'Arduino Clone'.
1. Your battery shouldn't be inputting varying voltages to the Arduino. Just because the input voltage has a range doesn't mean that circuit operation will tolerate changes to that range. You should have a voltage regulator in between the Arduino and the Battery, especially if you also have a charging system connected to the batt as well. :/
2. You wouldn't have more loss of power on the 5v side than on the 12v? The 12v gets converted down to 5v as well...that's where your power loss would be. The 5v USB connector is only there to power the Arduino enough to upload your sketches. You use the 12v barrel plug for running your circuits. The reason is that the 5v USB connector is limited to a maximum of 500milliamps, 30 of which are used by the Arduino itself. Meaning on USB your entire system can't be drawing >~450mA. If you draw more than that it start tripping the polyfuse, and with repeats damaging the fuse. When you swith to the 12v barrel plug, on your model, it increases that limit to 1A.
3. The difference between a RaspberryPI and an Arduino is not that the PI is a computer. They're both computers. There are not more chances for something to go wrong on a PI, both it and the Arduino crash for the same reasons. The Arduino is not a machine. It boots up just like any other computer. It does have drivers. RaspberryPI's can be configured to boot up, automatically log in, and continue running...just like an Arduino. You do not get stalls in a Pi, you just have software you don't need for the purpose running on it because you have the wrong type of OS. For a project like this try the lightest version of Raspbian and then add only the software you need. The difference that you're looking for is that the header pins on a Pi have much lower current limits and take a greater understanding of programming and electronics to deploy. But the real answer is that you need both. The Arduino is built for interfacing with harware, and the PI for interfacing with humans, while at the same time they're both extremely good at communicating with each other. So code that allows human interaction with the settings that control the greenhouse should be on the PI, it then tells the Arduino what to do, the Arduino knows how to do...it does, and then the greenhouse is.
4. If you put those DHT22 sensors inside small Stevenson Screens, inside and outside the greenhouse, you'll get much more accurate temp and humidity readings.
On a side note, the pressure release valve system on your irrigation inlet manifold (water hose that goes back into the reservoir to manually control pressure) was brilliant. I'm going to use that in my design. An upgrade to consider: they make solenoid valves for water hoses that are controlled by 12v. Couple one of those with this bad boy, uk.rs-online.com/web/p/pressure-sensors/2355891/ and you could automate that pressure release system automatically. You could even code it to preemptively open the relief valve just prior to pump shutoff to reduce water hammer and thereby decrease the stress on those expensive motors as well as your entire irrigation system.
Just out of curiosity how are you managing the back electromotive force generated when your pumps kick off? And what's your transistor setup for triggering the relays that control your pumps?
Hey Stephen, thanks for the comment! I will admit I tried simplifying what I was talking about, not all my audience are that into this side of things (most are here for the chillis and sauces!)
1. I'm not using arduinos or arduino clones. They are ESP8266's...specifically they are ESP8266's on a Wemos D1 R2 Dev board. This particular board has a decent switching mode voltage regulator built in (I believe it is a CJ2301, and the board is rated for 9-24V input). It is pretty efficient too, I have compared the power loss to a good buck converter, and there wasn't much in it.
2. I wouldn't ever power this with the usb plug...if I was going to use 5v, I would just put it into the 5V vin pin, using a regulated supply...for the reason you mentioned, limited amps through the USB. I have in fact switched to a regulated power supply now, as of the beginning of the week! I did this because I put in place an Arduino nano too, also powered by by the 5V buck converter. I am using the Arduino to have redundancy with the watchdog timer. I have had problems in the past where I would lose access to the system, because it didn't reboot when there was a problem connecting to the internet or maybe caught in a loop. The Arduino checks for a keep-alive signal from the ESP8266, and if it times out it resets the system. I know this is overkill, but I don't want to be away for 2 weeks and my plants don't get watered!
3. Again, I was probably over simplifying. I meant that the ESP8266 (and the Arduino for that matter) is a microcontroller, a simple computer. The Raspberry Pi is a general purpose computer which is running a full stack operating system...way more to go wrong! But more importantly, the Raspberry Pi (even the rPi Zero) uses way more energy than the ESP8266...which is important because I don't get a load of sun to charge up my system during the winter. But with the ESP8266 i have no problems. I am using 30Wh per day with updates every 30 seconds via wifi (and not running fans, pumps, lights etc). If I was doing this using 2 raspberry pi zeros, I would be using 48Wh with them just idling.
4. Good idea...I am having issues with my external temp monitor. i have tried a few different placements. I will have a look at the stevenson screen...hopefully I can get a small one.
I did consider using something like you mention to monitor pressure of the system, but honestly once I have my plants setup and I get the pressure right...it is set and forget, the drippers I use need a specific pressure to work optimally, and don't really vary. I was thinking about maybe getting a controllable valve though to seperate watering zones...maybe a project for next year!
My pumps power is isolated from the microcontroller, I haven't had any issues with surges coming back. I am using a 4 port relay (like this: www.sainsmart.com/products/4-channel-5v-relay-module). It needs 5v to activate, and the Wemos board is able to do that easily with the GPIO.
Not all of use I don't use a green house but I could use every thing you have there worked up I just have no need for fans so I would have far less power usage and my growing season is mid April to end of September and in the heat if the year the temp here is 95-110 F about 33-39 C ruffly converted and need to water twice a day and am not going to have time early and late in the day so I am very interested in what we can all come up with
@@geringgardener9760 hey mate - crazy climate, where are you located roughly if you don't mind me asking?
@@platima I live in gering nebraska United States of America I live in West nebraska it's hit and dry here in the Summer
@@geringgardener9760 Ah okay. So very different to AU and UK!
Love it!
would you or have you used moisture sensors to control the watering using this set up?
I have experimented with water sensors...but found them a bit unreliable. Unless you put multiple of them in each pot, your readings will be too erratic to rely on for a watering schedule.
Regarding the fan.. Try goggling transpiration.. U got the concept right btw.. This is just more of a "fun facts", i guess
Nice setup! Have you thought about adding some sort of soil moisture monitor to the system?
sorry to have bothered you again, but can you also show us the circuit schematic for the automated system mentioned in the above video, tks a lot!
I have created a second channel to talk more in-depth about automation, including a beginner's guide: RUclips.com/chillichump2
very nice setup! I learned a few useful things from you today. I noticed that you display the consumed power in kWh, shouldn't that be in kW?
Thanks! kW would be a point in time measurement, whereas kWh is an accumulated measurement over an hour....which is more useful when discussing the storage and use of power.
@@ChilliChump oh, yes I see. You are right.
yip, id pay for a pdf on your set up, also on your mains feed into your greenhouse, how have you earthed the structure, im led to believe a 10mm copper cable back to earth is reqd
I have optimised my setup further since moving. I will do a new video like this one to show the changes
Oh, and what cable are you using? I've been running it all with 4mm (12awg) that should handle ~22A perfectly fine, but find over my 5m run I'm dropping about 300mA.
I use 12awg too , mostly (just some twin and earth I had spare). I also use 14awg for my seperate hookups from my controller Actually I am just rewiring everything at the moment...I have been modifying my setup a bit (adding things). I find the wire is fine, I don't get bad voltage drop (
@@ChilliChump Yeah I might shorten it just for that sake, or get some better condition batteries :) Thanks for the awesome work and info.
Nice system, just remember lead acid battery fumes attack Electronics. I would not let them share a compartment.
There is a vent to the outside of the container, connected to the battery.
Will a 12V 7Ah battery be enough for a miniature version?
And what's the total wattage of the system
Would really depend on what you have running off it
@@ChilliChump okay thank you
We call them deep cycle batteries in the US.
Awesome project !
Did you post wiring/sketch on a forum or something? Or can you share your code? :D
What about a hybrid system? like a backup and log system for the microcontroller tha can be remotely controlled through rasberry pie and also be a back up system
That's not really necessary with the way I have built and coded the system. This communicates with a website I've created. If for whatever reason the devices can't access the web, they fail back to a default schedule which will keep things running until I have a chance to address the issue. The website alerts me if it hasn't had communication from my controllers for a set amount of time. I considered a raspberry Pi running a LAMP server to do something similar, but honestly this is working just fine and means I don't have to maintain another device (I already have a webserver I pay for). Also I stayed away from using raspberry pi's on my solar system...they are power-hungry compared to the ESPs
This is pretty awesome, thanks for sharing. Which programming languages did you use? I second the comments about making a video coving the programming.
Have a look at my second channel, ruclips.net/user/chillichump2
I'm doing s beginners guide series on automation
@@ChilliChump awesome
The languages I am using for the web side of things I am using a LAMP stack. For the devices, it is C++
@@ChilliChump Oh ok, that may be a bit out of reach for me, I just know front end web development. I've heard there is something called Johnny-5, an internet of things and robotics platform for Javascript, I might try that. These videos are pretty cool, I mainly started learning programming to eliminate repetitive simple tasks from my life. People could give themselves so much more freedom.
That is the setup for my current system. What I am teaching on my second channel is a little different, and definitely more user friendly. Have a look, I am targeting that series to absolute beginners.
Very helpful video, thank you.
Man you programmed all of that your self that is really cool what would it cost to get you to make me a watering system for my garden next year
Thanks man, it took me some time initially, but I enjoy that sort of thing!
Where do you live? I may be able to help you out.
@@ChilliChump I live in gering Nebraska USA I am wanting to get set up for next season to maximize my potential yield with minimal effort
There may be a simple solution depending on a couple things. Do you have a tap near where you are growing? If you do then you could use a battery powered timer for the tap. Alternatively the battery powered timer with a gravity fed system. I am building something like that this year as soon as my vegetables die in the raised beds. I will be filming the process. Hopefully that will help you out. Otherwise if you want to get as techy as my current greenhouse solution, we can have a chat.
Hey man, sorry I just realised who you are...I was replying too quickly! Of course I know you are in Nebraska! I am going to send you an email...
Hi i'm interested in the ESP8266 programming, have you made a video about this? I haven't seen one on your channel or overlooked it. Is the source code available, i'm interested in the scheduling part.
Hi Thomas, I haven't yet done a video on the specifics yet...but I was planning on doing that this coming week/weekend. It should be up by Sunday
thanks for the reply, i'm looking forward to the video.
Can you do an update sometime soon?
Have you seen my second channel I started where I have begun a beginner's guide to automation? ruclips.net/user/chillichump2
@@ChilliChump no but I'm going to check it out tomorrow!
When you turned the fan on, why did the battery's charge current go up? Shouldn't the battery be left alone if the solar panel is producing enough power to run the fan? I'm not sure why running the fan would require more power to be fed into the battery, potentially overcharging it.
The battery charging is managed by the charge controller. If there is a draw on the battery, the charge controller will decide whether it is able to charge during load. It is all managed automatically. It keeps the battery topped up when it can (if it is day time and there is enough sun hitting the solar panel). Temperature and voltage is monitored so overcharging cannot occur.
@@ChilliChump It just seems like the wrong figure is being reported. The way it shows in the video, if you run nothing, the battery won't be charged, and if you run 70 W of equipment, the battery will be charged at a rate of 70 W. It's almost like the load current figure is being shown instead of the charge current figure.
What I would have expected to see is that the battery charge current doesn't change much with the load changes, unless the solar panel can't deliver enough power for everything, at which point the controller reduces the charge current (or even draws power from the battery, making the current go negative) in order to power the load.
Have I missed something?
The figure is definitely correct. I have confirmed with a multimeter. The solar panel I am using is 100w (19v max). Instead of the traditional PWM tech, the charge controller uses MPPT (maximum power point tracking) technology. This allows the charge controller to maximiuse the efficiency of the power coming in via solar panel but utilising the full voltage provided by the solar panel and shifting the voltage down, and increasing the amps to charge the battery. (check out this article, it will explain it better than I can www.solacity.com/mppt-vs-pwm-charge-controllers-whats-difference/ ). Of course if I am drawing over 100w, then my solar panel won't be able to push that amount of power back into the system.
I just switched my fan on to get some figures for you:
Load output: 2.01A, 13.19V, 26.51W
Solar input: 1.41A, 17.07V, 24.13W
You can see that the load is at 13v, and drawing 2amps. The solar panel is providing the charge controller 17.07v (it is an overcast day, so not running at full spec) which the charge controller does its magic with and optimises the battery charge.
@@ChilliChump Sorry I think I am not explaining myself very well. Very familiar with MPPT and understand what you're saying, but if you look at 24:27 you will see that the web page says you are putting 0.98 amps into the battery to charge it (the "Charge Current" figure) - which sounds fine. But skip ahead to 25:43 and once the lights are on, it says you are now pumping 5.65 amps into the battery just to charge it! I would expect to see 5.65 amps as the total load on the system (most of that being used to power the lights) but it seems to be showing as if it's the amount of power being fed into the battery itself.
When I say "the wrong figure" I mean it looks like the value shown for "Charge Current" and "Charge Power" is coming from the total output power, not just the portion of that used to charge the battery.
I am of course assuming you have a charge controller that measures the battery current and the connected load current independently, however perhaps you have the load connected in parallel with the battery, and that is why the charge current figure seems to represent the total load?
Hopefully this makes sense!
I get what you are saying....but have a look at this screenshot I just took. This is on a less ideal day, in terms of sunshine for the Solar system, it has been raining most of the morning. Which means that the battery has to play catch-up to get the charge back to 100%. i.imgur.com/JpD55gs.png . The charge current is at 3.44 amps, the incoming amps from the solar panel is 2.49 amps. The watts is the same on solar input and charge output due to the conversion. As you can see I am only using 6w on the load (my microcontrollers).
Then I turn on my fans, and a couple pumps. The watt draw is now at 146w (11amps) but of course my solar panel is only rated at 100w. The sun is shining a bit right now, so I am getting 80w (5amps) from the solar panel, the charge controller is converting that to put in 6amps. i.imgur.com/xLgl8a6.png
Now, when the battery is full, and I switch on a fan or pump, and it is drawing less than the solar is able to produce at that time...then the charge controller puts the same amount of amps into the battery as is being drawn, effectively running the load from the charge from the solar panel instead of drawing down on the battery. Does that make sense?
Very cool! Thanks for sharing :)
Thumbs up, its an excellent video, but to be truly offgrid you'd need some way of "dialling in" to your device remotely as you're extremely unlikely to have wifi offgrid ;-)
I have a backup sim connected. It comes online when WiFi is lost for more than 6 hours
I have never had my Linux machines crash unless I was tinkering with unstable software.
In general, I agree with you. I run multiple Linux servers which are very stable. But compared to devices like the ESP or even Arduino, it's a whole different story. No chance of file corruption. Also "boot" is instant. And most importantly, power consumption is significantly less with these devices.
hi nice project. it should be usefull for me to know more details about hardware (esp8266) details and software details (web site) thx
Have a look at my second channel, I am doing a beginners guide to automation that may help you out RUclips.com/chillichump2
Hi, I am really interested to put up green house with automation as of yours. Can you supply the basic system for a price, I mean besides the solar panels, battery, fans , pumps , drippers etc. I am based in India.
Hello saibal, contact me through my website www.chillichump.com/contact
So Mr.Anderson , what size is your greenhouse?
Mr Anderson?
The matrix, he was a computer tech
Ah, I get ya :) 16x8 ft
And with those glasses lol, thanks
Its very nice
I have made this project but use arduino mega so how i can start
Please help me
Great video, could you do a vid on connecting the epever tracer to a wemos?
Sure, it is on my to-do list. Gotta find the time for it though!
Wait, please tell me you're using the term FTP colloquially - please tell me you're using SFTP D:
I have a question. where can you buy these splitters for 8 outputs? Give me answer please
I got them off eBay. Search for "4mm manifold"
@@ChilliChump I found. Thank you very much 😁
I would like to see price for all of that stuff.
Links to everything I used is in the description
@@ChilliChump thanks
thank you dude love the vid
Howdy all. My name is Mike and I happen to be a blind home distiller. I want to build a talking/audible PID controller for controlling the heating element in my Stainless Steel Combination Pot/Reflux still. Would anyone here know of an audible type PID unit? It would have to support 20 amps120 volts. I’d like to find one that would run through an IPhone app. I operate my IPhone in what’s known as “Voice Over” mode; this is how blind people use their IPhones. So this app would have to be Voice Over accessible. Any suggestions would be so greatly appreciated big time!
THANK YOU
South Africa!!!!!
Chilies and automation!!
I have lost my ear for accents, Is that Zim?
You haven't lost your ear for accents 😉
Maybe paying a radio station to plants classic or classic rock to plants they will produce better! look up video of Myth Busters about plants and music!
hey sir, i want to bulid automation system in my greenhouse please give me some information for vegetables how to create and what devices i can use
That suction cup will fall off> with changing temperature and humidity 21:03 would need to super glue it
How much did this set you back?
The expensive bits are the battery, solar panel and pumps. All in all about £300.
@@ChilliChump I'm not going to use it the way you are I'll be running a air conditioner in the summer and a heater in the winter .what I like to know is ,does the Solar panel come with a bracket that you can mount it on to the side of the house with. All I'll need is a solar panel, a battery, and a DC to AC converter
@@rustyridenour2136 you are going to have quite a challenge running heating or air-conditioning from a solar setup. They are both very power hungry. So make sure you size the system up accordingly. My solar panel is 100w. Which on a good day can generate 1.2kwh. A typical heater uses 3kw per hour.
Are you an engineer?
Mostly on the IT side of things. But I have a background in electrical engineering too
Are you South African?