"Garduino" - The remote control to your garden

Its Garduino Mark3!

I have started work on my garden irrigation system once again. The last time I worked on it was over 6 months ago and my coding skillset has increased a bit.

I have re-written the code and in development stages.

I’d love it if someone would pick up the project and make some pull requests on Github!

Latest code: https://github.com/jaminNZx/Garduino-ESP-Blynk/releases/latest

(mainly just setting up this thread to link to in the docs)

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looks great! im doing similar thing, and will bug you of course!

Its a fixed 5V/3A regulated buck power module. Ive just tapped in to the USB socket. When everything is running it draws 2.2A all up.

12V comes in and goes directly to the solenoids via the relay. I then split 5V off to run the hardware.

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how much does the solenoid pull?

does it cause NodeMCU disconnects or are you using MOV’s or something somewhere?

My power monitor device tells me each solenoid uses about 510ma when active.
It doesnt cause any problems thanks to the buck module.

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Super nice! Thanks for sharing!

When I see any iriigation project - it reminds me the first days of Blynk ) This was the first project I built to control it with our app.

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Do you have the code handy?

Garduino Mark3.5

Since the only rason I couldn’t finish this project is because I never got around to building a proper vege garden, I decided to install minimal irrigation in to my potted vege garden about a month ago and its been awesome.

But I noticed that I forget its on and leave it running for like an hour and that is a huge waste of water! Like over 200L for sure.
So I decided that I should finally do something about it and install a single tap, flow metered controller.

It took me about an hour to re-arange the controller internally and get it install on the old the mk3 firmware. It worked! But it had a minor leak. Pulled it apart and used some electrical tape a as a crude threadlocker (worked!) and all was good!

I just updated the code to only allow for 1 tap, no more sensors and added a simple slider and timeout trigger button.

The code is half the size and is currently running very well! The Flow sensor resets after the tap turns off and will hold the value and record it to history until next use.

Latest code: https://github.com/jaminNZx/Garduino-ESP-Blynk/releases/latest

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did you use relays here to On/Off the solenoids while you can easily use a power MOSFET especially that
almost every solenoids use only around 500 mA which is good for cheap MOSFETS.
i think you prefer the the ready made modules ! , try do your own PCB and you will never stop doing it :slight_smile:

but over all great project and well documented for replicate , i always like your projects.:+1:

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Yeah im definately more a “coder” than an electronic expert :blush:
I have prototype pcb’s coming where I can solder on my own connections etc.
This is version 0.1 in terms of what I want to actually make :wink:

Update time!

So during summer in NZ we sometimes get massive rain storms which overflow our water treatment systems, causing us to have reduced water usage… this has been one of those months!

My poor vege garden was not going to suffer… I needed a way to not only limit by time, but also by water usage.

Updates:

  1. “Limit By” option added. Menu drop down. Limit by Time or Water.
  • Added setProperty to the limit slider save dash space by changing the slider use depending on the limit option selected.

  • Added Monthly Cost and Usage counter. This is more a personal thing since we pay our water bill monthly. I want to track the wastewater usage to try and reduce our water charges.

  • In NZ if you can proove each month how much water doesnt go back down the property’s main waste water drain, then you often get lower charges for wastewater (up to $10 a month savings on a $40 bill… worth it!)

  • Added a 6 sec delay when shutting down the tap.

  • It took about 4-6seconds for the flow rate to return to 0 so some water was not being counted correctly at the end.

  • Replaced the History widget with the Table Widget allowing for easier lookup at previous waterings.

  • The Table Widget Value area is truncated too much, so I had to split the data over to rows.

  • Removed the Manual button and put functions in to a single “ACTIVATE” button.

  • It also acts as a manual kill button when the tap is active.

  • Changes the Flow Rate to mL/s… looks better.

  • Added RTC for time logging and managing the monthly values.

  • Using setProperty() on the widget label to display helpful but non-critical info. The change of data helps you know if its connected.

Things to add:

  • A timer or Timer Input Widget to schedual times. Issues are that I wanted to keep it all on one screen so will have to have a rethink on the layout.

  • A soil moisture sensor node with Bridge to the base. I have everything, but need to sort out this base first. Also have some new lithium solar modules to test this idea with.

  • Hook up the WARN led to do something when I need to be warned… maybe I could add a leak detecting function? Ideas?

Code: https://github.com/jaminNZx/Garduino-ESP-Blynk

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Minor Update

  • Updated SimpleTimer code to reflect short hand version.
  • Lower overall line count meaning faster compile.
  • Removed empty header file left over from testing.

Latest: https://github.com/jaminNZx/Garduino-ESP-Blynk/releases/latest

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Thanks @Jamin, Nice project

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Did you sort the wifi_credentials issue?

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hi - i am finally in the game!

how’s yours going @Jamin

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Wow yours looks waaay stronger than mine with teh threaded connections! I had pressure issues because of normal slip over and clamp style connectors… and also changed my garden watering plan after installing new more accessable taps around the property. So now I am setting up individual water tap control boxes instead of having an awesome array like that :slight_smile:

My code was modified so it only uses 1 tap but easily changed to 4.

Now you just need 4 x water flow sensors!

I’ve love to see it in action via a video if you make one later :smiley:

its for a vertical food plant garden, not anything massive, so havnt planned on flow sensors, but will be implementing semi-intelligent watering, based on moisture and environmental variables…

just waiting for my ADS1115 to arrive…

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nice!! now i really want to see videos :slight_smile:

Just saw these new capacitive soil moisture sensors and they look awesome!

Just imagine have 10-15 of these all over the property… could put them under the lawn like in the video… thats so cool!

I’ve just gone and got 2 early birds :slight_smile:

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Sounds good on paper, but for outdoor use I imagine it impossible for battery powered devices with that 24mA power consumption. That is unless you can power toggle it without losing measurement accuracy. Also that 2° minimum operating temperature does not quite sound OK :confused:

May I ask how you plan to use this? :slight_smile:
Indoor, AC powered? Or battery?