Automate the garden

you can quickly do the math with watts and gauge like this (i presume youre american, by the gauge measure of wires):

power = voltage x amperage (current)
max power for that relay = 120V x 10 = 1200W or 1.2 kW

your demand = 2 x 600 watts + 2 x 315 watts = 1830 watts

my recommendation = 2 relays, on each 1 600w and 1 315w lamp, so total is 915w and safe under max 1200w of power that relay can take… if those are lights for different rooms, so spacially your 600w and 315w lights are divided by some distance, i would put 600w on each relay to avoid putting 2 x 600w lamps on relay (maxing out), and 2 x 315 on one, so in total 3 relays… always rate your fuses and relays to be higher than you need…

about wire, eh, you americans are special… you will see numbers as low as 3.7 amperes, but that is over conservative imho, and here i found this chart: https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wire-gauges-d_419.html that says 15 A which has more sense for me, but if you can tell me from what state you are i can find the right gauge needed… anyway, if we follow that last number, which is also around same number that is used in Europe standards, you can use that wire for devices up to 1800w, but again, that is maximum, and i would recommend keeping this up to 1500w… how does this help you? well, for your total power usage, you need at least 2 power outlets (check edit), and to have 2 relays, on each 1 x 600w bulb and 1 x 315w bulb, or, you have 3 relays, on one outlet 1 relay with 1 x 600w, on second outlet 2 relays, one has 1 x 600w and other one has 2 x 315w bulbs… does this make sense? if you can tell me how you will power this (how much outlets you have), i can make a diagram for you and give you some tips with wiring (if you have only one color, you can still use it, but you have to mark each positive and negative etc.)

edit: i just saw your rig, give me a sec to check it out… i was wrong about outlet number, somehow got mixed up in my head about it, i would need to know what is maximum power draw trough your outlet, maybe you can draw all the power from one if your circuit supports it, but you would need to go to your breaker room and find the one for the room and outlet youll connect it to, so i can tell you more…

edit nr. 2: ok, like that you have 4 relay board, im gonna draw something fast…

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I’d like to suggest to those who are doing the serious DIY in the embedded space to take a look at Nvidia’s Jetson offerings, as well. These are next level up. They would take a bit more effort at integration.

But they also open up a range of possibilities and have significantly greater compute power than the arduinos and PI’s of the world. Combine this with the ‘node’ concept and you have a whole new world of flexibility.

Here’s a new term to consider, sensing “motes” then onto “smart motes”…

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i know right, it makes me itching for AI, computer vision, and all that, but even what i want is kinda out of my scope, maybe for next milestone… :slight_smile: <3

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AI += predictive analytics and inference. It’s truly amazing what is happening in this space.

Oh, yeah. It’s a metric ton of work to get everything going, no doubt.

In the community, we’ll be getting there … eventually. I have some baseline projects leaning in that direction, at least with the analytics, that should show up here at some point.

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@Northern_Loki thats why i intended to make a system with a lot of sensors, to have data ready for AI, and to have users with a lot of data for AI, but i aint going there… really, i need to sort basics of grow box first…

@ct2003viper ok, i think im done here… i wrote here what i think should be changed:

and here how:

i forgot to wrote, your system is using about 15.5 A, so from one source i saw, your 16 gauge is enough cause its rated for 22 amperes inside cabinets, but in europe its rated for 15 only, and since its main power income, going with 14 gauge for those 2 wires that are coming from male socket to that clamp is better imho, but not necessary…

also, this is how your cable should look at that clamp terminals:

FZQSTNZGE056ZGL.MEDIUM

so that it has good contact with terminal and good mechanical grip…

if you want, you can open usb power supply for raspi, and connect it there also (or just plug in one of the sockets from outside and bring that in)

all in all, you “can” even leave it as it is, but i wouldnt recommend it, only thing you must do is to connect ground wires please… <3

edit: sorry, i think i sorted this out now, it says here:

16 gauge should be ok inside cabinet, and 12 gauge 3-core cable from your socket to your cabinet, something like this:

last edit (i swear): please make sure your circuit breaker (fuse) for your outlet is rated for 18-20 ampere, 16 ampere could flip your circuit breaker (flip/break your fuse)

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Absolutely perfect! Thank you now I have an open relay from that layout :grin: so far now 12g alittle over kill

Getting neutral wire today to wrap up this part just ordered the
aux female connectors
Cable glands
And the extension cord

Waiting for this lady to get back to me about the darn laser cutting!!!

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dunno how this happened, but it seems i edited this post instead of new one, so ill tag you… @ct2003viper hey, also make sure your breaker (fuse) is rated for 18 ampere minimum, it means your wires inside your walls are rated as such also, it would make me sleep lil bit easier knowing that this is a circuit with a breaker, and that it is with a rated one for your needs… first time i do electrical work online, usually electrician will point you to your local electrician, cause of burning house and stuff, i have my concerns… btw good job on making sure isolation is all the way to the connecting points, i forgot to mention that, cause im used to doing these things by myself and its kinda in my reptilian brain…

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Well guys been a while but this is it still mustering up more fail safe crap I’ll be installing a temperature sensor inside the box as a fail safe if things were to fail and overheat… also it’s pretty much plugged into GFI outlets only as another backup …

So the original project was basically a wired in temperature humidity sensor we have gone with a ESP8266 with a Bosch sensor and a secondary as a DHT22 both are reading different readings so I don’t know which one to trust lol But I thought I’d upload some pictures and let you guys see what’s up sorry for the long wait Hope everybody’s doing with all this covid crap going on

Love to all! And blessings from our family to yours :heart:

PXL_20201112_032822826|375x500

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Very nicely done my friend
Paps

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Clean execution, great wire management!
:+1: :sunglasses:

Cheers
G

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getting closer and closer to almost complete :smiley:

Just got this guy in India helping me out man he is FANTASTIC ! super fast coding we are going to implement next a time laps and possibly where you can access outside your network :thinking: still debating because then its vulnerable to the public so i skeptical … especially the live camera feed …

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What are you using for stats?

Have you checked out Prometheus.io and Grafana? Both opensource tools to work with time series…

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Hi bro

Now that’s hi tech
Looks like it would keep you up to date

Paps

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@LemonadeJoe this is all done within node red and
MQTT services for the updates on temp/humidity

Home Assistant i have as a main server in the garage collecting data if the control box reboots always a backup…

as you can see the temps what one is actually in use :face_with_hand_over_mouth: other one is sitting on top of the desktop monitoring the computer lol I do love grafan there graph way more in depth i wish i could incorporate onto node possibly make a cleaner landing page for all the settings …

Co2 is next… currently on for 10min off for 50…
—> need sensor to maintain 500PPM or more … and before lights turn on a blast of 1000PPM something

im still up in arms about the watering system setup…

@Papalag keeping up to date is a must im horrible with that. 4 thumb tacked white board to a wall is what i been using lol already fell once and broke the corner of it… now it contains 2 more tacks to stabilize it.

Current Fuel Source

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I was just piecing together something like this myself, happy to stubble upon your project. I understand very little of the programming so it’s nice to see someone with the same hardware accomplish the same things I hope to! Good job so far.

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@ChemicalDependant likewise i have a thing for technology but programming is definitely not my forte …

if you want to P.M me we can talk more about your project i feel node red is pretty nice i hear people using blink.io was another one too best of luck just picked up one of these guys so we will see!

And another Pi but a 4 to see what the hype is all about :thinking:

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VOC Sensor, pricey little buggers. More data (said as Tim the toolman) I use little D1 Minis and ESP8266/32s a lot but with ESPHome and or Tasmota. If I knew how to program more than a few lines, I’d use esphome and place it all onboard so they would function with a lost connection, HA is not super dependable in my experience.

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tbh i know not much about programming my self… that’s why i am paying someone to do this for me … but all in all i will probably end up uploading the files for others to do this project to but ill have a little donation box for the project… or i might try and build these for folks to start there little automation at home…

so far right now i been running with no Issues but my only concern is drawing to much on a 10A relay … i don’t want anyone getting hurt using this product so next step is incorporating some sort of fail switch to kill all power currently mine is plugged into a GFI protected outlet… but for the ones without that im thinking over alternative ideas anyone paying attention here have some ideas shed some light !

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Fixing the old nikko 7075 receive kept making some sort of popping sound with volume all way down I think I found issue but man I’m a 90s baby but I’ve taken apart things as a child and never put back together and as I got older I acquired the disassemble and reassemble skill set lol but look at this piece of art pulley driven tuner for AM/FM like this wasn’t cheap building … but it needs a nice :soap: :broom:

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I just installed Home Assistant on a Rasberry PI 4 and got some TP-Link Smart plugs to play around with. Using Node Red in HA I was able to set a light schedule for my veg light and it actually works lol. Cool stuff. I have some Ruuvi Temp/Humidity sensors on the way and a ESP32 dev board to start getting temp/humidity readings into HA. Once thats going I want to build some automations to control my exhaust fan and dehumidifier.

Anyone using soil moisture sensors with Home Assistant? I would like to work that in as well so I can control the irrigation based on soil moisture content.

Pretty cool stuff to nerd out on I must say.

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