If you want to buy one, I’m not selling them, but maybe some quirk electrical guy in the forum can build it for you. Anyway, the build steps are quite straightforward.
For any Cannapreneurs out there, you can integrate the controller in your home boxes, etc. If you let me know I’m glad to support you.
I got some nice little features in the pipeline, e.g.
Notifications via Telegram
remote control from your cellphone
wireless
control fan speed
fancy aluminum case
sensors for hydroponics
Internationalization
…
The more people join the project, the faster it will get awesome. A lot of stuff requires money to buy parts or hire experts, so if people help (buy stuff and code) or donate via my Patreon, that would be great.
If you have any questions, ideas etc. let me know!
8.990 in Czech money? Google says .39. That can’t be right. I’m guessing it’s $89. Was looking for something on the cheap and diy side so I can learn more. The raspberry pi projects look cool to learn and make stuff. It does look exactly like what I need, outlets controlled by sensors for temp and humidity. Are you using he Arduino products at all and which ones?
It is well tested product and the team is working on improvements continually, so there is good tech support. Prices range from 8000 to 15000 CZK, that is roughly 350 - 650 USD.
It is probably too expensive for your needs… but just for inspiration, check out their configurator for different options and expansions to see what they are capable of: https://www.growduino.cz/en/configurator/ (choose 5 - special).
Isn’t Sonoff sort of the same thing but cheaper again.? I have a couple of sonoff wireless stuff, but iv not used it yet, but i believe @anon58740919 has built a remote controller using Sonoff gear / COLA mate shows yer setup again please .?
I’m NOT good at electronics so I’ll leave it simple for me.
I’ll be watching this to see how ‘simple’ ( or not. Lol.) automating ones grow -cab ( tent .) - in my case.
Great idea, pooling the auto/wireless gear together here on this thread …!
Gaz
It’s not simple at all mate. You have to write lines of code for everything you want/expect it to do. Unless your very computer literate this is waaayyyy beyond the typical stoner. Sonoff does indeed do the same thing but relies on the eWelink server where as this is totally automated within the internal network as the raspberry Pi IS the server.
The cloud comes in very handy to be able to check humidity, temperatures and if the lights did indeed turn on/off while I’m away from home. I think I could open a port in my router and set up a DNS account up though and have direct access to the sonoff hardware if I flashed it with ESPEasy🤔
I’d have to buy a usb TTL cable (not expensive) to be able to re flash.
Ya the more I looked I could see it was beyond me. They seem pretty cheap and fun to learn to code on. Maybe I’ll get one and my son can teach me in a few years!
1 - companies) I started the project a few years ago, I realized to make it really big it needs more funds and time then I can provide. In the meantime, a lot of stuff appeared on the market. Everybody builds their own solution. I want to attract companies which e.g., build full boxes to join development resources.
2 - community) I think controlling everything is just the beginning, the really cool stuff will happen if a community builds around the project. I think a lot of people will have cool ideas to build on top of it. E.g. I envision things like social growing where people can share the best settings for strains etc. That’s why I opened it up because I believe together we can build something way more meaningful.
That does not really answer my question. Maybe the idea of copyleft is not clear.
I wonder why you use the MIT license which allows to have non-free forks, as opposed to something like the GPL which ensures that whoever uses the code and builds on top of it has to release the code changes for the benefit of everyone.
In my last software project, I spoke a lot with open source software (OSS) maintainers and users of OSS. The main point I took away from it was, that as soon as you limit the use of the software to non-commercial projects/or use any share-alike licenses etc. you scare away a lot of companies. I think if they can make a business of my project, then the motivation is higher for them to jump on. I want to get companies on board because it will inevitably lead to having more development resources. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they will fix bugs etc. but it could help, e.g., that they build great services on top, integrate the hardware they want to sell … In the optimal case, they add, or fund features their customer’s request.
I always was scared that somebody could just take what I created and sell it without adding any value to it. But even in that case, I think it will help to spread the project. And this will create ripple effects, like private people adding to the project. Competition, which lowers the production price of the units. Or many other useful things. To sum it up, the more people use it, the more network effects will add to the overall value of the project. So to sum it up, I want to lower any barriers for people to get into the project.
I hope that cleared things a bit more up, let me know if it’s still not clear.
My plan is to keep the project open source for the reasons I explained above. My long term goal is to build a strong network of users, developers, businesses etc.
From my experience in free software I think it is likely they will add exactly their client’s request, for their client only. Instead of generalizing a feature request so it’s useful for (and available to) everyone. It’s easier and cheaper to do. And nothing of that will come back to your project, because that is not required and would be extra cost.
Say you build Grassberry High. It turns out to be great. Company X takes your code, adds a killer feature and licenses it to other companies and/or end users as CompanyXberry High. Where does the ripple effect for Grassberry High come from when people praise their CompanyXberry High they love?
Personally I would be hesitant to contribute because I like free code, not working for free for proprietary purposes. By which I don’t mean you of course, just the possible outcome I tried to explain above.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to explain. Good luck with your project!
Thx, for the good thoughts, indeed those are risks. Most of those risks are stronger in the beginning when there are fewer network effects. I still think it’s worth going that path.
Yes, companies have a strict focus on the features they need but that doesn’t exclude adding to the project. I added some features to OSS paid by my customer and it makes sense to make pull requests and merge them with original software.
…!