IOT - Irrigation Controller - Xiaomi Plant Monitor/Sensor - Page 2 - Growroom Designs & Equipment - International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums

Ringodoggie · 01-14-2018, 05:04 PM

I love the bluetooth moisture sensors. I am using the wired ones. I am definitely going to have to buy some of those. I'll check eBay but if you have a good source, I'd love to know about it.

I only use the RPi to monitor and record the data. I have an Arduino to activate micros based on the RPi data but I have not put it into the loop yet.

Here's my interface. I couldn't find anything pre-written at the time I was doing this so I just wrote a little HTML page to display the data. It's still in beta... LOL

The charts on the top left are the moisture levels. Top right is live streams of my 2 rooms (flower and veg). Click on the pic and it goes to that room and shows that data. Pretty simple stuff. I want to add a drop down to adjust the time shown on the historical data charts.

Pretty fun. I love my RPi. I have 4 or 5 of them. LOL I run KODI on a couple.

queequeg152 · 01-14-2018, 08:55 PM

isnt KODI that media server software?
i didnt know the rasberry Pi could do that... thought you had to have some beef in the kodi boxes to do all of the transcoding etc?

i know the new Pi is very powerful... but still on the order of like an atom e3xxx series?

Ringodoggie · 01-14-2018, 09:36 PM

KODI will run on just about anything. Old PC's, smart phones (most), Firesticks, etc.

RPis are awesome. A complete LAMP server you can put in your pocket. LMAO Sure have come a long way from my TI99-4a.

queequeg152 · 01-14-2018, 11:45 PM

can you actually do the transcoding though?

i understand that it would take basically 0 power to just serve the files up to another device on the network or even over the internet, and have that device do the decoding... but im talking about how with kodi you can take basically any encoding or even ripped dvd's and transcode them down to MP4 and stream those to your phone or little smart tv or what ever else.

maby im out of the loop, but transcoding from one format to something else used to be insanely processor intensive. i remember transcoding some stupid dvd's down to mkv way back in the day with an E6700... i think it was literally 6 hours to do a pair of dvd's. i think GPU accelerated transcoding is huge now, but im guessing the rasberry pi has a piss weak integrated GPU or something along those lines.

i imagine its a few orders of magnitude faster now, but still.

edit:

btw i ask because a while back i was looking to get into a NAS box that could run kodi rather than a nasbox w/ another kodi box along side... i got sidetracked onto something else tbh, im just curious to hear if you can actually do the full transcoding on a pie. Id love to be able to serve shit from my PC to my roku box w/o a dnla server running on my pc.

CrushnYuba · 01-15-2018, 12:13 AM

I use sonoffs for allot. It can do almost anything you need without the extra stuff. Humidity and temperature reading. Everything gets turned on and off with relays. What else do you need?
I even use it for my auto light dep motor controllers based on time and for my motorized greenhouse sidewall vents based on temperature. Basically everything. You can even use as an irrigation controller with some simple 24vac power supplies/valve with sprinkler valve.

Moisture meters are great but but those cheap ones are total crap. They don't work period. They use electric conductivity or something. You want one that uses a watermark sensor. Or even better a real tensiometer. I have seen tensiometers that connect to irrigation controllers for less then 100$. Basically a blumate with a switch on it. Irrometer makes watermark sensor based switches for 100$.

You can let ewe link servers do all the work for you with no computers.

queequeg152 · 01-15-2018, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrushnYuba

I use sonoffs...

never heard of these. im looking at google images, and these things look sketchy AF? i mean it does not look like they even have a fuse?

am i wrong here? do they have a good history?

i guess i am just weary of non UL listed Chinese stuff.

Ringodoggie · 01-15-2018, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by queequeg152

can you actually do the transcoding though?

i understand that it would take basically 0 power to just serve the files up to another device on the network or even over the internet, and have that device do the decoding... but im talking about how with kodi you can take basically any encoding or even ripped dvd's and transcode them down to MP4 and stream those to your phone or little smart tv or what ever else.

maby im out of the loop, but transcoding from one format to something else used to be insanely processor intensive. i remember transcoding some stupid dvd's down to mkv way back in the day with an E6700... i think it was literally 6 hours to do a pair of dvd's. i think GPU accelerated transcoding is huge now, but im guessing the rasberry pi has a piss weak integrated GPU or something along those lines.

i imagine its a few orders of magnitude faster now, but still.

edit:

btw i ask because a while back i was looking to get into a NAS box that could run kodi rather than a nasbox w/ another kodi box along side... i got sidetracked onto something else tbh, im just curious to hear if you can actually do the full transcoding on a pie. Id love to be able to serve shit from my PC to my roku box w/o a dnla server running on my pc.

The New ARM chips can decode video like a hot knife through butter. That's what's in the smart phones, Firestick, etc.

I'm not sure if they were originally designed for video processing or not but that seems to be their biggest use.

Bobby Boucher · 01-15-2018, 02:19 AM

I was gonna put kodi on a pie for my auntie for Christmas, but i decided to try out a $40 micca speck which plays all my ripped shows and movies perfectly. Tiny little thing, no larger than a pie. Turned out a lot cheaper considering it comes with a remote. Had to format the external to master boot record.

I run a wdtv, which I bought for 50-60 bucks a few years ago. Cant seem to find one selling now for less than 3-400 dollars.

The specks interface is total garbage, but it's played every format I've thrown at it and does a great job loading and scrubbing. Would recommend over pie if using solely as media player.

CrushnYuba · 01-15-2018, 05:30 AM

The op had a sonoff in the original post. They are just wifi enabled single throw relays. Like the wifi enabled outlet timers.
They also make one (th16) that has a port for temp/humidity guage. It interfaces with the server to turn outlets on and off.

02-11-2018, 03:33 AM

@queequeg152

sorry, took me some time to dig into tentiometers... but at the end you always have some trouble/irritation with roots, at least in little pots like we use to use. Doesnt matter if you use a capacitive (like the xiaomis seem to be https://wiki.hackerspace.pl/projects:xiaomi-flora) conductivity or a tensiometer type. For last one roots start to suck at the bottom of the clay cone in later rooting stages. There are interesting DIY tensiometers out there too.
However, for this price the xiaomi sensors are still good for a impression of how your plants drink. The lux readings are quite interesting too and doesnt differ much (i own 12). For temp and humidity i use better sensors (bosch bme 280 which are really reliable). The mS/cm readings are near to my 60eu milwaukee ec meter (at least in water).
Again, i do my job since 15 years. I come from oldschool and im on guard, testing everything three and four times. The xiaomi sensors will never replace professional equipment but they are better than i thought and useful overall. Did i manage to harvest high grade before?! Ofc. But they gave me an advantage, ofc. And im still using them.

the sonoffs come in different settings (1-4 relays, power consumption monitoring, temp/hum sensor) and shapes(low cost "between the cable" or timer/socket-like). Basically they are wifi switches/relays. But since they are based on a kinda arduino low level chip with wifi (esp8266) they are capable of more. Google tasmota or espeasy, a custom firmware for these. Atm i connected waterproof temp sensors for my tanks, a hum/temp/pressure chip and a co2 sensor is on its way. For me they are more like wireless outposts than just relays to turn smth on and off. This is just a bonus and not even in use jet. (Waterlevel)Switches, more relays, alot is possible. Without coding.

I like to compare my stuff with the smart bee system. And it was, is and will always be wow expensive compared to my 100 bucks sensorium.

01-14-2018, 05:04 PM	#11
Ringodoggie Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 790	I love the bluetooth moisture sensors. I am using the wired ones. I am definitely going to have to buy some of those. I'll check eBay but if you have a good source, I'd love to know about it. I only use the RPi to monitor and record the data. I have an Arduino to activate micros based on the RPi data but I have not put it into the loop yet. Here's my interface. I couldn't find anything pre-written at the time I was doing this so I just wrote a little HTML page to display the data. It's still in beta... LOL The charts on the top left are the moisture levels. Top right is live streams of my 2 rooms (flower and veg). Click on the pic and it goes to that room and shows that data. Pretty simple stuff. I want to add a drop down to adjust the time shown on the historical data charts. Pretty fun. I love my RPi. I have 4 or 5 of them. LOL I run KODI on a couple.
	Quote 1 members found this post helpful.

01-14-2018, 09:36 PM	#13
Ringodoggie Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 790	KODI will run on just about anything. Old PC's, smart phones (most), Firesticks, etc. RPis are awesome. A complete LAMP server you can put in your pocket. LMAO Sure have come a long way from my TI99-4a.
	Quote 1 members found this post helpful.

01-15-2018, 02:19 AM	#18
Bobby Boucher Member Join Date: Nov 2016 Posts: 274	I was gonna put kodi on a pie for my auntie for Christmas, but i decided to try out a $40 micca speck which plays all my ripped shows and movies perfectly. Tiny little thing, no larger than a pie. Turned out a lot cheaper considering it comes with a remote. Had to format the external to master boot record. I run a wdtv, which I bought for 50-60 bucks a few years ago. Cant seem to find one selling now for less than 3-400 dollars. The specks interface is total garbage, but it's played every format I've thrown at it and does a great job loading and scrubbing. Would recommend over pie if using solely as media player.
	Quote 1 members found this post helpful.

01-14-2018, 08:55 PM	#12
queequeg152 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 1,452	isnt KODI that media server software? i didnt know the rasberry Pi could do that... thought you had to have some beef in the kodi boxes to do all of the transcoding etc? i know the new Pi is very powerful... but still on the order of like an atom e3xxx series?
	Quote

01-14-2018, 11:45 PM	#14
queequeg152 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 1,452	can you actually do the transcoding though? i understand that it would take basically 0 power to just serve the files up to another device on the network or even over the internet, and have that device do the decoding... but im talking about how with kodi you can take basically any encoding or even ripped dvd's and transcode them down to MP4 and stream those to your phone or little smart tv or what ever else. maby im out of the loop, but transcoding from one format to something else used to be insanely processor intensive. i remember transcoding some stupid dvd's down to mkv way back in the day with an E6700... i think it was literally 6 hours to do a pair of dvd's. i think GPU accelerated transcoding is huge now, but im guessing the rasberry pi has a piss weak integrated GPU or something along those lines. i imagine its a few orders of magnitude faster now, but still. edit: btw i ask because a while back i was looking to get into a NAS box that could run kodi rather than a nasbox w/ another kodi box along side... i got sidetracked onto something else tbh, im just curious to hear if you can actually do the full transcoding on a pie. Id love to be able to serve shit from my PC to my roku box w/o a dnla server running on my pc.
	Quote

01-15-2018, 12:13 AM	#15
CrushnYuba Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Posts: 253	I use sonoffs for allot. It can do almost anything you need without the extra stuff. Humidity and temperature reading. Everything gets turned on and off with relays. What else do you need? I even use it for my auto light dep motor controllers based on time and for my motorized greenhouse sidewall vents based on temperature. Basically everything. You can even use as an irrigation controller with some simple 24vac power supplies/valve with sprinkler valve. Moisture meters are great but but those cheap ones are total crap. They don't work period. They use electric conductivity or something. You want one that uses a watermark sensor. Or even better a real tensiometer. I have seen tensiometers that connect to irrigation controllers for less then 100$. Basically a blumate with a switch on it. Irrometer makes watermark sensor based switches for 100$. You can let ewe link servers do all the work for you with no computers.
	Quote

01-15-2018, 05:30 AM	#19
CrushnYuba Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Posts: 253	The op had a sonoff in the original post. They are just wifi enabled single throw relays. Like the wifi enabled outlet timers. They also make one (th16) that has a port for temp/humidity guage. It interfaces with the server to turn outlets on and off.
	Quote

02-11-2018, 03:33 AM	#20
dutty Guest Posts: n/a	@queequeg152 sorry, took me some time to dig into tentiometers... but at the end you always have some trouble/irritation with roots, at least in little pots like we use to use. Doesnt matter if you use a capacitive (like the xiaomis seem to be https://wiki.hackerspace.pl/projects:xiaomi-flora) conductivity or a tensiometer type. For last one roots start to suck at the bottom of the clay cone in later rooting stages. There are interesting DIY tensiometers out there too. However, for this price the xiaomi sensors are still good for a impression of how your plants drink. The lux readings are quite interesting too and doesnt differ much (i own 12). For temp and humidity i use better sensors (bosch bme 280 which are really reliable). The mS/cm readings are near to my 60eu milwaukee ec meter (at least in water). Again, i do my job since 15 years. I come from oldschool and im on guard, testing everything three and four times. The xiaomi sensors will never replace professional equipment but they are better than i thought and useful overall. Did i manage to harvest high grade before?! Ofc. But they gave me an advantage, ofc. And im still using them. the sonoffs come in different settings (1-4 relays, power consumption monitoring, temp/hum sensor) and shapes(low cost "between the cable" or timer/socket-like). Basically they are wifi switches/relays. But since they are based on a kinda arduino low level chip with wifi (esp8266) they are capable of more. Google tasmota or espeasy, a custom firmware for these. Atm i connected waterproof temp sensors for my tanks, a hum/temp/pressure chip and a co2 sensor is on its way. For me they are more like wireless outposts than just relays to turn smth on and off. This is just a bonus and not even in use jet. (Waterlevel)Switches, more relays, alot is possible. Without coding. I like to compare my stuff with the smart bee system. And it was, is and will always be wow expensive compared to my 100 bucks sensorium.
	Quote