Fourteen months ago, I got a Raspberry Pi (3 b+) and I started on a quest to automate my grow.
It was an idea that began as a discussion with a small group of friends at the now defunct Cannabis Culture forum. Topics ranged from the usual temperature and humidity blah blah, to a robotic hand that could roll a joint and "deliver it lit to your lips". When CC went away, I had some time on my hands so I began by myself. I'd had some experience with an Arduino Uno, so my first attempt began there.
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I had to wait for the parts to arrive, but it didn't take long to cobble together the above controller capable (in theory) of handling a heater, air conditioner, a humidifier, a dehumidifier, an exhaust fan, CO2 (sensor not shown), a water chiller and a water heater.
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Then I add the Pi,
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and figured out how to store and display data, collected over time.
When I arrived here in January of '19, I looked up an old friend from CC,
@OldMedUser , and we've continued discussing this project for control. He's just picked up a Pi 4 and has an Arduino Mega, the Uno's bigger brother, on order. I thought it was time to move the conversation here.
As this is my first thread here, I hope to ask questions, answer questions, discuss different microcontrollers, you know, the kind of thing you want to discuss stoned, and learn a few things together.
This topic will definitely discuss the Arduino controllers, Uno and Mega, the ESP8266, and any others that come up.
This will be for educational purposes only, not a guide or how to. If you try any instruction here, you do so at your own peril. Some of the discussion concerns mains power which can be fatal. Be Ye Forewarned!