Arduino project

[DrZoidberg]

I've started a new project making an automated plant watering system for my plants.

Looking through these forums it's interesting how all solutions to the problems are all scientific/engineering solutions. They say stuff like, "connect the analog pin to the Arduino analog input 5v port".

What they don't say "invoke the spirit of Thot, sacrifice a golden haired hamster and smear the blood on the cables".

Do religious people never ponder on the fact that whenever we're trying to get shit done we need to know the science. We only invoke God for stuff that's beyond our scientific level right now.

In these forums there's not a trace of religion anywhere. People express themselves clearly. There's no sophistic nonsense like, "if I commit a sin am I still of God" or "the electric flowchart is the physical part, connect the red cable for the spiritual part".

What I'm getting to is, that the supernatural conceptual model is stupidly simple, while anything in the physical world is complicated. If the supernatural was real why would it be simple? Why wouldn't it be just as damn complicated as everything else in this world? Why wouldn't it require complex matrixes for how souls connect to get past various membranes and energetic fields or whatnot?

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

It's interesting that of all the God's we have worshipped in the past, none of them bothered to explain to mankind how to create tube wells, pesticides, fertilizers, genetics or other useful agricultural ways of doing things. No God of the Great 4 forces was known, no goddesses of electrons, protons or neutrons. No goddess of gravity, no god of DNA. Not one of the supposed Gods we have worshipped have told us anything at all useful about the natural world.

And that dear friends, is what we call a clue.

 

[DrZoidberg]

It's interesting that of all the God's we have worshipped in the past, none of them bothered to explain to mankind how to create tube wells, pesticides, fertilizers, genetics or other useful agricultural ways of doing things. No God of the Great 4 forces was known, no goddesses of electrons, protons or neutrons. No goddess of gravity, no god of DNA. Not one of the supposed Gods we have worshipped have told us anything at all useful about the natural world.

And that dear friends, is what we call a clue.

The Bible contains no "tips from the coach". It only contained stuff we already knew. Well.. also including the things we thought we knew but were wrong about.

 

[Malintent]

relating to the sentiment in the OP, I tell theists that they really don't have faith in god because they look both ways before crossing the street, buy insurance, and now, I will add, ".. and read the instructions".. if god has his hand in things, then why bother even trying.

 

[Malintent]

by the way, the arduino is great for creating a logging system if you wanted to track the Ph, moisture, TDS, etc.. of your medium.
It is also great if you ware using an ebb and flow system that needs constant management of the nutrient delivery system.

but, all of that is very unnecessary... if you use a bottom feeding wick system, or self-leveling reservoir, then no automation is needed... gravity does all the work for you. A great product you may want to consider is something like the autopot: http://www.autopot-usa.com/

Fill the 20 gallon reservoir with your water / nutrient solution, fill the pots with coconut coir or the peat of your choice, and then just top off the reservoir once a week. Every month or so, check the TDS of your solution in the reservoir to ensure it is not concentrating due to evaporation. Do a full change out of solution once in a while to accommodate imbalanced micronutrient uptake (like if you have only one type of crop).

.. then, never worry about watering again.

 

[barbos]

I've started a new project making an automated plant watering system for my plants.

What kind of plants?

 

[DrZoidberg]

I've started a new project making an automated plant watering system for my plants.

What kind of plants?

None where I'm living now none. But I have an apartment in Stockholm full of plants, being taken care of by friends (who now live there). I have lots of plants in my Stockholm apartment. I've also collected them in the same general area. So for my Stockholm apartment it would be handy. It'll probably be years before I return to my Stockholm apartment. But then again it'll take quite a while before I have finished testing the watering robot.

But to answer the question, whatever plants I buy for my current apartment.

 

[DrZoidberg]

by the way, the arduino is great for creating a logging system if you wanted to track the Ph, moisture, TDS, etc.. of your medium.
It is also great if you ware using an ebb and flow system that needs constant management of the nutrient delivery system.

but, all of that is very unnecessary... if you use a bottom feeding wick system, or self-leveling reservoir, then no automation is needed... gravity does all the work for you. A great product you may want to consider is something like the autopot: http://www.autopot-usa.com/

Fill the 20 gallon reservoir with your water / nutrient solution, fill the pots with coconut coir or the peat of your choice, and then just top off the reservoir once a week. Every month or so, check the TDS of your solution in the reservoir to ensure it is not concentrating due to evaporation. Do a full change out of solution once in a while to accommodate imbalanced micronutrient uptake (like if you have only one type of crop).

.. then, never worry about watering again.

But that's more for crop farmers. My plants are decorative.

I've come up with a solution. Each pot will have a moisture sensor and a separate dedicated pump. To control them all, Arduino and they all share one water vessel hidden behind and below the plants. There's three reasons for this.

1) Safety. This is indoors and I have wooden floors. The weak chain of the link is always where the silicone tubing connects. Especially since each time I push water through it, it'll wiggle. So I want to minimize the connections. The smallest number is 2. I can create a sensor that keeps track of end in the pot, and shuts off the pump in that case. I can also put a timer on the pump, which means it'll stop and permanently shut off if it has pumped past what is reasonable for that plant without the moisture level going up. Which will not be a lot of water each time. Not perfect, but good enough IMHO. The other end doesn't matter, since it'll be a submersible pump. Same timer.

2) Money. Small pumps are extremely cheap. I bought a whole bunch of them for $2 each. If each pot has a dedicated pump and it breaks, it's super easy to replace it. Doesn't screw it up for the rest of the plants. Just a real easy and cheap way to manage it. Also becomes way easier to program.

3) Aestethics. The silicone tube will be tiny and the cables also. All easy to hide behind the pot. nothing sticking out and looking terrible.

Another good thing about this system is that if I buy another Arduino I can have another "base of operations". Which is handy if I want to move them around or something.

 

[barbos]

What kind of plants?

None where I'm living now none. But I have an apartment in Stockholm full of plants, being taken care of by friends (who now live there). I have lots of plants in my Stockholm apartment. I've also collected them in the same general area. So for my Stockholm apartment it would be handy. It'll probably be years before I return to my Stockholm apartment. But then again it'll take quite a while before I have finished testing the watering robot.

But to answer the question, whatever plants I buy for my current apartment.

That's very verbose non-answer. Are you smoking your plants right now?

 

[Tigers!]

None where I'm living now none. But I have an apartment in Stockholm full of plants, being taken care of by friends (who now live there). I have lots of plants in my Stockholm apartment. I've also collected them in the same general area. So for my Stockholm apartment it would be handy. It'll probably be years before I return to my Stockholm apartment. But then again it'll take quite a while before I have finished testing the watering robot.

But to answer the question, whatever plants I buy for my current apartment.

That's very verbose non-answer. Are you smoking your plants right now?

I was going to suggest the same thing.