Arduino Controlled Grow and PC Program - Work In Progress

Hey, AN... I'm a bit confuzzled about using the Pi as a controller. I was considering the Pi, too, when I first heard of it (and you have to love that price) but I got stuck on the "how am I going to make this thing talk to the sensors and switch on the lights?" aspect (as it's only "unused" interface is USB). There are boards/devices out there (mostly fairly expensive) that have a USB connection to PC/Linux. One I saw even had individually programmable digital/analog I/O, which is very interesting. I don't think I'm quite prepared to hack one of those together from parts unless someone's printed PCBs and a parts list. I enjoy building kits and repairing existing electronics (mostly audio/noisemaking gear). I'm just not very good at building circuits from scratch (always hated breadboards) and my programming "skills" are 20-some years out-of-date (as mentioned previously).

I like (no, "love") the idea that Pi can use a "real" HDMI monitor (touchscreen?) and I'm stoked that there's a camera module in the works (I'd like to use the camera's view of the inside of the garden as a "screensaver"). I like that it's ultra-cheap. But it has no internal timekeeping (which I'm not entirely comfortable with) and it only has one (or two) USB ports...

EDIT: I guess the I/O interface could "live" in one port (or in one slot of a passive hub that's "permanently" connected to that port, the touchscreen interface most likely residing in another) and the other "native" USB port could be reserved for another hub for keyboard/mouse... And I'm betting that it would be way easier to do biometric scanning with Linux (I'd mentioned using fingerprint recognition - and some heavy duty linear actuators - for grow security). OMG, I need to sleep. Curse you, Insomnia! CURSE YOU!!!

Where did you get your pi? I have been looking but have yet to find them at the advertised price. More like 3x price... Just wondering if you would share a hookup.

wow this is just what i was looking for i was looking at this C02 sensor you think it would work http://www.futurlec.com/CO2_Sensor.shtml .
plus i found this guy doing the almost the same thing he is trying to get funding to make a broad and a system to track everyone data to share it http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...ning-assistant
you got me wanting to start playing with a the arduino right now i wanted to do a eeb and flow system would be cool to get everything automatic ph ec C02 temp venting lighting.

Nice project you got going here AN!


Been tinkering with Arduino for about 10 months now, crash course in c++ (only code i ever did before this project was basic on a C64)
I built a nice little standalone room controller using a mega that handles 2 light timers, 2 pump timers, & 2 thermostatically controlled blowers (using dh11 temp/humidity sensors).
A DS1307 clock does timekeeping, the 56bytes of battery backed ram on the 1307 came in handy for storing timer and tstat settings in case of power failure.
Has a nice easy LCD user interface using a 10K pot and a push button to set all the options. (gotta thank this guy for giving me a good base sketch to start with)


Anyways enough rambling about myself, my main reason for posting was to throw some info out there since there have been a few posts asking how to get started with Arduino.
Best place to start is http://arduino.cc they have some nice intro information on the arduino as well as a full library of the c++ commands and syntax there of that the arduino IDE supports.
also at the top left of this page you'll see a forums link. Tons and tons of stuff there as well, if you can think of a project odds are someone is or has already done it. Why reinvent the wheel when u can just hack someone elses wheel a bit to fit your needs?




This guy has a nice intro for arduino as well as step by step walk through lessons that'll have you up and tinkering in no time, my controller code started off as his chapter 10 dual timer:


http://tronixstuff.wordpress.com/tutorials/


A few more diy sites that have alot of arduino stuff:


http://www.makershed.com
http://www.instructables.com
http://www.hackaday.com


And for buying dirt cheap with good quality if you don't mind waiting up to 15 days to get the product
http://dx.com
They have a arduino nano v3.0 on DX for $12.99 w/free shipping, you put a dip socket on your proto board and just drop this sucker in!
Has a micro usb connector to program it just like you would a Uno board.
Was using this until I upgraded to a mega as my code got alot bigger as well as my ambitions (lol).
They got a mega 2560 on DX for $20.90 w/free shipping that is really nice and has worked well for months for me now as a controller.


The mega is much nicer for large control projects since it's got double the program flash memory, double the program execution memory and almost 5X more i/o pins for only 8$ more!
No I don't work for DX, just shop there ALOT. They have almost everything you could ever want or need to get a nice Arduino project going on the cheap.


If you want to order in the us for faster shipping (and higher prices):
http://www.hacktronics.com/ - Have ordered from here as well, fast shipping, great customer service, lots of tutorials
http://www.sparkfun.com/ - Never ordered from here but have heard nothing but good things about them
http://www.adafruit.com - Ordered here before, fast shipping, lots and lots of tutorials




Those of you who are interested in building a custom arduino prototype will find this site useful:
http://www.taydaelectronics.com/
They have dirt cheap prices on atmega 328p's, ds1307's, the xtal's, pf caps, pin headers, dip sockets, 5v regulators, & proto boards needed for a basic breadboard arduino with clock project
No minimum orders, and blazing fast shipping in the US (had my order in 5 days or less every time so far, YMMV).

Keep up the good work AN, will be trying out your software when I can find the time!

LB

Originally Posted by Afistakis

Where did you get your pi? I have been looking but have yet to find them at the advertised price. More like 3x price... Just wondering if you would share a hookup.

Hey, sorry I haven't been around for awhile... But I got my Raspberry Pi from Element 14.

LB, you using the Pot as some sort of rotary selector for your interface?

Originally Posted by RexXxMaster

wow this is just what i was looking for i was looking at this C02 sensor you think it would work http://www.futurlec.com/CO2_Sensor.shtml .
plus i found this guy doing the almost the same thing he is trying to get funding to make a broad and a system to track everyone data to share it http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...ning-assistant
you got me wanting to start playing with a the arduino right now i wanted to do a eeb and flow system would be cool to get everything automatic ph ec C02 temp venting lighting.

These are the cheapest CO2 sensors I've seen... Any word on how they perform?

Originally Posted by RexXxMaster

wow this is just what i was looking for i was looking at this C02 sensor you think it would work http://www.futurlec.com/CO2_Sensor.shtml .
plus i found this guy doing the almost the same thing he is trying to get funding to make a broad and a system to track everyone data to share it http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...ning-assistant
you got me wanting to start playing with a the arduino right now i wanted to do a eeb and flow system would be cool to get everything automatic ph ec C02 temp venting lighting.

Those CO2 sensors are the cheapest I've seen, but any word on how they perform?