hello,
well want to build a fertiliser mixer for my home grow system…
already have a esp32 controlling my grow environment…
like temp, soil temp, soil ec level … etc and fade my LED grow light in and out…
have also far red and uv led controlled by the esp32… run’s all very well since two years…
now i’ll don’t like to mix my fertilizer over and over… so decided to build my own…
after some research i’ll found Mycodo… awesome… it’s all there…
also to control my grow system …
first question:
can i’ll connect the esp32 running ESPHome to Mycodo or do i’ll need to change the system?
now the fertilizer mixer…
i’ll get 10 peristaltic pumps and have L298N motor driver for those…
than i’ll will use a PCA9685 PWM Servo to drive the L298N…
think that’s fine and will work as i’ll was looking what is supported…
my goal is to make a schedule for my grow period where i’ll need to change the amounts of fertilizer over time for the different pumps … and when i’ll found the optimum would be happy to save and share with others the mix…
is this also possible with Mycodo?
many thx
M.
Hi and welcome
I will be making something similar in the foreseeable future, so here’s what I plan to do.
What has worked for me in the past, is wiring the 12v motors to the driver, Wemos d1mini/esp32, and installing a mosquito MQTT broker on the Raspberry which is pretty simple and there are plenty of guides. The esp constantly listens for any input via the specific topic(channel), and via Mycodo you could send various messages which would turn the pump on for a certain amount of time, resulting in a certain amount of liquid dispensed. That worked pretty well both manually and automatically adjusting the ph from Mycodo. I’m not quite sure what would be the case with the larger driver for lets say 4-6 motors, but it should be the same, you just have to get everything measured and set it in the code of the esp. No doubt there are better ways to do that perhaps, but I like the fact that the dispenser is not wired to the raspberry, has only a single cable out of the box and does the job as needed.
first hardware arrived…
will start this week and hope to get it running in the coming week…
many thx @all for quick reply’s …
yep ESP32 & MQTT … that’s the way than…
looks like to be a great adventure … love this tiny things… and the PI @KyleGabriel
can i’ll make a schedule like my grow is 120 day and my feeding changes over time…
like first less N and than after 4 weeks more N and add P to the mix…
raise the value until mid grow than add slowly K and reduce P and N too…
raise K and reduce N same time until near end… than reduce K and all others until end … last week water only… that’s what i’ll would need…
here is a example of a feeding schedule… but for my needs i’ll only use the half from all…
works very well for my old school genetics because they are long long flowering…
but the problem is to get the feeding right over time…
maybe can also contribute… be a programmer as well but on mobile most… iOS … python is long time ago when i’ll worked with…
anyhow just installed Mycodo on my PI … @KyleGabriel much much respect!!!
well well done… you did it all right… and make it open source …
i’m soo thankful for the amazing system you developed over time…
it’s all there …
many many thx
M.
some progress…
prototype is working…
was all straight forward … install & setup
also the PCA9685 and than the L298N for 4 pumps works fine…
but no possibility for calibration of the pumps… or did i’ll miss something?
hello,
little update…
well found out that @ moment the PCA9685 and than the L298N work great but useless for automation…
needs more work as only copy paste some other pumping code into the driver for PCA9685…
anyhow not a big deal… will get the groove motor driver next day’s … those will work better as it looks like… also a possibility would be a relay… but than you have only ON/OFF … will work but to do fine tuning dosis you need a driver for slower speed etc…
will update next week…
btw. the Atlas devices are really great… think best on market… better spend a few dimes more and you have no trouble later…
M.
This is what I’ve used to make a pump array with the PCA9685. They were actually MOSFETs, not relays. One controlled for each PCA9685 pin and pump. Here are the ones I used: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KGDDS37
