Home Assistant for Monitoring and Automation

[PuffTheMagic]

I was wondering if anyone else is using Home Assistant to monitor or automate their grow operations? I had been using smart switches and the generic cloud hosted apps to set my growlight automations... but then when you factor in cameras and other sensors, managing bunch of different apps becomes a bit tiresome. I've started using HomeAssistant and find it to be pretty awesome. The learning curve is a bit steep but I'd say it's well worth it. Here is a little teaser of one of my dashboards...



I just wrote an automation to control my AC Infinity duct fan and turn it on using a VPD threshold instead of just temp or humidity. To monitor temp/humidity in my tent I have a esp8266 dev board flashed with Tasmota connected to a BME280 temp/humidity/pressure sensor. I have some current monitoring switches also flashed with Tasmota so I can see how much my lights and dehumidifiers are drawing.




Next step is getting my watering automated!

 

[ttystikk]

So let me ask an inverse question; what about when all the sexy stuff fails? What happens? Believe me, I see the value of automation but I'm scared because of something mission critical goes wrong, even something as basic as a thermostat, your room is fucked. I know; I've seen it.

My answer to this has been to simplify and build robust systems that are fault tolerant.

RDWC that needs only one pump, for example; easy to swap it out if it quits and it gives me plenty of time before bad things start too happen. Also, RDWC naturally guarantees optimal watering and nutrient availability.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

[PuffTheMagic]

So let me ask an inverse question; what about when all the sexy stuff fails? What happens? Believe me, I see the value of automation but I'm scared because of something mission critical goes wrong, even something as basic as a thermostat, your room is fucked. I know; I've seen it.

My answer to this has been to simplify and build robust systems that are fault tolerant.

RDWC that needs only one pump, for example; easy to swap it out if it quits and it gives me plenty of time before bad things start too happen. Also, RDWC naturally guarantees optimal watering and nutrient availability.

What are your thoughts on this?

Well to start, I'd say you must have sensors/monitors setup before automation, but once automation is setup your role moves more to monitoring/supervising and away from constant active intervention. Redundancy is also a good thing. For example, each of my tents has an IP camera so I can visually confirm if lights are on or if the duct fan is running (walls suck in). All my devices are on smart switches so I always know their states. I also don't use any "cloud" based integrations for anything critical. HomeAssistant runs on a RaspberryPi locally at my house and all my switches talk directly to it. So, as long as I have power to my house everything should be working.

So what is likely to fail in a setup like this? I would think the average IoT smart switch is no more or less likely to fail than a more traditional (non-smart) programmable light timer. The really oldschool 100% mechanical timers with the little push buttons get bumped and get out of sync with power outages.

Some the DIY sensors one might make/deploy I suppose you could argue could have a reliability/failure factor but making them is cheap and simple so having some backups on hand is not a big deal.

Automating water related stuff does scare me a little, and that's why I keep putting it off. For indoors, I really don't like the idea of any sort of automated valve on the main water supply. The only solution that feels safe to me is some sort of reservoir setup that is gravity based or using a submersible pump. I mostly want to be able to automate water so that I can go away for more than a few days without my pots drying out. Outdoor, automating water should be fairly simple.

 

[treefarmercharlie]

Integration and automation is what I do for a living but I have been doing it with Crestron. I haven’t played with Home Assistant but it looks like a really nice platform for people who like to tinker with automation in their homes. Someday I might look into playing with it but I’ve been a little burned out with the industry and don’t play around with new things after work hours like I used to.

If you want to automate watering then you’ll need to be really careful with that. A mistake in your automation programming, or a faulty valve, will result in major water damage if it happens while you are asleep or out of the home. if you are going to automate watering then I would suggest installing a flow restrictor on the output of the valve. This way you will know the flow rate and you can measure how much water is going through the valve based on how long it is open. With the known flow rate of water you can then figure out how much your plants would typically need, per day, and then use that value as a daily limit in your automation programming. If there is any way to incorporate a mechanical float valve then that will also help protect you from a stuck electronic valve or programming issues. BTW, sprinkler valves work great for what you want to do. They are opened by providing voltage to the valve so you can just use a relay to apply or remove power to the valve. If the power goes out while the system is watering then the lack of power will cause the valve to close. They are also a lot cheaper than valves marketed for use in automation.

 

[H.A.F.]

RDWC that needs only one pump

Dirt that needs no pump, mechanical timers that at least stay on 18/6 or 12/12 when the power comes back on, hand watering, Integration of non mechanical means wherever possible. Power going out is my only concern, which would apply with or without automation.

 

[m4s73r]

Automating watering isnt that hard. Here is a simple 2 zone timer system with water flow meters and rv filters. Im actually about to expand on this to include a chapin inline fertilizer. The newest ones include apps and such. Been using this one for about 3 years now.

 

[treefarmercharlie]

Automating watering isnt that hard. Here is a simple 2 zone timer system with water flow meters and rv filters. Im actually about to expand on this to include a chapin inline fertilizer. The newest ones include apps and such. Been using this one for about 3 years now.

View attachment 104233

Oh, it definitely isn't "hard", it just gets messy if you don't create enough redundancy to prevent something from going wrong while you are asleep or at work.. Even if you restrict your flow to 1L/minute you could come home to, or wake up, to 480L (127 Gallons) of water on the floor after an 8 hour mishap.

 

[bk-og]

My fertigation system can feed up to 20 sites all different volumes if it wants.

I have it set to feed 2L every 4 hours currently.


All my run off is handled with a bilge pump thst takes it directly to my floor drain





My AC Infinity 8” exhaust controls my RH and heat pretty good on its own, but my dehumidifier kicks on at lights out still.

 

[m4s73r]

Oh, it definitely isn't "hard", it just gets messy if you don't create enough redundancy to prevent something from going wrong while you are asleep or at work.. Even if you restrict your flow to 1L/minute you could come home to, or wake up, to 480L (127 Gallons) of water on the floor after an 8 hour mishap.

Or get stoned and leave the water on. LOL I've never had either of the 2 nelson timers fail. However, I do have an alarm on my cell phone if my sump pump kicks on in case of it failing. Shit now that we talked about it i'm going to have to watch it for the next few days.

 

[treefarmercharlie]

Or get stoned and leave the water on. LOL I've never had either of the 2 nelson timers fail. However, I do have an alarm on my cell phone if my sump pump kicks on in case of it failing. Shit now that we talked about it i'm going to have to watch it for the next few days.

When I first got started in automation I automated my coral reef tank. I made the mistake of not incorporating a standard float shutoff valve for the auto-top off system and woke up one day to the entire first floor carpet soaked in water. I've learned a lot since then and usally have a bunch of redundancy built into my logic and hardware.

 

[m4s73r]

When I first got started in automation I automated my coral reef tank. I made the mistake of not incorporating a standard float shutoff valve for the auto-top off system and woke up one day to the entire first floor carpet soaked in water. I've learned a lot since then and usally have a bunch of redundancy built into my logic and hardware.

Ouch. That has to be fun to clean up. Actually thats why i never did Blumats. High failure rate. Seen poeple have entire reservoirs flood thier grow. If I didnt have drains and sump pump in my basement I proly wouldnt have auto-watering.

 

[treefarmercharlie]

Ouch. That has to be fun to clean up. Actually thats why i never did Blumats. High failure rate. Seen poeple have entire reservoirs flood thier grow. If I didnt have drains and sump pump in my basement I proly wouldnt have auto-watering.

Blumat runaways aren't really a big issue and I think people blow it out of proportion on Reddit and in forums. I've had it happen a few times, but they water so slowly, that the saucer under your plant will catch it all unless you don't check on your plants daily. I definitely wouldn't say they have a high failure rate, though. The under and over watering issues are usually caused by either improper setup or air building up in the lines. If you check on the system from time to time, and you really should with anything automated, then you will catch issues before they become a problem.

 

[m4s73r]

Blumat runaways aren't really a big issue and I think people blow it out of proportion on Reddit and in forums. I've had it happen a few times, but they water so slowly, that the saucer under your plant will catch it all unless you don't check on your plants daily. I definitely wouldn't say they have a high failure rate, though. The under and over watering issues are usually caused by either improper setup or air building up in the lines. If you check on the system from time to time, and you really should with anything automated, then you will catch issues before they become a problem.

I think most people are using them so they dont have to check their plants daily/go on vacation. Maybe things have changed in recent years. I know when they first came out people bitched about them all the time. Even on the gardening forums. I may have to reconsider this when I redo my watering. Grassroots sells Blumat kit with their beds in a soaker hose situation. I'll have to look into that.

 

[ttystikk]

This is suddenly a top notch read! TONS of great info, thanks everyone!

Y'all have helped me realize that my preferred way of doing things is in many ways a work around for the fact that I haven't had the trust factor for much automation, rather than there being anything wrong with it intrinsically.

Ebb n flood tables with sizeable res just means I don't need to play with the water more than once a week. Big RDWC means the same.

Pin style timers are indeed dependent on reliable and consistent power.

Climate control is in my case a bunch of independent controllers that need checked daily.

I rationalise to myself that I need to check things every day no matter what anyway and it's just become part of my routine. Of course, there's a limit to how scalable such an approach actually is.

I should look into more active automation and incorporate features that can adapt to occasional power outages.

Monitoring is perhaps the single thing that I miss most but I'd need to monitor water levels as much as anything.

 

[treefarmercharlie]

I think most people are using them so they dont have to check their plants daily/go on vacation. Maybe things have changed in recent years. I know when they first came out people bitched about them all the time. Even on the gardening forums. I may have to reconsider this when I redo my watering. Grassroots sells Blumat kit with their beds in a soaker hose situation. I'll have to look into that.

You don't have to check on them every single day but I do just to make sure nothing seems off. All I do is look at the drippers. If they don't have any drips haning, or the top of the soil looks wetter than normal, I poke a finger in the soil just to make sure it hasn't gone too dry or wet. If it is too dry then I will remove the plastic screw from each of the drippers in that pot, completely, then screw them back in, and that clears any buildup from the threads (or an obstruction) in the drippers. If it is too wet, then I will close the valve in the carrot by half a turn, wait for the pot to get back to optimal moisture level, and then I will set the carrot up again. I've only really had any clogging issues when I mixed CalMag into the reservoir water and when I used water from my dehumidifier to top off the reservoir. The water from my dehumidifier caused some sort of algae or bacterior to grow in the reservoir and lines, which clogged some drippers, and the CalMag clogged the threads of some of the drippers with calcium deposits over time. The system is a lot more reliable when you use nothing but filtered water in it.

 

[ttystikk]

Okay, I'm starting a mental checklist of stuff I'd want to monitor and automate;

Water;
Monitor water levels, flood frequency, pH, EC, temp. Top off, occasional dump n fill, fertigation

Environment;
Air temp, RH, CO2 monitoring and control.

HVAC;
Monitor and control chilled water temps, frequency of operation, energy usage

Quite a list already...

 

[m4s73r]

You don't have to check on them every single day but I do just to make sure nothing seems off. All I do is look at the drippers. If they don't have any drips haning, or the top of the soil looks wetter than normal, I poke a finger in the soil just to make sure it hasn't gone too dry or wet. If it is too dry then I will remove the plastic screw from each of the drippers in that pot, completely, then screw them back in, and that clears any buildup from the threads (or an obstruction) in the drippers. If it is too wet, then I will close the valve in the carrot by half a turn, wait for the pot to get back to optimal moisture level, and then I will set the carrot up again. I've only really had any clogging issues when I mixed CalMag into the reservoir water and when I used water from my dehumidifier to top off the reservoir. The water from my dehumidifier caused some sort of algae or bacterior to grow in the reservoir and lines, which clogged some drippers, and the CalMag clogged the threads of some of the drippers with calcium deposits over time. The system is a lot more reliable when you use nothing but filtered water in it.

Thanks for the tips. I wont run anything synthetic through it. just some aloe, coconut and some Q. Good to know on the Dehumidifier. I wonder if thats why I got that green algae in my humidifier. I dump the water from the dehumidifier into the humidifier. I dont have any hard water build up but i got a slight green algae in my humidifier tank.

 

[treefarmercharlie]

Thanks for the tips. I wont run anything synthetic through it. just some aloe, coconut and some Q. Good to know on the Dehumidifier. I wonder if thats why I got that green algae in my humidifier. I dump the water from the dehumidifier into the humidifier. I dont have any hard water build up but i got a slight green algae in my humidifier tank.

I get that in my humidifiers, too, even with using RO water in them. One of these days I'm going to cover the clear top cover with black film to see if that prevents it.

 

[ttystikk]

Thanks for the tips. I wont run anything synthetic through it. just some aloe, coconut and some Q. Good to know on the Dehumidifier. I wonder if thats why I got that green algae in my humidifier. I dump the water from the dehumidifier into the humidifier. I dont have any hard water build up but i got a slight green algae in my humidifier tank.

The water from your dehuey is, by definition, distilled and has basically nothing in it, making it a prime environment for algae. There's lots of stuff out there to put in your humidifier tank to keep the green gunk at bay.

I used to use that runoff as the base for more nutrient mix and it worked out great.

 

[treefarmercharlie]

The water from your dehuey is, by definition, distilled and has basically nothing in it, making it a prime environment for algae. There's lots of stuff out there to put in your humidifier tank to keep the green gunk at bay.

I used to use that runoff as the base for more nutrient mix and it worked out great.

It usually also has spores in it.