Know How...

Jan 19th 2017

Know How... 279

The Growduino - Part 1

Arduino, solenoid valve, relay, automated watering

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Category: Help & How To

If you grow plants indoors, at some point you'll be faced with the choice of going on vacation and letting your plants die, or becoming a shut-in. You COULD purchase an automated drip-watering system, but if you've got even a little maker knowledge, you can make yourself a low-cost, super-flexible automated watering system.

Adafruit 1/2" Water Solenoid Valve    ~$8

  • Normally closed valve (Requires 12v to open the valve)
  • Minimum pressure of 3PSI
  • Liquid can only flow in one direction (marked on the casing)

Live Demo:

  • We're going to install a solenoid valve into the bottom of a 5-gallon bucket

Parts:

  1. 5 Gallon Bucket
  2. Adafruit 1/2" Solenoid
  3. 3/4" - 1/2" Bulkhead Fitting
  4. Teflon Tape

Tools

  1. Drill (3/4" or Dremel)
  2. Sealant

3D Printed Files

Claber 8053 Oasis 4-Program/20 Plant Garden Automatic Drip Watering System    ~$94

  • Gravity fed dripper with a timer
  • Opens the valves twice a day
    • How long it opens the valves depends on the setting

uxcell HH54P D 12V Coil Relay    ~$8

  • Relays are electromagnetically controlled switches
  • Most use the same design: a higher power/current circuit can be thrown by a lower power/current circuit
    • They can be normally open or normally close, some, like the UXCELL can throw multiple circuits simul

Uxcell 12V 5-pin Mini Power Relay    ~$7

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