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Project Eden: Smart Garden

Project Eden is a fully IoT equipped station that has the ability to monitor the humidity, moisture and temperature surrounding the soil. It also parses data from Willyweather (local weather station) to determine if a rain event is occuring, and interlock the pump if so. There is a graphical interface I have setup on node-red to allow 24/7 monitoring, data collection and control of the plant. The peristaltic pump has the ability to draw water from a bucket, which contains a float level switch in order to keep track of the water available for the pump.

Materials
- IP56 Rated Junction Box ($20)
- Wemos D1 Mini ($10)
- DHT11 Temperature & Humidity Sensor ($10)
- Soil Moisture Sensor ($5)
- 5V Relay ($5)
- Cable Gland ($2)
- 6V Grothen Peristaltic Pump ($20)
- Spare/Scrap Wood
- 5V Power Supply ($10)
- Jumper Wires
- Raspberry Pi or Laptop for node-red server
- Vinyl Tubing

Composition
Below is the schematic of the electronic components. First lets talk about the pump. The 6V peristaltic pump is an inductive load that requires a dedicated power source. I utilised a 5-v power supply and attached it directly to the pumps relay. The soil moisture sensor is placed under the drip discharge, and works by measuring moisture as a function of decreased resistenace. the DHT11 sensor is a direct output from the arduino that measures humidity levels, as humidity effects capacitance level in the humidity sensor, which is proportional to the output. This is all wired to the wifi-compatible micro-controller, as this component is what allows internet conectivity and subsequent access to the node-red server. See image below of how to connect all pieces mentioned. The components were then soldered and fitted into the cirtui, and placed inside an IP56 rated junction box to grant extra protection during the rain.”

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