Greenhouse irrigation

[Paul-Reed]

@dynamicdave

There are various Apps for Android and iOS that measure WiFi signal strength

Yes, but they won't get the signal strength of the connection between the Wemos and router.
The Wemos is directional, so we need to know exactly what it is receiving.
Rotating it 10 - 15 degrees could make all the difference, especially when pushing the range.

Paul

[Backup]

Do you use an SSR to turn your pump on/off?
If so will a wemos D1 control that too?

[Paul-Reed]

@Backup

Do you use an SSR to turn your pump on/off?

No, I use a relay, which is OK for the required duty cycle, but a SSR would have been a better option.

@Backup

If so will a wemos D1 control that too?

Yes, very easily. Use a opto-isolator between a Wemos digital output pin and SSR, and it should be fine.

[Backup]

Just checked my signal strength at the location of my future wemos and it's -66db. Pretty usable.
Do you connect your moisture sensor directly to the wemos or use wires and mount the wemos separately? I would think it would be easier to position the wemos if the sensor were wired, say, 20cm from the wemos.
I'm going to attach a DHT22 to one of mine just for the info. Who knows how useful it might be? And it's so easy.

[dynamicdave]

Hi Paul,
Agreed.

I'm running ESP-Easy on my Wemos devices.
The Main menu shows the RSSI (don't know how accurate it is).
Clicking on the "More info" tab shows which network the Wemos is connected to.
Also the Tools >> Scan menu gives a summary of nearby WiFi networks and RSSI.

Cheers from David.

[Paul-Reed]

@Backup

Do you connect your moisture sensor directly to the wemos or use wires and mount the wemos separately?

My sensor is on a lead about 500mm long.

@dynamicdave

I'm running ESP-Easy on my Wemos devices.

I've just created the ESP-Easy Arduino environment, and awaiting delivery of some Wemos D1's to try it out.
It seems to have some useful features available 'out of the box', especially the gui for a quick & easy setup.

[dynamicdave]

ESP_Easy_Flasher

I found this useful program the other day.

Flashes the Wemos and sets all the WiFi stuff all in one go.

[Paul-Reed]

Once flashed, what process are you using to add specific functionality, or add aditional libraries to the Wemos?
Is it OTA ? How does that work in practice.

[dynamicdave]

Hi Paul,
I use the ESP-Easy-mega firmware.
This comes with loads of in-built routines for various sensors/transducers.
For the resistive soil moisture sensor I used the analog input converter.

I used one of the Wemos output pins to switch a transistor on for 30-seconds every 15-minutes.
This transistor powered the soil sensor (as I had read that the sensor corrodes when it has a constant current flowing through it).
My IoT students have used it for about 3-months with no problems at all.
Don't know how accurate the sensor is, but as we are only watering some Basil plants - not too critical.

Yes you can do OTA updates of the firmware.
Just go to Tools >> Firmware >> Load and then browse to where the update is on your computer.

I tend to check for ESP-Easy updates on a regular basis and update my key Wemos D1 Minis devices.

Cheers from David

[zenofmud]

Paul, I've been working on a flow to let you see all your Wemos, their status and a link to the individual wemos webpage. It is a work in pogress that Dave has been testing. I hope to share it next week after I make a couple more changes and recover from the invasion of family that has been here since Thursday and is leaving tomorrow.

I'd be happy to give you an early release. Once you get more than two or three it starts to get confusing
Paul

[Paul-Reed]

@dynamicdave

This comes with loads of in-built routines for various sensors/transducers.

Thanks Dave, I'll have a good look around when the Wemos order is delivered.

@zenofmud

Paul, I've been working on a flow to let you see all your Wemos, their status and a link to the individual wemos webpage.

That would be a nice addition, I was looking at this earlier - GitHub - Grovkillen/ESP_Easy_Netscan: A tool to scan and find ESP Easy (ESP82XX) units and thought how handy it would be, but having that functionality as a NR flow is a bonus

[moebius]

I tend to check for ESP-Easy updates on a regular basis and update my key Wemos D1 Minis devices

Why? If the device works as expected, there is no reason to update - on the contrary...the only thing you can achieve is to break it.

Regular or even automatic updates are a great source of troubles...

[zenofmud]

I just posted my project if you want to try it out.

'ET Display Home' a flow to help manage your ESPeasy, Sonoff/Tasmota and Homie flashed devices (now on GitHub)

This project is designed to help you keep your Wemos and Sonoff devices under control by providing a dashboard with a link to the latest ESPeasy ano/or Sonoff Tasmota release, the node name, status, current software version (devices with older versions are hi-lighted), The current RSSI value, a link to each online device's configuration page and other infomation that will seem reasonable to provide. [ethd_v019_display] The project uses two tables in an SQLite database and is designed that, i…

[Paul-Reed]

I don't have any devices running ESPeasy as yet, but once I do, I'll certainly give it a try.
Thanks.

[wb666greene]

@Paul-Reed

If so will a wemos D1 control that too?

Yes, very easily. Use a opto-isolator between a Wemos digital output pin and SSR,

Save yourself some wiring and just buy an opto-isolated SSR, if the pump is AC powered, to minimize spurious rf get an opto-isolated zero-crossing SSR

I'm getting lots of good ideas from this thread.

[zenofmud]

@Paul-Reed

That would be a nice addition, I was looking at this earlier - https://github.com/Grovkillen/ESP_Easy_Netscan and thought how handy it would be, but having that functionality as a NR flow is a bonus

Wow that is very similar, BUT it's Windows ONLY! My project is running on a Pi Zero W.

[Backup]

I'm using opto-isolated zero crossing SSRs for my temperature controller but they're 25 and 40 amp units. They are so economical, <$5us, I'm almost ready to use one for a 1amp water pump.

[Paul-Reed]

You'll probably not even need a heat sink for 1A.
I used one on a 3A circuit a while ago, and it was fine with no heat sink, although the case was well ventilated.

[Werner]

@Npizza: I am enabling the selenoid valve manually or using the weather forecast from DarkSky via MQTT coming from NodeRED. Do you need help in MQTT-Import this into ESPEasy?

`on System#Boot do
GPIO,12,2 // at first set both to input
GPIO,13,2 // to stay save - later it is an output
GPIO,16,0 // STBY on, do nothing
endon

on Bodenfeuchte#Pflanz1>575 do
if [Wasser#FreigabeHahn1]=1 and [Regensensor#Regen]=0
Pulse,16,1,100
Pulse,12,1,50
Pulse,13,0,50 //start watering (open valve)
Publish aussen/state/WM/Garten01/Wasser/Hahn1,1
timerSet,1,300 //timer 1 set for 5 minutes

else
Pulse,16,1,100
Pulse,12,0,50
Pulse,13,1,50 //stop watering (close valve)
Publish aussen/state/WM/Garten01/Wasser/Hahn1,0
endif
endon

on Rules#Timer=1 do
Pulse,16,1,100
Pulse,12,0,50
Pulse,13,1,50 //stop watering (close valve)
Publish aussen/state/WM/Garten01/Wasser/Hahn1,0
endon`

Pflanz1 is a cheap Capacitive Soil Moisture sensor, FreigabeHahn1 is a MQTT-input and Regen is a simple water sensor. I also attached a simple water flowmeter YF-S201 to detect flow even when there should be no flow. Gives me the possibility to react when receiving an alert on my phone.

[Backup]

Ya, no heat sink required. I used the FOTEK SSR-40 DA (24-380VAC - 3-32vdc trigger) for years turning a freezer on/off. It drew about 7A on start then about 3A running. I had four of them controlling freezers and heat lamps for several years with no issues at all. They were enclosed in an acrylic plexiglass box and bolted together! I'm using them now because they trigger on 3vdc and less than 10ma. Ideal for a RPi3.