Do's and don'ts of Home Assistant grow automation

Just felt like sharing some things I've messed up since starting this- mostly in infrastructure/network planning (literally my day job).....

Most Critical: Don'ts...

1. Home Assistant connectivity - use an ethernet connection. While it might not be an issue at first once you add in sensors transmitting updates every couple seconds, webcams on Real Time Streaming Protocol, hose timers, smart outlets, etc.... it's a lot of chatter.

2. WiFi best practices - segregate these devices. In my case I got lucky and have free demo gear sitting around but like with point 1, these devices cause a lot of chatter. Either A. Create another SSID, ideally on different channels, on a different VLAN or B. Do all of the above BUT use a separate access point to really keep your wifi clean. This is critical in our house (1-2 screens streaming music or some 4k video constantly plus I work remote right now)....

3. Don't think about doing number one and number two in your head and then put it off until your home network is basically dial up speeds even though you have a 1Gb synchronous fiber line....

Do's:

1. Have a good rough plan but don't try to go too crazy on day one.

2. Buy expensive parts. $20 Wyze cams and $10 Ecowitt sensors do the job and for pennies compared to other options.

3. Buy the 4 or 8 GB model of the Pi 4 B for your build...cheap easy and powerful enough to handle Home Assistant.

4. Plan offline redundant fail over options... i.e. if you're automating watering get an offline dumb flood detection switch. Don't rely on Home Assistant or WiFi being online in your backup plan. Think "I have power to parts and nothing else"

5. Push your abilities and learn new things... see a cool smart plug but you'll have to do an intensive process to flash the firmware? Fine, learn soldering and go for it!

Will be adding to this list as I go. Once I'm "happy" with my full design I plan to do I giant how-to thread for automating your grow rooms.

Bruh.... weed dont do this... check bowl before toking. That will be all.

Gorillabilly said:

Bruh.... weed dont do this... check bowl before toking. That will be all.

Click to expand...

Ummm I'm pretty sure it's taking to it's computer overlord just fine thank you... live view:

Note: no 3x3 video right now because nothing is growing in there. I sanitized the temp/humidity sensor and it's in my jar of wedding cake curing in the closet.

SpawnOfVader said:

Just felt like sharing some things I've messed up since starting this- mostly in infrastructure/network planning (literally my day job).....

Most Critical: Don'ts...

1. Home Assistant connectivity - use an ethernet connection. While it might not be an issue at first once you add in sensors transmitting updates every couple seconds, webcams on Real Time Streaming Protocol, hose timers, smart outlets, etc.... it's a lot of chatter.

2. WiFi best practices - segregate these devices. In my case I got lucky and have free demo gear sitting around but like with point 1, these devices cause a lot of chatter. Either A. Create another SSID, ideally on different channels, on a different VLAN or B. Do all of the above BUT use a separate access point to really keep your wifi clean. This is critical in our house (1-2 screens streaming music or some 4k video constantly plus I work remote right now)....

3. Don't think about doing number one and number two in your head and then put it off until your home network is basically dial up speeds even though you have a 1Gb synchronous fiber line....

Do's:

1. Have a good rough plan but don't try to go too crazy on day one.

2. Buy expensive parts. $20 Wyze cams and $10 Ecowitt sensors do the job and for pennies compared to other options.

3. Buy the 4 or 8 GB model of the Pi 4 B for your build...cheap easy and powerful enough to handle Home Assistant.

4. Plan offline redundant fail over options... i.e. if you're automating watering get an offline dumb flood detection switch. Don't rely on Home Assistant or WiFi being online in your backup plan. Think "I have power to parts and nothing else"

5. Push your abilities and learn new things... see a cool smart plug but you'll have to do an intensive process to flash the firmware? Fine, learn soldering and go for it!

Will be adding to this list as I go. Once I'm "happy" with my full design I plan to do I giant how-to thread for automating your grow rooms.

Click to expand...

Inexpensive parts****
That's what happens when I try and write a wall of text stoned

is this your own UI? how did you do it? i can suggest PJON library using arduinos and RS485 modules, so that all that chatter stays on this protocol (all you need is phone cable) for lets say different nodes separated a long way (i think it works for 500m between nodes without loss of data and with pjon you get crc check and receive acknowledgement), and for webcam feed, why not use ethernet cable?

pahval said:

is this your own UI? how did you do it? i can suggest PJON library using arduinos and RS485 modules, so that all that chatter stays on this protocol (all you need is phone cable) for lets say different nodes separated a long way (i think it works for 500m between nodes without loss of data and with pjon you get crc check and receive acknowledgement), and for webcam feed, why not use ethernet cable?

Click to expand...

Home assistant for the UI, it's an open source OS that I run on a Raspberry Pi.... I had to do some of the coding for integrations myself but overall there is a huge community so you can crowd source a lot of it. Mostly I just use wifi smart devices however I'm going to be wiring my fans into the GPIO pins on the Pi in the near future to automate fan speed based on environmental conditions.

Sorry to revive an old thread but you don't see many HA growers in the wild. I'm doing the same with my grow! Last run was able to remote monitor and control everything via smart phone but I had to use like 4 different apps. It wasn't streamlined at all and it bugged me.

I dipped my toes in home automation a few months back and it was the same story, multiple apps...got everything to work but there was no synergy. Got a Pi and homebridge and everything works perfectly and for a sane person it would be more than enough. Unfortunately, I knew that HA was out there with damn near unlimited customization and control and I had to try it. I've got homebridge running in docker so everything in the house still works while I tinker behind the scenes with HA. \

Here is what I have so far. Next step is cameras and flood sensors. Currently trying to write something in YAML to make my dumb humidifier smart. I got something to work for now but the Lovelace card shows temp instead of RH and it bugged me.

Yea, there is so much you can do with this... I suggest to have at least temp and hum setpoints, and try to implement day and night temp hum setpoints... Dont forget to check if your temps and hum is inside vpd range...

pahval said:

Yea, there is so much you can do with this... I suggest to have at least temp and hum setpoints, and try to implement day and night temp hum setpoints... Dont forget to check if your temps and hum is inside vpd range...

Click to expand...

I don't fuck with day and night temp/humidity swings. Temps are controlled perfectly by the minisplits on board thermostat. I figured out the automation for the humidifier. I've been messing with HA for a month or two and I only just now realized that there is an automation customization wizard took me two mins to create the auto on/off for the humidifier. I've been struggling with writing YAML this whole time. VPD is always spot on in my room. I mostly plan to use HA for monitoring and remote controlling things. If it ain't broke, don't fix it...

sf_frankie said:

Sorry to revive an old thread but you don't see many HA growers in the wild. I'm doing the same with my grow! Last run was able to remote monitor and control everything via smart phone but I had to use like 4 different apps. It wasn't streamlined at all and it bugged me.

I dipped my toes in home automation a few months back and it was the same story, multiple apps...got everything to work but there was no synergy. Got a Pi and homebridge and everything works perfectly and for a sane person it would be more than enough. Unfortunately, I knew that HA was out there with damn near unlimited customization and control and I had to try it. I've got homebridge running in docker so everything in the house still works while I tinker behind the scenes with HA. \

Here is what I have so far. Next step is cameras and flood sensors. Currently trying to write something in YAML to make my dumb humidifier smart. I got something to work for now but the Lovelace card shows temp instead of RH and it bugged me.View attachment 4793618

Click to expand...

Nice start! I got lazy... I use Sonoff smart plugs flashed to a custom firmware so they work with HA... then just control the power and set the humidifier/dehumidifier into always on mode.

Started doing some research into smart flood sensors awhile back- I was thinking either the Shelly flood sensor or B-Hyve flood sensor. I opted for a dumb flood sensor. I'm an engineer/IT guy so I always overthink the what-ifs....

So what if:

Wifi is working, watering starts
Wifi cuts out but power remains (router dies etc.) while watering is going
Flood sensor has no connectivity to trigger the off function

...I opted for a "Hydrocheck" dumb flood detector (it was massively on sale at the time)

Option B: make sure you have everything over a flood tray with a capacity close to/equal to your reservoir size.

Side note: Wyze makes some super cheap cameras, you have to load a custom RTSP firmware (direct from the manufacturer).

SpawnOfVader said:

Side note: Wyze makes some super cheap cameras, you have to load a custom RTSP firmware (direct from the manufacturer).

Click to expand...

I’ve got a Wyze camera In my living room to watch my pups (or fuck with them from the other room with the two way speaker). I’m running the RTSP firmware on it so I can view the feed on the HomeKit app via homebridge.

I plan to add a Wyze cam in the grow room. Just waiting on the new v3 cam. It’s $5 cheaper and looks to be significantly improved. Actually gonna grab a few more for home security.

SpawnOfVader said:

Nice start! I got lazy... I use Sonoff smart plugs flashed to a custom firmware so they work with HA... then just control the power and set the humidifier/dehumidifier into always on mode.

Started doing some research into smart flood sensors awhile back- I was thinking either the Shelly flood sensor or B-Hyve flood sensor. I opted for a dumb flood sensor. I'm an engineer/IT guy so I always overthink the what-ifs....

So what if:

Wifi is working, watering starts
Wifi cuts out but power remains (router dies etc.) while watering is going
Flood sensor has no connectivity to trigger the off function

...I opted for a "Hydrocheck" dumb flood detector (it was massively on sale at the time)

https://www.amazon.com/HydroCheck-WaterWatcher-Leak-Detector/dp/B00988NOV2

Option B: make sure you have everything over a flood tray with a capacity close to/equal to your reservoir size.

Click to expand...

I did the same with my humidifier using cheap Chinese sonoff plugs. I have some tasmota flashed devices in my home setup. I planned to do the same for the grow room plugs but couldn’t find my raspbian SD card and couldn’t figure out how to run tuya-convert in docker. Turns out there’s a TuyaSmart integration for HA so I just used that and it works great. I fired it up last night and my humidity has been perfectly flat since. I was just gonna use the built in hygrostat on the dehu but this is working so well that I’m gonna do the same for dehumidifying. Probably keep both of them active for perfect control.

My mini split is 240v hardwired but I’d like to figure out a way to add it to HA as well. It’s onboard thermostat works wonderfully but it would be nice to have control.

I still hand water so the flood sensor is just going to be a basic/cheap one to give me a heads up in case i forget to shut the water off when filling my rez. I’ve done it a few times filling my outdoor rez but never indoor. I’d like to avoid that.

sf_frankie said:

I’ve got a Wyze camera In my living room to watch my pups (or fuck with them from the other room with the two way speaker). I’m running the RTSP firmware on it so I can view the feed on the HomeKit app via homebridge.

I plan to add a Wyze cam in the grow room. Just waiting on the new v3 cam. It’s $5 cheaper and looks to be significantly improved. Actually gonna grab a few more for home security.



I did the same with my humidifier using cheap Chinese sonoff plugs. I have some tasmota flashed devices in my home setup. I planned to do the same for the grow room plugs but couldn’t find my raspbian SD card and couldn’t figure out how to run tuya-convert in docker. Turns out there’s a TuyaSmart integration for HA so I just used that and it works great. I fired it up last night and my humidity has been perfectly flat since. I was just gonna use the built in hygrostat on the dehu but this is working so well that I’m gonna do the same for dehumidifying. Probably keep both of them active for perfect control.

My mini split is 240v hardwired but I’d like to figure out a way to add it to HA as well. It’s onboard thermostat works wonderfully but it would be nice to have control.

I still hand water so the flood sensor is just going to be a basic/cheap one to give me a heads up in case i forget to shut the water off when filling my rez. I’ve done it a few times filling my outdoor rez but never indoor. I’d like to avoid that.

Click to expand...

Nice, yea I got tired of hand watering so I rigged up drip irrigation with a little pond pump. I don't water to overflow anymore, I've got pretty balanced pressure going (as long as my emitters don't clog).

Can your mini-split be run to an external thermostat? There are a selection of cheaper wifi thermostats...pretty sure Wyze has one on the market now.

SpawnOfVader said:

Nice, yea I got tired of hand watering so I rigged up drip irrigation with a little pond pump. I don't water to overflow anymore, I've got pretty balanced pressure going (as long as my emitters don't clog).

Can your mini-split be run to an external thermostat? There are a selection of cheaper wifi thermostats...pretty sure Wyze has one on the market now.

Click to expand...

I'll eventually add a drip system. Hand watering 50+ plants sucks but I'm still relatively new to this and want to get a feel for it before automating.

My minisplit actually has a USB port on it for a wifi control module. I haven't looked into it yet but I'm betting there is a way to integrate that into HA. If not, I could probably wire it up the same way I did the humidifier with an on/off relay. It has that feature where it returns to it previous state if power is cut.

If wanted to get into this (choose HA, over Mycodo, for example), what would be the best place to start, on the software side of things? I'm the type who would go buy all the actual parts/pieces/supplies and then be overwhelmed when I go to learn what to actually do with it and realize it'll be 6-12 months before I can even get a fan to come on when the temp gets above a set point.

The most I've found so far are threads similar to this where people have achieved a good start, or even "mostly finished" product/system, but are just discussing what they've got going. Haha.
And usually they had some background in this type of thing, and/or it still took them months to figure something out.

Would it be possible, just for example, for someone who had the basic necessities (parts, like raspi, temp sensor, rh sensor, photocell(?), etc.) to...assemble them, and then basically "copy/paste" whatever "code", commands, etc. that someone else has done, to get that much up and running?

I always thought (hoped!) that once someone had built something like this, and done the software part, using all open source stuff and with the help and contributions of a community of others with similar and varying degrees of skill, that it'd be an easy - buy parts, assemble, copy (or copy and paste) the logic/commands, and go, type of thing. Haha.

It seems like each and every individual has to just buy the parts, get the software (hass for example) and venture into trial and error over a couple months (at least)?
Am I right in thinking this, or...?

I don't mean to be rude.
Btw, I think/know that Mycodo is pretty much a "ready to go" software, but when I hear about needing to do some python coding for things I wonder about my ability to get that.

@sf_frankie Pretty nice canopy. Do the plants just drain into a ply/osb table!?