sf_frankie
Well-Known Member
Figured I'd show you guys what I've been working on in my free time. Its a WIP but I'm happy with progress thus far. Previously I was able to remote control and monitor my lights, temperature, humidity and ventilation. It was kind of a pain though because I had to use different apps for each feature. Enter Home Assistant. Home Assistant (HASS/HASSio) is open source home automation software that is damn near infinitely customizable. It has official support for damn near every brand of smart device (and if it doesn't there is unofficial support). You can even flash your smart device with different firmware if you want/need to to make it work. It all runs on a Raspberry Pi 4. The learning curve is pretty steep and requires a little bit of what I would call programming-lite. You need to be comfortable using the command line and you'll need to familiarize yourself with something called YAML. I've always been great with computers but know fuck all about coding/programming. Its been a fun learning experience though!
Right now my main dashboard allows me to remotely switch humidity and lights but there is no need to do so because its all automated by the software. The humidifier and dehumidifier are both hooked up to smart plugs and turn on and off based on the readings from my Govee bluetooth/wifi thermometer and hygrometer from Amazon. The humidity and temp each have their own dashboard card which displays current conditions as well as a historical graph that changes colors based on a range I set on the backend. Using the readings from the Govee, I created a custom card that calculates VPD in real time. There are 2 gagues on the dashboard that I have set up to change color based on the ideal VPD range for the plant cycle (one for veg and one for flower). Red is bad, yellow is OK and green is perfect.
I've also set it up to send me notifications when VPD has been out of range for an extended period of time or if the lights have been on too long or out too long.
I've spent less than $100 on the whole set up including the Pi. I plan to eventually use this system to automate watering and add soil monitoring. The thermostat on my mini split does an excellent job of controlling temps with its built in thermostat but I will likely find a way to add control of it too, eventually.
Right now my main dashboard allows me to remotely switch humidity and lights but there is no need to do so because its all automated by the software. The humidifier and dehumidifier are both hooked up to smart plugs and turn on and off based on the readings from my Govee bluetooth/wifi thermometer and hygrometer from Amazon. The humidity and temp each have their own dashboard card which displays current conditions as well as a historical graph that changes colors based on a range I set on the backend. Using the readings from the Govee, I created a custom card that calculates VPD in real time. There are 2 gagues on the dashboard that I have set up to change color based on the ideal VPD range for the plant cycle (one for veg and one for flower). Red is bad, yellow is OK and green is perfect.
I've also set it up to send me notifications when VPD has been out of range for an extended period of time or if the lights have been on too long or out too long.
I've spent less than $100 on the whole set up including the Pi. I plan to eventually use this system to automate watering and add soil monitoring. The thermostat on my mini split does an excellent job of controlling temps with its built in thermostat but I will likely find a way to add control of it too, eventually.
