The goal of this website is to catalog my journey in designing an Arduino based hydroponics controller to automate the distribute of the different types of nutrients, monitor the EC and PH levels of the water and scheduling the different functions required in growing plants inside the home e.g., lights and water control.
I’ve always been fascinated by the prospects of home automation; this is where my love of Arduinos began. I began to invest my time into developing new skills and learning the basics of electrical engineering and coding in C++, starting off with small projects. With the cost of living increasing and my want and need to become self-sufficient, I decided to develop the hydroponic controller (Auto doser) to stretch my skills set. Not only did I need to learn how to develop my already limited knowledge with C++ to a more advanced level, but I also needed to learn how to integrate different modules into a large system.
The main motivate of developing this website was a way of data logging my serial data from the Arduino to a Mysql database. I didn’t want to leave my electronics plugged into my main computer to monitor the serial data as I thought that was a waste of electricity and another way of heating up parts of my home unnecessary. I needed a way to easily access and understand what my controller was doing and what stage of the cycle it was in. After doing a bit of research I decided to host my website on a Raspberry Pi 4 using docker images.
I don’t expect the general public to stumble upon this website, but if you do feel free to browse, comment and use any of the resources provided.