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Make a Raspberry Pi Automated Gardener
In Gardening Supplies

Make a Raspberry Pi Automated Gardener



See how we built it, including our materials, code, and supplemental instructions, on Hackster.io: https://www.hackster.io/hakershack/automated-indoor-gardener-a90907

With how busy our lives are, it’s sometimes easy to forget to pay a little attention to your thirsty indoor plants until it’s too late and you are left with a crusty pile of yellow carcasses. Instead of constantly replacing those plants, we’ll show you how to make a compact, automated, raspberry pi powered gardener to water and light your plants. This gardener’s memory is impeccable, and never forgets to water your plant.

This project uses a Raspberry Pi Zero W to run the software. It doesn’t use wifi, so you could also use the Raspberry Pi Zero. However, if you want to extend the functionality and make it connect to an IoT app, you’ll want to use the Zero W.

USEFUL LINKS:
View our code on Github: https://github.com/HackerShackOfficial/Automated-Gardener

Follow Hacker Shack on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/hackershackofficial/

Subscribe to Hacker Shack: https://goo.gl/qHjz4j

Visit our website for parts and project updates: https://www.thehackershack.com/

MATERIALS
Raspberry Pi Zero × 1
Amazon Affiliate Link – https://goo.gl/Zsxm7k

12v Peristaltic Pump × 1
Amazon Affiliate Link – https://goo.gl/z6kbjw

White SiliconeTubing, 1/8″ID, 3/16″OD × 1
Amazon Affiliate Link – https://goo.gl/wkaR37

5v Grow Light × 1
Amazon Affiliate Link – https://goo.gl/VV9QU9

IRLB8721PBF N-Channel MOSFET × 2
Amazon Affiliate Link – https://goo.gl/kee48t

Jumper wires (generic) × 1
M4 Bolts + Nuts × 4
M3 Bolts + Nuts × 2
M2.5 Bolts + Nuts × 2
Electrical Tape × 1
12v Power Supply × 1

MUSIC:
Guggenz – https://soundcloud.com/guggenz

*Disclaimer*
The methods shown in this video should be used
as a guide only.

HACKER SHACK ACCEPTS NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR
ACCIDENTS OR INCIDENTS ARISING FROM INDIVIDUALS
UNDERTAKING ANY OF THE TASKS DESCRIBED. IN
PARTICULAR, IF UNSURE YOU SHOULD ALWAYS CONTACT
A QUALIFIED TRADESMAN BEFORE PROCEEDING.

50 Comments

  1. Hacker Shack

    Seems like there are a lot of requests for extra features (webcam, ph/moistness sensor, IoT app, etc.) If there is enough interest, we could make a follow-up video about how to add some of those features.

  6. Carl

    Hi, nice project!
    I could try to wire everything exactly like you did, but I have no idea how to do this in own projects. Where can I learn this electronics stuff with MOSFET transistor and co? Could you please recommend me a book or an website so I can learn this by myself?

  7. Smeedge

    Little known fact in the Pi community… there's something called a power MOSFET that you can use to switch much higher voltages than 5V… or use a relay and switch AC.

  8. Raul Ontiveros

    Would you be able to post a video on how you made the 3d printed casing, I use Autodesk Inventor, I was wondering if that would be compatible to 3d print

  9. Glenn Johnson

    General rule of thumb when looking for power sources: Look at what takes the highest voltage and amperage and match your PSU to that. Everything else that needs a lower source, create a feed from your PSU to a buck driver to reduce voltage (you can also get current limit buck drivers for the LED lights if needed.)

  10. Glenn Johnson

    You should also look into using either diodes or optoisolators on those MOSFETS – any reverse voltage could fry your RPI! Or remove the MOSFETS and use mechanical relays if the current is high.

  11. Glenn Johnson

    Another addition could be hygrometer (soil moisture sensor)and have a logic flow that dispenses water when needed and then have a float sensor in the water reservoir with logic, telling you when it needed refilling.

  12. doctorbarrientos

    Beatiful video and channel, but how come you didn't use thermo retract seals instead of duct tape? Don't mean to bitch, but…

    Anyway, really nice setup

  21. Jim McGill

    Yeah, awesome project…but the Pi seems wasted on such basic functionality. I mean, these functions could be controlled by a simple timer. Would also like to see watering based on soil humidity, ambient temperature etc. Keep up the great work 🙂

  22. Circle

    This is reaaly cool, thanks for sharing.

    Could this be easily/reasonably upscaled for larger gardens? Indoor hyroponics or regular container gardening with larger plants/plant numbers?

    Thanks again.

  24. Ted Baxter

    Do people have a limit to how much they spend for this type of thing to monitor and water a plant? Maybe it's not a question of money, but wanting to get it done.

  25. Dilithium Crystals

    can i water 20 plants ? 1 cpu per plant seems kinda wasteful. also if i could control the schedule and amount of water for each of the plants. 🙂

  26. Zylvian

    Will I be able to bypass any adapters or packs by buying a 5v water pump instead of a 12v?

  28. kaioid

    well done !! is there anyway to know the time and quantity of lighting a plant does exactly need ? i dont know … by using a camera raspberry and mesuring the quantity of smtg ?

  31. Olawale Olatunde

    How does he connects the 12v powers supply to the raspberry pi, wouldn’t that fry it up. If anyone could help me out I would appreciate it

  32. James Baucom

    This actually gets me halfway to my end goal of an automated chameleon cage. The lights and water are covered. Next I need to set up a thermometer, and code that information to auto activate the heat lamp/cooling fan to maintain optimal temperature. As well as a humidity sensor set to activate the fogger below optimum humidity.

  36. J Saldes

    Doesn't this still require you to fill up that glass every once in a while? Seems like if you're already having problems remembering to water your plants you'd probably have problems remembering to fill up that glass?

  39. K

    wait a minute. why are you using the pi to power your grow light? that's way too much draw & you're gonna ruin it. You should be using an interface circuit w/ a separate power source for that.

  41. Devin Weaver

    Sorry to be a nitpick but you can schedule things on a Pi with Cron! Would make the code much smaller. A command for on off light and one for the pump. Add two entries to the crontab and done. No startup script needed.

  42. Indigo

    Just leave the glass of water and pipe, the plant will draw water from the glass. Seriously over engineering

  43. id104335409

    Don't you just hate it when you walk in on your plant and IT IS ALREADY DEAD?!? CANT EVEN TURN YOUR BACK ON IT FOR A MINUTE!

  47. Dyvel

    I like the theme! Stupid girl kills her plants out of ignorance or just plain lack of care, so a nerd man has to step in to save the world.

    The more plausible use case is that the girl has managed to fix this for every year so far by having a friend over to water them twice over the summer, but the guy invents a solution for a problem that doesn't exist just to have something to do and at the same eliminates the possibility for the friend to help her friend, which would have strengthened their friendship.

    In reality this project is just to build something cool and possibly use it twice a year, when it easily could have been solved in other ways that weren't quite as cool.

    I still like it though 😄👍🏼

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