Privacy Policy
Microsoft's ASP.Net Core auto-generated this "Privacy" page, which I do not need for a personal application like this.
But since you are here....
If you are not a friend or relative of Brad Ward, then you should not be here! How and when he waters his plants is none of your business! :) Go check your Facebook page...
But if you are a technology weenie and interested in stuff like this, this is Version 2 of an Arduino based plant watering system that I have developed to water 3 large potted plants in front of my house. Each plant controller consists of a single ESP32 Arduino microprocessor, a 20x4 LCD display (4 lines, 20 charaters each), a DFRobot moisture sensor used to read the soil moisture, and a solenoid valve that turns the water on when needed.
Each of these 3 plant controllers connects to WiFi and uses MQTT messaging to send and receive messages to and from several applications that run on a Windows PC in my home.
- PlantControlGUI - A Windows Forms (desktop) application that is used to configure and monitor the real time status of the plant controllers. It communicates to the Ardunio plant controllers using MQTT, and is the mechanism used to set the target moisture setpoint (in %), set the calibration values of the moisture sensor, set the sample size and sample rate, etc.
- PlantControlWeb - This web application, primarily to provide a view from the outside world, and to see the historical data that is collected by the system.
- PlantControlService - A background Windows Service that runs 24x7. The primary function of this service is to record moisture readings and watering sequences to a SQL Server database. It also watches the MQTT messages to determine when water is needed and communicates (also via MQTT) with the RachioGatewayService to turn on and off the irrigation system water source.
- RachioGatewayService - A background Windows Service that uses the Rachio public API to communicate with the Rachio cloud system to control the water supply. It simply turns on one unused zone in the irrigation system, which causes the master water valve to be turned on, allowing water into the system.
- ValveController - This is a single Arduino microprocessor based system (not a PC application) that controls a single water solenoid valve that controls the water flow to the plant irrigation eco-system. It is similar to the master water valve in the yard irrigation system that the Rachio controller manages. It also uses WiFi and MQTT for communication.
Bradley Ward - brad@wardsrus.net- September 10, 2021