How to Build a DIY Automatic Plant Watering System With WiFi Alerts

by fedwester in Circuits > Arduino

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How to Build a DIY Automatic Plant Watering System With WiFi Alerts

Automatic Plant Watering System + Self Watering System for Potted Plants + Bonus Dog Bowl Refill

This is the finished project, a DIY automatic plant watering system controlled via #WiFi. For this project we used the Self Watering Automatic Garden System Subassembly Kit from Adosia. This setup uses solenoid water valves and an analog soil moisture sensor to water the #garden when needed, and prevents overwatering. Through Adosia's platform, you can now login to the internet to check the status of your garden from anywhere in the world.

Supplies

Adosia's Automatic Garden Subassembly Kit:

  • 1× Adosia IoT device with screw terminal connectors
  • 2× 12V normally closed (NC) solenoid water valves w/ connector wires
  • 1× analog soil moisture sensor with connector wire
  • 4× 1/2″ female PVC coupler
  • 1× roll 1/2″ x 520″ white PVTE thread seal tape
  • 1× ambient digital temperature sensor with board mount
  • 1× DC power supply (12V/1A)

Assembling the Solenoid Water Valves

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First we begin by assembling together a pair of 1/2" diameter solenoid water valves. The solenoid valves are joined to poly-to-pvc connectors on both ends by 1/2" PVC couplers, with a PVTE thread seal tape in the middle of each coupler between the two newly adjoining component. To tighten you can take a wrench on each end and tighten securely.

Insert the Solenoid Water Valves in a Weather Proof Enclosure

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Once we've assembled our water valves, we put them in this weather proof enclosure. One valve will water the garden and one will refill the dog's water bowl. Both valves are connected by a T-connector and poly tubing. We also regulated pressure coming from the hose and added back flow prevention.

The WiFi Base Board

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This is the electronic WiFi controller board we will use to control the system via WiFi. You can find it here.

Mounting the Water Valve and Base Board

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Here's a simple wood truss we made for the garden to mount the two enclosures we need for our system. The one on the left is for the water valves, and the one on the right is for the WiFi controller base board.

Prepping Base Board Enclosure

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We drilled two wholes in this enclosure for the wirings to fit through and a slit for the power cord. The black box in the enclosure will house the WiFi controller board.

Connecting Poly Tubing to the Valve

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Now we connect more poly tubing to the valve. This tubing will be connected to landscaping tubes which will run throughout the garden.

Connecting the Main Hose to the Poly Tubing

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We connect the pressure-regulated water supply hose to our poly tubing. This hose will be the main water source.

Connecting the Landscaping Tubes to a Stopper

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Now we are connecting our 1/4" outer diameter landscaping tubes to a final stopper to stop the water flow. This will force all the water pressure into the four line landscaping tubing which will water the garden.

Connecting the Watering Rings and Spray Nozzles

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For our watering system, we mostly used a combination of spray nozzles extended from t-connectors and watering rings. We had a few #plants on one line that had watering rings with holes drilled around the bottom side of them and some with spray nozzles.

Closing Up the Valve Enclosure

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We are done with the valve enclosure, so we are ready to close it up.

Connecting the Board and Wires

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It's time to connect the two valves and water level sensor switch to the WiFi controller board. The water level sensor switch will be used to trigger the second valve to water our dogs. Here's the tutorial for that project. Polarity doesn't matter for either the valves or the water level sensor switch, so it's hard to mess up the wiring. For this project we plugged both water valves in the center terminals and the water level switch in the far top left terminal.

Connecting the Soil Moisture Sensor

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Next we attach the soil moisture sensor to the board. This sensor will let the system know when to water the garden, and will report moisture levels via WiFi.

Where to Place the Soil Moisture Sensor

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We've placed the soil moisture sensor to the closest planter next to the wooden truss and hardware.

Calliberating the Soil Moisture Sensor

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Now we need to calibrate the sensor to get an accurate moisture reading. Here's a step by step video on how to do this. We've also closed off the hardware enclosure as well since we are done with it.

Setting Up the Garden's Profile

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Now we need to create our garden profile using the Adosia platform. This is where we can configure our watering system based on moisture level.

For products we used go to adosia.io and for the video tutorial go to the Adosia Official Channel on YouTube.