Smart indoor greenhouse

thingiverse

Simple yet Effective Indoor Greenhouse This clever DIY project brings a touch of smart technology to your indoor gardening needs, all thanks to ESPHome and HomeAssistant. We started with a standard pot of herbs on our kitchen counter, but the harsh winter months made it challenging for them to thrive. I came up with a plan to create a protective cover around the pot and give it some much-needed smarts – because let's be honest, who can remember to water their plants regularly? I designed the entire setup in Fusion360 and got started on printing the parts. The frame is made from 3D printed corners and tubes for electrical installations with an inner diameter of 22mm. These are easily obtainable in 3-meter lengths at a reasonable price. The frame is held together by corner pieces, and I used 2 layers of isotropic foil as wall material – you can find this in car first-aid kits or pharmacies for around €2. This foil is secured with aluminum tape commonly used for insulating water pipes. The pot itself has a self-watering system, featuring a reservoir at the bottom that drains excess water through wicks under the soil. For now, I don't need to worry about automated watering, but this could be easily implemented by connecting another transistor to an ESP32 and controlling a water pump – we'll see how it goes in warmer months. At the top of the greenhouse, you'll find 3 LED light bars that I improvised using red-blue grow lights, IR, and UV LEDs. These are attached with zip ties, but if you're looking for more professional lighting options, you can definitely invest in them. The same applies to the fan at the top – it's controlled by an NPN transistor driven from an ESP32-CAM board. You can easily adjust the dimensions of your pot and modify the lengths of the pipes accordingly. I was lucky enough to find a lid from IKEA that fit perfectly on top, so I didn't have to worry about finding alternative materials. I've also installed a Xiaomi MiFlora sensor in the soil, which allows me to track its moisture levels remotely. However, due to the aluminum foil surrounding the greenhouse, it creates a Faraday cage that blocks Bluetooth signals. To solve this issue, I'll be using another device to read data from the MiFlora sensor. I wanted to include a camera at the top for taking photos and creating time-lapse videos of my plants' growth. The power consumption of the entire system is monitored by an INA219 board, which communicates through I2C. It's relatively simple to use and calculate the cost – just be sure to adjust the price according to your country's rates. I've also designed a lovelace card for displaying all the essential information about my greenhouse. As for the electronics, everything is installed on a 30x50 protoboard – no PCB necessary. If you're interested in checking out the code and files for this project, head over to my GitHub page at github.com/Luc3as/Smart-Indoor-Greenhouse. If you enjoyed this DIY project, consider buying me a coffee or sending some cryptocurrency my way! <a class="" target="_blank" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/luc3as"><img src="https://lukasporubcan.sk/images/buymeacoffee.png" alt="Buy Me A Coffee" style="max-width: 217px !important;"></a> Or, if you prefer, send some crypto my way! <a class="" target="_blank" href="https://lukasporubcan.sk/donate"><img src="https://lukasporubcan.sk/images/donatebitcoin.png" alt="Donate Bitcoin" style="max-width: 217px !important;"></a>