This past year I have been working on an automated hydroponics project called Box Farm. One of the things that frustrated me the most, was a lack of an open-source project for hydroponic controls.
Towards Open Source
It would be great to have a standardized hydroponic controller that could be easily assembled using off-the-shelf components with good documentation or bought as its own kit. Here are a couple of the designs I came up with to suit that need:
The features would include:
- 6 Controllable outlets
- Sensor ports for temperature, EC, and pH
- Wireless monitoring via Raspberry Pi
- Ethernet inlet
- Power switch and IEC plug.
- Accessible front panel.
The same box could expand into a unit with peristaltic pumps autonomously controlled as well. The first design I came up with had that in mind:
If enough interest is there, I will put together the prototype. Until then:
As I continue to develop the box, I bought a Blue Lab Pro Controller and mounted it inside of a server box I bought on Amazon. I also put controllable LED’s to make it look like a true grow setup ;)
So far the growing has been great!
Want to know more? Interested in working together? Contact me at jamesthesken@gmail.com