Re: Vegie Garden Moisture Monitor

["Frank Mc Alinden" <frankmc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Looks like my hardware link is not working..
http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z38/frankmc_2007/Vegie%20Moisture%20Monitor/

Frank


----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Mc Alinden" <frankmc@xxxxxxx>
To: <ukha_d@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 7:29 PM
Subject: [ukha_d] Vegie Garden Moisture Monitor


> Hi Guys
>
> After installing Gerry Dupreys jSprinkler system in my small vegie
patch
> and which has been running fine for quite a while now i decided to
have a
> go at monitoring each vegie zones soil moisture. I initially had a
play
> with using a sensor circuit connected to a DS10 device but thought
that
> since my vegie patch is quite small a dedicated controller might be
the
> best option....I scoured the net for a suitable solution without any
> luck..I did come across a project which i used the same method of
sensing
> the soil moisture...
>
> http://www.rgbled.org/sprinkler/index.html
>
> http://www.bookcracker.com/projects/M278.html
>
> For the controller i decided to use the same hardware that i use for
my
> vegie sprinkler system which uses a pic16F877as the brains...This
board
> sells for around $25 U.S. from futurelec...This device has lots of i/o
and
> i was specially interested in the 8 analog inputs which im using as
> moisture inputs..
>
> http://www.futurlec.com/PIC16F877_Controller.shtml
>
> For the sensing probes i use some clipsal plastic conduit fittings , a
> 25mm coupling ,2 25mm end caps, 2 160mm long stainless steel 3mm
threaded
> rod and a 3mm Bicoloured led and some 4 core security cable....The
> threaded rod is covered in clear heatshrink exposing the last 10 mm so
> that hopefully will give truer reading at root level...
>
> I was looking around the net for some sample pic code asm or picbasic
to
> get me started when i came across a link to an app which allows you to
> program pics or avr,s in PLC Ladder logic.. Afer some help from the
author
> (jonathon) i got the board working reading a couple of probes that i
had
> setup in pots for testing. The only issue i had was that i had to drop
the
> baudrate on the serial connection as in recieve mode the board couldnt
> keep up when running at 9600/4800 baud so for reliable operation the
baud
> was set at 2400....
>
> http://cq.cx/ladder.pl
>
> The board responds to queries from a host controller using a simple
ascii
> protocol...To query zone 1 the host sends the following
QAx.......which
> means it would like to Query Analog x ( 1 to 8) ...The Controller then
> replys val=xxxx were xxxx can be 0000 to 1023....
>
> Since i use xPL and my Sprinkler system is controlled by xPL i thought
it
> would be nice if i coulkd use xPL to control it...Not being a software
> programmer i made a request on the xPL Forum and luckily Mal Lansell (
> xpl-rfxcom Guru) came to my rescue..So now using Mals app along with
> another xPL app xPL-Timer i am polling the probes once an hour
> with 3 minutes intervals between each probe reading....I have a
recurring
> event which trigger once every hour requesting zone 1 data..the
controller
> reply triggers a 3 minute timer which will time out and request zone 2
> data and this triggers zone 3 timer etc....
>
> http://www.xplmonkey.com/
> http://xplproject.org.uk/?page_id=2
>
> Im not sure how successful this project is going to be , its early
> days..i,ll record the probes reading over the next few weeks and see
if i
> can make sense of it ...If it does work out reasonably well i think i
> might have a go at making a pic interface to a DS10 device so i can
use rf
> versions on my garden beds....
> Some pics of my Moisture kit
> http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z38/fra...ture%20Monitor/
>
> Frank
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>



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