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1 | | -# Instructions |
| 1 | +# Plant133 Setup Instructions |
2 | 2 |
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3 | | -First, hang the EBox on the reservoir and position the plant and reservoir where you want them and in a place where you can power the device with the USB cable. |
| 3 | +Follow this guide to assemble and configure your Plant133 watering system. |
4 | 4 |
|
5 | | - |
| 5 | +## 1. Hardware Assembly |
6 | 6 |
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7 | | -Then, for each plant to be watered: |
| 7 | +### Mounting the Control Box |
| 8 | +Hang the EBox on the side of your water reservoir. Place your plant and reservoir in their final location, ensuring access to a USB power source. |
8 | 9 |
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9 | | -1. Install the float in the reservoir insert. |
| 10 | + |
10 | 11 |
|
11 | | -  |
| 12 | +### Reservoir Setup |
| 13 | +For each plant you intend to water: |
12 | 14 |
|
13 | | - Then wire the float to the ebox. |
| 15 | +1. **Install the Water Level Float**: |
| 16 | + Place the float into the reservoir insert. |
| 17 | +  |
14 | 18 |
|
15 | | - |
| 19 | + Wire the float to the EBox. |
| 20 | +  |
16 | 21 |
|
17 | | -2. Put a pump in the reservoir insert. |
| 22 | +2. **Install the Pump**: |
| 23 | + Place a pump into the reservoir insert. |
| 24 | +  |
18 | 25 |
|
19 | | -  |
| 26 | +### Wiring and Tubing |
20 | 27 |
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21 | | -3. Connect a soil moisture sensor and pump to the EBox. The connectors should be in a vertical line under 1, 2, 3, or 4 on the EBox. The soil moisture sensor uses a 3-conductor wire with JST connectors. |
| 28 | +3. **Connect Sensors and Pumps**: |
| 29 | + Connect the soil moisture sensor and the corresponding pump to the EBox. Ensure connectors are aligned vertically under the same number (1-4). |
| 30 | + * The soil moisture sensor uses a 3-conductor wire with JST connectors. |
| 31 | +  |
22 | 32 |
|
23 | | -  |
| 33 | +4. **Run Tubing**: |
| 34 | + Run a tube from the pump, through the hole in the insert, towards the plant pot. |
| 35 | +  |
24 | 36 |
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25 | | -4. Run a tube from the pump, through the hole in the insert, and then to the soil in the pot. |
| 37 | +5. **Position Water Outlet**: |
| 38 | + Cut the tube to the appropriate length and choose one of the following methods: |
| 39 | + * **Method A (Cap)**: Push the tube end through the hole in the moisture sensor cap. |
| 40 | +  |
| 41 | + * **Method B (Spike)**: Insert the tube into a 3D-printed soil spike and insert the spike into the soil. |
| 42 | +  |
| 43 | +  |
26 | 44 |
|
27 | | -  |
| 45 | +6. **Power Up**: |
| 46 | + Connect the EBox to power using a Micro-USB cable. |
28 | 47 |
|
29 | | -5. Cut the tube to the right length, and either: |
30 | | - - Push the end through the hole in the moisture sensor cap to position it for watering the soil, or |
| 48 | +## 2. Network Configuration |
31 | 49 |
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32 | | -  |
| 50 | +1. **Connect to Device AP**: |
| 51 | + Look for a WiFi network named `plant133` (or similar) on your phone or computer. Connect to it. |
| 52 | + * *Note: The AP password (if set) and specific ESSID may be displayed on the device's OLED screen.* |
33 | 53 |
|
34 | | - - Insert the end of the tube into a soil spike and then insert the soil spike into the soil. |
| 54 | +2. **Access Configuration Page**: |
| 55 | + Open a web browser and navigate to `http://192.168.4.1`. You may need to accept a warning about a non-encrypted connection. |
35 | 56 |
|
36 | | -  |
37 | | -  |
38 | | -6. Power the EBox with the USB micro cable. |
39 | | -7. Look for the name of the device, and connect your phone or computer to a WiFi network with that name. The name of the ESSID may be shown on the device screen, along with the AP password (if set). |
40 | | -8. Open a web browser to http://192.168.4.1, and accept the non-encrypted connection. |
41 | | -9. Use the web interface to configure the device to connect to your home's WiFi network. |
42 | | - - Press "WiFi Config" on the main page, and update the configuration. Press "Save", then "Back", the press "Restart" to reboot the device. |
| 57 | +3. **Configure WiFi**: |
| 58 | + * Click **"WiFi Config"** on the main page. |
| 59 | + * Enter your home WiFi credentials. |
| 60 | + * Click **"Save"**, then **"Back"**, and finally **"Restart"** to reboot the device. |
| 61 | +  |
43 | 62 |
|
44 | | -  |
| 63 | +4. **Reconnect**: |
| 64 | + Connect your phone/computer back to your home WiFi network. Look at the device's OLED screen to find its new IP address (e.g., `192.168.1.x`) or try accessing `http://plant133.local` (if mDNS is active). |
45 | 65 |
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46 | | -10. Look for the IP address of the device on its screen to open its web interface again. If mDNS works in your home, you might be able to connect to it as "http://{device-name}.local" where "{device-name}" is replaced with the name of your device. |
47 | | -11. If you have an MQTT broker in your house, use the web interface to configure the connection to the broker. If you are running Home Assistant and it works with your MQTT broker, the device will automatically show up in Home Assistant. |
| 66 | +## 3. Device Configuration |
48 | 67 |
|
49 | | -  |
| 68 | +### MQTT Setup (Optional) |
| 69 | +If you use Home Assistant or another home automation system: |
| 70 | +1. Navigate to the **MQTT Config** page via the web interface. |
| 71 | +2. Enter your Broker address, port, and credentials. |
| 72 | +3. Save. The device should automatically appear in Home Assistant if discovery is enabled. |
| 73 | +  |
50 | 74 |
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51 | | -12. In the device web interface, select the plant to be configured, then press "Configure". |
52 | | - |
53 | | - - Select the minimum and maximum soil moisture levels you want, and select the number of seconds you want the pump to run at each iteration of watering. Try 1 second for a small pot and 3 seconds for a medium-sized pot. |
54 | | - - You can also calibrate the moisture sensor. Put the moisture sensor in a glass of water so that all except the cap is covered by water, and enter the ADC reading as the "max ADC reading". Remove the sensor out of the glass and dry it off, then enter the ADC reading as the "min ADC reading." Confusingly, the counts for the max reading should be less than the counts for the min reading, because max and min here refer to the moisture level not the counts. |
55 | | - - You can set the time to wait between pump doses, which allows water to to spread through the soil and to the moisture sensor. The default is 15 minutes (900 seconds). |
56 | | - - There is a safety feature to prevent over-watering if there is a problem with moisture sensing. After a maximum number of pump doses in a watering cycle, watering will pause for 12 hours before watering can continue. The default maximum number of doses is 5, but this can be changed. |
57 | | - |
58 | | -  |
59 | | - |
60 | | -13. Enable watering, and enable reservoir water detection. Press "Save" and then "Back". |
61 | | -14. Fill the reservoir with water. |
62 | | -15. Monitor the plant-watering and tweak settings so it works the way you want it to. |
63 | | -16. You get bonus points for setting up Grafana and creating a dashboard to show how well the watering is working. |
64 | | -17. You can even more bonus points for using Home Assistant to send you a phone alert you when the reservoir is out of water. |
| 75 | +### Plant Configuration |
| 76 | +Select a plant from the main menu and click **"Configure"** (or the settings icon). |
65 | 77 |
|
| 78 | +* **Moisture Targets**: Set the **Minimum** (start watering) and **Maximum** (stop watering) soil moisture percentages. |
| 79 | +* **Dose Duration**: Set how long the pump runs per dose (in milliseconds). |
| 80 | + * *Recommendation:* Start with 1000ms (1s) for small pots, 3000ms (3s) for medium pots. |
| 81 | +* **Calibration**: |
| 82 | + * **Wet (100%)**: Submerge the sensor (excluding the electronic cap) in a glass of water. Note the "Raw Moisture" ADC value and enter it as `ADC Counts at 100%`. |
| 83 | + * **Dry (0%)**: Dry the sensor completely. Enter the reading as `ADC Counts at 0%`. |
| 84 | + * *Note: Lower ADC values usually mean higher moisture (more conductivity).* |
| 85 | +* **Dosing Logic**: |
| 86 | + * **Seconds between doses**: Time to wait for water to soak in before checking moisture again (Default: 900s / 15 min). |
| 87 | + * **Max doses per cycle**: Safety limit to prevent flooding if the sensor fails (Default: 5). |
| 88 | +  |
66 | 89 |
|
| 90 | +## 4. Final Steps |
67 | 91 |
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| 92 | +1. **Enable System**: In the configuration page, toggle **"Enable Automatic Watering"**. |
| 93 | +2. **Enable Reservoir Check**: Ideally, enable the reservoir water level detection to protect your pumps. |
| 94 | +3. **Fill Reservoir**: Add water to your reservoir. |
| 95 | +4. **Monitor**: Watch the system for the first few cycles and adjust `Pump On Time` or moisture thresholds as needed. |
68 | 96 |
|
| 97 | +### Advanced |
| 98 | +* **Grafana**: Set up a dashboard to visualize moisture trends over time. |
| 99 | +* **Home Assistant**: Create automations to alert you when the reservoir is low. |
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