SmartGarden3 Frequently Asked Questions

February 11, 2022 Bluetooth Low Energy, Raspberry Pi, Smart Garden System, smartgarden3, SwitchDoc Products

SmartGarden3 Frequently Asked Questions

We have been collecting the questions that people have been asking about the SmartGarden3 and are summarizing the answers here:

You can find the SmartGarden3 here and the Hydroponics SmartGarden3 here.

What is the SmartGarden3?

SmartGarden3 supports hydroponics and you can order a compatible hydroponics kit ! Smart Garden 3 is a great product for learning about the Raspberry Pi and the ESP32!
Highly expandable!   You can have your Raspberry Pi Base Unit inside your house and have multiple wireless control units and up to 16 Bluetooth Wireless Soil Sensors in your outdoor garden, greenhouse or in the upstairs bedroom.   Up to 250 wireless control units can be connected up to one Raspberry Pi base unit.   This allows you to control your truly MASSIVE garden.  Or your small one.  Either way!
It is designed to be easily and simply put together and tested with No Soldering Required!
And you get all the OPEN SOURCE code for the SmartGarden3 software so you can do what you want.   Modify the code to your own application!  Add sensors!  Add functions!  Add more plants!

What do the Bluetooth Sensors Sense?

The SG3 Bluetooth Sensors measure soil moisture, soil temperature, ambient light and soil electrical conductivity (a measure of nutrients available).
The sensor uses a capacitive soil moisture detector.  The two prongs are for sensing the EC (nutrient indicator).  This gives the sensor a long life!

 

What is the transmission range of the Bluetooth Sensors?

BLE will go 10 to 20 feet depending on what is between you and the SGS Extender.

 

What valves and pumps can I connect to the SmartGarden3?

Any 5V driven pump or valve (like our USB 5V pumps) can be driven from the SG3 Wireless Extender USB Ports.  You can plug in USB to wire conversion plugs to control other 5V devices.   The SGS2 Wireless Extender also has 4 relays included. These can switch either 120/240VAC or 30VDC at up to 10A which gives the gardner a HUGE amount of flexibility.

What triggers valves or pumps to turn on or off?

This is part of the magic of the SmartGarden3 System.  Any valve or pump can be controlled by any moisture sensor available in SG3.   You can even control multiple valves or pumps with one sensor.   Your choice.  You can also set up Valves/Pumps to run on a timed basis and can control them manually.

 

What kinds of sensors can I connect?

SmartGarden3 supports a wireless Bluetooth enabled moisture/light/temperatuer/EC sensor that talks to the SG3 Extender Unit.

The Hydroponics unit uses an on board 12 bit Analog to Digital Converter on the SG3 Extender board.  It reads Hydroponics Water Temperature, Water Depth and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) with the base hydroponics unit as well as an Infrared camera that allows you to look a plant leaf temperature.

Optionally, you can add Ph and Turbidity sensors with EC (Electrical Conduction) coming soon.

 

Can I run this on Solar Power?

Absolutely.     SwitchDoc Labs produces a multitude of solar power kits that will power the Wireless Extender units as well kits that will power the much more power hungry Raspberry Pi.   Check out this article on the SwitchDoc Labs Blog:  https://www.switchdoc.com/2021/08/solar-power-sizing-solar-panels-for-raspberry-pi/

 

Can I choose what valves and sensors to graph on the webpage?

Yes.  The SGSConfiguration GUI allows you to choose what valves/pumps/sensors will appear on the pages.

 

How does the SG3 Wireless Extender send information to the Raspberry PI?

The ESP32 in the Wireless Extender uses WiFI to communicate to the Raspberry Pi.   The data is sent via MQTT connections to the MQTT Broker on the Raspberry Pi.   You can also write your own code to subscribe to the MQTT topics.

 

Where can I find  seed pods for the hydroponics system?

You can buy any AeroGarden(TM) seed pods such as these on Amazon, or build your own with the supplied materials in our hydroponic kit:

Example AeroGarden(TM) Seed Pods

 

Is there an upgrade kit for older Smart Garden devices?

No, not as a product.  However, you can upgrade the software in your Smart Garden System 2 Extender to the SmartGarden3 ESP32 software by yourself, or you can send us your old board in and we can program it and return it.   Then you can buy the compatible Bluetooth Sensors from our shop.switchdoc.com.