Last year I built my first hydroponics garden. I was trying to do it all inside, and in doing so my lighting bill was eating away at my spending cash. This summer I have decided to move the garden outside where there is plenty of sun light. The only problem is I do not have power to run the pump. This is how I am getting around that issue.
Last week I bought a 12 volt DC, 2.5 amp water pump off of ebay. On 4 Apr I ordered a 50 watt solar panel off of eBay, and yesterday the pump came in the mail. Also, I got the latest issue of Nuts and Volts and on the front cover was photo for a DIY solar charge controller. The controller uses a PIC, but I think I would rather use an Arduino. Go with what you know. Either way the story, gave me some great ideas and how-to. I will use the Raspberry Pi that is taking time lapse photos of the garden to control the water pump, take measurements from various sensors, control nutrients and connect to the solar controller. The time lapse camera will be used to monitor the growth of the garden through out the season and see what improvement I can make for the fallowing season.
As you can see from above I had success with the hydroponics garden, during the summer of 2015. I think my next one will be an aquaponics garden.
The Raspberry Pi could also be used latter to control and monitor a green house. Here are a few things I think it could be used for:
Outdoor temp reading
Indoor temp reading
Water temp reading
Fish feeder (when I use it for aquapoinics)
Valve control
Vent control
Heater control
Water heater control
Pump control
Nutrient control
Fan control (keep the green house cool or even out the temperature)
Air pump control
pH control
Sensor readings: light, PH level, nutrient levels
This is so neat, a self contained unit off the grid mostly, thank you for sharing this gives me some great ideas!