My wife is a Master Gardener. She has a grow room downstairs with lights, shelving, water, dirt, clay and plastic pots, etc for starting vegetables from seeds. The original set-up was a Moisture Meter with a Web Camera to see when the seedlings need watering. Looking for a cheaper alternative, the NXP contest was the opportunity to create a better solution. For the added cost of an ESP12-8266 module ($9 or less, on E-bay), the ball for this project was set in motion.
The Access Point SSID, Email addresses, and passwords are in the #define's of the firmware. No "on the fly" configuring is currently planned. This could be done at a later date using the HC-06's bluetooth connection. The Android "Bluetooth terminal" works perfectly with this project. Once powered-up, the board connects to the WiFi Access Point and then takes a sample after 10 seconds, then once every 1 hour. If the reading is less than a preset threshold, which currently is in the middle of the "dry" scale on the moisture meter, then an Email is sent to the account stored in the firmware via the WiFi access point.
The sample email received looks like this, No subject is given, so it is sent to the spam folder. This actually is a benefit, as this Email is easy to locate, as most spam has a subject in the subject line. The following From, To and Subject are in the email body.
FROM: MyName <[email protected]>
TO: YourName <[email protected]>
SUBJECT: Plants need Watering
Hi, Plants need watering. Value of 300=100% wet, 0=completely dry. The value read is: 25
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