Published May 25, 2017

Real-Time Clock Controlled Herbal Garden Watering System

Most hygrometer sensors are known for quickly corroding. This project takes advantage of a RTC to trigger the watering for a herbal garden.

BeginnerFull instructions provided26,867

Real-Time Clock Controlled Herbal Garden Watering System

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Arduino Nano R3

Float Switch

12V Water Pump

Buzzer

Real Time Clock DS1307

Relay (generic)

20 Liter Water Canister

Weatherproof Electric Box

12V Power Pack

Nano Terminal Adapter

Software apps and online services

Arduino IDE

Story

Introduction

Hygrometer sensors are often used for "smart garden" projects. However, what many do not take into account is that they are known for quickly corroding, at least the simple and affordable ones. Particularly if watering is required every day, it makes sense to use a real time clock (RTC) instead. This is the underlining idea behind this project.

The Herbal Garden Shelf

My herbal garden shelf is hanging at a wall on my balcony (see picture 1) and in summer I have to water the herbs twice a day, preferably at 6 in the morning and somewhen close to sunset. There are two problems I have came across over the past years. First, I tend to forget to water my herbs and in case I remember to do so, it is mostly at a time not convenient for the plants. Therefore, an RTC-controlled auto watering seems a perfect solution.

Picture 1: Hanging herbal garden

Weatherproof Electric Box

As the whole watering system sits outdoors and uses a 230 V power supply, a weatherproof box is needed to keep the electronics and the circuit nicely protected. Picture 2 shows the weatherproof electric box filled up with the equipment: multi way connector, 12V power pack, real time clock, relay, buzzer, and Arduino Nano. I am using an Arduino Nano because it is smaller and takes less space in the box. Picture 3 shows the weatherproof electric box when closed and in use.

1 / 2 • Picture 2: Weatherproof electric box

Water Supply

The water supply is enabled through a 20 liter tank, enough to keep the watering running for a few weeks (picture 4). As visible in picture 5, there are two yellow cables leaving the water tank on the bottom. Those are connected to a float switch, that triggers an alarm if the water level goes below 4 cm, a critical level for the pump. The circuit schematics at the bottom do not show the float switch as a proper symbol. The reason is because there was no such device available on fritzing. The pump is connected to the relay, 12V power and a 12mm PVC tube.

1 / 2 • Picture 4: 20 liter water tank

Watering System

The watering system is made with aquarium equipment that can be purchased online or in a local aquarium shop. NOTE the individual watering parts (tubes, angels, and valves) are not included in the component list above because this really depends on the quantity of herbs involved. Nevertheless, a brief explanation is given in the following paragraphs.

The watering system starts with a 12mm tube that leaves the pump. Picture 6 shows an adapter connecting the 12mm pump tube to a 4/6 mm aquarium air tube.

Picture 6: Adapter 12mm to 4/6mm

As visualized in picture 7 and drawing 1, there are a number of corners and branches along the watering system. One can either use plastic materials or stainless components, which look nicer but cost a few Euros more.

1 / 2 • Picture 7: Watering system (rear side picture)

Each watering exit is connected to a small valve that allows customizing the quantity of water due to slightly different water pressure levels on each exit (Picture 8 and 9). As visible in the circuit schematics below, a backup switch is connected to the pump, which can be pressed in order to adjust the valves at each watering point.

1 / 2 • Picture 8: Valves lead directly to the herbs

The Code

The code for the relay/RTC is from the Robot Geek Team on the Arduino Project Hub and the code for the buzzer is from a codebender tutorial from the Instructables platform. Both are combined in a single sketch. The RTC triggers the relay during a specific hour each day: 6 in the morning and at 8 in the evening. The relay is then powered for 20 seconds followed by a long delay. This is necessary because the real time clock is triggering action during the entire hour, in other words from 8:00 to 8:59. Thus after 20 seconds of watering a 3600 seconds delay keeps the relay powered off during the entire hour.

I am well aware that there might be much more elegant solutions to the given problem. However, as I am still at the beginning of programming, I was satisfied with that solution because it does what it is supposed to.

The alarm is set on a 2000 HZ level. This is loud enough to be heard inside the house. Meanwhile it avoids disturbing any neighbors.

Schematics

This project uses an Arduino Nano shield or terminal adapter (see hardware list) coming with screws for every pin to ensure proper connection. For all other connections this project uses socket terminals. There are probably more professional solutions, but this one makes sure each connection keeps stable even in case someone accidentally bumps against the weatherproof box. This is the reason why the schematics do not show any breadboard.

Code

Code

//             Herbal garden watering project                //
/* 
 The followign part of the code is from https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/robotgeek-projects-team/using-a-real-time-clock-with-arduino-6b3896 
 and from http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-use-a-Buzzer-Arduino-Tutorial/
 */
#include <Wire.h>
#include "DS1307.h"

DS1307 clock;//define a object of DS1307 class

const int RELAY = 4; //Relay set to digital pin 4
const int buzzer = 9; //Buzzer set to digital pin 9

void setup()
{
  pinMode(RELAY, OUTPUT);
  clock.begin();
  pinMode(buzzer, OUTPUT); // Set buzzer - pin 9 as an output
}
void loop()
{
  timedRelay();
  tone(buzzer, 2000); // Send 2KHz sound signal...
  delay(500);        // ...for half sec
  noTone(buzzer);     // Stop sound...
  delay(500);        // ...for half sec
}

void timedRelay()
{
  clock.getTime();

  switch (clock.hour)
  {
    case 6: //when the clock reads 6 AM seconds (Once every 24 hours)
      digitalWrite(RELAY, HIGH);   // turn the Relay on (HIGH is the voltage level)
      delay(20000);              // wait for 20 second
      digitalWrite(RELAY, LOW);    // turn the Relay off by making the voltage LOW
      delay(3600000);              // wait for 3600 second
  }

   switch (clock.hour)
  {
    case 20: //when the clock reads 8 PM seconds (Once every 24 hours)
      digitalWrite(RELAY, HIGH);   // turn the Relay on (HIGH is the voltage level)
      delay(20000);              // wait for 20 second
      digitalWrite(RELAY, LOW);    // turn the Relay off by making the voltage LOW
      delay(3600000);              // wait for 3600 second
  }
}

Credits

Maximilian Dullo

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Real-Time Clock Controlled Herbal Garden Watering System

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Introduction

The Herbal Garden Shelf

Weatherproof Electric Box

Water Supply

Watering System

The Code

Schematics

Schematics

Circuit

Code

Code

Credits

Maximilian Dullo

Comments

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Real-Time Clock Controlled Herbal Garden Watering System

Real-Time Clock Controlled Herbal Garden Watering System

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Introduction

The Herbal Garden Shelf

Weatherproof Electric Box

Water Supply

Watering System

The Code

Schematics

Schematics

Circuit

Code

Code

Credits

Maximilian Dullo

Comments

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