Introduction: Indoor Growing Environmental Controller
The Grassbery High is an intelligent multi plug, you can define rules for each outlet in your Browser.
E.g. plug a lamp into the outlet I and set it to on for twelve hours every day at 8 a.m. or plug a fan into outlet II and switch it automatically on if the temperature rises above X degrees. It's up to you which devices you want to control!
Learn in our DIY tutorial, how you can build your own.
If you don't feel comfortable building your own, we have a subscriber list for our kickstarter campaign . Register there and we will let you know, when you can buy a already mounted version.
Please help others installing the Grassberry High, we have the philosophy to reward people who help others. So in future, this is the option for you to run it without costs and for us to keep on developing*. So use the comment box below (ON our blog) or the support reddit to ask questions. We will answer all questions usually within 48h, please bear with us, the project is currently in BETA!
On the main page, there is a detailed shopping list with all the parts you need for the project.
There are many steps because I decided to make the tutorial as detailed as possible. If you feel there is something missing or hard to understand, just leave a comment below. It is very easy to do, most of the steps are just plugin cables together.
Step 1: Full Instructable at Our Blog
In our blog you can find all the steps of the tutorial better organized and you can get additional info/ask questions.
Step 2: Download the Software
Click the download link to download the software. The file is several GB, so the download takes ~1h depending on your internet connection. In the next step, I will explain to you how to burn the software to an SD card.
Step 3: Burn the Image to an SD Card
The file you have downloaded is an image. You can install this image with etcher.
Download etcher and follow the instructions on the etcher.io website. https://etcher.io/
Step 4: Insert the SD Card
On the underside of the pi there is a micro sd card slot. Just slide it in.
Step 5:
The black part where the flat cables goes in later looks away from the USB ports. The adapter pcb is facing inwards and the text on both pcbs are aligned.
Step 6: Cables, Relay Controller & Sensors
There exist two ways to plug in the flat cable. A good one and yes you guess a bad one. Luckily the bad one just will prevent it from working and does not damage the device.
The brown wire in the flat cable is the GND (ground). On the relay controller and the sensors you find a small G guess what, this is the abbreviation for ground. Always double check that the brown cable is on the right side. So make sure, that each cable you plug in looks like the image with the positive smiley not the devil.
Step 7: Connect the Relay Controller & Sensors
Outgoing from the raspberry pi, connect each device you have to the chain. One by one, it will be easy. Start with the connection between the raspberry pi and the relay controller. Then follow with the sensors. If you have more than one sensor of the same kind please check out advanced tips on the bottom.
On most of the devices there is an In and an Out label. The pi only has an output. So the output goes into the input of the relay controller, then the output of the relay controller goes into the input of the first sensor and so on. Some devices don't have an output. For these devices you need to either combine cables or use an adapter.
For the CO2-sensor you will need the I2C cross-over adapter for I2C cable reversing (or as in the picture above you manipulate one of the flat cables) because the input is the other way around.
Step 8: Connect the Micro-USB Cable to Your Pi3.
I guess you have done that before ;-) in your life.
Step 9: Hardware - Part Electrical Installation
Attention these steps can cause serious harm to you or others if done wrong.
There is a maximum current you can use on your outlets at home. E.g. your fuse box restricts the power of an outlet to 16 Amps. Remember the part with the smallest amount of possible current will be restricting the circuit. Never ever exceed this current, it may start a fire! This can be anything down the line from the fuse, the wires to the Grassberry High, the power input, the relay etc.
Wire diameters and current:
Inputs:
Check the Cable Colors for your country. The relay controller has 8 outputs. We divide these two outputs into two separated circuits. But let's get back to this later.
Step 10: Preparation
If you use the laser cut case (in a later step), cut all the cables as short as possible. If the cables are too long it will be difficult to fit everything into the case.
Now you can strip the cables' insulation. Using a wire stripper makes it easy to get the insulation off and prevents damaging the copper inside. Strip approx. 0.5cm/0.2inch off of each side of the cable.
Step 11: Cables Going to and Away From the Relay-controller
The conductor which goes to the relay-controller and away require a terminal on one side of the cable. The other side which will go into the lever nut is left blank. Never put anything on the side of the wire which goes into the lever nut to prevent the copper from slipping out.
Twist the front gently with your fingers, this helps the tiny copper hairs to stay together. Then place the terminal on the wire and crimp it. Make sure that the connection is tight.
The each relay on the relay controller has three connectors.
- COM: The power is going in here
- NO: Normally open (power only when switched)
- NC: Normally closed (power unless switched)
The power goes into COM, if a sensor or timer switches the relay it will conduct power through NO, otherwise through NC. We will use only COM & NO because we want everything switched off initially. The Grassberry High switches then the relays based on rules or timers. This is safer because e.g. in the case of a power down everything is out initially.
This is a basic circuit diagram which shows the correct wiring.
Now you should have sixteen phase cables with one terminal on a side. Take eight of them and attach a cable end sleeve on the other side. Use the crimp tool with the correct diameter for your cable to ensure the connection is tight. Double check before crimping that none of the hair wires are outside of the sleeve. This is dangerous because it may short circuit and spark. Leave a blank end on the other eight.
Step 12: Controlling the Power of Ventilators
If you want to use a vent which is normally switched to e.g. 50% and you need maximum power in situations where e.g. the temperature is exceeded. You can use both NC & NO. In this case, you direct the output of NC to your transformer and the output of NO to the ventilator.
Step 13: Wiring the Inlets
Take the first power inlet and wire it. If you have a version to solder, you need to connect the cables via soldering. Otherwise, you bolt it.
The middle part is connected to the ground. The left pin is the phase, the right pin is neutral. For each wire put the other end into a separate lever nut. Start from left to right to have everything tidy. Now you should have 2 circuits, each has three lever nuts with one cable inside
Step 14: Wiring the Outlets
Start with the lever nuts with the neutral wire. Add four cables into each lever nut. Remember the side which goes into the lever nut is left blank after the insulation has been stripped away. On the other side attach a cable end sleeve as seen earlier in the tutorial.
The side with the cable sleeve is mounted into the sockets. Repeat this for the ground cables. And mount the eight phase cables going out of the relays' NO output. Do not mix up the two separate circuits! E.g. the phase from circuit one goes into the lever nut, to the relay, to the socket and from there the neutral wire goes into the lever nut and from there back to the same input.
Step 15: Case
You can download the Adobe Illustrator files at thingiverse . These files contain several layers. The colors in the layers are red (cut), blue & black (engraving). If you cut it yourself you need to activate only one layer at a time.
Step 16: Connect
The first time you plugin in the Grassberry High, a wifi hotspot with the name gh-config will appear. Connect to this wifi hotspot with password highhigh.
After connecting to the hotspot, type into your browser: http://grassberry.local (don't forget the http://, otherwise your default search engine may take over). Browse to the general setup, there you can configure your wifi.
Select your wifi (it must be visible) and double check the password you entered.
The Grassberry High reboots now this may take a few minutes. Be patient and do not unplug the device! Unplugging the device may result in a bricked Grassberry High!
During the reboot the wifi hotspot is disabled, your computer usually connects to your preferred wifi then. In my case El Tigre 5G. If gh-config is still in your wifi list, then something is wrong, you may have mistyped the wifi password.
Leave the tab open in your Browser and you will get notified after the reboot in case of success. Again this takes a few minutes, so grab a coffee in-between.
From now on, you will be able to access your Grassberry High with http://grassberry.local from any device in the same wifi network.
Step 17: Modify/ Colaborate
You can access the public Github repository . It's still under License, if you need an extended license e.g. for building hardware on top/ intergrating the project into e.g. a cabin which is sold, please drop an email and we will figure s.th. out.
Step 18: Disclaimer
The project is currently in beta version. I'm only able to work part-time on the project, so bear with me in case something doesn't work and needs to be fixed.
Please ensure that you have the required electrical knowledge & certifications to do this! There is a severe risk to of injury or death. * The full use of the software stays free for collaborators, there are plenty of options to collaborate:
- Giving feedback
- Taking part in the development (software, designs, ...)
- Writing cool grow reports or reviews about the Grassberry High
But there is no need to collaborate, you can also pay on demand with our 20$/month subscription model. Or you can use the freemium version of Grassberry High, which is limited to monitoring and alerts.
