PiGrow2

Raspberry Pi Grow Box Control Software

This is the software required to control a PiGrow2. If you don't know what a PiGrow2 is then check out the videos and guides on

 https://www.patreon.com/Pigrow2

Currently everything is at an alpha development stage, a stable release will happen as soon as possible, in the mean time anyone interested in setting up a pigrow should message me personally and I'll help you directly.

This document will be updated and finished soon but the most up-to-date build, installation and usage instructions are available at:

 https://www.reddit.com/r/Pigrow/wiki/index

First Steps

Assuming you have an internet-connected Pi and you're logged in via ssh or using it with a keyboard and screen attached:

First you need to install the software, to do that clone the git repository using the command

 git clone https://github.com/Pragmatismo/Pigrow

This will copy all the files into /home/pi/Pigrow, now run the setup program

cd Pigrow/scripts/config
./setup.py

This opens a text menu offering a number of options. The first is to install dependencies, select it by typing 1 and pressing return. This will download and install all the resources and dependencies for the Pigrow, it may take a while.

Your Pigrow is now ready for use.

Setting up a Webcam and starting a Timelapse

1. Make sure your lightning conditions are set up as intended before beginning.
2. Run the webcam config script found in the /Pigrow/scripts/config/ folder.
3. Follow the instructions until you're happy with the image captured by your camera.
4. Remember to SAVE your settings once you're happy with them.

Setting up:

1. Run setup.py.
2. Select cron run scripts.
3. Select repeating scripts.
4. Follow the prompts to choose the camera capture script and repeat rate of your choice.

At the moment your best choice is probably camcap.py every five min.

Once this is set your PiGrow2 will start taking images at the previously defined intervals, this will keep happening even if you restart your PiGrow2.

To stop it you'll need to start setup.py and remove the cronjob which triggers the camera.

This can also be done via the reddit message-control script, manually editing the crontab with crontab -e, and soon via the remote gui.

From the PiGrow2 you can run Pigrow/scripts/visualisation/timelapse_assemble.py to construct a timelapse.

Run the script with the flag -h to get a full list of command line options and some usage instructions.

This script can also be run from a linux machine with MPV installed when the files have been downloaded manually.

They can also be automatically downloaded using the remote gui and the timelapse made using that. [work in progress]

Install and Setup

The following is out-of-date but sections of it may still be useful.

Test and config scripts

• LED - test_led.py - simply turns the LED on for 30 seconds

• Relay - test_relay.py - cycles the relays turning them all on then when they're all on it starts turning them off again.

• Relay - config_relay.py - Configures and tests which terminal (normally on or normally off) the sockets were plugged into, allows you to assign functions to relays

• Camera - cam_config.py - creates the persistant settings for use when recording a timelapse or viewing the pi.

Scripts to be called by cron

To add a one of the following timelapse programs to cron simply use:

   sudo crontab -e

At the bottom of the file after the explanation of how it works add the line:

   */1 * * * * python /home/pi/Pigrow/scripts/camcap_text_simple.py

This will run the script and take an image every one min.

          Camera -
                 - camcap.py - captures just a single image for
                 - camcap_text_simple.py - captures image and adds date and sensor data to it.
                 - camcap_text_colour.py - text colour changes according to sensor data.

To set up a 12:12 light cycle simple add the two lines:

 0 10 * * * python /home/pi/pigrow3/lamp_on.py
 0 22 * * * python /home/pi/pigrow3/lamp_off.py     

This turns the lamp on at 10:00am and off at 10:00pm.

Avoiding turning on lamps, fans, heaters, and dehumidifiers at exactly the same time. It will work, but can cause power-spikes with may trip your RCD.

          Relay -
                - lamp_on / off - actuates lamp relay
                - fan_on / off - for manual timing of fan
                - heat_on / off - for manual timing of heat
                - dehumi_on / off - for manual timing of dehumidifier

These scripts are run periodically as with the camera scripts to check the health of the pi and other neighboring pis. You can check many pis by calling the script many times.

    Sanity Check -
                 - self_awareness - sensor log, camera, health check
                 - nosey_neighbour - check on a brother pigrow

Scripts to be constantly running:

This is some init.d business I'll be back to explain once the script is uploaded...

      autorunlog.py - logs sensor data to file, switches heaters or fans according to sensor data

Installing 3rd party software commands

• Adafruit DHT sensor drivers:

      git clone https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Python_DHT.git
      cd Adafruit_Python_DHT
      sudo apt-get update
      sudo apt-get install build-essential python-dev python-openssl
      sudo python setup.py install
  

More information at: https://learn.adafruit.com/dht-humidity-sensing-on-raspberry-pi-with-gdocs-logging/software-install-updated

• From Linux Repository:

      sudo apt-get install uvccapture           #for use with camera
      sudo pip install pexpect                  #for use when logging other pigrows health
      sudo apt-get install python-matplotlib    #for making graphs
      sudo apt-get install sshpass              #for downloadinging images
      sudo apt install mpv                      #for rendering timelapse movies
      pip install python-crontab                #for config of timelapse and relay timing
  

• On systems other than Raspbian you may also need:

      sudo apt-get install python-pip           #for adding python modules
      pip install pillow                        #PIL the Python Image Library (for camera capture scripts that edit image)
      sudo apt-get install gpicview             #used by the config program (non-vital, easy to change-out in the code)
  

Directory Structure

        mkdir /home/pi/Pigrow/logs
        mkdir /home/pi/Pigrow/config
        mkdir /home/pi/Pigrow/graphs
        mkdir /home/pi/cam_caps

Set timed events using cron (the semi-manual way):

 crontab -e

Sample Cron Jobs:

 0 7 * * * python /home/pi/pigrow2/lampon.py           #turns lamp relay on at 7 am
 0 1 * * * python /home/pi/pigrow2/lampoff.py          #turns lamp relay off at 1 am

 */5 * * * * python /home/pi/Pigrow/scripts/pi_eye_logger.py    #runs pi_eye monitoring script every 5min