OK, I'm not happy with the title, but I hope it gets the point across. I'm new as can be to electronics and while I've got a few hundred dollars worth of books and hundreds of bookmarks on Safari, I'm not sure if I'm clear with what I need to do here. Or rather, what's the best way to do it. I have seen similar setups on the web, but there's always some difference.
I'd like to do something that, in the end, is a simple project. I keep leaving the water on to my vegetable garden and it's truly costing me. Here in NorCal, we get fined for excess water usage. So.. I'd like to use either an arduino supplemented with an esp8266 module connected to a solar panel and li-po battery all for scheduling and checking on, a hose bib attached 3/4" solenoid. I've also got a 3/4" water flow sensor that I'd love to attach and use as a trigger for a warning from the device.
Some parameters: (a) I'd like to keep it wifi. I know there are other comm methods, but I'd like to use wifi. I'm thinking I'll use adafruit.io or another .io site to control things. (b) I'd like to use solar, charging my battery and keeping it all off the grid. If that turns out to be too much for the initial project, I've got power fairly close. (c) I've never soldered, but I've got the gear and if need be, I'll try to do it.
What I have already (not just for this project!!) multiple uno's and a couple mega, a couple of the adafruit esp8266 huzzah, a few different motor controller boards (more aimed at bot motors), the solenoid itself (12v, 3/4"), power supplies for 110v. Breadboards and wiring. Plus a Radio Shack and Amazon.
Here's my questions,
1 - should I use an Arduino with a wifi shield? Or use one of the adafruit "huzzah" boards I've bought?
2 - I know I need some kind of solar panel controller that allows for battery charging and powering the whole setup. The boards I find on sparkfun and adafruit seem like what I want, but since most of the descriptions assume a higher level of knowledge than I have, I'm not sure which to get. Keeping in mind that the setup includes this 12v solenoid, I'm not sure if I can get away with a single board for power.
3 - I'm thinking the way it works is: arduino connects to a wifi source (either shield or one of the huzzah) for comm. Arduino, battery, solar panel all connect to the solar panel board (like the Sunny Buddy from sparkfun - https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12885). But...
4 - got no idea how or where to wire up the solenoid. A motor controller board? And how to power it??
And that's where I start to get cross-eyed. Most of these boards offer some type of power connection for the arduino so there's only a single power cable required.
I'd like to put this all in a plastic enclosure mounted near the hose bib.
Yeah, there's a lot easier ways to get it done like $30 timers, but...
I'm not asking for anyone to do this for me, but help both in concepts and execution. I can do the code (and if I'm wrong there, I can post again...) and I'm confident I can do the project once I've got some path to follow.
I thank you all in advance for any help you can offer me.
