Automatic irrigation system using pic microcontroller

Question

Any one pls tell me how to build a automatic irrigation system using pic microcontroller. & It's programming

gadget.iom · Answer

I totally agree with what jw0752 is saying here. The community is very supportive, and your experiences will help others far more than you might immediately think.

Where other on-line communities might punish you for your tribulations, this community tends to jump in and offer support, guidance and help.

You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.
- Richard Branson... or somebody or other...

jw0752 · Answer

Hi Raymond,

I have to disagree with you a little. Everyone who has ever made anything NEW has been through the same process as you have described. I respect you for your in process posting of your results to date. I have found that when we wait for success and perfection we never quite get to the point of publishing. Keep up the great work and please continue to post work in progress. Another plus is that I find my friends here on the forum will give me helpful suggestions from time to time if they know what I am working on. All I have to do is keep my mind and eyes open to the possibilities.

John

mcb1 · Answer

Am quite sure that is the problem. Adding hysterisis to the relay will help stop it destroying itself. This is one of the biggest advantages of adding any form of controller BUT it can be achieved by capacitors, resistors and a dose of imperical derivation. I have an organic Irrigation controller ... my wife turns on the sprinkler for her garden. Mark

urkraft · Answer

I am not acquainted with the pic microcontroller, but i have made an automatic irrigation system for my olive tree with only a few components:

You only need the following componets:

- 1 5v 1A DC power supply

- 1 12v 1A DC power supply (https://www.kjell.com/no/produkter/elektro-og-verktoy/stromforsyning/stromforsyning/ac-dc/fast-utgangsspenning/ac-dc-stromadapter-12-v-(dc)-12-w-p44382)

- 1 soil moisture sensor (https://www.kjell.com/no/produkter/elektro-og-verktoy/arduino/moduler/luxorparts-jordfuktmaler-p87941)

- 1 100 ohm 1/4w resistor

- 1 10k 1/4w resistor

- 1 30 ohm 1/4w resistor

- 2 1n4148 diodes

- 1 IRF520N MOSFET (https://www.kjell.com/no/produkter/elektro-og-verktoy/elektronikk/halvledere/transistorer/luxorparts-transistor-mosfet-irf520-5-pk--p90630?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrsPMzIbh1gIVxLUYCh2xUAiqEAQYASABEgJWSfD_BwE)

- 1 VR05R241A single pole DIL relay (https://www.kjell.com/no/produkter/elektro-og-verktoy/elektronikk/electromechanics/releer/1-polet-dil-rele-5-v-dc-0-5-a-30-v-p36110)

- 1 pump (https://www.kjell.com/no/produkter/elektro-og-verktoy/elektronikk/electromechanics/motorer/luxorparts-vaeskepumpe-peristaltisk-p90782)

Another suggestion for a full blown irrigation system based on the Arduino is well documented in "Make: Getting Started with Arduino" (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Make-Electronics-Prototyping-Publisher-Paperback/dp/B00SLUYAS4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=150746740… )

Good luck!

the48sicks · Answer

I’ve often tried things and not had them work first time around, only having to go back and try something different.

The fact that you stuck with it and resolved your issue is more important than your project not working from the start. That is part of the fun

Thanks for the update on your project Raymond

urkraft · Answer

Thank you for the words of encouragement Matt, John, and Paul! I believe the point all of you are making is a very important one - something i first began to grasp while taking an online FutureLearn course called "Prepare to Run a Code Club".

The people presenting the course shared some of their experiences running code clubs. One of those was about what happened when they asked the children in a club if there was anything special they wanted to do. Some of the children wanted to have a club event where their technology challenged parents could attend in order to better understand what they were doing. On the night they implemented this suggestion one of the parents was very discouraged and disappointed when his attempts to complete a project failed. But his son had a remarkable response to the situation. He said: "But dad, you have just learned something important - that this approach was not quite right. You should look at it that way and try another approach towards a solution." (or something along those lines).

I was truly amazed! Could this be an important difference between people who fail and those who are successful in life - the ability to accept that it is ok to err if we choose to perceive it as a learning experience rather than some kind of failure as a human being?

Anyway, i will publish my latest attempt shortly (after dinner).

Thank you all.

urkraft · Answer

I have finished testing my design and have concluded that it should not be used. It is not stable. I cannot find any documentation for the moisture sensor that i have used with specifications for the D0 output pin, but it appears that it is a bad choice for controlling the circuitry i built around it. I have tried different variations of circuitry to control with the D0 output pin, but have been unable to get them to work reliably. My latest attempt is based on the A0 output pin input to the A0 pin of an Adafruit Feather HUZZAH, and that solution appears more promising (although i did not want to have to use anything so extravagant). This latest attempt is still being tested and i do not plan on repeating my previous mistake of publishing detailed information about it before it is fully developed and tested - and certainly not unless someone expresses an interest in it.

urkraft · Answer

My latest attempt at a solution: I just wasted about 1 hour documenting my work in this blog when everything was suddenly lost, so i have no intention of wasting more time in this way. This is going to be a "quick and dirty" posting. If this attempt also fails then i will give up. Parts used: 1 Adafruit Feather HUZZAH ESP8266 1 5v 1A DC power supply w/micro usb contact for the HUZZAH 1 12v 1A DC power supply ( https://www.kjell.com/no/produkter/elektro-og-verktoy/stromforsyning/stromforsyning/ac-dc/fast-utgangsspenning/ac-dc-stromadapter-12-v-(dc)-12-w-p44382 ) 1 power jack for the 12v power supply 1 soil moisture sensor ( https://www.kjell.com/no/produkter/elektro-og-verktoy/arduino/moduler/luxorparts-jordfuktmaler-p87941) 1 22k ohm 1/8w resistor 1 10k 1/8w resistor 1 33 ohm 1/4w resistor 2 1N4001 diodes 1 Peristaltic Pump ( https://www.kjell.com/no/produkter/elektro-og-verktoy/elektronikk/electromechanics/motorer/luxorparts-vaeskepumpe-peristaltisk-p90782) 1 VR05R241A single pole DIL relay ( https://www.kjell.com/no/produkter/elektro-og-verktoy/elektronikk/electromechanics/releer/1-polet-dil-rele-5-v-dc-0-5-a-30-v-p36110) 1 Breadboard Jumber wires Water container w/water Schematic Drawing: Solid State Relay Datasheet: HUZZAH code: #include const char* ssid = ""; const char* password = ""; const int LED = 0; const int PUMP = 4; // Max value is approx. 825 - bone dry // Min value is approx. 406 - drowning in water const int THRESHOLD = 700; int moisture = 0; int tmp = 0; void setup() { // put your setup code here, to run once: Serial.begin(115200); delay(100); Serial.println(); Serial.println(); Serial.print("Connecting to "); Serial.println(ssid); WiFi.begin(ssid, password); // supstitute the ipaddresses below with your desired static ip, router ip, and dhcp ip WiFi.config(IPAddress(192, 168, 1, 50), IPAddress(192, 168, 1, 1), IPAddress(192, 168, 1, 1)); while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) { delay(500); Serial.print("."); } Serial.println(""); Serial.println("WiFi connected"); Serial.println("IP address: "); Serial.println(WiFi.localIP()); Serial.println(); Serial.println(); Serial.println("Soil moisture sensor"); pinMode(PUMP, OUTPUT); pinMode(LED, OUTPUT); digitalWrite(LED, HIGH); digitalWrite(PUMP, HIGH); } void loop() { // put your main code here, to run repeatedly: tmp = analogRead(A0); if (tmp != moisture) { moisture = tmp; Serial.print("moisture = "); Serial.println(moisture); if (analogRead(A0) > THRESHOLD) { digitalWrite(LED, LOW); digitalWrite(PUMP, LOW); Serial.println("Threshold reached - water the plant!"); } else { digitalWrite(LED, HIGH); digitalWrite(PUMP, HIGH); } } delay(1000); } Comments: Everything appears to be stable with this solution so far. In the future i plan on implementing the following changes: - sensor to detect when the water supply is empty - send email when detected that water supply is empty, and do not attempt to pump water if the water supply is empty

ntewinkel · Answer

> I have finished testing my design and have concluded that it should not be used. It is not stable. Sorry to hear about the hurdles you're running into. However, these projects are often like puzzles - some more difficult than others - and part of the challenge can be just trying to work out the bugs Interestingly, I just noticed this on the element14/Farnell/Newark store: http://canada.newark.com/global-specialties/gsk-947/edu-kit-automatic-sprinkler-controller/dp/75X8167 " The GSK-947 GSK-947 is an automatic sprinkler control kit This kit is used to control the water pump for watering plants automatically It measures the soil moisture in 3 levels with delay time controls the time of watering and adjusts the watering according to soil moisture " At $20 CAD it's a pretty good deal too. It might also help you figure out the design of it, as it's a build-it kit. Here's the PDF tech specs . Also @Akash for your project. -Nico

urkraft · Answer

By the way - i plan on posting all future developments in my irrigation project here: (Semi)Automated Plant Irrigation System

beacon_dave · Answer

Yes, very likely. Adding a hysteresis resistor to the LM393 comparator circuit should have tamed its D0 switching behaviour for driving the relay though e.g. http://www.ti.com/lit/ug/tidu020a/tidu020a.pdf

ntewinkel · Answer

Works for me! Bookmarked it Thanks.

beacon_dave · Answer

The moisture sensor module looks like one of these LM393 comparator based sensor modules. Module schematic: https://www.modmypi.com/download/moisture-sensor.jpg LM393 data sheet: https://www.modmypi.com/download/lm393.pdf There is a similar looking project using that module both with and without a microcontroller here: http://electroschematics.com/12065/arduino-soil-moisture-sensor-module/

urkraft · Answer

Forgot to mention a couple of other changes i plan to make to the code: - Introduce another (lower) threshold and use it for turning off the water pump - introduce a longer time delay (1 day) to wait before checking soil moisture immediately after turning off the pump. These changes will have to wait as i have other activities pending which require my immediate attention. -raymond

urkraft · Answer

Yes Nico, i agree with you and have done that now. Hope i did it properly and that it is accessible for anyone who is interested . -raymond

Automatic irrigation system using pic microcontroller

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