Huertomato User's Guide

Huertomato is an Arduino based controller for the management of hydroponics systems.

It consists of an Arduino MEGA 2560 shield and a reservoir module. It has all the sensors
youd need to monitor your plants environment and can water at the times you choose.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FEATURES
HARDWARE
MENU OVERVIEW
KIT CONTENTS
ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS
POWERING THE DEVICE
FIRST-TIME CONFIG
SERIAL INTERFACE
SCHEMATICS
USEFUL LINKS

Huertomato Users Guide

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FEATURES

Monitor temperature, humidity, light, pH, EC and tank level.

Plug your pump into Huertomato, set watering timers and forget.
Automatically stop watering at night.
Log all sensor data to SD Card.
Celsius or Fahrenheit modes.
Trigger alarms if sensor levels are unsafe for your plants.
Pump auto shut off protection if tank level is critically low.
Fully graphical sensor calibration.
System settings are saved to EEPROM, preventing data loss.
Serial command line interface.

HARDWARE

3.2 Touchscreen LCD for system status and interaction.

DS18B20 temperature sensor.
DHT11 humidity sensor.
Photoresistor.
Real Time Clock with backup battery.
Relay for an AC water pump.
RGB LED and buzzer for status.
3x RJ45 I/O ports.
Atlas Scientific pH sensor circuit
Atlas Scientific EC sensor circuit
HC-SR04 sonar sensor for measuring nutrient tank level.

Huertomato Users Guide

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MENU OVERVIEW

Huertomato Users Guide

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KIT CONTENTS

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Huertomato main shield

LCD screen
LCD shield
RJ45 cable
Arduino MEGA2560
Lithium battery
SD card
Sonar sensor
Reservoir module
USB cable

Huertomato Users Guide

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ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1.
Carefully place the battery [6] into it's socket in the main shield [1]. This is better
done like in the images below. You risk the chance of breaking the gold-plated part
otherwise.

Step 2
. Unwrap the LCD [2], the SD card [7] should be already plugged into it. Plug the
LCD to the Huertomato main shield. Theres a green plastic spacer included in the kit (as
a gift) but it will require some filing for it to fit properly between the LCD and shield.

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Step 3.
For this step you'll need a power cord you are willing to cut. Please be very
careful with this step as mains voltage can kill you.
Always make sure the cord is not
plugged into anything before manipulating it.
Cut back a bit of the cord's insulator, being careful as to not damage the inner cables. Cut
one of the two cables you'll encounter and peel them a bit till they fit securely inside the
screw terminal. This cable is routed through Huertomato's pump relay so it can control
your water pump.
Unscrew both terminals and attach your water pump's cable to them. Make sure you
screw them back tightly so that the cable is not able to move or unplug itself.

DEATH ALERT:
Please don't touch the relay's contacts near the screw terminal EVER while
cord is plugged. Mains voltage can kill you!

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Step 4.
Plug the sonar sensor [8] to the reservoir module [9] as shown in the picture.
Note: This sonar sensor needs direct perpendicular line of sight to your nutrient solution
as it's in charge of measuring the tank's level.

Step 5.
Connect your pH & EC probes to the reservoir module [9]. This is done by pushing
and then twisting to secure it into place. The pH probe has to be connected to the
terminal next to the RED circuit while the EC probe is connected near the GREEN one.

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Step 6.
Plug the ethernet cable [4] from the reservoir module [9] to the main shield [1]. In
the main shield the cable must be plugged into the top port, the one marked as
Reservoir sensing

ALERT:
Please don't plug the reservoir module to any other port of the main shield as this
may damage or destroy one or both of the circuit boards.

You have now finished the physical setup.

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POWERING THE DEVICE

Huertomato works best when powered directly through a DC adapter. Power through
USB is usually limited to 500mA and can make the system unstable or not work at all.
More precisely, you'll need a power adapter that gives anything from 9 to 12V DC, with at
least a 1 Amp current. It has to have a 2.1mm plug with a positive center pin.

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FIRST-TIME CONFIG
First of all you should go to Controller Settings. Here you can choose how the controller
will behave.

The most important option here is Time & Date. Here you have to set the proper time &
date using the arrows and then click on the Save button till it changes to Saved.
The remaining controller settings can be left at their default values but theyre worth
explaining.

SD Card menu controls how often data is logged if at all.

In Sensor Polling you can set how often sensors get asked for data. Its not
recommended to set this below 2 secs as EC sensor alone takes 1 sec to make a reading.
Then you have four toggle buttons, LED, Sound, T.Unit and Serial Debugging.
Remember that in order for the serial interface to work this last toggle has to be enabled.

Now its time to set up Huertomato for your current system. Go back to System Settings.

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Watering Cycle is the place

where you set your watering
schedule.
There are two modes:
Timed
mode will activate the
relay at set times and let
you choose interval and
duration of waterings.
Continuous will keep the
water pump always on. This
can also be used for brief
manual watering.

Night Watering is there in

case you want to stop
watering at night.
As soon as light level
reaches the threshold you
set the pump is shut down
for the night. When morning
comes and threshold is
reached water cycles begin
again.

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Reservoir Module menu is all about the solution tank. You can toggle the module on or
off, set up alarms and calibrate nutrient tank's levels.

First menu, Sensor Alarms

is where you can set alerts
when nutrient sensors reach
certain pH or EC thresholds.
If triggered, Huertomato's
led will go red and a beep
will sound to warn you
something is wrong.

Pump Protection lets you

prevent your pump from
running dry in case nutrient
level goes too low.

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Last thing youll have to do is go to the calibration menu. There are two parts to this
calibration. Electroconductivity & pH are better calibrated with Huertomato sitting on top
of a desk, as youll need to play with calibration fluids and paper towels. The nutrient
level calibration is better done with the Huertomato system installed into its final place,
as youll need the range sensor to have direct line of sight to the nutrient tank for it to
calibrate nicely.
Calibration for pH and EC is
done with calibration fluids
and
following
on-screen
instructions. Neither probes
nor calibration fluids are
included in the kit, so youll
have
to
source
them
elsewhere.
For pH you'll need fluids of
ph4, 7 and 10. For EC 10K and
40K uS liquids. You'll also need
some paper towels.
Once you have everything at
hand, just go to the appropriate
menu and follow on-screen
instructions.

To calibrate your tanks level you go

to Calibration Water levels.
Easiest thing to do to calibrate this
is to empty the tank, set bottom
distance then fill the tank again and
set top distance. This will tell
Huertomato your levels so it will be
able to know the percentage of
nutrient solution remaining.

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SERIAL INTERFACE
Huertomato can be set-up and it's status can be read using serial commands. Serial
debug setting must be activated for them to work. Default baud rate is 115200bps and all
commands must end with a carriage return <CR> for them to be recognized. Commands
are case sensitive so check that sensor and settings names are correctly spelled as they
always start with a capital letter.
Available commands are:

help
shows all available commands.
status
gives current system values including date, time, available memory and
sensor data.
memory
displays current free memory.
sensors
menu for getting status of a selected sensor. Options are:
sensors
list
lists all possible sensors that can be checked
sensors
get
returns info of the given sensor. Options are:
sensors
get
Temperature

sensors
get
Humidity

sensors
get
Light

sensors
get
Ec

sensors
get
Ph

sensors
get
Level

settings
current system settings can be checked or modified from here. These
are saved to EEPROM so they can be retrieved in case of system restart. Options
are:
settings
list
gives the names of all system's settings.
settings
get
shows the current value of a given setting.
settings
get
WaterTimed

1 if in timed watering mode, 0 if continuous

watering selected.
settings
get
WaterHour

Current hour for water interval.

settings
get
WaterMinute

Current minute for water interval.

settings
get
FloodMinute

Time in minutes system will water.

settings
get
PHalarmUp

Upper threshold for pH warning.

settings
get
PHalarmDown

Lower threshold for pH warning.

settings
get
ECalarmUp

Upper threshold for electroconductivity warning.

settings
get
ECalarmDown

Lower threshold for electroconductivity

warning.
settings
get
WaterAlarm

Lower threshold for nutrient low warning.

settings
get
NightWatering

1 if system waters at night, 0 otherwise.

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settings
get
LightThreshold

Light threshold below which system thinks its

nighttime.
settings
get
MaxWaterLvl

Distance (in cm) from sonar sensor where

solution level is at maximun.
settings
get
MinWaterLvl

Distance (in cm) from sonar where solution level

is at a minimum.
settings
get
PumpProtection

1 when pump protection is on, 0 if off.

settings
get
PumpProtectionLvl

Distance (in cm) where solution level is so

low activating the pump will damage it.
settings
get
SensorSecond

Sensors polling interval (in seconds).

settings
get
SDactive

1 if SD is present, 0 otherwise.
settings
get
SDhour

Hour for saving sensor data to SD card.

settings
get
SDminute

Minute for saving data to SD card.

settings
get
Sound

1 if sound is enabled, 0 if not.

settings
get
SerialDebug

1 will output system data to serial, 0 will not.

settings
get
ReservoirModule

1 if reservoir module is present, 0 if it's not.

settings
get
NextWhour

Hour at which next watering will occur.

settings
get
NextWminute

Minute at which next watering will occur.

settings
get
NightWateringStopped

1 if watering has been stopped for the

night, 0 otherwise.
settings
get
WateringPlants

1 if system is currently watering, 0 if not.

settings
get
AlarmTriggered

1 if any alarm has been triggered, 0

otherwise.
settings
get

Led

- 1 if LED is active, 0 if its turned off

settings
get

Celsius

- 1 temperature is given in celsius. 0 if temperature in

fahrenheit.
settings
set
Format is:
settings
set
Name
Value
settings
set
WaterTimed

Boolean. 1 or 0.
settings
set
WaterHour

Integer. 0 to 23.
settings
set
WaterMinute

Integer. 0 to 59.
settings
set
FloodMinute

Integer. 0 to 59.
settings
set
PHalarmUp

Float. 0.00 to 14.00

settings
set
PHalarmDown

Float. 0.00 to 14.00

settings
set
ECalarmUp

Integer. 0 to 9999.
settings
set
ECalarmDown

Integer. 0 to 9999.
settings
set
WaterAlarm

Integer. 0 to 100.
settings
set
NightWatering

Boolean. 1 or 0.
settings
set
LightThreshold

Integer. 0 to 9999.
settings
set
MaxWaterLvl

Integer. 0 to 100.
settings
set
MinWaterLvl

Integer. 0 to 100.
settings
set
PumpProtection

Boolean. 1 or 0.
settings
set
PumpProtectionLvl

Integer. 0 to 100.

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settings
set
SensorSecond

Integer. 0 to 59.
settings
set
SDactive

Boolean. 1 or 0.
settings
set
SDhour

Integer. 0 to 23.
settings
set
SDminute

Integer. 0 to 59.
settings
set
Sound

Boolean. 1 or 0.
settings
set
SerialDebug

Boolean. 1 or 0.
settings
set
ReservoirModule

Boolean. 1 or 0.
settings
set

Led

- Boolean. 1 or 0.
settings
set

Celsius

- Boolean. 1 or 0.

Other settings like watering hour or minutes are set internally so they shouldn't and can't
be changed from command-line.

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SCHEMATICS

Huertomato Users Guide

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USEFUL LINKS
>
>
>
>

Latest Huertomato firmware

Huertomato shield KiCad files
Reservoir sensing KiCad files
iTeadstudio LCD shield holder

Huertomato Users Guide

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