Recommendations for a greenhouse electric heater please

For the discussion of topics related to the conservation, cultivation, propagation and exhibition of cacti & other succulents.
Forum rules
For the discussion of topics related to the conservation, cultivation, propagation, exhibition & science of cacti & other succulents only.

Please respect all forum members opinions and if you can't make a civil reply, don't reply!
User avatar
habanerocat
BCSS Member
Posts: 1011
https://www.behance.net/kuchnie-warszawa
Joined: 02 Jun 2012
Branch: DUBLIN
Country: Mid-West Ireland
Role within the BCSS: Member
Location: Ireland

Re: Recommendations for a greenhouse electric heater please

Post by habanerocat »

I think mounting the electrics inside or outside the greenhouse are both an option. It looks like a fairly sheltered location. I would just add that if your bringing a lighter non-armoured cable in through the metal frame of the greenhouse, then make sure the greenhouse frame is earthed.

Best solution would of course be the weather proof socked mounted inside the greenhouse, up off the ground and away from water spills.
FaeLLe
BCSS Member
Posts: 339
Joined: 24 Feb 2016
Branch: DARTFORD
Country: UK
Role within the BCSS: Member

Re: Recommendations for a greenhouse electric heater please

Post by FaeLLe »

A bit of sun came out today and see how HOT it has got already!!!

I noticed that there are some gaps on the top of the installation between the glass panes, is that how it is meant to be?
IMG_3879.JPG
IMG_3879.JPG (57.29 KiB) Viewed 2139 times
User avatar
ralphrmartin
BCSS Research Committee Chairman
Posts: 6052
Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Branch: None
Country: United Kingdom
Role within the BCSS: Chairman - Research
Location: Pwllheli
Contact:

Re: Recommendations for a greenhouse electric heater please

Post by ralphrmartin »

Here's the temperature variation in my greenhouse today (recorded using a gizmo I built for under a tenner, and that sends the plot to my phone :grin: )
Screenshot_20180215-131730.jpg
Ralph Martin
https://www.rrm.me.uk/Cacti/cacti.html
Members visiting the Llyn Peninsula are welcome to visit my collection.

Swaps and sales at https://www.rrm.me.uk/Cacti/forsale.php

My Field Number Database is at https://www.fieldnos.bcss.org.uk
User avatar
SteveMcG
BCSS Member
Posts: 49
Joined: 15 Dec 2014
Branch: BRIGHTON, HOVE & District
Country: UK

Re: Recommendations for a greenhouse electric heater please

Post by SteveMcG »

Hi Ralph

As I have no space at home for a gh mine is a mile away from home. Your temp gizmo to phone would be perfect for my situation - could I trouble you for details?

Regards

Steve
FaeLLe
BCSS Member
Posts: 339
Joined: 24 Feb 2016
Branch: DARTFORD
Country: UK
Role within the BCSS: Member

Re: Recommendations for a greenhouse electric heater please

Post by FaeLLe »

SteveMcG wrote:Hi Ralph

As I have no space at home for a gh mine is a mile away from home. Your temp gizmo to phone would be perfect for my situation - could I trouble you for details?

Regards

Steve
I requested the same.... I was writing up a Google image recognition API and was going to use a cheap raspberry Pi looking at my weather monitor display to make a phone call to me! But Ralph's idea looks amazing.
User avatar
ralphrmartin
BCSS Research Committee Chairman
Posts: 6052
Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Branch: None
Country: United Kingdom
Role within the BCSS: Chairman - Research
Location: Pwllheli
Contact:

Re: Recommendations for a greenhouse electric heater please

Post by ralphrmartin »

I'll give an outline of what I did here. It assumes you already have WiFi available in the greenhouse.

I bought
- an ESP8266 development board (e.g. a NodeMCU)
- a BME280 breakout board
- a 5V 2A micro USB power supply as used for phones etc.

I downloaded the Arduino IDE, and followed the instructions to install the ESP8266 core for it (so it can be used for writing programs for the ESP8266).
I also downloaded the BME280 library for Arduino.

I downloaded the Bkynk app for my Android phone (I think there's one for iPhones too).

I wrote a program for the ESP8266 which essentially reads the temperature / pressure / humidity at set intervals from the BME280, and sends the values to Blynk virtual pins.

I used Blynk's interface builder to generate the interface shown, and wired it up to the virtual pins.

That's a very basic summary, which I don't expect to be much use to anyone other than someone already familiar with Arduino's and the like. However, I will give the Arduino program listing in the next posting...
Last edited by ralphrmartin on Thu Mar 01, 2018 3:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ralph Martin
https://www.rrm.me.uk/Cacti/cacti.html
Members visiting the Llyn Peninsula are welcome to visit my collection.

Swaps and sales at https://www.rrm.me.uk/Cacti/forsale.php

My Field Number Database is at https://www.fieldnos.bcss.org.uk
User avatar
ralphrmartin
BCSS Research Committee Chairman
Posts: 6052
Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Branch: None
Country: United Kingdom
Role within the BCSS: Chairman - Research
Location: Pwllheli
Contact:

Re: Recommendations for a greenhouse electric heater please

Post by ralphrmartin »

Actually, I used a Wemos D1 board rather than a NodeMCU.
You need the Wire library as well as the BME280 library.
You also need the Blynk library for Arduino.
The BME280 module is connected by I2C to the ESP8266. Connect sda of BME module to D2 pin of Wemos and connect scl of BME module to D1pin of wemos. Also connect the power pins for the BME module to the power output pins of the Wemos D1.

After programming the Wemos D1 using the Arduino IDE, just power it up using the power supply via microUSB port, and it should start talking to the Blynk server.

The Serial.print stuff is just there for debugging and troubleshooting, and isn't really needed.

You need your own authorisation token for use with Blynk - see the Blynk documentation.

Code: Select all

// Configured for Wemos D1 r1 (original Wemos D1 Board)

#define BLYNK_PRINT Serial

#define RED   "#FF0000"
#define GREEN "#00FF00"
#define BLUE  "#0000FF"

#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <BlynkSimpleEsp8266.h>
#include <BME280I2C.h>
#include <Wire.h>

// You should get Auth Token in the Blynk App.
// Go to the Project Settings (nut icon).
char auth[] = "your-auth-token-here";

char ssid[] = "your-wifi-ssid here";
char pass[] = "your-wifi-password-here";

int resetLimits = 0; // flag to say if limits need to be reset

BME280I2C bme;    // Default : forced mode, standby time = 1000 ms
                              // Oversampling = pressure ×1, temperature ×1, humidity ×1, filter off,

BME280::TempUnit tempUnit(BME280::TempUnit_Celsius);
BME280::PresUnit presUnit(BME280::PresUnit_hPa);

BlynkTimer timer;
WidgetLED led(V10);

float t, tmin, tmax, h, hmin, hmax, p;

BLYNK_WRITE(V0) {  resetLimits = 1;        } // Button to reset limits
BLYNK_WRITE(V1) {  hmin = param.asFloat(); } // For data coming from server
BLYNK_WRITE(V2) {  hmax = param.asFloat(); }
BLYNK_WRITE(V3) {  tmin = param.asFloat(); }
BLYNK_WRITE(V4) {  tmax = param.asFloat(); }

void sendSensor()
{
  bme.read(p, t, h, tempUnit, presUnit);
  
  if (isnan(p) || isnan(t) || isnan(h)) {
    Serial.println("Failed to read from  sensor!");
    led.setColor(RED);
    return;
  }
  
  led.setColor(GREEN);
  
  Blynk.virtualWrite(V5, h);
  Blynk.virtualWrite(V6, t);
  Blynk.virtualWrite(V9, p); 

  if(h<hmin || isnan(hmin) || resetLimits == 1) { hmin=h; Blynk.virtualWrite(V1, h); }
  if(h>hmax || isnan(hmax) || resetLimits == 1) { hmax=h; Blynk.virtualWrite(V2, h); }
  if(t<tmin || isnan(tmin) || resetLimits == 1) { tmin=t; Blynk.virtualWrite(V3, t); }
  if(t>tmax || isnan(tmax) || resetLimits == 1) { tmax=t; Blynk.virtualWrite(V4, t); }

  resetLimits = 0; // clear any request to reset limits
}

void setup()
{
  // Debug console
  Serial.begin(115200);

  Serial.println("Restarted");

  Blynk.begin(auth, ssid, pass);

  led.on();
  led.setColor(BLUE);

  Wire.begin(D4, D3);                          //  sda = 4 = D2, scl= 5 = D1
  while(!bme.begin())
  {
    Serial.println("Could not find BME280 sensor!");
    delay(1000);
  }
  switch(bme.chipModel())
  {
     case BME280::ChipModel_BME280:
       Serial.println("Found BME280 sensor! Success.");
       led.setColor(GREEN);
       break;
     case BME280::ChipModel_BMP280:
       Serial.println("Found BMP280 sensor! No Humidity available.");
       break;
     default:
       Serial.println("Found UNKNOWN sensor! Error!");
       led.setColor(RED);
  }

  Blynk.syncVirtual(V1,V2,V3,V4);            // Get old limits from server
  
  timer.setInterval(10L * 1000L, sendSensor); // Set timer to send data every 10 s
}

void loop()
{
  Blynk.run();
  timer.run();
}

Ralph Martin
https://www.rrm.me.uk/Cacti/cacti.html
Members visiting the Llyn Peninsula are welcome to visit my collection.

Swaps and sales at https://www.rrm.me.uk/Cacti/forsale.php

My Field Number Database is at https://www.fieldnos.bcss.org.uk
User avatar
SteveMcG
BCSS Member
Posts: 49
Joined: 15 Dec 2014
Branch: BRIGHTON, HOVE & District
Country: UK

Re: Recommendations for a greenhouse electric heater please

Post by SteveMcG »

Hi Ralph

Wow - top job, quite a project. I will definitely have a go at this and thanks so much for sharing. I could give it to one of my students to sort if I was lazy! I tend to veer away from programing so much appreciated that you added that too.

Result of the day is I found a nearly new Bio Green Phoenix heater for a tad over £100. Perfect as my greenhouse is waiting for me to assemble it. I got the slab down before the cold spell. The heater will be perfect in the workshop when I build the staging...

Thanks again Ralph

Steve
User avatar
ralphrmartin
BCSS Research Committee Chairman
Posts: 6052
Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Branch: None
Country: United Kingdom
Role within the BCSS: Chairman - Research
Location: Pwllheli
Contact:

Re: Recommendations for a greenhouse electric heater please

Post by ralphrmartin »

If you need further explanation, just ask. I'm happy to share.
Ralph Martin
https://www.rrm.me.uk/Cacti/cacti.html
Members visiting the Llyn Peninsula are welcome to visit my collection.

Swaps and sales at https://www.rrm.me.uk/Cacti/forsale.php

My Field Number Database is at https://www.fieldnos.bcss.org.uk
Post Reply