Cheap Controller for 8 Irrigation Valves
Description
Low-cost, battery-powered irrigation controller for up to 8 valves, expandable with Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, designed for energy efficiency. You can see more details on the https://www.hackster.io/martin125/cheap-controller-for-8-irrigation-valves-447114 Cheap Controller for 8 Irrigation Valves I’d like to introduce a low-cost controller for up to 8 valves to irrigate your garden. In this project, I aimed to create the most affordable device possible that operates without mains power—running solely on batteries, optionally supplemented with solar charging. It can also be used with a drip irrigation system that doesn’t require a connection to the water supply, needing only a water tank. The list of components is just to give you idea about it, you can easily change it for components you already have round you. Your Garden Without the Need for Daily Irrigation I used a simple schematic and control system that can be expanded to include wireless communication via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Currently, it’s built with an Arduino Uno for testing purposes, without using deep sleep mode. The control system works by sending information through the serial port, specifying which valve to open and for how long. The head moves over the selected valve and uses a servo motor to turn the irrigation tap. A basic DC motor, commonly used in small robotic platforms due to its low cost, drives the movement. A cheap optical sensor detects whether the servo motor is correctly positioned over the valve. If the position matches the valve number sent via the serial port, the servo motor opens the valve. The system then waits for the specified duration (in seconds or minutes) before closing the valve again. An optical sensor also verifies whether the valve has returned to its closed position. Additionally, the device features an end-stop switch to detect if the servo motor head is in its default position. This is crucial for correctly tracking valve order in case the device is disconnected from power—upon restart, the head first returns to the starting position. This device was designed to be energy-efficient, capable of operating solely on batteries or a solar panel. Power is only consumed when moving to another valve or turning a valve. During idle phases, the device can enter a low-power mode. In the future, it would be more efficient to replace the Arduino Uno with a microcontroller running at a clock speed of, for example, 1 MHz using an internal oscillator. I’ve used this approach in other projects, significantly extending battery life. Ideally, it could be paired with a small solar panel and an ESP controller to enable Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity for valve management. I’d appreciate your feedback, and I’d love to hear if someone puts this project to practical use. Enjoy a garden that doesn’t require daily watering or one that’s located farther away, where you can’t be present every day. Further gardening project ongoing We’ve also started working on a small robotic vehicle designed to remove weeds and perform other minor but essential gardening tasks. This will also be an affordable yet functional device (of course a bit more expensive than this simple irrigation system 😄 but we want to keep the price as low as possible). We plan to regularly share our progress here on Hackster.io so you can follow along, see how things are developing, and decide if something similar might be useful for you. Once again, it will be an open-source project. If anyone is interested in contributing to the development or potentially using something like this in the future, feel free to send me a message. By the way, we’re currently looking for someone skilled in creating simple yet clear websites to showcase this new project (as a complement to Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms). Wishing you all the best in bringing your dreams and projects to life!
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