Automated Ebb and Flood Hydroponic: Code and Schematics Included!

In this video I talk you through my basic ebb and flood hydroponics automation. This will be a good starting point if you want to do something similar and are somewhat comfortable with this sort of thing. In a future video I will talking about my advanced version of this which will be far more user-friendly!
The code is available on my website: www.chillichump...
Parts used:
Amazon Links:
Arduino Uno: geni.us/arduin...
Ardunino Nano: geni.us/arduin...
5V Relays: geni.us/5vrelays
Photoresisters: geni.us/photor...
Banggood Links: (cheaper, but takes longer to arrive)
Arduino Uno: bit.ly/2VSZRzS
Arduino Nano: bit.ly/2VMfCIA
5v Relays: bit.ly/2VUWt7F
Breadboards: bit.ly/2VOr1aV
To support me and my channel:
www.youtube.co...
OR
/ chillichump
Intro and outro music is "Old Man" by Johnny Black Blues. Check out their Facebook page: / johnnyblackblues
/ johnny_black_band
• The Highway Walkers - ...
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Note: All information provided by ChilliChump is furnished only for educational/entertainment purposes only. You agree that use of this information is at your own risk and hold ChilliChump harmless from any and all losses, liabilities, injuries or damages resulting from any and all claims.
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[@rickcreamer8193]

Great way to automate a watering system! Thank you so much for sharing this project! I built one very similar to yours to water my bonsai maple trees!

[@jamesgoacher1606]

That was enthralling. I made such a system as this back in 1976 but of a "Haul a bucket of nutrient up at the beginng of the day and let it down at the end. It was into some flower Pots. I have no idea if it would have worked because I had to go to another site over the Sping/Summer and my wife was given instructions but when she tried it she couldn't lift the bucket of nutriants. The year 1976 was HOT in England so it would probably not been a sucess. I am now a retired Controls type Electrical Engineer and this tickes my interest. I have used PICs in the past but 20 or so years ago. I am minded to have a go with this but as you were talking and my mind wandered a little I thought that maybe if you used a Latching Relay power would be much less. HOWEVER I do not know if such a thing exists at this level. Certainly they did for full voltage sytems maybe at 5V as well. Although the Fail Safe would have to be considered. Looking forward to looking into this further over out Winter.

[@kleetus92]

Very nice video and program. I was happy to see that you weren't using stop timers, but rather actually checking the clock to see how much time has went by instead. I really do enjoy your videos!

[@JohnathanProphet]

As a Software Dev\Eng. I can appreciate this. Thanks for sharing.

[@RenzeGoossens]

As a student computer engineering. I can appreciate this too. Thanks for the content chillichump.

[@ChilliChump]

It's my pleasure! Have a look at my second channel, I am doing a few more techy things there including s beginners guide to automation kzbin.info

[@courtenyrourk7588]

This is a comment on your Tabasco type sauce. I’m from the area it’s made. They age it in charred oak barrels. A good way to mimic the charred oak taste is to take a piece of lump hardwood charcoal (has to be lump, not brickette) and rinse off most of the dust. Then just drop it in your mash. It’ll give the flavor without the barrel.

[@shaunballagh196]

Awesome upload mate! You're a man of many talents.

[@cali..]

This was a really interesting video, thanks Chillichump!

[@jamess1787]

More videos like this!!!

[@Taurickk]

This is a great video, not often you see code and horticulture combined. If I could make a suggestion, it would be to apply a 2-3px black stroke when using white text. The overlays in this video were quite difficult to read, and adding a strong contrast outline to the text will help immensely :)

[@simonhenry7415]

wow mate! Are you an electronical engineer or something? I learn something new from you each video

[@ChilliChump]

Hey Simon, I did study electrical engineering a long time ago... It isn't my profession though! Just a hobby I really enjoy

[@simonhenry7415]

@@ChilliChump Well, I'm just taking it one step at a time mate - I've managed to make some hot sauce now, got pretty much all the kitchen gear I need, some good chilli plants producing right now and a bunch of seeds to start off this winter. I'll get that right first and then try my hand at some of the fancier stuff you're doing here !!

[@justinbeere]

Electronics, Code and Chillis! Match made in heaven, just needs 🍺.

[@ChilliChump]

I brew beer too... 😁

[@Mrdsmith500]

Cool find for me. I'm into Arduinos, raspberry pi , automation (retired controls technician), and plant growing, especially peppers.

[@ChilliChump]

You're going to love my second channel! I have my more techy stuff on there KZbin.com/chillichump2

[@ijfdejong]

Nice video! Might use this in the future, bit much for now :)

[@omna1]

lol, you just kicked my secondary school project's ass, I chose to design and make an automatic plant watering system, was a lot harder for saying it was just 12 years ago

[@linaso9739]

Liked the video. I feel some sentiments towards microcontrollers, since this was my first job 20 years ago. Now I am stuck with radio wave propagation and telecommunications regulations... At home I am doing a watering system with Arduino for my peppers and would like to ask you if you had any thoughts on what water pump could be used for that. I need it to supply water for 3 - 4 plants so I assume that it should not be too powerful. I think on using water pump designed for a windscreen of a car. Maybe you had some suggestions on that?

[@jmannUSMC]

Here is a good website that gives general calculations you use to size the right pump for your system. Hope it helps university.upstartfarmers.com/blog/sizing-a-pump-hydroponics-aquaponics

[@ChilliChump]

I am using this pump: geni.us/ecobpump The advice I got from Jukka was that you really don't need a pump that is too big. It will be interesting to see how this pump performs. You should be able to get away with a small fish tank pump...they are really cheap too!

[@circle4922]

Thanks for explaining. I was about to ask why you didn't use time.

[@jimjh2671]

Awesome I may have to do this type of table. I may do mine indoors for starters

[@will16320]

Great video, looking forward to v2 that's quite a bit of kit!

[@DenzCasuela]

I'm trying to make something like this for my little brother's mini thesis. I hope I can use some inspiration from your code

[@ChilliChump]

Hey Denzyl, have a look at my second channel. You may enjoy the content there on automation: kzbin.info

[@DenzCasuela]

@@ChilliChump thank you so much, I'm still a noob at coding but with your videos I might just get a lot better

[@psychorooks]

Definitely going to be using this. Thank you.

[@ewellacres]

though you may have a little greater cost in infrastructure it the beginning I find that it will help to decrease the labor costs in future making it balance out in the long run.

[@zinku418]

This is very interesting. With this script you could pretty much set up a flood and drain cycle, but would you have to have the Arduino tell a relay to cut power to a outlet instead of trying to power a pump directly. I'm not really sure how that would work out, I stumbled upon this video and have never even heard of a Arduino but this is some cool stuff.

[@ChilliChump]

The relays I use can work with mains AC voltage too. I use DC because I have an off-grid system where my greenhouse is. And it is a flood and drain script...so it can control pumps like here....or you could control a valve on a tap if you want too

[@SR81K9]

What's with the prices in US dollars??

[@ChilliChump]

I buy most of my components from Banggood, and prices are listed in USD. Also the vast majority of my viewers are from the US (0ver 70%)

[@davidjobe9876]

Why you need that 10K Resistor ? Protection for the Arduino maybe. I like that video Chillichump ;)

[@ChilliChump]

Thank you! I found that it brought the reading to a more usable level through the analogue input on the Arduino. It isn't for protection

[@davidjobe9876]

@@ChilliChump Ok, thanks for the fast reply ;)

[@ac-bq5ru]

Hi I know it's off topic but I'm 9 weeks into growing my Carolina reaper peppers. I just sprayed them with the neem oil solution a day or two ago to get rid of the white flies. When I got up this morning and I realized the leaves started having multiple brown spots and some started falling off... I need help please 😭 What should I do?

[@iclazion]

You are a pure Genius !!!

[@G-boi]

How's the chilli grow for 2019 coming along !?.

[@ChilliChump]

It's going well. Will be an update video on that next Monday!

[@williscooper7750]

oh Brits and their White for ground lol. I know, I know wiring and electrical are different there. Just still gets me everything lol. Love the vids man keep them up

[@ChilliChump]

Actually it used to be red (positive), black (negative) and green (earth). The new standards are brown (positive), blue (negative and green (earth). The confusing thing is when your house has both colour codes! When I am prototyping I just use whatever is at hand normally...but should probably be consistent with the colours!

[@williscooper7750]

@@ChilliChump I know I was messing lol. Although US used to use black for hot and white for neutral ground. Now on a 2 wire system is still black hot, white neutral and green earth ground. On a 3 wire its black and red hot with white neutral and green earth ground. Then when you step up to 2 and 3 phase system its gets even weirder

[@ChilliChump]

Oh man...3 phase is a pain. We had that on our farm in South Africa!

[@williscooper7750]

Typically 2 wire will be a 120v while 3 wire (large gauge) is your 240v but there are instances where a 3 wire (small gauge) 120v is used for say in a hallways where two switches control one light and each switch has a dedicated hot while sharing the neutrals to complete the circuit.

[@cowboyboots9901]

Do you have a link for the pump?

[@ChilliChump]

This is the pump I am going to use: geni.us/ecobpump However you won't need something this big if you have a smaller flood table. This one should be great for the large one I built (2.3m x 0.4m)

[@beatboxculturesa7912]

Are you South African? The accent sounds like you’re from cpt

[@ChilliChump]

I'm not from CT...but I did grow up in SA.

[@chaztech9824]

Omg that block toy i want O.o

[@petehimura]

Why not just use a timer and simplify the whole system, its less likely to fail in an indoor or outdoor system too.

[@ChilliChump]

Mainly because I enjoy doing this sort of thing. My whole greenhouse is automated, and haven't had a failure in over 2 years. That is far more complex than this

[@petehimura]

​@@ChilliChump No issues with humidity? I tried something similar 6 months back and kept getting corrosion, only thing i could contribute that to was humidity. Also have to say love your videos.

[@ChilliChump]

No corrosion that I can see. I will be overhauling my system soon though because I need to add another pump. I will be switching to an esp32 as well. Currently using esp8266...but need more GPIO. Also the esp32 is meant to be more power efficient. So I will be able to check it over properly for any issues. Also to add to my previous reply, the way I see it, we use hydroponics to optimise the grow. There is such a large focus placed on the nutrients we use (and light to an extent, if you are growing indoors). But why not optimise everything? The flooding/watering schedule is important and has a big influence on the growth of the plants. I have seen a difference with my experiments on watering schedule with my soil plants, so I can only imagine the difference it will make with hydro. And with regards to reliability...that is one of the reasons I used an Arduino for this and not an ESP...besides the fact I don't need it to be internet connected, the Arduino will be rock solid (as long as you haven't messed up on the code!). Anyway, I'm in my greenhouse often enough to see if there are any issues.

[@valentinm6750]

Hey there, it is more meaningful to write "int floodIntMillis = 1000 * 60 * 60" for an hour than 3600000

[@kefaise6313]

You can even write something like: const int second = 1000; const int minute = 60 * second; const int hour = 60 * minute; Then you can use these constants to make your code even more readable.

[@metamud8686]

9:55 It's either LCD, or LC Display, but not LCD Display.

[@426superbee4]

i'am not electrician smart, i can figure it out. but not my bag! I like things FUN, EASY, AND CREATIVE Like my> ADDICTIVE SALSA much better and lots cheaper> got 14 acres to plant on! peppers peppers and more peppers and tomato's> Question is which strain to plant> so TESTING so far its the TEXAS SUN RAYS are to strong! and we have some NARY STORMS > need to figure out how to protect them from that! So that ends that for now! do it on small scales

[@taowang5270]

haha,arduino controll finalllllly.

[@Sheps73r]

🤯😂👏