Thanks!

While I think security is very important, it seems that Google is going a little too far in protecting "gmail" email from access that are not part of the google ecosystem...

Maybe it is time to have a look at other mail providers.

Hi

There is one extra thing you may have to do if you have dual authenification set up, it effectively removes the less secure app settings.

If you are affected by this then you need to add a specific password to the using application,

Step1

Go to your sign in settings and select app passwords

Step 2

Select app and use the host name set in your Hydrosys Network Settings advanced Tab.

step 3

under the email settings button in Hydrosys settings use the mail address you have set this up for (the gmail account you used to get into this setting) and add the password that you set. works like a charm.

Hi, Thanks for the feedback and the picture. Well, about pictures and mail, they are two independent processes, the mail picks the latest recorded pictures. Just need to set the picture time some minutes before the mail time, should work. Did I tell you that it is possible to use a micro servo motor (about 5 USD) to move the camera and take multiple pictures in different angles? This would be ideal for a full greenhouse view without using multiple cameras. If you are interested I'll post more details. Anyway also multiple usb cameras can be supported. Regards, Angelo

In few words: The irrigation hat supports up to 12 relays connections and has 8 physical button that can be configured to activate the relays, it is useful in case you often use manually controlled irrigation and not only the scheduled. The automation/irrigation hat supports up to 16 relays connections, does not have buttons, but it has several physical interfaces. In particular it has an analog to digital converter (0-5v) with 4 analog inputs that can be used to interface analog sensors. Both boards have interfaces for digital sensors (air temperature, air humidity and light) as described in the hardware page of the site. I automated my "mini-greenhouse" controlling the windows, fans, lights and potentially heathers. By the way if you can post a picture of your greenhouse, I'm kind of curious to see it :). Hope I provided you with some useful info, Angelo

Thanks Angelo,

I followed your instructions and this has worked!

Thank you so much!

I looked at the HAT hardware in your store and you appear to have 2 available. What is the difference between the 2?

Thank you!

Paul

Hi again,

I checked the mail setting with a new gmail account, from Software point of view everything is ok, but seems that google stepped up their security policy.

After testing the mail from hydrosys4 interface i checked the gmail account and found a message stating that an access to the account was blocked.

After several links, I finally found the setting that allow the "less secure apps" to be enabled in a google account.

1) go to myaccount.google.com/ then log in with the gmail account you set in the hydrosys4 (the one you put the password)

2) Go to the security section

3) Go to Less secure app access and turn it on.

After this step the mail started to work properly.

In general I recommend to use a dedicated gmail account just for the hydrosys4 access, in this case you can avoid potential risks.

Please let me know if it works.

Regards,

Angelo

Hi Paul, For the photo, you checked the right box... I changed the description in the latest SW release because I thought it was confusing (and apparently it was). Regarding the mail, I'll investigate further and let you know. Finally , of course you can buy the hats board now I added some to the stock in tindie.com. Regards, Angelo

Hi Angelo,

Thanks for your speedy reply.

Yes, we do have daylight saving time in Canada, and this does appear to have caused the issue. I did you to the hardware setting page and saved as you instructed and that has worked! It is back to logging every 15 minutes!

In terms of the daily photo, I don't see an "Activate Daily Photo" box to check. I do see an 'activate database' box which I do have checked... perhaps this is on another page?

I also visited your page and realized I did not have a gmail address in the email settings. I've gone ahead and put in a gmail account but sending a test mail still generates an error.

In any event, thank you so much for your responses and for this amazing software!

Do you have hardware hats available? Can I order one?

Please let me know...

Thanks,

Paul

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the feedback, very appreciated!.

The other issues appears to be just configurations mismatches, Of course I'll try to give you assistance and maybe later I'll publish a better info on the website.

First question did you get daylight saving time in Canada? I've seen that the system data logging have some issue with this type of time change. As result instead of logging sensors every 15 minutes, it record data only for a fraction of the day. Anyway I solved it in the release 110g (just released).

(In previous releases, as quick fix, just go to "hardwaresetting" page click on "edit Table" when the page is loaded then click on "Confirm and Save" this will reset the scheduler with new time)

As said the sample time for the sensors is by default 15 minutes, to change it you might have a look at the following post: https://hydrosys4.wixsite.com/hydrosys4forum/forum/sw-and-settings/setting-up-automation .

For the pics to be taken and stored daily, in the setting page, at the webcam setting section, you have to tip the tiny square on the setting page with indication " Activate Daily Photo" then click the button "save all config" close to the clock setting. All the recorded images will be visible in the system page "images".

For the email, did you check the "Setting the eMail notification (optional)" in the download page of the hydrosys4 site? https://hydrosysblog.wordpress.com/configuration/

Regards,

Angelo

Thank you!

I downloaded this version and installed on my Raspberry P1 4 and can report that the system is running and functioning! This looks like a great system.

I have been running the system attached to a camera and temp/humidity sensor in a greenhouse in Ontario, Canada for the past few weeks. At first the system was recording temp and humidity readings at very frequent intervals. For the past few days, it seems to only be recording temp and humidity readings once or twice per day. I'd love to figure out how to change the setting to provide hourly readings and recordings. I am interested in keeping hourly logs of temp and humidity in this greenhouse over the winter.

I can log in remotely and send video and take temp pics. I have not been able to figure out how to get the system to email me reports. It can't seem to send email despite inputting all of the fields. The send test email returns "Error mail not sent" message. The system is not taking or logging automatic pictures from the camera and showing them on the webpage.

We did have a power failure for a few days and the system came back up by itself and was reachable on power up.

I am still learning this system and want to add the hardware hat on this! Any assistance on the above questions would be welcomed!

Thanks!

Just released a new SW image version compiled with the Raspbian Buster which is compatible with RPI4 and all the other raspberry types.

You can download it here: https://hydrosysblog.wordpress.com/configuration/

Hi There,

This is a very good question and I'd like to share my opinion and experience with the several PI versions.

In my home setup I tested some quite demanding configurations as follow:

1) Raspberry PI3 B version, since 2 years ago, connected to 6 irrigation lines, 2 fertilizer dispenser, 1 DHT22 sensor, 1 light sensor, 3 resistive hygrometers, 1 capacitive hygrometer, 2 cameras.

2) Raspberry PI zero W, since 1 year ago controlling the mini-greenhouse, 4 irrigation lines, 1 fertilizer dispenser, 2 fans, one stepper motor for the window, 1 light, 2 DHT22 sensor, 1 light sensor, 3 hygrometers, 1 camera.

3) One Raspberry PI3 B+ and one Raspberry pi Zero W which I use to test the software (in the process I killed one RPI3).

As I have experienced, both PI3 an Zero have enough performances to run the SW even in quite loaded setting which includes automation functions.

To summarize the main differences:

1) Pi Zero is slower to load the web interface which brings some delay in the user interface experience.

2) Pi Zero consumes less power and is less prone to overheating.

3) PI3 definitely need a good 5v power supply (low voltage brigs a lot of troubles).

Overall if the system usage is only for irrigation and there is no need to access the user interface frequently, then the PI Zero is more than enough.

PI3 will offer a more responsive interface, but regarding the installation, it will require some attention to the air flow.

Regarding the PI4. Since I do not have it, I have checked the specs, it has better performances, so we can expect it to be more responsive from user interface point of view. On the other side it requires more power and looks like it will easily overheat.

About the Hydrosys4 SW support for the RPI4. Yesterday I was just testing the hydrosys4 SW on the Raspbian Buster OS which is compatible with RPI4.

The testing was done on the RPI3/RPI0W and so far no issue, only one minor problem with webcam support that was easily fixed.

Once I release the next version (hopefully in 2 weeks), the SW should be "in theory" compatible with RPI4. Currently I have no short term plan to test the SW with RPI4 but I will definitely try it in the future.

Regards