I just recently learned of this project and would like to start automatically watering some plants inside my house based on soil moisture. I'm planning on buying a Raspberry Pi Zero, relays, moisture sensors and the Irrigation Hat once it's back in stock. I will also have a large container of water set up with pumps inside that will turn on whenever the moisture reaches a certain level to provide water to the plants.
However, I am not entirely sure what I need to do in order to power the pumps. I've seen the videos on YouTube where Angelo has some kind of breadboard and uses a power supply and step down regulators but I can't seem to get the exact details of how he does this. Since I am going to only be using minipumps (something like this https://www.amazon.com/Driew-Submersible-Water-Aquarium-Fountain/dp/B01FZ0ZOTQ) that are 12V I would think this would be pretty simple, but I am not experienced at all in buying a power supply and wiring it up somehow. Could someone give me a list of items I would need in order to get everything hooked up? I have micro USB cables to power the hat and Pi but I think I will need other things to power the pumps through the relays. Assume I have nothing, not even wires.
Ideally I'd like to do this without any soldering so the only time I've attempted to do this I was pretty terrible at it.
I am US based so I can get pretty much anything at Amazon or if there is a better option for brick and mortar stores I have quite a few available.
The 12v main power supply plus the step down to 5v is my favourite way to go.
Regarding the step down I'd suggest a couple of items which i personally tested and used:
They are rated 5A.
I used also the step down converters rated 3A, there should be no problem using them with raspberry zero.
Anyway I noticed that they tend to fail quite often. The two above has been there for years without problems.