Hey everyone!
I came across this site when I found LEDgardener's videos on building control systems for hydroponics. For the longest time I avoided all electrical/tech related stuff because I wasn't any good at it. I have rebuilt car engines, designed indoor gardens, and larger greenhouse hydroponic systems.....lots of system design stuff, all while avoiding the electrical aspects. I have always looked for "premade" tech solutions. I am a Chef by trade, and run a greenhouse that provides produce for my restaurant and local grocery store. Oh, and I have 50 chickens/guinea/ducks. Outside of this year, I am usually very busy. So automation is pretty much a necessity to be able to make all this stuff work.
After Covid wrecked my culinary career(at least in the short term) I decided to branch out into a more lucrative crop: Medical Marijuana. I now have investors, and expectations I need to meet, so the level of control I require for my grows has gone up significantly. After watching the video series, and not understanding half of it, I was still able to conclude that there is huge potential in the raspberry pi/home assistant idea. I picked up some books, registered on here, and I feel that over the winter I will be able to come up at least a few ways to make my life easier, and this project more profitable.
If anything, I will learn a little bit more about how things I use daily work. Which is cool with me.
Irie Farmer
New hobbies are fun
Good Plan and you will get a lot of support here from some very committed people that want everyone to learn and do more with understanding and building these systems and willing to help with the parts that require a higher level of technical ability for us less experienced Makers. Will be a fun year for all of us on this new venture to get better with grow system automation.