I'm quite new to all this and just doing all my reading up at the moment what I wanted to know is I see a lot of builds using pi zeros for controlling a few sensors but nothing for a whole hydroponic automation controlling environmental's and dosing.
Can the little pi zero 2 w handle full hydroponic automation its based on the same cpu as the pi 3.
Installing home assistant on a pi zero 2 w there's no official build correct ? so does it run stable and responsive.
Thanks
Pi zero 2 w for automated hydroponic build
If you are going to use home assistant then any Pi can handle that. Although, likely your system will grow more complex from there. The Pi is good at providing the web server and running home assistant for data collection but there is no magic box to plug the Pi into to completely monitor a hydroponic system. Doing that will require many environmental sensors and devices to control (pumps, lights, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, etc., etc., etc.) More often than not you'll find it easier to connect these sensors and relays up to something simpler than the Pi. Something like an Esp32 or Arduino. Then the Esp32 or the Arduino can then relay that information to the Home Assistant/Pi via MQTT. While it is possible to hook sensors directly up to the Pi if you go that method you'll soon find yourself running out of pins on the Pi. If you go the route of connecting sensors up to an Esp32 and the you relay that to Home Assistant via MQTT over WiFi then you can add new sensors or relays without ever running out of pins because if you need more pins you just add another Esp32.