👋 About the GrowBase Project

GrowBase is a Raspberry Pi-based system connected to a local wi-fi that serves as the base station for the GrowBuddies. Current GrowBuddies include:

• SnifferBuddy
• MistBuddy-Lite

Other GrowBuddies are possible.

GrowBase provides a centralized platform for monitoring and controlling environmental conditions in grow environments. All data remains local. Nothing is sent to a cloud service.

Because the Raspberry Pi runs a Linux variant for its OS, many packages, such as the mosquitto mqqt broker as well as Grafana and Telegraph are available. All GrowBuddies use the mqtt broker.

🙏 Thanks to Those That Went Before

• THANK YOU Adafruit: Adafruit is an incredible company that consistently inspires and empowers the maker community with innovative products and resources. Their commitment to education and open-source hardware is unmatched, thanks to the vision and leadership of their founders. Thank you for making such a positive impact on so many lives.
• THANK YOU Alex Ellis: for the Getting Started with Docker on Raspberry Pi blog post.
• THANK YOU Raspberry Pi Foundation: For creating an affordable, versatile computing platform that serves as the heart of this project.

🔩 Build the GrowBase

CAVEAT: I have been using a build using these parts. As in "it works for me." I am not a professional. I am sharing with in hopes it can benefit others. I am not responsible for any damages to your home or property.

💰 BoM

The supplies needed to build GrowBase include:

Component	Cost	Reason
Rasp 4 w 4GB	$55.00	This is what I use. It is working well.
USB-C Power Supply for Rasp Pi	$7.95	Official Raspberry Pi Power Supply 5.1V 3A with USB C one with data wires. Note: the Raspberry Pi 4 (5V via USB type-C up to 3A) uses a different power supply than the Raspberry Pi 3 (5V via micro USB up to 2.5A)
micro SD card	$16	Two amazon basics 64 GB.
enclosure	pennies	The model I chose is Malolo's screw-less snap-fit Raspberry Pi 3 and 4 cases. Specifically the one-color slot base and the two-color hex top.

🛠️ Build the Enclosure

Component	File
top	The top can be multicolored yet does not require a 3D printer that can print multiple filaments at once. The two files are located in the enclosures directory, Pi4_Top_Hex_MM2_Color1.stl and Pi4_Top_Hex_MM2_Color2.stl. If you are unsure how to print for multi-color, Malalo has provide multi-color printing directions
bottom	Pi4_Bottom_Slots_SM.stl

Fit the Raspberry Pi into the enclosure after it has been printed.

🖥️ Install Raspberry Pi OS

The easiest way is to use the Raspberry Pi imager on the micro SD card. - Install the latest Raspberry Pi Lite 64 bit OS. - Adafruit has a nice walk through. - Make sure to set your wifi, host, and other info.

Verify the Install

Put the micro SD card into the Raspberry Pi and power up the Raspberry Pi. Open up a terminal window and try to ssh in:

ssh pi@<ip address on the Raspberry Pi>

After entering your password, you should be in the command prompt:

pi@<ip address>:~ $

If you cannot reach your GrowBase from your Mac/PC, first check to see if the raspberry pi is on your home wifi by using a utility like Angry IP. If it is not, perhaps this troubleshooting guide can help.

Reduce GPU Memory

GrowBase runs a headless install of Raspberry Pi and is not doing any video or audio processing. Processing of GrowBase tasks can improve by editing /boot/config.txt and adding this line:

gpu_mem=16

make sure to save the file after editing.

Set a Static IP

The most error free method of connecting to another machine on the WiFi is setting a static IP on the machine. The method to set a static IP has completely changed in bookworm as it was done in previous version of the Raspberry Pi OS. This discussion focuses on setting a static IP address for a Raspberry Pi running bookworm.

1. Verify the Raspberry Pi is running bookworm:

 $ hostnamectl
 Static hostname: beanie
       Icon name: computer
      Machine ID: e1f7b307406342e29e487e0d9df67c0d
         Boot ID: e448da74cad145d59b4bd535b8afc307
Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
          Kernel: Linux 6.6.31+rpt-rpi-2712
    Architecture: arm64

2. Gather network info

• Let's go ahead and use the current IP address. We will also need the default gateway:

$ ip route
default via 192.168.68.1 dev wlan0 proto dhcp src 192.168.68.67 metric 600
172.17.0.0/16 dev docker0 proto kernel scope link src 172.17.0.1 linkdown
192.168.68.0/22 dev wlan0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.68.67 metric 600

The default gateway is 192.168.68.1 and the current IP address is 192.168.68.67.

4. Use nmtui There is a new tool in bookworm, nmtui. $ sudo nmtui. Choose to Edit the connection. Go to the WiFi configuration page. Set IPv4 CONFIGURATION to <Manual>. Set the gateway and DNS Servers IP addresses. Tab to the bottom and hit <Enter> on OK. Reboot once out of the utility.

Install mosquitto

MQTT is used by the GrowBuddies (currently that includes SnifferBuddy and MistBuddy-Lite to send sensor data (in the case of SnifferBuddy) and send power on/off command (in the case of MistBuddy-Lite).

Install the Mosquitto MQTT broker:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y mosquitto 

Enable Mosquitto to start automatically on boot:

sudo systemctl enable mosquitto

Before installing the service, some unique settings are needed in Mosquitto's config file.

Create the connect.conf file. From a terminal open on the Raspberry Pi:

$ cd /etc/mosquitto/conf.d
$ sudo nano connect.conf

copy/ paste the following into the new connect.conf file:

listener 1883
protocol mqtt

allow_anonymous true

save and exit.

Finally, start the Mosquitto service:

sudo systemctl start mosquitto

You can verify the service is running with:

sudo systemctl status mosquitto

To view the logs:

sudo journalctl -u mosquitto -f

the -f flag will show the logs as they are written.