Wired or Wireless?

Electricity replaces the sun, wind, and some natural processes as the dependency for plants to grow indoors.  

Starting a Smart Indoor Garden

The first glaring problem with the typical indoor garden is that extension wires are annoying and a potential safety hazard.  On the other hand, wireless communications can lack the reliability of the wired variant.  Going further, should the system be available to the local network or should it be connected to the Internet?

Since plants do not need Internet access in order to grow then we are potentially creating an additional dependency that the plant doesn’t want. The Internet is useful for providing access to your system, but security is questionable, how much control or data should be available?  A connection to the Internet can become another dependency if the system cannot operate without communication to a cloud-based or otherwise remote server. If something can fail; we should plan for the eventual occurrence of that possibility as best as possible. If a long electrical outage were to occur it would be prudent to have a backup generator, or solar rechargeable battery storage system.  If we can have better reliability with a wired connection, then it makes sense to use a combination of wired and wireless.

Next:  Getting Wired and Wireless

Communication options such as i2c, which is great for communicating with another microcontroller or Raspberry Pi and the many wireless options: WiFi, bluetooth, etc.

• Remote Control using a RF 315MHz / 433MHz
• Lightweight Bluetooth ( nRF24L01 )
• Bluetooth ( HC-05 )
• WiFi Module ( ESP8266 / CC3000 ) etc.

More Info:

• Why DIY when you could buy?
• Why Arduino when you can Pi?
• Making a Lightshow with Arduino
• Making Sound Effects with Arduino
• Working with Multiple Sensors and Arduino
• Using a Raspberry Pi and USB Camera
• Using a Raspberry Pi for your own Inventory Management System

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