SimplePlantWatering

An automatic plant watering system built on the ESP-01S (ESP8266) module. It monitors soil moisture via a water level sensor and drives a 5V pump through a relay. Everything is configurable through a built-in web interface — no need to re-flash for parameter changes.

Features

• Automatic watering — triggers the pump when the sensor detects dry soil for a configurable duration
• Manual watering — one-click watering from the web UI
• Web interface — adjust parameters, view logs, and trigger watering from any device on the network
• Configurable parameters — inactivity cooldown, pump duration, sensor polling interval, counter threshold
• Persistent configuration — settings are saved to LittleFS and survive reboots
• Timestamped logging — watering events are logged with NTP-synced timestamps
• OTA firmware update — upload new firmware directly through the web UI
• mDNS support — access the device at http://plantwatering.local

Hardware Requirements

Component	Example / Notes
ESP-01S module	ESP8266-based, 2 usable GPIOs
5V Relay module	Single-channel, triggered on HIGH
Water level sensor	Wanma WMSR-CL-02 (or compatible)
5V DC water pump	Small submersible pump
5V power supply	Must power the ESP-01S, relay, sensor, and pump
ESP-01S adapter	3.3V breadboard adapter or custom PCB

Wiring

ESP-01S Pin Connections

ESP-01S Pin	Connected To	Description
GPIO 0 (IO0)	Relay IN	Controls the relay (HIGH = pump ON)
RX (GPIO 3)	Sensor DATA	Reads water level (LOW = water present, HIGH = dry)
VCC	3.3V	Power supply for the ESP-01S
GND	GND	Common ground

Pump Connection via Relay

The relay acts as a switch in the pump's power circuit. The ESP-01S does not power the pump directly — the relay simply connects/disconnects the pump to the 5V supply.

                    5V Power Supply
                   ┌──────┴──────┐
                   │ +5V     GND │
                   │  │       │  │
                   └──┼───────┼──┘
                      │       │
              ┌───────┘       │
              │               │
         Relay COM            │
              │               │
         Relay NO             │
              │               │
          Pump (+) ──── Pump (−)

• Relay COM → 5V power supply positive (+)
• Relay NO (Normally Open) → Pump positive (+) terminal
• Pump negative (−) → Power supply GND
• When GPIO 0 goes HIGH, the relay closes and the pump runs

Note: The relay module itself is powered from 5V (VCC/GND). The ESP-01S only drives the relay's signal/IN pin through GPIO 0.

Water Level Sensor

• VCC → 5V power supply
• GND → Common GND
• DATA/OUT → ESP-01S RX (GPIO 3)
• Outputs LOW when water is present, HIGH when dry

Getting Started

1. Install Dependencies

Open Arduino IDE and install the following libraries via Library Manager:

• ESP8266WiFi (included with ESP8266 board package)
• ESP8266WebServer (included with ESP8266 board package)
• ESP8266mDNS (included with ESP8266 board package)
• NTPClient by Fabrice Weinberg
• TimeLib (Time library by Paul Stoffregen)
• LittleFS (included with ESP8266 board package)

Make sure you have the ESP8266 board package installed:
File → Preferences → Additional Board Manager URLs → add:

https://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json

Then install esp8266 from Tools → Board → Board Manager.

2. Configure WiFi Credentials

Edit arduino_secrets.h and fill in your network credentials:

#define STASSID "your_ssid"
#define STAPSK  "your_password"

3. Upload

1. Select Generic ESP8266 Module in Tools → Board
2. Set Flash Size to match your ESP-01S (usually 1MB with LittleFS)
3. Connect your ESP-01S via a USB programmer
4. Upload the sketch

4. Access the Web Interface

Once connected to WiFi, open your browser and navigate to:

http://plantwatering.local

Or use the IP address printed to the Serial Monitor (9600 baud).

Web Interface

The web UI provides:

• Parameter adjustment — set inactivity cooldown (hours), main loop delay (seconds), pump duration (seconds), and counter time range (seconds)
• Manual watering — trigger an immediate watering cycle
• Log viewer — view timestamped watering event history
• Log cleanup — clear the log file
• OTA update — upload a new .bin firmware file

Configuration Parameters

Parameter	Default	Unit	Description
inactivityDuration	1	hours	Cooldown period between watering cycles
mainLoopDelayDuration	1	seconds	Delay between sensor readings
pumpingDuration	1.5	seconds	How long the pump runs per cycle
counterTimeRange	5	seconds	Time window for consecutive dry readings before triggering

Parameters can be changed at runtime through the web UI and are persisted to flash storage.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.