http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ Botanicalls Forums: Recent Topics en-US Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:18:27 +0000 bbpress 1.0-alpha-2 q http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/search.php http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=36#post-106 Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:33:13 +0000 jaredforshey 106@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>Sorry if this has been addressed already!</p> <p>Twitter is closing basic authentication (used by Botanicalls and basically all Arduino twittering apps) June 30th. Basic Auth means that you log in to twitter by sending it a base-64 encoded has of "Username:Password" in the http header when attempting to post.</p> <p>They are requiring everyone to use the much more secure but complicated Open Authentication (OAuth) scheme to use the API. This is a problem because I can't find any oauth examples for Arduino and it's too complicated for me to figure out myself.</p> <p>Luckily, there's a site called SuperTweet.net that can do the heavy lifting. You go to SuperTweet, use OAuth to login to twitter, then sign up with Supertweet using a new password. Now you can use basic auth to post to supertweet which in turn uses your stored oauth token to post to your twitter account.</p> <p>All you have to do in the source code is change all references to twitter.com to api.supertweet.net and change the twitter IP to 66.180.175.246 (supertweet's IP). Also, replace the password part of "Username:Password" with your new supertweet password.</p> <p>Supertweet makes almost all the API calls available that Twitter has, but with a slight URL change. Most API called now have a /1/ in front. Instead of /statuses/update.xml, the path for supertweet is /1/statuses/update.xml.</p> <p>A guy called Neocat over on the Arduino Playground (google it) has a similar service hosted on google's appspot.com, but in practice we found that it is less straightforward and can be a bit laggy in returning response information. To be fair, we might have been calling it incorrectly!! </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=35#post-105 Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:43:58 +0000 Kate 105@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>test </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=34#post-104 Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:45:40 +0000 Clemens 104@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>Hi, I'd just want to say thanks you! </p> <p>- To Rob for the great support and<br /> - Kati for the amazing track at Ignite (btw the better thing is PechaKucha, yeah!) and<br /> - the whole Botanicalls team for this great idea and the nice peace of hard- and software, so a nice idea to have a very technical circuit board designed as leaf! </p> <p>I considered to buy a kit some month ago. Because my birthday and Christmas came closer I thought about a fitting present (for me :-). But it's difficult to explain people why it's really great to have a twittering plant -- what is Twitter? Why do plants use it? Isn't it easier to put your finger in the soil to measure humidity or to have a look at the foliage color? </p> <p>So I got nice but not thrilling gifts and went to think geek to buy a Botanicalls kit myself. Ok it was not cheap - 99$ for the kit, 25$ for shipping and again about 30$ tax in Germany! But it was worth! </p> <p>I was a bit nervous about the soldering stuff but it works if you have really thin solder and drank not too much coffee! It's really satisfying to have the gizmo complete, working and no peace is broken while manufacturing! </p> <p>Now I have a nice internet enabled Orange Tree and a lot of fun with the gadget:<br /> <a href="http://twitter.com/botanicalls0161" rel="nofollow">http://twitter.com/botanicalls0161</a></p> <p>It's really a "multiplicator" have talked with a lot of people about Botanicalls and the most people (that one who have understood the story :-) love it! </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=33#post-101 Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:07:13 +0000 andymaxwell 101@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>Hi there,</p> <p>I built a kit, stuck it in a large-ish plant, and even though it's been in the pot for a week without water, the moisture never drops below the high 80% range. The soil feels dry. Not bone dry, but absolutely not what I'd call 80% wet.</p> <p>So, of course, it never tweets. Only when I press the button.</p> <p>Is this normal? Did I do something wrong in assembly? Do I need to reset the values in the code to have it tweet when it gets to 85%? Any other ideas?</p> <p>Andy- </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=32#post-99 Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:22:35 +0000 kingma3 99@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>no lights, the power supply red light blinks and that it. When I disconnect from the unit the power supply red light is steady on.</p> <p>What did I do wrong? </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=30#post-95 Tue, 12 Jan 2010 08:14:02 +0000 ohrobot 95@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>About the network connection</p> <p>1. How does the botanicalls obtain an IP adress, do you have to enter one manuelly or does it obtain one by DHCP</p> <p>2. Is there actually any way to do a manuell configuration for the network connection?</p> <p>3. Between me and the internet there's is a proxy server. Can botanicall deal with this? </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=31#post-96 Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:12:27 +0000 marcs_green_e-thumb 96@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>i love the idea and approach of "botanicalls" - why not <a href="http://fritzing.org/projects" rel="nofollow">http://fritzing.org/projects</a> it? you might get some input on the waterproof/wireless issues and will surely receive positive feedbacks (well - in addition to the millions of already existing that is :) )<br /> thanks for sharing ! </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=29#post-94 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:06:58 +0000 jruys 94@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>I too was suffering from the dreaded 14 blinks but solved it. Documenting for the forum. </p> <p>After some debugging I found the plant keeps the Ethernet down and only activates it when it wants to Tweet. </p> <p>This is a good power saving model, but with a (Cisco) ethernet switch the issue is that a port blocks Ethernet traffic for about 10-30 seconds when a device comes online to find out if it is a normal endpoint or a connection to another switch potentially creating a loop. This is normal ethernet switch spanning tree behaviour.</p> <p>Problem is that by the time the ethernet port went into forwarding mode and the plant could actually get a DHCP lease, it had given up and was giving me 14 blinks.</p> <p>On a Cisco switch you can solve this by adding a command like</p> <p> interface FastEthernet0/1<br /> switchport mode access<br /> spanning-tree portfast</p> <p>which will disable spanning tree and make the plant happy again. </p> <p>I would recommend to review the plant's DHCP behaviour though: when the initial lease request fails, wait 30-60 seconds and try again. </p> <p>I agree it's unlikely a consumer is using an enterprise ethernet switch, but on the other hand no normal consumer has a twittering plant :-)</p> <p>Anyhoo - problem solved for me. Off to find a plant to monitor. My wife just decided to move the one I had planned to use as it was nice and close to an Ethernet outlet. Sigh. </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=28#post-93 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 02:01:47 +0000 azizi 93@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>somebody help me..i need adc complte circuit diagram<br /> a </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=6#post-13 Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:47:46 +0000 admin 13@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>The 6V DC power adapter included in the kit is rated for 120V, so it's only appropriate for use in the US, Canada, or Japan. For all other countries, try something like Adafruit's multiplug power adapter <a href="http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&#38;products_id=79&#38;sessid=ed088ab244b3d9d3cbe8fef9c75c9b82" rel="nofollow">http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&#38;products_id=79&#38;sessid=ed088ab244b3d9d3cbe8fef9c75c9b82</a>. Or you can use a transformer. </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=27#post-88 Sun, 04 Oct 2009 02:35:35 +0000 plantophile 88@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>I was looking at mouser.com for ordering the atmega168 and noticed that there are several ICs that are very similar. Can someone provide some details as to which IC is the correct one?</p> <p>Also, what are the details of the metal probes? Are they galvanized? Does probe length change the reading values? </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=25#post-83 Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:13:54 +0000 Neto 83@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>I have everything working but still unable to connect to arduino on my Leopard MBP.</p> <p>I set the board to Arduino NG or older w/ATMega168</p> <p>But I just got 4 serial port options and all of them are Bluetooth related.</p> <p>Any tips? </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=24#post-82 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:28:25 +0000 jpatapoff 82@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>When I was trying to launch Arduino 16 on my MacBook I received an error:</p> <p>Cannot launch Java application<br /> Uncaught exception in main method:<br /> java.lang. Unsatisfied LinkError:/Applications/<br /> arduino-0016/Arduino 16.app/Contents/Resources/<br /> java/librxtxSerial.jnilib: no suitable image found.<br /> Did find: /Applications/arduino-0016/Arduino<br /> 16.app/Contents/Resources/Java/librxtxSerail.jnilib:<br /> No matching architecture in universalwrapper.</p> <p>After searching around, I found out all that needs to be done is control+click Arduino16.app and select "Get Info". Enable "Open in 32 Bit Mode" and everything should be good to go. </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=23#post-80 Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:09:34 +0000 TimH 80@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>When this already cool product is completely developed with: solar power, wireless, &#38; waterproof housing; like it's expensive cousin eKo (camalienetworks.com) let me know immediately.</p> <p>We'll order at least 5 of them (one for each zone). Our HOA in parched California needs to conserve water, and what better way to assure our weather-based water controller is working than a small network of sensors for the plants.</p> <p>BTW, we'd also like a browser interface like <a href="http://www.newportus.com/i/zSeries.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.newportus.com/i/zSeries.htm</a> (in case you're asking). </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=18#post-61 Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:45:12 +0000 cal 61@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>1. That i would need an FTDI cable to change my twitter username. This should really be shown right at the start, so you can get your cable before you need it, since it takes a few days to arrive. Ideally right when you buy the kit!</p> <p>2. That you need to install (VCOM) drivers for an FTDI cable! You can get them here:<br /> <a href="http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm</a><br /> If you're on a Mac, make sure to install 2.2.10, NOT 2.1.10. It will require a reboot.</p> <p>3. From the docs: "When you are ready to upload the code, select the correct serial port and NG board type on the Tools menu". This made me want to tear out my own eyes. What are the correct settings!!?</p> <p>For me, the serial port was /dev/tty.usbserial-FTE4Y19Y. If you don't have one that looks like that (on a mac), then the FTDI driver isn't installed, or the cable isn't plugged in.</p> <p>The board type (for everyone i assume) should be "Arduino NG or older w/ ATmega168". That was posted in the forum, but not in the docs.</p> <p>4. The 'Serial Monitor' in the Arduino software is not in any of the menus - it's the rightmost button on the toolbar. You should see 5 "moist: x" messages for every "watered: x" message. At bootup the console just says "Botanicalls v2.15", *not* what the docs say.</p> <p>5. If you get an error like "timed out on reset - check xport", try resetting your board (hit the reset button) and waiting for it to reboot. That cleared some weirdness for me. </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=15#post-54 Wed, 04 Mar 2009 06:04:31 +0000 Gatwick 54@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>Not only are my outdoor plants generally at greater risk of neglect, their moisture levels decline very rapidly on hot summer days--especially my container plants. </p> <p>Running CAT5 and power outside would be too big a pain. But a solar-powered Botanicalls device would naturally groove with the outdoor environment: The device only needs to work when its hot and sunny. If it's not sunny enough to power the device it's probably raining.</p> <p>I'm know very little about electronics/networking, but on the surface these seem like fairly simple changes. Given that continuous power is not essential, might solar power be achieved simply by hooking up a 5v solar cell? Maybe some capacitors if the device needs to run for a minimum about of time? As for wifi, Lantronix has wireless devices such as the MatchBox and WiPort that look similar to the Xport, and may even use the same serial connector. Would it be possible to get these wireless devices working with the current generation Botanicalls? </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=22#post-73 Sat, 16 May 2009 03:42:57 +0000 dolapo 73@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>I just finished putting my botanicalls kit together and now I'm getting the "unknown error" 14 blinks followed by a couple of quick flashes of the green LED on test.<br /> This is with all the following connection types<br /> 1. directly to the cable modem<br /> 2. through my router<br /> 3. through my macbook with internet sharing on.<br /> the yellow led on the xport does blink during the test, but i'm not really sure what that indicates. </p> <p>I've uploaded some pictures here:<br /> <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/dolapo/Botanicalls#" rel="nofollow">http://picasaweb.google.com/dolapo/Botanicalls#</a><br /> front: <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/dolapo/Botanicalls#5336257975602667874" rel="nofollow">http://picasaweb.google.com/dolapo/Botanicalls#5336257975602667874</a><br /> back: <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/dolapo/Botanicalls#5336257969738934530" rel="nofollow">http://picasaweb.google.com/dolapo/Botanicalls#5336257969738934530</a></p> <p>I haven't soldered in a while so my soldering got noticeably better while putting this together, but I don't see any obvious shorts or other screw ups. Any tips would be helpful, I can't wait to have this thing working :) </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=21#post-71 Thu, 14 May 2009 09:44:10 +0000 slachem 71@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>recently built the botanicalls diy v1.o. everything appears ok, i get a moisture readout on the serial monitor but when the unit tries to connect to twitter i get the error message "check xport config and IP". I am connecting directly to the ethernet port on my pc. i do not use a router because my internet connection is from a cellular provider - where i use an air card connected to a usb port. my username and password is set and i have configured the xport to flow 02 and connect mode D4. any ideas? </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=20#post-67 Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:50:07 +0000 patrickhensler 67@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>Hi All,</p> <p>Can someone please post the circuit diagram? Thanks! </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=19#post-64 Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:28:07 +0000 patrickhensler 64@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>I set this up last week, it's working about 1 of every 8 or 10 times I press "Test", but does it wait until it needs water to post on it's own? </p> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/botanicalls0046" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/botanicalls0046</a> </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=17#post-58 Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:41:31 +0000 fonk 58@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>Hi there,</p> <p>I tried updating my twitter profile. And now the tweets don't appear on the profile page anymore. All the status lights still show up ok. </p> <p>I can probably only change the username OR the email address? As this is coded onto the controller? Tried changing the email adress and username back to what they were but that didn't seem to help. </p> <p>Any thoughts?</p> <p>Thanks </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=14#post-49 Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:55:59 +0000 dchris17 49@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>Uladoo.com turns tweets into charts using a simple protocol, like this "@uladoo plant 45 Water me". That tweet will create a chart called plant (if there isn't one yet) and set its initial value to 45. If I tweet again, it will add the new value to the chart. The chart would be located at uladoo.com/USERNAME where USERNAME is my plants twitter ID.</p> <p>So, I just got my botanicalls kit today and I'm excited to get it working and hooked up to uladoo. I'll post my progress here, and if anyone has any suggestions for getting started with programming in arduino let me know.</p> <p>BTW, where's the best place to get the caple I need to upload code to my botanicalls?</p> <p>Thanks!</p> <p>Dave,<br /> Inventor of Uladoo.com </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=16#post-55 Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:27:30 +0000 rob 55@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>Here's the error messages associated with the yellow test LED blinking after a communication attempt fails. The most common reason to see error blinks is that either the networking is not connected, or your network is not giving you an IP address properly for some reason. Other things to look for are bad solder joins and the Ethernet module being loose in it's socket. Finally, make sure you didn't change the username and password on Twitter unless you changed and reloaded the code on your Botanicalls chip as well.</p> <p>Blinks:</p> <p>4 "Timed out on reset! Check XPort config &#38; IP" </p> <p>6 "Bad response on reset!"</p> <p>8 "unknown error" </p> <p>10 "Timed out on connect" </p> <p>12 "Failed to connect"</p> <p>14 "Unknown error"</p> <p>Afterwards depending upon the situation you might see two additional blinks for "tweet fail" If you ONLY see two blinks, that means your connection went through fine, but there was a problem posting the tweet. Usually this is because password on the account has been changed. Unless you reprogram the chip, you'll need to change it back to the original one that came with your kit. </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=13#post-44 Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:27:32 +0000 botanicalls0084 44@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>I noticed my twitter plant does not say much (it's <a href="http://www.twitter.com/botanicalls0084" rel="nofollow">http://www.twitter.com/botanicalls0084</a> ) and maybe this is due to the fact it is planted in seramis clay. (the botanicall sensors are in the soil part of the pot) </p> <p>I decided in order to extend the life of my botanicalls kit and possibly save a little bit of energy, I've added an x10 switch to the power supply to turn power to the botanicalls unit off after sunset and turn the botanicalls unit back on at sunrise. </p> <p>Am I correct in assuming that this would extend the life of the botanicalls unit? Does switching on / off on a daily basis mess up the plant's software routine? (i.e. multiple "I can haz water?" postings? </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=11#post-38 Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:50:00 +0000 Psyicman 38@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>Is the new sorce code now compadible with Arduino12 or still 11. Also what is the propber setting Arduino NG or older w/ATmega168 or Arduino NG or older w/ATmega8 in the customize section it dosnt specify wich to use. </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=9#post-32 Wed, 31 Dec 2008 22:38:11 +0000 joshd 32@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>Hola. I was just adjusting the code for <a href="http://twitter.com/spikesdracaena">Spike</a> to point the botanicalls at the new username, and also to adjust the moist/dry/watered values. </p> <p>But when I open (the latest download OR my own copy of) BotanicallsTwitter.pde and try to upload or compile in Arduino 11, I get the following error: </p> <p><code>In function 'void uart_putchar(char)':<br /> error: 'UCSR0A' was not declared in this scope</code></p> <p>in the "utility" pde file – which is, IIRC, the helper library from ladyada. </p> <p>Here's the function: </p> <p><code>void uart_putchar(char c) {<br /> while (!(UCSR0A &#38; _BV(UDRE0)));<br /> UDR0 = c;<br /> }</code></p> <p>Just to be sure that I didn't damage anything, I downloaded the latest version of the source and opened it in Arduino 11, and hit compile. Same error. </p> <p>Huh. </p> <p>What's odd is, I've successfully uploaded the original source code to the botanicalls in the past, when I had an LED problem, and I didn't get this error, then. </p> <p>I'm stumped. Any suggestions? </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=10#post-36 Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:39:54 +0000 philip 36@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>Hi,</p> <p>what license, if any, applies to your old Botanicalls DIY and DIY Kit 1.0 specs? I guess I am free to build my own device based on the instructions on this site.</p> <p>But am I allowed to teach others how to build one of these designs (I guess so)?<br /> What if I receive money for giving these instrucions?<br /> If I modify your hardware design or software code, can I redistribute it?<br /> Could I sell more or less similar kits which are based on your design and code?</p> <p>(All of this including that you are properly credited for your work.)</p> <p>Thanks,<br /> Philip </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=7#post-15 Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:21:16 +0000 butterscotch 15@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>Topic says it all -- the device seems to be working, there's activity on the Ethernet switch when I press the Test button, yellow light comes on solid, but then it fails with 14 yellow flashes (almost looks like it's going for a fifteenth but just as the yellow flickers, it goes off and the green light starts pumping.</p> <p>Any ideas? </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=8#post-30 Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:04:45 +0000 jordanberkowitz 30@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>I've recently powered up my botanicals for a test and while the XPort is showing power indicators, the yellow LED on the board does not light up. </p> http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/topic.php?id=4#post-5 Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:09:25 +0000 ynum 5@http://www.botanicalls.com/forums/ <p>Hello<br /> First thanks for this dev. I think about buy one, even it is not perfect 'for my' : because it s a fun idea to enter this domain, embedded prog. :)</p> <p>I have some questions, thanks a lot anyone could help me to find the responses, the ways :</p> <p>1) where is the source code ? (and is it possible to access on cvs/svn/git eventually ?)<br /> 2) Do you provide the completes informations and references for board ?<br /> 3) Do you plan to sell a "your 10 sensors could be added on board" version ? A version with connectors for others sensors ?<br /> 4) Do you plan to develop another code for another sensor type ? like an EC sensor ?</p> <p>Regards </p>