flowercare

A python script which reads the values of configured flowercare sensors periodically and sends them via mqtt.

Basic features

• Fetch values either for one or multiple sensors in a configurable interval
• Read temperature, moisture, light, conductivity and battery values
• Send the data to one topic per sensor
• Configure a different interval either per sensor or per value of a sensor
• Resend the last fetched value if only other values are currently fetched for a sensor

Basic setup

First we clone the repository, then we install some packages and register the system service.

Clone repository

You can install the script to any directory you like. Only make sure to replace the path in the service file later!

git clone https://github.com/Tom-Hirschberger/flowercare.git

Python packages

sudo pip3 install miflora
sudo pip3 install bluepy
sudo pip3 install paho-mqtt
sudo pip3 install json5

System service

A service file to register the script as systemd service is included in this repository.
Make sure to replace the user and the paths with the ones in your setup!

Copy the service file to systemd directory:

sudo cp flowercare.service /etc/systemd/system/

Register the service to autostart:

sudo systemctl enable flowercare.service

After you created the flowercare.json file (or a other named file if you replaced the name in the service file) you can control the service with the following commands:

Start:

sudo systemctl start flowercare.service

Stop:

sudo systemctl stop flowercare.service

Status:

sudo systemctl status flowercare.service

Configuration

The configuration is structured in different parts: "general", "mqtt" an "sensors".

You will learn to find your sensors and how to configure the differnt sections. You can use the example configuration (flowercare.json.example) as a start.

Find the addresses of your sensors

First we need to know the mac addresses of the sensors (basically the bluetooth hardware address). Credits to https://tutorials-raspberrypi.de. Enable bluetooth on your divice and use the following command to search for your sensors:

sudo hcitool lescan

The output will look something like:

LE Scan ...
C4:7C:8D:66:1A:C3 (unknown)
C4:7C:8D:66:1A:C3 Flower care
D4:36:39:C7:DB:BD (unknown)

The ones with name "Flower care" are the ones we need the addresses of.

General section

Option	Description	Type	Default
sleep	The time between intervals of fetching new values in seconds. Be careful with fetching the values to often. Fetching the values costs a lot of energy and the battery will be drained very quickly if the interval is to small.	Integer	1800
resendValueOnPartialSkip	It is possible to fetch values of sensors in different intervals than the general "beat" of the module. If no new values are fetched but you want to send a output via MQTT that contains all keys you can send the last fetched values instead.	Boolean	True

MQTT section

Option	Description	Type	Mandatory	Default
clientName	The name that will be used to register this client to the MQTT broker.	String	true	None
host	The hostname or IP of the MQTT broker.	String	true	None
port	The network port of the MQTT broker. Usally 1883.	Integer	true	None
username	The username to connect to the MQTT broker.	String	false	None
password	The password to connect to the MQTT broker.	String	false	None

Sensors section

Option	Description	Type	Mandatory	Default
topic	The MQTT topic the result object should be send to.	String	true	None
name	The name of the sensor. Currently this value will be used for debug output only.	String	true	None
mac	The bluetooth address of the sensor.	String	true	None
readTemperature	Should the temperature value be fetched?	Boolean	false	false
readMoisture	Should the moisture value be fetched?	Boolean	false	false
readLight	Should the light value be fetched?	Boolean	false	false
readConductivity	Should the conductivity value be fetched?	Boolean	false	false
readBattery	Should the battery value be fetched?	Boolean	false	false
interval	Normally all sensors get fetched after each sleep. You can change this behavior with this option. See the "inveral" section for all options	Integer or Dictionary	1

interval

The interval to fetch the values of a sensor can either be a simple Integer (which it is in default with value 1) or a dictionary. If it is set to a interger all enabled values (read...) will be fetched each "interval" times.

The dictionary can contain a differnt interval for each value. Meaning you can fetch i.e. the light value more often than i.e. the battery level.

Option	Description	Type	Mandatory	Default
temperature	The interval of the temperature value.	Integer	false	1
moisture	The interval of the moisture value.	Integer	false	1
light	The interval of the light value.	Integer	false	1
conductivity	The interval of the conductivity value.	Integer	false	1
battery	The interval of the battery value.	Integer	false	1

Example

The following example contains all possible configuration options:

{
    "general": {
        "sleep": 1800,
        "resendValueOnPartialSkip": true
    },
    "mqtt": {
        "clientName": "mirroreg-flowercare",
        "host": "10.1.1.1",
        "port": 1883,
        "username": "test",
        "password": "test123"
    },
    "sensors": [
        {
            "topic": "flowercare/flowerone",
            "interval": 1,
            "name": "flowerone",
            "mac": "AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF",
            "readTemperature": true,
            "readMoisture": true,
            "readLight": false,
            "readConductivity": false,
            "readBattery": true
        },
        {
            "topic": "flowercare/flowertwo",
            "interval": {
                "temperture": 1,
                "moisture": 2,
                "battery": 5
            },
            "name": "flowertwo",
            "mac": "AA:BB:CC:AA:BB:CC",
            "readTemperature": true,
            "readMoisture": true,
            "readBattery": true
        }
    ]
}

main