4. Connect

SSH

How to connect to a raspberry via ssh.

Windows

If you have Windows 10 or higher => you can use the native PowerShell SSH-Client to connect.

For earlier versions you will need to download a tool like Putty.

Linux

Every linux distribution I know has a SSH-Client pre-installed - therefore you just need to open a terminal to use it.

Physical

Description

Options how to connect your GrowAutomation setup to power and a network (for your access).

DISCLAIMER

All the links for mentioned products are from amazon.

This is mainly because of convenience.

You WILL GET those products for a better price somewhere else.

Power

How to power it?

This is a basic question and we came up with the following options for the answer:

With a power cord

This might or might not be an option for you. But it certainly would be the easiest way.

You would have to buy an outdoor power cable and some electrical tubing to bury it.
With sunlight

This one is trickier.

You would have to buy a whole photovoltaic system with:
- a solar panel,
- a charge controller,
- a battery and
- if AC power is needed a power inverter

Network

The future server-agent setup will make wireless connections for agents easier.

Since the web user-interface will be run on the server and the agent just needs to communicate its data to the server.

WLAN

If you have an existing WIFI network you could just connect the raspberry to it.

This can be easy or hard. It depends on your environment.

Extend

When your GrowAutomation setup is placed outside your house/apartment (like in the garden) it might be necessary to extend the signal range of your WIFI.

This can be done using a wlan repeater.

There are many types of wlan-repeaters. You should always buy/use the ones with external antennas. This is a good indication for their functionality.

We had good experiences with these ones:

TPLink RE200

TPLink TL-WA860RE

LAN

The easiest and hardest way => just bury a network cable and connect the raspberry directly to your existing network.

This will be much work but it will work like a charm and won’t make any problems.

SIM/LTE

We have planned that the GrowAutomation setup should be able to work with a sim card. It should be accessible via dyn-dns over the mobile network.

But this is currently not yet possible!