Anyone used a plant sensor other than Xaiomi?

Matt_Barnes · November 26, 2019, 5:02pm

I could not find anyone selling the Xaiomi mi flora sensors at a sensible price so bought some Vegtrug ones. They look similar although bigger and still work off bluetooth and report temp / light / moisture / fertilisation as per the Xaiomi.

I managed to get the MAC address and add it into HA using the miflora platform in my config:


  - platform: miflora
    mac: 'my mac address'
    name: Epipremnum Aureum
    force_update: true
    median: 3

And then added the plant sensor:

      
      

plant:
  Epipremnum_aureum:
    sensors:
      moisture: sensor.epipremnum_aureum_moisture
      battery: sensor.epipremnum_aureum_battery
      temperature: sensor.epipremnum_aureum_temperature
      conductivity: sensor.epipremnum_aureum_conductivity
      brightness: sensor.epipremnum_aureum_light_intensity
    min_moisture: 20

I can see the sensors in my config, and the battery is reporting 97%. All other sensors are reporting “null” in the plant sensor:

problem: none
sensors:
  moisture: sensor.epipremnum_aureum_moisture
  battery: sensor.epipremnum_aureum_battery
  temperature: sensor.epipremnum_aureum_temperature
  conductivity: sensor.epipremnum_aureum_conductivity
  brightness: sensor.epipremnum_aureum_light_intensity
unit_of_measurement_dict:
  battery: '%'
moisture: null
battery: 97
temperature: null
conductivity: null
brightness: null
friendly_name: Epipremnum_aureum

and each individual sensor is reporting state unknown:

Has anyone used a non Xaoimi sensor with the Mi plant add on?

My long term plan is to use an ESP32 and MQTT the information into HA but thought I would try this first and now it appears not to work I am unsure that using something like the below will work either?

Thoughts?

1technophile · November 27, 2019, 7:55pm

Hello,

Regarding the integration of Vegtrug with ESP32 I would be interested in some tests if you have some time.
If they broadcast data like the mi flora it should be easy to gather the data and integrate them into HA through MQTT.

The test would be the following:

disconnect the sensor from your phone
download beacon simulator app (android)
do a scan
note the service data values of the vegtrug while changing the luminiosity or temperature

image1440×2392 289 KB
post the different service data here.

Once done, I could easily say you if you can use it with an esp32 firmware out of the box or if it will need some development

Matt_Barnes · November 27, 2019, 8:24pm

Thanks. I have a similar program on iPhone I used when trying to get the MAC address. This data is not for while the temp etc was changing it’s just screenshotted from connecting to the device. If it’s of use I can play around with changing the temp

1technophile · November 27, 2019, 8:32pm

These data seems to be the available properties for connection.

A mi flora can also broadcast its data (added to the connection method). But these broadcasted service data doesn’t seem to show up there.
Maybe you have to click on Show in blue of the first screenshot to see the service data.

Matt_Barnes · November 27, 2019, 9:38pm

A couple more screen shots. I will take the sensor to work tomorrow and use my work android phone and the app you’ve suggested at least then we can see the same screens.

What is it you are looking for, how will it help?

Matt_Barnes · November 27, 2019, 9:42pm

Using another app I can see this:

Matt_Barnes · November 28, 2019, 10:55am

Got the app you suggested. Looks different though but here’s a screen shot.

Let me know what you think. Interestingly it says xaiomi in the name so thinking I will at least try and connect it to esp32 just not sure if the data will be understandle, HA direct doesn’t seem to like anything but battery

1technophile · November 29, 2019, 5:57am

Hello,

Thanks for the screenshot, it can be read by an esp32.
Regarding the firmware, with OpenMQTTGateway I would need to do some modifications. Indeed the service data differ from xiaomi one.I will do them this WE. If you are interested you could test them.

Matt_Barnes · November 29, 2019, 6:29am

Perfect thank you! I have had a play last night with the Miflora esp32 sketch from siddy/flora and got this loaded and I can watch the serial monitor and see it connect and get data (first connection always gets blanks, second try gets a temp) but it’s not posting anything to mqtt so anything you can do with another way would be great. Screen shot of serial monitor

1technophile · November 30, 2019, 6:34am

If we do a rapid comparison of the service data from the vegtrug:
7120bc0399c309688d7cc40d0910020000
and the mi flora
71209800bc63b6658d7cc40d0910023200
we can see that we have the same length and some constant in bold.

The rest of the data looks like a mi flora structure.

I have added it to OpenMQTTGateway.
You can test it into this branch:
https://github.com/1technophile/OpenMQTTGateway/tree/vegtrug

1technophile · December 3, 2019, 8:18pm

Hello Matt,

Did you had the opportunity to test the branch?

Sand · January 19, 2020, 3:20pm

I see some of you are also using the new Vegtrug Grow Care Garden sensor.
I made some progress getting the values in esphome in case you are interested:
https://github.com/esphome/feature-requests/issues/560

sutton123 · March 4, 2020, 7:29am

Hi, was this integration with VegTrug sensors successful?

I have a Miflora plant sensor working with ESP32 using [sidddy/flora].
I just too delivery of 5 VegTrug sensors.
They connect to siddy/flora, but the program cannot find the data service.
I am in a position to do any testing necessary.

Matt_Barnes · March 4, 2020, 4:10pm

I havent had a chance to play with this yet as need to get my ESP32 set up and then mqtt and then this but will give it some time over the next couple of weeks.

The link above is not working though @1technophile

1technophile · March 4, 2020, 4:12pm

It is now integrated into the development branch and also V0.9.3, you can take it there:

Matt_Barnes · March 4, 2020, 4:37pm

Thanks! I need to have a read through as none of that makes sense to me at the moment. Just to check I am on the right thought process OpenMQTT Gateway goes on my esp32 chip?

1technophile · March 4, 2020, 7:04pm

Yes, you should upload OpenMQTTGateway to an ESP32 and it will publish the sensors data to an MQTT server.

Sand · April 6, 2020, 4:46pm

How are the Grow Care Garden sensors working for everyone so far?

I have recharged the batteries once already. This is a bit puzzling to me. Compared to the small sensors where is all that power used?
It cant be the beacons because it broadcasts way less frequently than the small ones.

2 of the 3 I got only show 0% moisture all the time now.

2 of them are not able to finish syncing in the vegtrug app.

Seems there’s been a little confusion which is the Grow Care Garden as compared to the smaller one so just including a picture.

Matt_Barnes · April 7, 2020, 7:57pm

Must admit I’ve not had a chance to progress this. Don’t entirely understand the mqtt / esp upload bits so need some time to look at it

mattvolp · April 17, 2020, 2:49am

I’m thinking about buying a few of these. I read it works with this integration: https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/mitemp_bt/ is that right?

Also - in your photo, the veg trug is on the right, what is on the left?