VegeHub WiFi Sensor Hub - Features
- Secure HTTPS connections using TLS1.2 Encryption.
- Will post to regular HTTP connections.
- Quickly display data on third party websites: VegeCloud.com, and ThingSpeak.
- Configurable URL allows it to post data to any website.
- Posts the device host name to networks scanners, for easy configuration.
- Can be access by it's "dot local" name on your local network.
- Can query and be queried by other hubs on your local network.
- Internal storage of 64 samples for each channel.
- Can store sample data to an optional SD Card.
- Long battery life with 20uA sleep current.
- Simple setup.
- Water tight enclosure.
- Box has flanges and screw holes for easy mounting.
- Easy to mount and compact.
VegeHub WiFi Sensor Hub - Applications
- Monitoring of sprinkler systems.
- Monitoring of heaters.
- Monitoring of water tanks.
- Monitoring of lighting systems.
- Monitoring of trow lights.
- Garden and farm automation.
- Greenhouse automation.
- Alarm systems.
- Crop Steering.
VegeHub WiFI Sensor Hub Details
The VegeHub makes it easy to connect sensors to the Internet. View your sensor data from any web browser on your phone or your computer. Get text messages and emails from sensor triggers.
Within minutes you will be able to setup the VegHub and send data to common free 3rd party web sites such as: ThingSpeak, Adafruit, and VegeCloud.
The applications for this are unlimited. For example, you can monitor chicken water tanks with AquaPlumb Sensors, and get an alert when the water is getting low. You can have instant and remote access to the soil moisture, temperature of your garden using VH400 soil moisture sensors, and THERM200 soil temperature sensors, from your phone or computer web browser.
You can even get alerts when you've left the garage door open, or a notification when the mailman has arrived when you use the VegeHub with a IR Proximity Sensor or mail box sensor.
You'll probably come up with applications we haven't even though about. Drop us a email if you do, and we'll post them on our site.
Built-in Security For Your Sensors
The VegeHub uses TLS 1.2 SSL for secure Internet connections, allowing it to do secure HTTPS posts to servers. If you don't care about security, you can still post using regular HTTP.
The VegeHub comes with the most commonly used website certificates, or you can easily install your own.
Distributed Sensing and Control on Your Local Network
What's amazing is that VegeHubs can talk to each other on your local network.
Hubs are both clients and web servers. Any awake hub that is powered with wall or solar power can be queried through it's API. So you can create a distributed control network for your garden, lawn or green house.
Hubs can query other hubs on the network to get sensor data, and make decisions to turn on actuators such as pumps, fans, valves or lights. There is no need to go through a central server, with the hubs all working together as independent units.
When configuring a VegeHub, you can scan your local network for other VegeHubs and get a roster of all sensors and actuators of the hubs on your network.
Connect to Common 3rd Party Sites
Your VegeHub will connect with data aggregation websites such as VegeCloud, ThingSpeak, or io.Adafruit out of the box. These sites will graph your data, and allow you to create actions, such as send an email, when your sensor data has crossed a particular threshold.
We especially recommend: VegeCloud.com which will store your data, and allow you visualize it with graphs, and allow you to set triggers on your data so that you can get text alerts and email messages, when your sensors have passed a threshold value.
Vegecloud.com also allows you to remotely change your hubs settings. When your VegeHub posts data to VegeCloud it checks to see if any of it's settings have changed, and updates accordingly.
If you want to post to your own website, this is also possible, using our simple VegeHub API.
Designed for Long Battery Life
One of our primary design goals for the VegeHub was long battery life. We wanted you to be able to place this anywhere without worrying about power connections. Under normal use scenarios batteries will last over a year.
The hubs come with a battery cable clip, suitable for standard 9V batteries. If you are using power from an adapter, you can replace the clip with your own wires.
For extended durations we recommend using a 9V AA battery pack with 6 AA batteries. We sell 9V AA battery holders. Use lithium batteries if the location will get cold.
You can configure the VegHub to send it's battery voltage when it updates to the server, so that you can monitor its level.
Battery life depends on your sample frequency, and update rate. Most agricultural sensors change rather slowly, and so a sample rate of once per hour is often sufficient and will extend your battery life.
Make sure you don't put batteries inside the box, because it is air tight, the batteries will off gas acid in the heat corroding the components.
Fast and Easy Setup
You can configure the VegeHub and add it to your local WiFi network by using a browser on your phone or PC.
Once you have connected it to your network you can plug in a USB thumb drive, and it will write its IP address to a file. This IP address allows you to configure it through it's web interface.
To configure it, press a button, and it will become a mini web server on your network, and serve up configuration pages. Examples of the configuration pages are provided below.
These pages allow you to select the cloud site to which you want the hub to report data. Each channel can be independently configured with multiple options. For example channels can be configured to sample data periodically or, can be trigger on an event. The sensor warm up time is configurable, as well as how often the hub reports to the server. If your sensor is just a push button switch you can configure the channel to have pull up or pull down resistors. See the Quick Start Guide for step by step instructions.
Rugged and Waterproof for Long Life in Harsh Conditions
You can put this box outside in the rain or snow. The rugged PET plastic box has silicone rubber gaskets making it waterproof. All of the cable entry points use cable glands, so that no water or insects can get in.
The box has screw holes for easy mounting, so that you can put it anywhere.
Internally Stores Data When Internet is Down
If your Internet goes down - no problem. The Vegehub has an internal 64 sample storage for each sensor channel. The buffer is circular, so if the Internet goes down for tool long, such that the storage fills up before you can post the data to the server, the older samples will be overwritten.
If an optional micro SD card is inserted it will append sample data to a file in CSV format.
Over The Air Firmware Updates
We are constantly improving and adding features to the the VegeHub's software. As such, we've made it very easy to check for new software updates, and to update the firmware using your Hub's WiFi connection.
You can easily check the VegeHub's current firmware version, by pressing a button on its settings page. It will contact the server, and let you know if it has the latest firmware. If it's not up to date, press the update button, and it will retrieve the latest version from our server, and reprogram itself, with the process taking only a couple of minutes.
Vegetronix Modular Building Blocks
Our product philosophy is simple. We provide low-cost modular building blocks to our customers, and then let them come up with their own applications.
Get creative with our very unique sensors, WiFi Hubs, Relay Boards and come up with your own creations.
