Controlling a TP-Link HS-100 Smart Plug

Some background:

It’s Spring time here in NA, and many like me get into gardening. Of course, one can buy small plants from the local nursery and tend to them, but where’s the fun in that? Most seeds are fairly easy to get started (tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, etc) but when it comes to peppers, it’s always a challenge. I’ve been reading (extensively) and the two key factors that control germination of pepper seeds are temperature and humidity. This is the background for this thread.

I did try once by putting the seed tray on a heated mat, but I’m afraid it gets too hot in there, and the seeds get ‘cooked’.

The Actual 'Project’

I want to control the temperature near the seeds by simply turning the heating mat on/off. Here is what I have:

  1. Multiple RPIs, 3 & 4 primarily
  2. Arduinos, Generic CLone + SparkFun Artemis (with Built-In BLE)
  3. Temperature Sensor (see below)
  4. TP-Link Smart Plug HS-100 - Hoping I can control it via BLE/WIFI

I do not want to control high voltages directly with the PI. There might be a shield out there, but I don’t want to risk it. Instead, I want to connect a temperature sensor to the RPI, and when the temperature reading from the sensor is outside a given pre-set range, toggle the heat map power by sending a command to the TP-Link smart plug.

That’s my first phase. Later on I want to include humidity control as well, but let’s start simple.

Sounds fairly simple, but the devil is in the details as they say … Any leads/ideas on how to proceed?

The biggest challenge (to me) is to use the RPI to turn the smart plug on/off. There could be a way to use IFTTT of course …

Let me hear your ideas!

PS. Now is NOT the time to order extra parts from Amazon as their delivery schedule is not ‘feasible’.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KL … UTF8&psc=1

Also, and of course, if you think my approach is an overkill and there is something better, by all means.

So…I’m guessing that you’re not aware of the TP-Link Kasa binding. :wink:

It’s rock solid, and @hilbrand does a great job maintaining it.

The binding communicates locally, so if you’re concerned about security, you can block the HS100’s Internet access through your router. I don’t personally do that, but I like that it’s possible.

The only concern I’d have is that the HS100 might not like the humidity, since it’s an indoor plug. If that becomes an issue, there are lots of outdoor plugs (TP-Link and otherwise) that could do the job.

Thank you very much. I don’t visit as often as I should … :slight_smile: … I realized I did not have the luxury of time to get the project working reliably, so I went the ‘brute-force’ approach as the window for starting seeds was short and I did not want to miss it. I planted ~400 seeds, and only 9 germinated. Hopefully those plants will yield more seeds to experiment with in the future. Next year I’ll do something smarter, per the above discussion. Thanks again.