Did some work in our tiny greenhouse - wife asks if we can turn on and off the warming pads for tomato starts, based on the outside temp. I remember I have a rule set up for the birdbaths when it gets freezing, so I say “sure, just a sec!” - then I clone the birdbath rules to the greenhouse rules and “BOOM - DONE!”. She come over and asks me if it is taking a long time, and I say “nope! Just documenting the process” (when in fact I am writing this post).
Props to @bcopeland and anyone else working in Rule Machine - you made me look like a rock star today!
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Just curious....
Does this mean your greenhouse gets below to freezing and those warming pads allow you mitigate that? If so, even once there's sprouts up ? If so, do you do that with other stuff ?
And....in order to keep this kinda topical to RM do you leave those pads on all night (and/or all-time below a certain temp) or do you cycle them ? Are you using one outlet plug or one of those outdoor multi-outlet weatherproof Zigbee modules?
Thanks.
We just set this up in our little outdoor greenhouse for tomato starts, as we had a dip in the temperature for a while, after a warm stretch. We just let the warming pads “do their thing”, not controlling them by sensing soil temp or anything like that. The rule was based on the temp reported by our outdoor Hue motion sensor, controlling a single Zigbee outlet, with a power strip to handle all the heating pads. I did have a temp sensor in the greenhouse (Sensor Push), but that is not hooked up to HE - it just gave me an idea of how warm it was in there.
So the rule was just “if temp goes below x, turn on” and “if temp gets above x, turn off”.
