Elecrow GrowCube in test: Smart irrigation thought simple

Starting as a DIY project to water plants while on vacation, the founder of Elecrow brings out the GrowCube. We tested the project, which was funded via Kickstarter, before its release. Since the project was fully funded on the crowdfunding platform after just a few days, there is a lot of interest in the smart watering of plants.

Scope of delivery

GrowCube comes with a few accessories. In addition to a full ten meters of hose, it also comes with four moisture sensors. The hose also includes 12 brackets, as well as four end pieces for irrigation. If you want to use an external water tank, an end piece with filter is included. Of course, the GrowCube itself is still included including the power supply.

Don’t be surprised: In the test you will see a power supply with an American plug. If you decide to buy the GrowCube, a suitable power supply will be included for all EU customers at the final release.

Construction

To begin with, you should think about where you will set up the GrowCube. The cables of the sensors are only one meter long. We have more leeway with the water hose, we can divide a total of ten meters among four plants. A small cutting tool is included to make your job a little easier.

Once you have found a good place for the GrowCube, it’s time to start wiring. Despite the basic idea of smart irrigation, we don’t want to leave an absolute tangle of cables. Of course, this is not about aesthetics, with four sensors, one power cable and four hoses, we have a lot to put down together with the GrowCube.

The hoses are quite hard to put on the valve, which is good in this case. We are working with water here, so a good seal is very important here. We need the included connectors to mount the end piece on the hose – again, everything is tight.

Since the hoses are very flexible, they can be easily routed and hidden. If desired, you can also work with cable ties here – but don’t pull them too tight! To best measure the moisture, put the sensors in the ground up to the mark and as close to the roots as possible.

Setting up

After wiring, let’s take care of the setup. Since this is a smart gadget, we use an app. With the GrowCube, we have two ways to connect. First, we can connect directly to the GrowCube’s Wi-Fi. With the direct connection, we have access to all the functions, but we cannot use the manufacturer’s plant database.

To access the GrowCube from anywhere on your network, you can simply connect it to your WLAN. And here we already have to distribute the first negative point. The range of the WLAN is quite small. It is not possible to establish a connection to a WLAN router at a distance of about 4 meters. Our smartphone used for the test has full deflection.

Once we have decided on a connection type, it’s time to set up our plants.

With the direct connection, we create everything ourselves. You can enter the name of the plant, a nickname and a photo. But also important values, such as the minimum or maximum humidity, must be specified here. In addition to working with the sensors, you can also set fixed times and how long water should be pumped into the plant.

It is best to use the GrowCube in your WLAN. Through the database provided by the manufacturer, you get in addition to the moisture values and useful tips for the care of your plants. In addition, you get access to the history of the sensors and how watered.

Unfortunately we were not able to access the database at the moment. Since the project is still in an early phase, there can always be problems. We’ll wait and see, and update our test in due course.

Use

The GrowCube is our first “humidity sensor”. Thus, the displayed values are difficult to verify. To be as safe as possible, a sensor was put into completely dry soil, two percent moisture was displayed.

Accordingly, we checked whether the GrowCube waters the plants on time and in sufficient quantity. A small minus point is definitely the loudness while the pump is working. It also generates a lot of pressure, which is why you definitely have to pay attention to the alignment of the outlets when setting it up.

In combination with the app and the correct setup of the plants, the GrowCube does what it should. Your plants will be watered without you having to take action. You only have to make sure that there is enough water available. Depending on the size of your plants, quite a bit of water may be necessary.

You can use an external water tank for this very purpose. For this case, the included ten meters of hose are helpful. Simply throw the included filter attachment onto the hose and into a canister, for example – done, all thought out.

Conclusion

With GrowCube Elecrow tries to solve a problem that many travelers or busy people have. Who takes care of the domestic plants? A total of four plants can be supplied in this way. With the included connectors, even more plants would theoretically be possible – or why should Y-connectors be included?

However, the GrowCube itself does not work on its own. You need the app for full functionality. With it, you have to make all the necessary settings or view the current status of the sensors. In addition, you have access to the plant database in which the manufacturer already gives you some settings when you enter the name of the plant.

At the time of testing, the campaign on Kickstarter is still running. The goal has already been reached, but you can still get a GrowCube starting at 80 euros.