Extended documentation for component plant (#2595)

source/_components/plant.markdown

@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 ---
 layout: page
-title: "Plant Observer"
-description: "Automation component to observe the status of your plants."
-date: 2017-05-06 08:00
+title: "Plant monitor"
+description: "Instructions on how to setup plant monitoring with Home Assistant."
+date: 2016-05-7 23:00
 sidebar: true
 comments: false
 sharing: true
@@ -18,18 +18,14 @@ To use your `plant` sensor in your installation, add the following to your `conf
 ```yaml
 # Example configuration.yaml entry
 plant:
-  sunflower:
+  name_of_your_plant:
     sensors:
-      moisture: sensor.mqtt_plant_moisture
-      battery: sensor.mqtt_plant_battery
-      temperature: sensor.mqtt_plant_temperature
-      conductivity: sensor.mqtt_plant_conductivity
-      brightness: sensor.mqtt_plant_brightness
+      moisture: sensor.my_sensor_moisture
+      battery: sensor.my_sensor_moisture_battery
+      temperature: sensor.my_sensor_moisture_temperature
+      conductivity: sensor.my_sensor_moisture_conductivity
+      brightness: sensor.my_sensor_moisture_brightness
     min_moisture: 20
-    max_moisture: 60
-    min_battery: 17
-    min_conductivity: 500
-    min_temperature: 15
 ```
 
 Configuration variables:
@@ -41,11 +37,11 @@ Configuration variables:
     - **temperature:** (*Optional*): Temperaure of the plant. Meassured in degrees Celcius. Can have a min and max value set optionally.
     - **conductivity:** (*Optional*): Conductivity of the plant. Meassured in µS/cm. Can have a min and max value set optionally.
     - **brightness:** (*Optional*): Light exposure of the plant. Meassured in Lux. Can have a min and max value set optionally.
-  - **min_moisture** (*Optional*): Minimum moisture level before triggering a problem.
-  - **max_moisture** (*Optional*): Maximum moisture level before triggering a problem.
-  - **min_battery** (*Optional*): Minimum battery level before triggering a problem.
-  - **min_conductivity** (*Optional*): Minimum conductivity level before triggering a problem.
-  - **max_conductivity** (*Optional*): Maximum conductivity level before triggering a problem.
+  - **min_moisture** (*Optional*): Minimum moisture level before triggering a problem. Typical value: 20
+  - **max_moisture** (*Optional*): Maximum moisture level before triggering a problem. Typical value: 60
+  - **min_battery** (*Optional*): Minimum battery level before triggering a problem. Typical value: 20
+  - **min_conductivity** (*Optional*): Minimum conductivity level before triggering a problem. Typical value: 500
+  - **max_conductivity** (*Optional*): Maximum conductivity level before triggering a problem. Typical value: 3000
   - **min_temperature** (*Optional*): Minimum temperature before triggering a problem.
   - **max_temperature** (*Optional*): Maximum temperature before triggering a problem.
   - **min_brightness** (*Optional*): Minimum brightness before triggering a problem.
@@ -57,6 +53,13 @@ This is a practial example that uses a multiple of `MQTT sensors` to supply the
 Another good source of this data would be the [Mi Flora](https://home-assistant.io/components/sensor.miflora/) component. 
 
 
+If the sensor data within the the min/max values the status will be `ok`, if not the status will be `problem`. You can use this to trigger a notification, if there is a problem with your plant. Of course you can only monitor attributes of your plant, where the sensor is configured and is providing the data.
+
+## data source
+
+The main sources of the data will usually be a [MiFlora sensor](sensor.miflora) or a [MQTT sensor](sensor.mqtt) receiving the data from a [PlantGatway](https://github.com/ChristianKuehnel/plantgateway).
+
+If you want to get the date via a PlantGateway, this is a typical configuration for the MQTT sensors:
 ```yaml
 # Example configuration.yaml entry
 plant:
@@ -75,23 +78,25 @@ plant:
     
 sensor:
   - platform: mqtt
-    name: mqtt_plant_moisture
-    state_topic: test/simulated_plant
+    name: my_plant_moisture
+    state_topic: my_plant_topic
     value_template: '{{ value_json.moisture }}'
   - platform: mqtt
-    name: mqtt_plant_battery
-    state_topic: test/simulated_plant
+    name: my_plant_battery
+    state_topic: my_plant_topic
     value_template: '{{ value_json.battery }}'
   - platform: mqtt
-    name: mqtt_plant_temperature
-    state_topic: test/simulated_plant
+    name: my_plant_temperature
+    state_topic: my_plant_topic
     value_template: '{{ value_json.temperature }}'
   - platform: mqtt
-    name: mqtt_plant_conductivity
-    state_topic: test/simulated_plant
+    name: my_plant_conductivity
+    state_topic: my_plant_topic
     value_template: '{{ value_json.conductivity }}'
   - platform: mqtt
-    name: mqtt_plant_brightness
-    state_topic: test/simulated_plant
+    name: my_plant_brightness
+    state_topic: my_plant_topic
     value_template: '{{ value_json.brightness }}'
 ```
+
+You have to replace the `state_topic` with the value that you configured in the PlantGateway. It also depends on the global configuration of your MQTT server.