Why DIY when you could buy?

You value the project because you are able to customize and experience the process of its creation, both physically and mentally.

Practical Reasons:

• Integrity and dependency on specific vendor:  Complete packages are limited in capability and scalability, also they often include unwanted strings attached, i.e. Advertisements; company owns your data for purposes of profiting by selling for marketing purposes.  Mass produced products are typically not designed for longevity. Can the equipment be repaired or is it disposable?
• People have complex preferences and want more customizable, possibly less expensive solutions, typically with the trade-off related to labor, can be improved or perform to preferred standards
• Interest in learning and/or educating others:  You enjoy or have an interest in the activities associated with the process of a subject.
• Necessity:  Resources and costs vary by region.
• What else?

Cost considerations

Many items can be purchased locally or sourced from the Worldwide market through the Internet.  I don’t know about you, but I rarely have money to spend on projects and whenever possible reusing and re-purposing junk is ideal.  Many of my projects contain parts I’ve purchased at local dollar stores and items found through eBay online vendors. Online researching, reviewing, and sourcing materials

Time

It takes time to learn how to use tools and equipment successfully, let alone, have the time to actually make the project meet your expectations.  Will you take the time to safely use the equipment necessary to complete the project?  Are you able and willing to troubleshoot problems as they arise?

Time used for the project is time that could be spent with family, friends, learning something more important, etc.

Skill and Ability

Even though it may pain me to swallow my pride, I try not reinvent the wheel.  If I don’t have direct experience performing a task, I take the time to research how others have approached similar problems.  It is best to learn from others before making a serious mistake simply because I don’t want to appear stupid. Practice makes permanent. We cannot expect to become experts on a subject overnight, it’s okay not to know how to do something, try to find someone who can help, take small simple steps towards achieving the goal.

Resources for DIY Hacking Electronics:

For electronics projects, reliably wiring the hardware and designing the software to operate using an Arduino variant or Raspberry Pi, is a challenge.  Hacking Electronics – Simon Monk ( link to Amazon ).  Regardless of your experience level, this book is an excellent resource, what tools are needed, when and how to solder, and many basic fundamentals of working with modern electronics.  The second edition, includes Raspberry Pi.

More Info:

• What is a “Smart” Garden?
• Starting a Smart Indoor Garden
• Digging Deeper into Indoor Gardening
• The DIY Smart Garden System
• Why Arduino when you can Pi?
• Wired or Wireless?
• Making a Lightshow with Arduino
• Making Sound Effects with Arduino
• Phoenix Fire Lily
• Using a Raspberry Pi and USB Camera
• Using Arduino to Control Appliances

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