What is Grafana?
Grafana is the industry-standard visualization engine for real-time data. While EnvOS provides built-in monitoring, EnvOS Insights dashboards are actually powered by Grafana under the hood. It allows you to transform raw sensor numbers into "single-pane-of-glass" views that make complex operations easy to understand.
Why Build Custom Dashboards?
- Operational Efficiency: Monitor Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) by comparing power consumption against climate stability.
- Yield Optimization: Correlate VPD (Vapor Pressure Deficit) trends with lighting cycles to find the "sweet spot" for plant growth.
- Cost Management: Track energy usage across specific zones to identify equipment that is short-cycling or failing.
- Regulatory Compliance: Generate historical reports for food safety or organic certification with a single click.
Accessing Grafana
To access the full Grafana suite, simply modify your EnvOS browser URL:
- From: https://(your envos id).microclimates.com/node-red/hmi/
Example: https://c1106e1-roots.microclimates.com/node-red/hmi/ - TO: https://(your envos id).microclimates.com/insights
Example: https://c1106e1-roots.microclimates.com/insights
Is this too much?
It’s normal to feel "dashboard stage fright" when first opening Grafana. With its deep menus, it can look more like a flight simulator than a monitoring tool. However, you don’t need to be a data scientist to get incredible value here. Most complexity is tucked under the hood; think of Grafana as a digital Lego set where you simply rearrange the pieces EnvOS has already provided to fit your business needs.
Don’t Start from Scratch: Copy & Modify
The best way to learn Grafana is to see how your existing EnvOS dashboards are built. Do not create a new dashboard yet. Instead, follow these steps:
- Open an existing dashboard from the EnvOS Insights folder.
- Click the Settings (gear icon) in the top right.
- Select "Save As..." and give it a new name (e.g., "My Custom Climate View").
- Now, you can safely poke around. Click on a panel title and select Edit to see the query behind the visual.
Watch: Grafana Dashboard Basics: Editing and Customizing (10 mins)
Core Concepts
- Data Source (Prometheus): This is the database where EnvOS stores every sensor reading. When you edit a panel, you are "querying" Prometheus.
- Panels: These are the individual widgets (graphs, gauges, tables).
- Variables: Look at the top of an EnvOS dashboard—those dropdowns for "Zone" or "Device" are variables. They allow one dashboard to display data for many different rooms.
Working with EnvOS Data
When you edit a panel in your copied dashboard, you will see a query field. In EnvOS, we use Prometheus metrics. Look for these key terms:
- card_value_num: This is the primary metric for most sensors (Temperature, Humidity, CO2).
- watt_seconds: Used for tracking energy accumulation over time.
- Labels: Labels like {card_title="Main Grow Room"} are used to filter the data so you only see the sensor you care about.
Popular Visualization Types
Choosing the right "look" for your data is key to making it actionable:
| Type | Best For... |
| Time Series | Tracking trends over 24 hours (e.g., Temperature swings). |
| Stat / Gauge | Real-time "Health Check" (e.g., Is the CO2 currently at 1200ppm?). |
| Bar Gauge | Comparing multiple zones or power circuits side-by-side. |
Helpful Resource
Watch: Top 5 Grafana Visualizations Explained (12 mins)
Setting "Safe Zone" Alerts
You can set visual thresholds so that a gauge turns Yellow or Red when conditions drift. This provides an immediate warning to your team before an automated alarm even triggers.
Watch: Setting Up Grafana Alerts & Thresholds (8 mins)