Community Corner – January 23, 2015: The Featured Projects from this Week
Featured Adafruit Google+ Community Project
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Thanks to Mark Miller for sharing a detailed description of his Project P.L.A.N.T. (Programmable Light And Nutrient Terrafarmer). I love this idea! Especially as someone who manages to kill every house plant in my path.
Project P.L.A.N.T.(Programmable Light And Nutrient Terrafarmer) or grow cell for short. I used this last year to grow ornamental pepper plants and it worked very well. Normally my indoor plants die of neglect in very short order-I forget to water them, or put them back in the window sill for light.
I set out to make a system that would sense what the plants needed and furnish it without me remembering…I can remember 1000 data sheets full of info, but the plants die because I just never take the time to check on them. Not sure why I bother really. I do all my harvesting in the grocery store isles anyway….
The framework has a narrow footprint so it sits well on the window sill(despite the best efforts of the cats to play in them) and makes use of natural sunlight when available. A photosensor brick detects when the light is low or dark and tells the microprocessor to turn on the grow light under the top hood. Moisture sensor keeps track of soil hydration and signal for the solenoid valve to let water run down the sprinkler tube. A line laser located on the right side shines a beam across a row of vertical sensors on the left to detect grow progress. It comes on for ten seconds twice a day to secure this measurement. Everything from the start is controlled by microprocessor through firmware. Three firmware settings are used. The first is for initial planting. This just keeps the soil hydrated to get the plant out of the soil. The second firmware is switched in when the plants begin vertical growth. The third is a spare socket(eproms) in case I need an emergency program change for some reason(happens here and there the first cycle).(read more)
Featured Community Project from the Adafruit Blog
Thanks to Eric for sharing his great project on show and tell! Check out more videos from Eric here and his site here. (read more)
There are people making amazing things around the world, are you one of them? Join Adafruit Community! And check out scores of projects they shared this week after the jump!
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Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Select Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: PyCon AU 2024 Talks, New Raspberry Pi Gear Available and More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey