Have you ever struggled to keep a plant alive? Wished your plant could tell you whether it needed to be watered or moved a little closer to the window? Build a Leaf Light for your indoor plants to help you tell if they are getting enough light and water!
The Leaf Light consists of a soil moisture sensor, light sensor, and multicolored LED/NeoPixel connected to an Arduino that sits in or near a plant. It’s surrounded by a frosted plexiglass container, which makes it an attractive light, and glows different colors based on the status of your garden…
Who Is This Project For?
Really, anyone who has an interest in combining electronics and gardening (smart gardens, automated gardening systems, etc.). Not only was this my first project using an Arduino, but my first time soldering, building circuits, playing around with programming (outside of Scratch with kids and markup languages like HTML/CSS). If I can figure it out, I’m willing to bet you can to, with a little time and effort.
Adafruit TSL2561 Digital Luminosity/Lux/Light Sensor Breakout: The TSL2561 luminosity sensor is an advanced digital light sensor, ideal for use in a wide range of light situations. Compared to low cost CdS cells, this sensor is more precise, allowing for exact lux calculations and can be configured for different gain/timing ranges to detect light ranges from up to 0.1 – 40,000+ Lux on the fly. The best part of this sensor is that it contains both infrared and full spectrum diodes! (read more)
NeoPixel Mini PCB – Pack of 5: These are the smallest NeoPixel breakouts around! Tiny, bright RGB pixels to your project. These little PCBs are only 8mm x 10mm and have two sets of three pads on the back for soldering wires. (read more)
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
