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Have you ever wanted a little plant to brighten up your desk or home, but
you're afraid that you'll forget to water it? Fear no longer! Using an Arduino, a
scavenged wall-wart, and a peristaltic pump, you can set up your plant to be
watered as often as you like, from a jug or any other vessel. To be as accessible
to as many people as possible, this tutorial can be done without soldering. That About This Instructable
being said, the advantage of soldering is increased robustness and reliability.
Posted:
osmithy
(/member/osmithy/)
(https://plus.google.com/+OwenSmithyman)
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water-your-small-indoor-plant-using-/)
automatic (/howto/automatic/)
First, gure out what the dierent pins are on your transistor. The diagram from
the datasheet shows you which pins are the base, collector, and emitter. The
second picture shows how the pins match up to the circuit diagram. This
transistor is awesome because it will allow us to use 5v from the arduino to
switch the much higher 12v required by the motor, which would destroy our
Arduino if we connected it directly to the pins that we can control with our
Arduino code. The PN2222A transistor is great for this purpose because it can
handle 5v from the Arduino and then switch the 12v and much higher current
drawn by the motor.
(/le/FUGE732HUBWUU9O/)
(/le/FVOYSFDHUBWUYQK/)
Clip a small (1/2") piece of wire from one end of your diode (if you have other
similar wire, use that instead) and put it aside for the next step.
Attach your diode in reverse across your motor pins. Reverse means that the
negative lead (indicated by the silver band on the diode) connects to the
positive pin on the motor, and the positive diode lead connects to the negative
pin on the motor. I've done it here by soldering, but if you don't have a
soldering iron, you can wrap the diode leads very rmly around/into the holes in
the motor pins. This will prevent any potential damage from energy released
when the motor is switched o.
Step 4: Wire It Up!
(/le/FQDETGEHUBWUYLG/)
(/le/FMORGK1HUBWUYK3/) (/le/FASUF7QHUBWV5NC/) (/le/FOOAVCFHUBWV6JP/)
Now wire everything up. Conveniently, we can just stick the transistor directly
into the Arduino.
The emitter pin goes to GND, and the base pin (in the middle) goes to Analog
Pin 0 but with a 1k resistor in series between them. You'll need to solder or
otherwise attach the 1k resistor to the base pin, and then stick the other end of
the resistor into Analog Pin 0. If you don't use the resistor, it may shorten the
life of your Arduino.
Bend the collector pin out so it won't touch the Arduino, and attach an alligator
clip to it. This pin will receive the electricity coming through the motor and allow
it to keep owing. Connect the clip on the other end to the negative pin on the
motor.
Take the little piece of wire we cut and set aside in the previous step and stick it
into the VIN pin hole. Bend it a little so it doesn't touch the transistor.
Connect a clip to the positive pin on the motor, and connect the other end to
the piece of wire in VIN. Tape this clip to the board or otherwise secure it so it
doesn't move around and touch the transistor pins.
A word of warning: it is possible to destroy the chip in your Arduino if you
connect the circuit wrong. Luckily, you can order a new chip
(http://www.adafruit.com/product/123) for $6 (or much less if you get them in
bulk), rather than paying $30 for a whole new Arduino board. But you're more
likely to destroy the transistor, which isn't too bad if you got the 10-pack.
Once you're sure you've got it right (check the picture one more time!!), connect
the power from your 12v adapter to your Arduino. If you've done it right,
nothing will happen. If you've connected it backwards (reversed the collector
and emitter) the motor will weakly spin. If that happens, your transistor is
probably now dead. You can try using it again, but it may not work properly. I
would just get another one.
Conveniently, the code is incredibly simple. Copy and paste the code into your
Arduino code editor, choose how long you want to water, and how long you
want to wait between watering. If you're in an air-conditioned oce, the air is
usually very dry, which causes the soil to dry out quickly. In that case, you may
want to water a little bit several times throughout the day. The only thing to
remember is that you're using milliseconds, so one hour is 3,600,000
milliseconds.
Unplug your 12v cable and connect the USB cable between your Arduino and
your computer.
Connect the 12v cable to your Arduino, and the motor should immediately run
for 5 seconds.
This code also turns on the built-in LED during watering. If your LED is on but
the motor isn't, you may have missed something.
void setup()
{
pinMode(motorPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(blinkPin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop()
{
digitalWrite(motorPin, HIGH);
digitalWrite(blinkPin, HIGH);
delay(watertime);
digitalWrite(motorPin, LOW);
digitalWrite(blinkPin, LOW);
delay(waittime);
}
Step 6: Implement
So now that you've got a working setup, it's time to put it in place so your plant
can get its water.
Get a jug or glass or whatever you'd like, and put the input (the sucking end) of
Automatically
the pump hose in it.water your small indoor plant using Arduino + pump by
osmithy (/member/osmithy/)
Put the output of the hose in your plant.
Download h (/id/Automatically-water-your-small-indoor-plant-using-/) 7 Steps .
Put the Arduino somewhere where it won't get wet. Collection I Made it! Favorite Share
As far as aesthetics are concerned, I kind of like the wires because people
come over and see them and say "What's with the wires... wait, is that some
kind of watering contraption?!" and then I get to tell them all about it and show
them how it works. If you prefer something more discreet, you can put
everything into a box and run the tubes through holes. You could even put the
box under the plant as a stand. Your imagination is the limit.
Step 7: Optimize
You're basically done, but the last thing you should do is check the soil
periodically and see if it's too wet or too dry, and adjust your code accordingly.
If it's too wet, go in and either decrease the 'watertime' variable (to water for
less time) or increase the 'waittime' variable (to water less often).
If the soil is too dry, do the opposite. Be patient, as it may take a few days to
see if your changes are optimal.
Thanks for reading! I plan on writing more Instructables, so please let me know
if you have any feedback. I love sharing what I'm working on, and it makes me
happy when something I've made can be useful to someone else.
good job!
Flag
You said:-
The PN2222A transistor is great for this purpose because it can handle 5v from
the Arduino without any resistors.
This is total and utter rubbish and will result in the Arduino being damaged.
The Arduino has a pin limit of 40mA that is the limit of what it should supply,
not the limit of what it can supply. It is likely that the base current without a
resistor is being limited to about 80mA by the internal impedance of the
Arduino pin and that is stopping the transistor from frying. This current is twice
the level where damage to the Arduino is being done. You NEED a resistor, 1K
should be ne. No doubt you will say it works, but your Arduino will fail a lot
sooner that it otherwise would have.
Flag
2 months ago
Hi!
Here, 1K prevented the pump to get enough current. I had to use a 220
resistor to make it work.
Flag
I made this - thanks a lot for the inspiration! But with me, the 1k resistor was
too much, so it wasn't working. I changed to a 220, and then it worked. I hope
this won't fry my arduino...
Flag
I made this with a few other instructables, so mine has a soil moisture sensor
$3, connected to pin A5 and using an ethernet shield and set up a very simple
website to monitor the moisture status of my plant. code below,
#include <SPI.h>
#include <Ethernet.h>
byte mac[] = { 0x00,0x1F,0xF3,0xD7,0x09,0x4C }; //physical mac address
pinMode(relay1, OUTPUT);
// start the Ethernet connection and the server:
Ethernet.begin(mac, ip, gateway, subnet);
server.begin();
Serial.print("server is at ");
Serial.println(Ethernet.localIP());
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(motorPin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
{
digitalWrite(motorPin,HIGH);
}
else digitalWrite(motorPin,LOW);
//map the value to a percentage
Serial.println("%");
delay(1000); // delay in between reads for stability
while (client.connected()) {
if (client.available()) {
Automatically water your small indoor plant using Arduino + pump by
osmithy (/member/osmithy/)
char c = client.read();
Download h (/id/Automatically-water-your-small-indoor-plant-using-/)
//read char by char HTTP request 7 Steps .
if (readString.length() < 100) { Collection I Made it! Favorite Share
//store characters to string
readString += c;
//Serial.print(c);
}
//if HTTP request has ended
if (c == 'n') {
Serial.println(readString); //print to serial monitor for debuging
client.println("<HTML>");
client.println("<HEAD>");
}
client.println("<a href="/?waterlvl"">Refresh waterlvl% </a><br />");
client.println("<br />");
client.println("Created by Joshua Kiefer and Jacob Kiefer");
client.println("</BODY>");
client.println("</HTML>");
delay(1);
//stopping client
client.stop();
//controls the Arduino if you press the buttons
if (readString.indexOf("?potmoisture") >0){
digitalWrite(relay1, HIGH);
Automatically water your small indoor plant using Arduino + pump by
}
osmithy (/member/osmithy/)
if (readString.indexOf("?lamp1o")
Download
>0){
(/id/Automatically-water-your-small-indoor-plant-using-/) 7 Steps
h .
digitalWrite(relay1, LOW);
Collection I Made it! Favorite Share
}
//clearing string for next read
readString="";
}
}
}
}
(https://cdn.instructables.com/F1P/XJRA/IO1OWXGE/F1PXJRAIO1OWXGE.LARGE.jpg)
(http://www.instructables.com/les/orig/F6D/X5BG/IO1OWXFZ/F6DX5BGIO1OWXFZ.pdf)
Flag
I gonna try to switch a transistor on and of instead so the motor will work on a
separate circuit. Will share when I succeed.
Flag
Flag
I need to control the pump so it pumps about a liter of water three times
a day. I gonna try another approach.
Flag
Flag
Hi
"The PN2222A transistor is great for this purpose because it can handle 5v
from the Arduino without any resistors."
Sorry that is wrong, the Veb is 6V, this is the reverse bias breakdown voltage of
the 2N2222A not the forward drop which is 0.6 to 0.7Vdc
Automatically water
Please!!!! Place your between
a 1K resistor smallthe
indoor
output ofplant using
the arduino Arduino + pump
and the by
transistor base, to limit base current.
osmithy (/member/osmithy/)
You are very
Download lucky if you do not have a base resistor to not have caused
h (/id/Automatically-water-your-small-indoor-plant-using-/) 7 Steps .
damage to your arduino and or 2N2222A.
Collection I Made it! Favorite Share
Tom
Flag
Flag
hello, rst of all i want to thank you for such a helpful information. Sir, i m from
computer faculty so i want to innovate this idea with mobile app. Can you help
me out for basic idea about what should i do for these.
Flag
Flag
Automatically water
alrite, i made your
it. but what can ismall indoor
do to check plant
water level in theusing Arduino
container. am + pump by
osmithy (/member/osmithy/)
using a submersible pump that should not be used without it being completely
submerged.
Download
so it helps to have some way to check if the water in the reservoir
h (/id/Automatically-water-your-small-indoor-plant-using-/) 7 Steps .
is getting depleted
Collection I Made it! Favorite Share
Flag
daugguy (/member/daugguy) 2 years ago Reply
You have a great project, I like it when its simple. I have a problem with your
code though, I can't get wait time beyond about 30 seconds. I think its limited
to 32767 ms, but with the ()'s it should go farther. What version of Arduino are
you using.
Flag
2 years ago
instead of just delay(waitTime) you can use:
...
while(cycle<1000){ //if you waited waitTime x Cycles you can go on
Automatically
} water your small indoor plant using Arduino + pump by
osmithy (/member/osmithy/)
Flag
Flag
I just love it when a GREAT project such as this is posted how all of the
"experts" pop up to give advice on how to "do it better"...
Flag
Flag
I did not want to sacrice my arduino for it, and made one with these parts :
http://www.banggood.com/Soil-Hygrometer-Humidity-D...
(http://www.banggood.com/Soil-Hygrometer-Humidity-Detection-Module-
Moisture-Sensor-For-Arduino-p-79227.html)
Automatically water your small indoor plant using Arduino + pump
http://www.banggood.com/1-Channel-5V-Relay-Module-... by
osmithy (/member/osmithy/)
(http://www.banggood.com/1-Channel-5V-Relay-Module-Shield-Board-For-
Arduino-ARM-PIC-AVR-DSP-ARM-p-914846.html)
Download (/id/Automatically-water-your-small-indoor-plant-using-/) 7 Steps
h .
an aquaruim waterpump and a 5volt powersupply.
Collection I Made it! Favorite Share
Let it grow !
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2 years ago
The current limits for the Uno are 40mA from any one I/O pin or
200mA from all I/O pins combined, and 50mA from the 3.3V supply pin.
The only I/O pin he is using is A0 to drive the transistor which will be very
well under 40mA.
I'm not sure exactly what the current limit for the 5V supply pin is. I think
it might be 1.5amps, but it's at least 500mA which is the most that can
be drawn over a standard USB port.
However, he is not using the 5V supply pin to power the pump (which
would be bad because dropping 12-5=7volts @ 300mA would require
dissipating 2.1 watts of power which would denitely overheat the
voltage regulator)- he is using the Vin pin which he is supplying with 12V.
That is, the same 12V supply that is powering the Arduino through the 5V
regulator is directly connected to one side of the transistor. The pump is
connected to the other side and when A0 goes HIGH, the pump will draw
current directly from the 12V supply. More explanations:
http://bildr.org/2011/03/high-power-control-with-arduino-and-tip120/
(http://bildr.org/2011/03/high-power-control-with-arduino-and-tip120/)
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http://www.instructables.com/id/USB-powered-LED-pl...
(http://www.instructables.com/id/USB-powered-LED-plant-light-20/)
love & peace...
(https://cdn.instructables.com/F5H/DPGI/HUHFR13Z/F5HDPGIHUHFR13Z.LARGE.jpg)
(https://cdn.instructables.com/F5W/KRDP/HU842GEH/F5WKRDPHU842GEH.LARGE.jpg)
Flag
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/daisy-si-smart-plant-
waterer
Flag
Flag
Great project! I have an arduino that is just collecting dust in my project box. I
wonder how dicult it would be to measure the moisture content of that water
and so make the unit almost autonomous. Here is a dirt cheap sensor:
http://goo.gl/5MXSyO Shipping is free but it can take between 4 to 6 weeks.
(https://cdn.instructables.com/FPS/XEEI/HUHT1RWE/FPSXEEIHUHT1RWE.LARGE.jpg)
Automatically water your small indoor plant using Arduino + pump by
osmithy (/member/osmithy/) Flag
Flag
good idea..but what you are doing is a on and o timer ...this you can do with
a 555 ..cost too less...so i expect a microcontroller to do some more complex
task...any way thanks for sharing
Flag
Flag
I think the use of the MCU is not an overkill as this would oer the
possibility to be upgraded with more featues if you want. And it also
oers a good reason to learn about sleep modes and other features of
the atmega.
I think if I would do this kind of projekt in that scale, I would use one of
those popular darlington arrays as the ULN2003 as a one chip solution.
You can use with higher load and it comes with protection against
reverse current spike when stopping the motor. It would minimize the
Automatically water your small indoor plant using Arduino
possibility to fry the atmega.
+ pump by
osmithy (/member/osmithy/)
Flag
Download h (/id/Automatically-water-your-small-indoor-plant-using-/) 7 Steps .
Collection I Made it! Favorite Share
| BLR_RAVI (/member/BLR_RAVI) . osmithy (/member/osmithy)
hi smith...i would use 4.7k good quality cap..if i need 2 years ago Reply
Flag
Flag
you could use two 555 , one to activate every hour which will activate the
second one for 10 seconds.
http://www.csgnetwork.com/ne555timer1calc.html
(http://www.csgnetwork.com/ne555timer1calc.html) this site might help
Flag
Really nice project, and well-presented for those of us who are just starting out
with Arduino. I've been looking to do something similar to maintain water levels
in egg incubatorsI'll probably connect a humidity sensor.
Automatically water your small indoor plant using Arduino
Flag
+ pump by
osmithy (/member/osmithy/)
Flag
hahaha its nice but not that practical project. :) but pls send me some of your
works sir.. cuz evrything is interesting! :) very nice.. hehe ty !
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