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Archive for the ‘greenhouse’ Category

Jul
17

Solar Powered DIY Plant Watering System

arduino, arduino hacks, garden, green, green hacks, greenhouse, plants, vegetables, water Comments Off on Solar Powered DIY Plant Watering System 

Solar Powered Watering System

It’s great having fresh vegetables just a few steps away from the kitchen, but it takes work to keep those plants healthy. [Pierre] found this out the hard way after returning from vacation to find his tomato plant withering away. He decided to put an end to this problem by building his own solar-powered plant watering system (page in French, Google translation).

An Arduino serves as the brain of the system. It’s programmed to check a photo resistor every ten minutes. At 8:30PM, the Arduino will decide how much to water the plants based on the amount of sunlight it detected throughout the day. This allows the system to water the plants just the right amount. The watering is performed by triggering a 5V relay, which switches on a swimming pool pump.

[Pierre] obviously wanted a “green” green house, so he is powering the system using sunlight. A 55 watt solar panel recharges a 12V lead acid battery. The power from the battery is stepped down to the appropriate 5V required for the Arduino. Now [Pierre] can power his watering system from the very same energy source that his plants use to grow.


Filed under: Arduino Hacks, green hacks
Apr
01

Growing your veggies with a smart greenhouse called MEG

arduino, arduino mega, greenhouse, kickstarter, mega Comments Off on Growing your veggies with a smart greenhouse called MEG 

MEG presented at PopupMakers

MEG is the world’s first social and automated greenhouse, part machine and part community, now on Kickstarter. Carlo D’Alesio and Piero Santoro, the designer duo based in Milan presented the prototype  at Maker Faire Rome and also at a PopupMakers event last year.

MEG means Micro Experimental Growing system, runs on an Arduino MEGA 2560 which controls an automated “light engine,” water and nutrient tank, fans and sensors monitoring humidity, temperature, and pH. It’s smart because if you are not really good with growing plants, you can crowdsource parameters from other gardeners: your neighbour’s tomatoes won’t be more red than yours!

 


Last saturday they celebrated Arduino Day in Milan and launched the campaign right there with us, where I took a couple of pictures of the prototype!

MEGPrototype

MEGprototype2



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