The Plant Pot

hello world,

please support & share our mission;igg.me/at/smartplants

a smart plant pot that can e-mail you once thirsty, hot/cold, sleeping etc. charge it like a cell phone, no prior gardening, electrical or programming experience required.

-- project kits available --

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update 8: wireless charging & solar skin 2.0 (in progress... follow for updates).

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update 7: pot2 - www.instructables.com/id/Pot2/

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update 6: www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Smart-Plant-pot/

update 5: new body proposal, stackable cubes

update 4: solar sking upgrade - https://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-Powered-Plan...

update 3: color change upgrade - https://www.instructables.com/id/Glow-a-Pot/

update 2: $4.50 wifi upgrade - https://www.instructables.com/id/Envolysis/

update 1 :The Plant Pot basic ( 9/16/2014 )

facebook

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what? think of me as a smart plant pot that can let you know about your plant's condition. with the help of a microcontroller and sensors, the plant pot alerts the user about the plant's condition. it is connected to the cloud, so the user can control the plant pot remotely from any browsing capable device.

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why? Plants are the building blocks of planet earth yet most people know very little about them. Or maybe you may be scared of not succeeding. some may just not have the time to always make sure their plants are healthy. Plants clean the air. They also naturally absorb negative energy in the air, giving off positive. So for a healthier planet, the plant pot is here to assure no plant fails.

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how? the plant pot is an open source, non-profit instrument. unlike mainstream electronics/products (needing constant yearly model changes), the capabilities of plant pot is assured to be always at the highest possible level by the end users. the end user can either collect my parts him/herself and put together the plant pot on their own or make a donation to the plant doctor team and get one shipped to them worldwide (either as DIY kit or finished product).

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the Plant Pot is happy to be here on planet earth, let's build !

Step 1: Frame & Electronics

I can be made from many different materials. currently I am made out of a plastic pot. My planned upgrade is a custom made clay pot.

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Plant pot can be;

• hand made with clay
• cut out of existing plastic pot
• can be 3D printed (last step for updates)

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In my heart I am equipped with;

• cactus micro board with onboard wifi chip
• light, water, temperature & humidity sensors
• battery case (short pin 18650s) orbattery case (regular 18650s)
• rgb led module
• mini breadboard
• jumper cables
• 18650 batteries

Step 2: Built in WiFi Plant Health Monitor

plant pot can be recharged/reprogrammed via usb. attached you can find the code.

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Green means every condition is as needed for the current plant/strain automatically through our online database. the end user simply enters the plant type and age on the webpage

Yellow means plant is sleeping (no light) or fault in the lighting system, if the light is off during ON stage.

Red means the plant is too cold or hot depending on the season.

Blue means the plant is thirsty.

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Once either of the sensors are triggered I can send an e-mail (tweet). The user can read my sensor data on the cloud.

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visit for more information on cloud data management / sign-up

https://www.instructables.com/id/Envolysis/step2

Step 3: Attention Needed !

cold

thirsty

asleep

alive & healthy

Step 4: History

Plant Pot - made on earth . 2014

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Step 5: 3D Printed Body

update coming soon..

the illustrator file, pot1_laser.ai is 6.35mm thickness design for the local cnc machine. it is much thicker than needed. 3mm should be perfect. will upload a thinner wall version soon.!

Comments

[megamindkaamil]

I think batteries will not be that efficient enough as u will have to recharge which does take significant time so a better option would be wall plug adapters ......realy cool tech there mate

[YogeshJ21]

i want to show my readings on blynk aap with rgb led glowing automatically
please help me as soon as possible beacuse my courier is on line

[Akin Yildiz]

hello, here is the update on the project using blynk; www.instructables.com/id/Pot2/

[BismillahM]

find out similar articles here

[Akin Yildiz]

?

[mikeghen]

Nice tech!

[Akin Yildiz]

thank you for your interest

[technochatter]

Make a version 2.0 of this project:

Add a pH sensor to measure the soil pH and update status with IOT so that it notifies when to add manure or change the soil.Then it will be the perfect upgrade :-)

[Akin Yildiz]

great idea.!!

[ShivankRules]

Hi, Akin How you charge your 18650 li-ion batteries...instead of 18650 batteries I have purchased 3.7v li-ion battrey,

[Akin Yildiz]

18650 batteries are 3.7V li-ion.. which battery exactly did you get.?

there are many ways to charge them, but the simplest is a usb li-ion charger; http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hot-Durable-Rechargeable-L...

and also get a battery holder, these are for 18650s; http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=li-ion+charge...

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let me know which battery ur using and for what.? thank you for your interest !!

[ShivankRules]

hi Akin, thanx for the charger... I m 3.7 li-ion battery(attached a pic below) for the esp8266-01 module to upload data on thingspeak...i was confused for the charging of this battery....

[ShivankRules]

battery pic..

[Akin Yildiz]

this is a very different battery, almost like a cell phone battery. i'm not sure what the 3rd connection is for, usually for temperature (or battery level). you should find the + and - on the cables, probably the one with red line and black if there is any, and all you have to do is to connect those 2 cables to an appropriate charger (leaving the 3rd cable alone). where did you find that.? you can use the battery charger link i've sent you with this battery. it will work..

[skr0013]

Electronics are not a good fix for the terrible design of those plastic pots with attached drainage trays. They drain very slowly due to the drainage holes being obstructed by the barbs. The trays hold very little water before they overflow encouraging improperly watering in small amounts. That leads to salt build up. Adding electronics to that tray just makes matters worse. Because the trays are attached, you have to tilt the entire pot in order to drain the water. Typically you have to tilt it so far that topdressing or container medium falls out of the pot. This discourages draining the trays which leads to root rot.

[Akin Yildiz]

2.0 will address all these issues..

https://www.instructables.com/id/Smart-Pot-System/

and eventually the electronics will be built into the frame, never touching the plant/soil. I have read the article you've posted, it is very interesting. you can read my response on the other comment.

[MasterLuke]

Thank you for sharing this project! I love the desing and functionality. You have definitly won my vote with this one. If you are still looking for testers I would love to help out. I curently have one plant but I am planing to expand soon.

Thanks

Luke

[Akin Yildiz]

hello luke, I am sorry that I have missed your comment. I am in the process of 3D printing the bottom part area, once done I will let you know first.! thank you very much for your interest. I have uploaded a few new pictures and a video, you should check it out..!

[MasterLuke]

Thanks! and yeah they look great.

[kkalemba]

I think this is a great idea! I would love to be a beta tester since I have a home "full" of plants! It would be a great learning tool also since I am trying to keep them all alive without my green thumbed partner who propagated all of them. Thanks for both the idea and the ECO friendly contribution!