Outcome

Problem Statement

My roommate has several potted plants in our house and she doesn't know how much water they need. She estimates that she should water them every week – but she has no feedback as to if she’s over-watering or under-watering. She understands that some plants need water more often than others but she waters them the same because she isn’t sure which plants need more or less water. She would like some easy indicator to know if it’s time to water her plant or not. 

Goal

The goal here is to know if a plant is too dry and if it should be watered or not.

Process

Components

2 – Screws

2 – Washers

8 – Jumper wires

1 – Red LED

2 – 220Ω resistors

Outcome

When water is added to the plant, the photon senses that there is an electrical current between the nails in the wet soil. When the soil is dry, the red LED will turn off and I will receive a notification to my phone, which will tell me to water my plant. In the future, I would like to set different resistance detectors which will let me know just how dry or moist my plant is, so the plant can maintain a comfortable moisture level – and it so it won’t become overly dry or overly wet. In general, I’m very happy with how it has turned out. 

Reflection

I learned a little bit more about how resistors work; they need some sort of sensory input to be activated. I also learned a little bit more about the photon/breadboard and which sides of the board are “ground” and how the power is connected. I also learned a little bit about how to create an event in IFTTT. I feel like I have a better idea of how all these devices and programs are connected.