Makerverse Plant_io SHIM (CE09594)

Support Product Questions
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This is a placeholder topic for “Makerverse Plant_io SHIM” comments.

Breaks out connectors for a pump, soil moisture sensor and environmental sensing with PiicoDev.

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I love the idea of this project because i’ve been meaning to set up something like it in my home office, living room, kitchen etc. While I realise this kit is designed for people doing electronics discover/first steps, I’d definitely throw money at something that allowed me to connect a bunch of moisture sensors, a pump and some solenoid valves so I could selectively, automatically water my few-dozen plants (in particular when we travel over the summer holls).
Yes, I could make a board and solder it all up myself, but having an off-the-shelf kit with a pico w in a housing that I can pick n*(sensor+valve) as addons and hook it up with jst/pico dev/etc plugs would be amazing!

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Yeaaaah!
This kit is just a template too - once you dial in your needs there’s nothing stopping you from making mods - use a Pico W and get it network connected or strip out all the platform hardware and just have it stuck into your Peace Lily pot

Happy Making :smiley:

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on the Makerverse Plant_io SHIM what are the resistors on the board used for

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Hi Bryce,

Welcome to the forum!

The 2 sets:

  • Act as a voltage divider to measure the battery voltage
  • Support I2C via the PiicoDev connector
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How do you connect Li Batteries (Polymer Lithium Ion Battery (LiPo) 3.7V 1100mAh) to power. I would like to know the most efficent way of connecting (without soldering if possible)

I appologise if I have used the wrong method of joining the chat - any hints on how to do better would be appreciated.

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Hey there, @Laurie89358, and welcome to the forum, glad to have you here.

Normally we would have quite a few options, but with the Pico sitting right on top of the SHIM we lose access to the VSYS and Ground ports. That limits our options to the range of HATs.

Something like the Waveshare UPS Module for Pico would work wonders with this SHIM. Your LiPo won’t fit neatly between the HATs, as the 600mAh would, but the HAT itself should connect to both the SHIM and Pico.

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Hi Laurie,

Welcome to the forum!!

The additional voltage from 4x NiMH batteries teeter on the minimum voltage required to run the pump. if you’re using a LiPo, a boost module to a higher voltage is required.

What kind of system are you trying to set up?

Liam

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Hi Liam.

Need to consider the power (Watts) also.
The current at the lower voltage will be noticeably different from what is used at the higher volts. By the time you factor in the conversion factor this difference could be appreciable and depending on the size of the LiPo it could struggle a bit.
Cheers Bob

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Thank you for the feed back.

I have bought some of the components for the plant io and will put them together during the weekend.

I have also spent a day thinking about what I am trying to achieve. What I want is a double watering line for two pots of plants so that I can compare growth. I think that it should be possible to use a fertilizer supplement to reduce nitrate levels. (This may be a pipe dream but it will be fun to carry out.).

  1. I would like to control it by a PICO preferably with Wifi output
  2. OK the biggest requirement is that it should be as cheap as possible. I would like to interest some university students and perhaps schools in this sort of experiment.
  3. I will need automatic watering with soil moisture determined by the capacitance meter (Would this pump be ok (Submersible Pump DC 3V-5V SKU: CE05345.)
  4. I would like a portable power supply. I suspect that I should use the 4x AA Battery box (JST-PH, Switch) SKU: CE09695 together with the Makerverse Nano Power Timer SKU: CE07927
  5. I can solder - but would rather not
  6. I think that a SKU: CE09456 would be OK to control the pump?
  7. I believe that I could get an estimate of the plant growth by using an estimate of the CO2 equivalents by two PiicoDev Air Quality Sensor ENS160 SKU: CE08560
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Hi Laurie,

To answer your questions:

  1. The Pico W would be the way to go then!
  2. Sounds great! User experience and documentation are always a must for reproducible projects.
  3. That pump is okay, but the larger tube width, and the type of pump means the amount of liquid dispensed isnt as accurate as a peristaltic pump like used in the Plant io kit
  4. That option is good, though you will need to use NiMH batteries, 4x Alkaline cells (1.6V ea = 6.4V, too high for the Pico Vsys Pin, that the power timer feeds through to)
  5. That module will work perfectly, this FET would also work: MOSFET Power Switch Module | Buy in Australia | CE09733 | Core Electronics
  6. I’m not sure how you could correlate the CO2 to growth, could a camera work better? When making the kit, adding the camera was on the cards (but optional) ArduCam Mega 5MP Camera | Buy in Australia | AC-B0401 | Core Electronics
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