Project by Sam; IoT Plant Monitor

[Sam]

Sam just shared a new project: "IoT Plant Monitor"

So, my wife wanted to have some small plants in the house. I didn’t, so we compromised, and got some plants. The only thing is that neither of us remembers to water them, so I wanted to build a sensor array to monitor the moisture content of the soil, and notify us when they needed watering.
We’ve got 3 plants, all fairly close to each other, and I wanted to create an IoT project so that it could send an email notification, as well as a visual ID when each individual plant required some TLC. Having worked with Particle.io before, I knew that a Particle Photon would be the best way to set it up.

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[Benjamin101139]

This is a cool project and I amazed learning about the Particle Photon and mainly the power efficiency to enable it to be battery powered.
I have seen many plant sensor projects but was put off by the fact that you have to keep it plugged in.

I just purchased all of the items to build this. My first ever coding project.
Once I learn enough, maybe I will try adding a mini Peristaltic Pump to water it too.

In my research, I have found that the resistive sensors are not reliable and eventually corrode, even the gold immersion ones, and it’s best to use Capacitive ones. Can I replace the resistive sensors with a Capacitive sensor in this project? Will it need any mods to the code?
I am planning to use this one

Capacitive Soil Moisture Sensor- Corrosion Resistant

[Owen]

Hi Benjamin,

Can I replace the resistive sensors with a Capacitive sensor in this project?

Sure can, however, you will need to update the code to suit whatever sensor you are using.

Will it need any mods to the code?

Yes. You will be able to find examples on the product pages, if not for Particle, for other similar devices like Arduino.