Orchid Watering Automation
As someone who loves plants but can never remember to water them, I wanted to create something that would do the remembering part for me. To address this issue, I decided to build a device to remind me automatically using the Raspberry Pi Pico W to monitor soil moisture levels and send email notifications when the moisture levels dropped too low. In this article, I will describe the process I went through to build this project.
For this project, I used a moisture sensor made from cork bark, which had two electrical leads embedded in it that acted as a sort of switch. When the soil was wet, the switch closed, and when it became dry, the switch opened. I connected the moisture sensor to the Raspberry Pi Pico W to monitor the moisture level.
Once the Pi Pico W detected that the moisture level had dropped too low, it sent an HTTP POST request to an AWS Lambda Function. The Lambda Function listened for events from the Pi and triggered an email notification to be sent out.
The Raspberry Pi Pico W was the perfect choice for this project because it is a small, low-power microcontroller that can easily interface with various sensors and devices. Its built-in WiFi capabilities allowed me to connect it to the internet, making it easy to send data to the AWS Lambda Function and receive email notifications.
The moisture sensor made from cork bark was an excellent choice because it was inexpensive and easy to make. Additionally, it provided a digital output that was easy to read using the Pi Pico W.
Using AWS Lambda to send email notifications was an ideal solution because it eliminated the need for any port forwarding or hosting of email servers within my local home network. The Lambda Function was triggered automatically when the Pi Pico W sent an HTTP POST request, ensuring a reliable and secure method of sending email notifications.
This project allowed me to utilize the power of the Raspberry Pi Pico W and AWS Lambda to keep my plants healthy and thriving. It was a great learning experience for me to explore the capabilities of these powerful technologies, and it provided me with a reliable and secure way to send email notifications when the moisture levels of the soil dropped too low. The combination of the Raspberry Pi Pico W, the moisture sensor made from cork bark, and AWS Lambda provided an efficient and cost-effective solution for monitoring soil moisture levels and ensuring that my plants received the proper amount of water.
