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content/Plant Waterer.md

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+Title: Automatic Plant Waterer
+Date: 2014-06-05
+Category: Creations
+Summary: A device that automatically waters plants.
+short: 8
+
+One day I decided watering my one plant was too much work, so I automated it.  It's also great for when I'm on vacation. The plant is a year old now and doesn't look as good as it used to (kinda like you). So this machine is like its life support.
+
+<span class="aside">Update: this plant died long ago</span>
+
+![[waterer1.jpg | the device and pump on a 2L pop bottle with a tube running to a flowerpot]]
+
+## First Attempt
+
+The design was very simple and soldered together on perf board. A microcontroller turns the pump on for 20 seconds, then waits 24 hours and restarts. The pump ran way too fast so it was slowed down to 10% power.
+
+This design suffered from a fatal problem. After running, there was a chance that the tube would stay full of fluid. If the water level in the pop bottle was too high, it could siphon out. I woke up with a flower pot overflowing with water a couple of times.
+
+![[waterer2.jpg | a new version feeding into a different plant]]
+
+## Second Attempt
+
+I liked the idea so much that I made a second iteration. This one used a custom printed circuit board with a lot more features. The pumping duration could be adjusted with a screwdriver. This was useful as the plant (now a [Ming aralia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyscias_fruticosa)) grew.
+
+Another feature was the ability to run the pump backwards. This completely eliminated the siphoning problem from before. After pumping for a set duration, it would run backwards until the tube was cleared of water.
+
+<span class="aside">Also dead :(</span>
+
+![[waterer3.jpg | the new version beside a big Ming aralia plant with bushy drooping leaves and skinny stems]]