DIYHero & IOTinker
DIYHero DIYHero
IOTinker IOTinker
DIYHero DIYHero
Hey IOTinker, I found this old oak pallet in the garage—imagine turning it into a self‑watering planter with a moisture sensor and a tiny solar panel. Could be a great mix of upcycling and automation, right? What do you think?
IOTinker IOTinker
Nice idea, but your solar panel will only push about 5W. The 12V relay and 12V pump are a mismatch. Either use a 5V MCU, a MOSFET, and a 12V to 5V buck converter, or just go with a 12V solenoid and a cheap 12V soil sensor that outputs analog voltage. Then feed that into a 10‑bit ADC, log it, and build a Grafana dashboard. Don’t forget to calibrate the moisture range with a pot. Also, don’t forget the garage door‑bell logic in the same house—those things don’t play well with public APIs.