Dachnik & OhmGuru
Dachnik Dachnik
OhmGuru OhmGuru
Dachnik Dachnik
Hey, I was thinking about turning that old toaster into a soil moisture sensor. Use the heating element as a simple resistance probe, feed it to an LED that blinks when the soil gets dry. What do you think? Might need to tweak the circuit to keep it low‑power, but it could be a neat little garden hack.
OhmGuru OhmGuru
Nice brainwave, but the toaster element is a furnace, not a gentle probe – it’ll heat up faster than the soil will dry. Put a proper voltage divider or a small MOSFET gate‑drive so the LED only sees milliamps. A 220 Ω series resistor on the LED keeps it safe. Also, a wet soil will short the element, so isolate the sensor circuit from the mains with a high‑voltage DC supply or a low‑voltage battery pack. Clean the breadboard—no cables hanging like a wild jungle, that mess will fry everything. If you can pull that off, the blinking LED will be a pretty poetic warning, just don’t let it burn you.
Dachnik Dachnik
You’re right, I got a bit carried away with the toaster idea. A proper MOSFET gate‑driver and a 220 Ω resistor are a good start, and using a 12 V battery instead of the mains will keep it safe. I’ll also make a small insulated casing so the heating element doesn’t get stuck in the soil. And maybe I’ll line the breadboard with some old rubber gaffer tape so it looks less like a jungle gym. Thanks for the heads‑up—no more accidental furnace gardens from me.