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Completely Analog Houseplant Soil Moisture Sensor

Simple moisture sensor that lights up when a plant's soil is too dry. Powered by a CR2032 coin cell battery.

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Depending on the LED series resistance chosen the circuit should be able to last 1 year on a single CR2032. Gerber files for the PCB included in the files, schematic/BoM included in the images. All told, it should cost less than $5 to make one (including PCB, components, and battery). Meant to be used as a last-resort reminder to water plants, not as an exact moisture level indicator!

Three Transistor Capacitive Moisture Sensor V2_2023-07-15.zip

Gerber Files for the PCB

x-zip-compressed - 17.42 kB - 07/16/2023 at 02:56

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  • 3 × 2N7002 (SOT23) Discrete Semiconductors / Transistors, MOSFETs, FETs, IGBTs
  • 1 × 1N4148 (SOD123) Discrete Semiconductors / Diodes and Rectifiers
  • 1 × 680pF Ceramic Capacitor (0603) Surface Mount Capacitor
  • 1 × 80pF-270pF Ceramic Capacitor (0603) Tuning Surface Mount Capacitor (should be higher value if you want to trigger earlier on)
  • 2 × 2 Megohm Resistor (0603) Surface mount resistors

View all 11 components

  • 1
    Obtain PCB (gerber files included on this page)

    Send the PCB's gerber files to any PCB manufacturer (JLCPCB, PCBWay, etc.) to have the PCB made and shipped to you. Should come out to around $8 for 5 PCBs.

  • 2
    Buy components to populate PCB

    Need 2N7002 SOT23 (x3), 2M 0603 resistors (x2), 9.1M resistor (x1), 0603 red LED (x1), CR2032 surface mount battery clip (x1), 1N4148 SOD123 diode (x1), 47k 0603 resistor (x1), 2.2k 0603 resistor (x1), 680pF 0603 ceramic capacitor (x1), 80pF 0603 ceramic capacitor [OPTIONAL] (x1). All components should be easy to find on digikey and most from even Amazon.

  • 3
    Solder components

    Use a solder iron with a fine head to solder the components onto the PCB. Recommend using fine tweezers for soldering the 0603 components and lead free solder. Please make sure to solder in a well ventilated area or using a fume extractor! NOTE: For best reliable results it is recommended that you apply conformal coating to the top side components of the PCB (the side with the LED, transistors, etc) in order to avoid inaccurate readings that can result if these components get wet.

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CustomElectronics wrote 07/16/2023 at 03:19 point

If folks don't feel like making one themselves I'd be happy to make one and mail it to you for free just to check it out! I've only got 5 on hand though

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