Monk Makes
Monk Makes - Plant Monitor Board
Monk Makes - Plant Monitor Board
The MonkMakes Plant Monitor Board is a capacitive moisture probe/meter with additional built-in temperature and relative humidity measurement. It is compatible with micro:bit, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Pico, and most other microcontroller boards.
The board features alligator/crocodile clip rings for use with BBC micro:bit and Adafruit Clue, and ready-soldered header pins for Arduino and other microcontroller boards. Additionally, it has an easy-to-use UART serial interface, additional analogue out for moisture only, and a built-in RGB LED.
In use: The front side of the prong should be as close to the edge of the pot as possible, with the electronics facing out of the pot and the prong pushed into the soil only as far as the white line. Once powered up the plant monitor board will immediately begin displaying the 'wetness' via the built-in LED. Red means dry and green means wet.
Coding: The microcontroller that you choose to use with the MonkMakes plant monitor will determine which coding language you will use. There are detailed guides available for download which cover the following languages; The BBC micro:bit (Makecode), The Raspberry Pi 4 (Python), The Raspberry Pi Pico (MicroPython), and Arduino (Arduino C - SoftSerial). The guides can be downloaded from the resources section below.
Note:
- Do not connect this board to the 5V pin of the Raspberry Pi. The board is designed to operate at 3.3V and a 5V supply is likely to destroy it.
- Since the Raspberry Pi does not have analogue inputs, then the only interface option is to use the serial UART interface. This interface has to be enabled on the Raspberry Pi from the Raspberry Pi Configuration tool that you will find in the Preferences section of the Start menu.
Features:
- Superior capacitative sensor (no electrical contact with soil)
- Alligator/crocodile clip rings (for use with BBC micro:bit and Adafruit Clue.
- Ready soldered header pins for Arduino and other microcontroller boards.
- Easy to use UART serial interface.
- Additional analogue output for moisture only.
- Built-in RGB LED
- Extensive guides are available to download that cover all aspects of using the board, including coding.
- There are instructions for using this board with
- The BBC micro:bit (Makecode).
- The Raspberry Pi 4 (Python).
- The Raspberry Pi Pico (MicroPython).
- Arduino (Arduino C - SoftSerial).
Contents:
- 1 x Monk Makes - Plant Monitor Board.
Requires:
- Any suitable microcontroller, such as;
- The BBC micro:bit.
- A Raspberry Pi 4.
- The Raspberry Pi Pico.
- An Arduino.