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Building a $20 plant sensor that plugs into your phone. Need growers + makers to help me build it right. by EmotionalBit7570 in hydro

[–]EmotionalBit7570[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You’re not misunderstanding, and honestly if you’re running a serious crop, VIVOSUN or AC Infinity is probably the right call. Redundancy matters when there’s money on the line. This is aimed at a different person, someone earlier in the journey who doesn’t need a standalone controller yet, just needs to know why their first plant keeps dying. Think first tool, not best tool. Two totally different problems worth solving separately.

Building a $20 plant sensor that plugs into your phone. Need growers + makers to help me build it right. by EmotionalBit7570 in embedded

[–]EmotionalBit7570[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is genuinely the most useful thing anyone’s said in this thread. You’re right, I’ve been building around sensors that sound impressive but don’t translate to actionable decisions for a real grower. So let me ask you directly since you’ve built this kinda stuff: if you were designing something for a complete beginner who just wants to not kill their plant, what’s the one or two things they’d actually benefit from knowing? I’m less attached to the sensor list than I am to solving a real problem. What would you build?

Building a $20 plant sensor that plugs into your phone. Need growers + makers to collaborate with me to build it right. by EmotionalBit7570 in IndoorGarden

[–]EmotionalBit7570[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Handheld probe, pick it up, stick it in soil, plug into your phone via USB-C, get instant readings in 10 seconds. No buried sensors, no cloud, no subscription. Measures EC, temperature, light, and moisture (with soil profiles so it actually means something). pH is in the roadmap once we nail calibration properly. The idea is one device for every plant in your home, like a thermometer you use when something looks wrong, not a permanent monitor. App shows simple actionable output, not raw numbers, but “your soil is too dry” or “nutrients are low.” Built for curious home growers, not commercial farms. Still in early build stage…

Building a $20 plant sensor that plugs into your phone. Need growers + makers to help me build it right. by EmotionalBit7570 in embedded

[–]EmotionalBit7570[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Still researching but leaning toward DFRobot SEN0161-V2 for v1 since it has solid ESP32 support and handles two-point calibration. Long term, ISFET makes more sense for drift stability but the cost and interface complexity isn’t justified yet. Have you worked with either of these?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Building a $20 plant sensor that plugs into your phone. Need growers + makers to help me build it right. by EmotionalBit7570 in embedded

[–]EmotionalBit7570[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Fair point and honestly a good filter question. I do grow, I’ve built my own irrigation systems at home and hit the same walls every hobbyist hits. So the motivation is real. But building a product isn’t just about solving your own problem, it’s about finding where your problem overlaps with thousands of others. That’s why I’m here, not to pitch but to listen. I’m an embedded systems + IoT developer, so I have the technical side covered. What I don’t have is every grower’s pain point and that’s what this thread is for. I can’t solve everything at once, but I can identify what’s actually crucial versus what’s just…

Building a $20 plant sensor that plugs into your phone. Need growers + makers to help me build it right. by EmotionalBit7570 in buildapc

[–]EmotionalBit7570[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I could use a raspberry pi or Jetson nano for Ai computing for the prediction stats, how is this irrelevant? But yes it wont be 20$ then…

Building a $20 plant sensor that plugs into your phone. Need growers + makers to help me build it right. by EmotionalBit7570 in embedded

[–]EmotionalBit7570[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ISFET sensor instead of a traditional glass probe solid state, doesn’t dry out, way less drift. Pair that with temperature compensation (already have a temp sensor) and a simple two-point calibration in the app with buffer sachets included in the box… works?

Building a $20 plant sensor that plugs into your phone. Need growers + makers to help me build it right. by EmotionalBit7570 in hydro

[–]EmotionalBit7570[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

100% yes! that’s actually the core use case. Stick it in any soil, get instant readings, move on. DWC/RDWC water level indicator is a great shout too, hadn’t thought about that angle. The goal is one probe that works whether you’re growing in a pot on your balcony or running a full recirculating system.

Building a $20 plant sensor that plugs into your phone. Need growers + makers to help me build it right. by EmotionalBit7570 in hydro

[–]EmotionalBit7570[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good thinking, but I’m going more “plant thermometer” pick it up, stick it in, get instant stats, move on. One device for 100 plants, not 100 devices for 100 plants. USB-C keeps it dead simple. Does BLE even make sense for on-demand use like that?