Proof that the Button, LEDs, and PlantType motor settings all work together!

24 Hour Countdown!

This time tomorrow we'll be about to start demo day!  Here's our to do list for today.  Shouldn't be too bad

TO DO:

[Completed

In progress]

MECHANICAL

·         Wooden Box for the water pump box

·         Plastic cover for the water pump

·         Latch on spout system

·         Tube system from spout to water tank

ELECTRICAL

·         LEDs super glued into holes

·         Longer leads on short guy purple LED

·         Leads into Leaf (mostly)

SOFTWARE

·         Code for our demo day, agreed upon yesterday

·         One more look into button pressing finickyness

OTHER

·         (Sam) Print out settings guide/create account

·         (Sam) Pick up seeds to hand out to the class

·         (Gracie) Pick up watering can

2 days left!

It's crunch time! Today we worked for a long time on integrating everything.  I've been spending lots of time in the machine shop trying to line up holes for the housing and it's finally together!  We have some adjustments to make tomorrow to make it look better.  Today we tested it with our water tank and our tank sensor and surprisingly everything integrated nicely.

SLEEEEEEEEPPPP!

Think Outside the Box

It's been a PoE marathon this past week so i'm going to split this into a few different posts.  First, the box!  We had it laser cut last week and then we got to assemble this week.  First, we had fun experimenting with wood glue and we ended up clamping our box by wrapping the whole thing in orange string.  Next, we tried our hand at polyurethane even though we were terrified to ruin our box.  It all worked out though and now we have a beautiful box!  Next, we put LED's and buttons in our box.  We have 3 turquoise, 3 purple, 2 green, a yellow, and red.  We also have a hinged door that holds the tubing to refill the box (that has yet to be installed yet though).  Here is our box in various stages of completeness!

Moving Water!

Our pump officially works! We have moved water from one cup to another!  We got more flexible tubing to make the pumping easier for the motor and we figured out how to power the motor correctly.  Our biggest challenge right now is making a housing for the pump that locks the motor in place.

Sensors Controlling Sensors

Now our moisture sensor controls when to power the motor to turn the peristaltic pump. It works!

Pump Assembly!

We've been working really hard on the pump, so here's an update!

This Monday, Sam machined our parts for our motor, so we were all set to put the pieces together! She made an arm to hold the bearings, two shoulder bolts, and a shaft to put over the motor.  

This Thursday we were finally able to put everything together and test it! Here's Gracie getting the motor ready to run for our first test.  

Unfortunately, we have to make a few adjustments to the pump before it will work, but it's on its way! Our pump was able to spin the bearings without the tubing, but with the tubing in place it was not strong enough.  This may be for several reasons.  One thing we're going to look at is whether we're giving the motor enough current.  Second, we're going to get some different tubing that is a little less stiff so that there is less resistant against the motor.  Hopefully by the end of this weekend we should have some of these motors addressed.

Don't forget to water your plants today!