Our 6th Solar Power My Project Winner built a home lawn irrigation system controlled by an Arduino inside the house. TJ Hunter is using our 2 Watt Panel and our V15 Battery in Always On mode to power the lawn sensors. According to TJ, “the lawn sensors are arduino compatible boards (moteinos) with an RFM12B transceiver to wirelessly communicate with the control unit. The sensors eport back to the control unit temperature and moisture readings so that the system knows when it’s appropriate to turn on the water or not. ” See the full project description at Havoc Studios.

Previously, the lawn sensors were powered by 9V Batteries. The main advantage of switching to solar is that there is no longer any need to change the batteries. Here’s the new setup with solar and old setup with a 9V battery.

solar powered moteino and sensor

Here’s the controller for the sprinklers.

Android controller for sprinkler

We think it is a great addition to the automated gardening systems we are seeing crop up.

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