Rechargeable Raspberry Pi Pico plant watering monitor with a neat plastic case

Most DIY techy soil moisture projects are a bit untidy, with bare components stuck into a prototyping breadboard, and often gloss over the fact they are stuck cabled into the mains. So, I decided to try to go one (or two) better with a neat, compact DIY case and rechargeable LiPo battery supply.
Follow the development of my build, based on my prototype ( • Raspberry Pi Pico wate... ), from circuit board to power management, and see how I adapted an off-the-shelf mini storage box to hang of the side of the pot.
Micropython code can be found here: github.com/Pat...

[@alexdanciu5107]

Perfect and free from manual catering , better make a custom pbc for this , gonna make easy and flexible

[@paterpracticus]

Thank you. A custom PCB would be good, but for my next version I dispensed with the board altogether and just used soldered headers with jumper cables: ruclips.net/video/-UjNNdQtsy4/видео.htmlsi=OXjSltZKdiopnI8o

[@stonedrecluse2833]

Good stuff! I am though amazed how involved the design gets despite the simplicity of the idea and its application.This actually makes me be more respectful to the industrial sollutions, where simplification is a part of the design routine. But isn't it (i.e., self-induced trouble) why we are doing this diy stuff?..

[@paterpracticus]

So glad you like it. I've improved the battery life using deepsleep (video coming soon), which I will use for my next iteration - using a Pico W and some solar panels - which will hopefully not require plugging in at all.