Smart Propagation Station

Because of my unconditional (borderline obsessive) love for plants, I decided to design and build a propagation station for growing pups but in an excessively extra way.

• 2X 500x500 mm acrylic 5mm
• 1X 1600x1000 mm MDF 3 mm
• Arduino
• Jumper wires
• WS12B LED ring (12 LEDs)
• Aluminum foil
• UV resin
• UV lamp

First we make the parts for the acrylic and MDF boxes using a laser cutting machine. Make sure to set the red line on one of the acrylic sides to engrave, and put it on a low level to ensure water won't escape in later steps.

In order for the acrylic box to be able to hold water, we need to make sure it's waterproof. At first I tried using an acrylic sealant but that ended up not working. Use UV resin to seal all the seams. Try and test whether the acrylic box is actually waterproof by filling it up till the indicator on one of the sides and let it rest on something like paper. If the paper stays dry after a few hours, it's safe to assume the box is waterproof.

It's time to code the Arduino so it can detect water levels and send signals to the LED ring. Don't forget to put the .ino file in a folder with the same name, otherwise the arduino ide won't be able to locate the file. If you want to change any of the code, don't forget to check the code before uploading it to your arduino.

Wire up your hardware according to the schematic provided in the attachments. Make sure to connect power last, and if necessary connect ground before power.

Now it's time to put the acrylic box inside the MDF box and fill the acrylic box with water up to the engraved indicator line. Cover the acrylic box with the final MDF board with the holes for the pups.