Plant Watering - Microbit

“No overwatering, no forgetting — just perfect timing, every time.”

💡 Introduction

The Smart Plant Watering System is an innovative real-life project designed to help farmers and gardeners automate irrigation by using a Soil Moisture Sensor and a Microbit microcontroller. The system ensures that plants receive water only, when necessary, thus conserving water, saving manual effort, and improving agricultural productivity.

📘 Pre-requisite Knowledge

• Basic idea of how Microbit works.
• How to use Tinkercad for circuit simulation.
• Knowledge of soil moisture sensor.
• How to connect components (wires, sensors, LEDs) on a breadboard.
• Use of if-else conditions in coding.
• How to turn ON/OFF an LED or motor using code.

🎯 Learning Objectives

• Monitor the soil’s moisture level.
• Automatically water the plants when soil is dry.
• Save water and reduce manual labour.
• Create awareness about the use of IoT and microcontrollers in agriculture.

🛠 Tools & Materials Required

• Hardware: Laptop / Desktop, Soil Moisture Sensor, Pump, Microbit, and wires.
• Software: Tinkercad.
• Libraries: Python.
• Others: Internet connection.

1.     Soil Moisture Sensor

A Soil Moisture Sensor is an electronic device that measures the water content (moisture level) in the soil. It helps determine whether the soil is dry, moist, or wet, which is critical for plant growth and water conservation.

The sensor works by measuring electrical resistance or capacitance between its two probes:

• Dry soil offers more resistance (low conductivity) and gives a low analog value.
• Wet soil offers less resistance (high conductivity) and gives a high analog value.

2.     Pump or Motor

A water pump is an electromechanical device that moves water from a source (like a container) to the plant's roots when triggered. In this project, the pump acts as an actuator that responds to the moisture level detected by the soil sensor.

• Soil Moisture Sensor is connected to Pin2 (Analog Input).
• Ground and power connections are appropriately shared between components.
• Pump/Motor is connected to Pin 1 (Analog Input).

 Activity - Plant Watering System

 🧩 Expected Outcome

Activity Link: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/cSFzdlFiny1-plant-watering-using-microbit

🔍 Observation

• Understand the basics of Microbit and how it works.
• Learn how Soil Moisture Sensors function.
• Build and analyse circuits involving relays and pumps.
• Write Python code to control devices based on real-world input.
• Apply technology in solving agricultural challenges.