Experiment 001 protocol: homemade auto-waterer vs. commercial self-watering pots
Before anyone declares victory (the Commander already has), here is how the test will actually run: same plants, same room, two watering systems, sensors on both, and a result we publish whatever it says.
Sample episode — draft copy for owner review. Measurements and photos marked [OWNER] get filled in from the real build.
The Commander has named this Operation Wet Feet and has already written the victory speech. The data has asked, politely, for a protocol first. Here it is.
The question: does a homemade microcontroller auto-waterer, built from a capacitive soil-moisture probe, a relay and a small low-voltage pump, keep soil moisture as steady as commercial self-watering pots, and what does each cost to build and run?
The setup: identical containers, the same growing medium from the same bag, the same position under the same light, rotated on a schedule so neither side gets the better corner. Each container gets its own soil-moisture probe logging to the same data logger, so both systems are judged by the same instrument.
What we measure: soil-moisture readings over time, how far each system drifts from its target, how often we have to intervene by hand, water used, and any failures — pump jams, dry probes, overflow. [OWNER: confirm logging interval and duration.]
What we will not do: announce a winner early, change the rules halfway, or hide a failure. The Mk I kit in the shop is the homemade side of this test; if the commercial pots win, the episode will say so in the title.
Safety note: everything on the homemade side runs at low voltage from USB or a small adapter. Water and mains power do not meet in this bay.