Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #02568
To: "BEAM Mail" beam@corp.sgi.com
From: "Nigel Joyce" nigel.joyce@qr.com.au
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 09:05:41 +1000
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: Green Thumb gets Finger; plant grows out of control
YOU CAN'T DO THAT !!!
You can't go and build something... dare I say it? - "PRACTICAL!" That's
not what this hobby is about ! :)
No seriously, I had a look, it looks great. I have a Bonsai that needs
just that sort of attention, not for the Bonsai itself, it is very hardy,
but for the moss growing around the base of the tree.
I don't know if the traditional bonsai enthusiasts would appreciate the
"Modern Technology", but you never know!
Cya
Blue Skies
---Buzz---
I didn't just kiss death, I slipped it the tongue!
> You may remember the Green Thumb, a device to monitor a plant's
> water needs. That project is now entirely topical: It has an
> actuator, is solar powered and uses a recycled component - its
> `finger'. I combined a model aircraft fuel pump with the motor from a
> broken toothbrush. Pumps pretty well on two NiMH penlites, charged
> by a 37x82mm solar panel. About 20mA per hour is going in when the
> light is good; the pump draws 1.6A, so two hours of charge may
> compensate a minute of pumping, and even a thirsty plant needs no
> more than 2 pumping minutes a day. Except on hot days - but then
> the NiMHs also get more charge. Pictures, schematic and details on:
>
> http://www.xs4all.nl/~sbolt/e-groeneVinger_Duim.html
>
> The guinea pig lemon geranium is now 110cm high and more than 70cm
> wide, growing twice as fast as its pre-Thumb predecessors!
> Apparently it likes the "just in time" water policy made possible
> by the Thumb. Since yesterday it is a kind of cyborg, drinking
> autonomously...
>
> Best,
>
> Steve
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> # sbolt@xs4all.nl # Steven Bolt # popular science monthly KIJK #
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
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