Hi
I would like to show electrical activity in plants. However, the Plant spikerbox is hard to find in Europe.
(Plant SpikerBox).
Would it possible to make something like that with Arduino ?
What sensor(s) should I need to measure small (very small) voltage changes ?
Regards
Diederik
First, that device you show is expensive, 150£$€?
You have to connect two leads to somewhere on that plant and measure voltage. I can't see where leads are connected on picture, but two nail or two connectors do not cost much.
Then you can buy a ADC board somewhere. Arduino has some I think but there are nice Delta sigma ADC boards on Ebay.
Like a board with ADS1256 chip. It should be able to measure small voltages. And costs less 15€£$ and there are others even cheaper.
Search Ebay "ADS1256 24 bit 8 Channel High-Precision ADC AD Acquisition Card Module" or delta sigma AD module.
That is, you can do it yourself much cheaper DIY way.
Thanks for your input.
Yes, I find the plantspikerbox rather expensive - but I would like to be careful, someone has put time and energy in it, and they have to earn to it.
However, shipping an item from US to Europe would take a lot of time, but a lot of taxes, and I don't want to end with another €100 on import taxes.
I suppose the plantspikerbox is a simple voltage sensor, and the device shows voltage-change in time. That is why I thought it should be possible to make something alike with Arduino.
Two elektrodes/nails are cheap.
Is it right that the "ADS1256 24 bit 8 Channel High-Precision ADC AD Acquisition Card Module" which is mentioned, is the voltage sensor, that should be connected between electrodes and ARduino ?
Do you know what is the smallest voltage change that can be measured with it ?
Regards
Diederik
The ADS1256 voltage resolution depends on the settings, described in the data sheet.
In principle it could measure voltage with a resolution of a few nanovolts per step, but the noise will be much higher than that with even the most painstaking of construction techniques.
I think it is fairly evident from the photo of the device you reference that there is much more going on there than
a simple A/D converter, not to mention that some knowledge of plant biology is probably required.
You could of course read this article in a neuroscience journal....
I seriously doubt you are going to be able to 'duplicate' the performance of such a device using an arduino and
simple A/D conversion. If that's all there was to it then why is there so much micro circuitry on that board ?
Are you going to find a schematic for such a device on the web ? (not likely)
My advice, unless the pandemic has left you stuck at home with nothing to do for a long time, just find some
other device to build. Measuring soil/electrolyte activity with an arduino is certainly possible. Will it be equal
yield the same results at the product you referenced ? Not likely.
If you decide to continue with this project, your biggest hurdle to cross will be to shield your project from external signals. None of the pictures of the device show any attempt to guard against static electric charges from the person's hand or stray signals from mains wiring or other extraneous signals being intercepted by the wires.
My suggestion your be to begin with a force sensor amplifier and connect the plant electrodes to the amplifier input instead of the force sensor.
Paul
I think that is ECG for plants. Check with cardiologist.
I think that is ECG for plants. Check with cardiologist.
Ask someone who works in a PICU (plant ICU)
Seriously, I think you might find that if the phenomena is real at all, the most developed hardware for that is what is used for EEG and ECG. Actually, you can search for many such DIY projects online, I recall looking at some a while ago. Some of them looked quite reasonable as designs.
There is a schematic on the linked page. From a brief look it is "only" voltage amplification and transforming to "easy visualisation". I think the plug and play functionality is what costs $$$ here.
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