Batteries, Clue and Buckaroo

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ejb
 
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Batteries, Clue and Buckaroo

Post by ejb »

If you do use your Clue/Buckaroo for growing a little plant then battery power is pretty much not a viable option. I measured 50 mA current draw for the plant watering project. The typical alkaline AAA battery has maybe 1000 mAh capacity. That gives you theoretically 20 hours before the batteries are completely depleted. I got maybe 12 hours before the Clue went into safe mode and shut down. I'm now powering it with a 5V USB wall wart.

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RaspberryPiDude314
 
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Re: Batteries, Clue and Buckaroo

Post by RaspberryPiDude314 »

Thanks for the info!

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ejb
 
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Re: Batteries, Clue and Buckaroo

Post by ejb »

Here's another tidbit of information. Don't stick the plastic watering tube into the soil. I wondered why the sensor was constantly measuring high soil water saturation (>70%). Then I realized that I had the tube in contact with the soil and the tube was full of water. The soil was sponging up water. It was acting like a siphon constantly drawing fluid. I pulled the tube up so that it no longer was touching the soil. I guess now the system will work more like intended. We'll see.

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