Adafruit
Adafruit Bonsai Buckaroo - micro:bit & CLUE Plant Care Helper
The Bonsai Buckaroo is a compact add-on board for micro:bit and Adafruit CLUE that turns your board into a plant care monitoring and watering system. Bolt it...
The Bonsai Buckaroo is a compact add-on board for micro:bit and Adafruit CLUE that turns your board into a plant care monitoring and watering system. Bolt it on with 5 screws to get a buzzer, motor driver, and soil moisture sensing breakout.
Connect two alligator clips and nails to measure soil resistance, use the buzzer to alert when plants need watering, and drive a small water pump to automate the process. Works with micro:bit in Arduino, MicroPython, or MakeCode, and with CLUE in CircuitPython or Arduino.
Key Features
- 8 mm Buzzer/Speaker (Pin P0) – Beep alerts for watering reminders or play tones when soil is healthy
- 3V Motor Control (Pin P2) – On/off control for a small water pump to automate watering
- Soil Moisture Sensing (Pin P1) – Alligator clip pads with 3V and GND for measuring soil resistance with nails
- Dual Board Support – Compatible with micro:bit (v1 and v2) and Adafruit CLUE
- Simple Attachment – Bolts onto the back of your board with 5 screws
Compatible Boards
Ideal For
- Automated plant watering systems
- Soil moisture monitoring projects
- STEM education and MakeCode projects
- Introduction to sensors and motor control
Package Contents
- 1× Adafruit Bonsai Buckaroo board
- 5× Mounting screws
Jargon buster
Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.
- alligator clip
- An alligator clip is a spring-loaded metal clip used to make temporary electrical connections to wires, terminals or test points. It is useful for quick bench testing, but it is less secure than a screw terminal or locking connector.
- breakout
- A breakout is a small circuit board that makes a tiny or hard-to-solder component easier to connect to with standard pins. It matters because this OLED module can be wired into a microcontroller project without needing to solder directly to the display’s fine contacts.
- CircuitPython
- A beginner-friendly version of Python designed to run directly on microcontroller boards. If a product supports CircuitPython, you can often program it by copying code files onto the board rather than setting up a more complex toolchain.
- MicroPython
- A version of the Python programming language made to run on microcontrollers. It matters because it lets beginners write readable code to control LEDs, sensors, motors and displays without needing to start with lower-level languages.
- motor driver
- An electronic circuit that lets a low-power controller switch and control a motor that needs more current than the controller pins can safely provide. Checking motor driver support matters because pumps and motors usually cannot be connected directly to a microcontroller output.
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