Ask HN: Most interesting tech you built for just yourself?

a soil moisture sensor using capacitors as the sensor. it's how i learned to code. i found a few different versions of the project online. couldn't get them to work very well but i was able to piece together enough knowledge of basic circuits to get the sensor to work well with my own circuit design.

once i got it to work, i left it on my desk for a few months and then cleaned it up/removed the circuit. only documented the circuit by a couple of bad photographs, so i'm not sure how to recreate it. i might could figure it out again if i spent the time, but i've been focused on other projects.

https://github.com/smcalilly/sensor

Be nice to hook that up to some kind of watering system to always have the perfect moisture.

yep, that was the goal. my friend had a small organic farm but he lived an hour away and needed a good, cheap watering solution. led me to down a rabbit hole and now i'm a software developer. i'll probably revive it once i have some space to do more serious vegetable growing

Geeky misconception: the wet/dry cycle can be optimal.