Build a Hydroponics pH Imaging Scanner with Arduino Mega & Stepper Motors

Every part needed, pre-tested for compatibility, with an AI build companion trained on this exact project. Shipped from Bengaluru in 3-5 days.

In hydroponics, root-zone pH imbalance can silently damage an entire crop before any visible symptoms appear. This kit lets you build a fluorescence-based pH scanner that excites a sample with a 365nm UV LED, detects the emission through a bandpass filter using a BPW34 photodiode, and scans the sample in XY with stepper motors to create a real-time pH heatmap on a 2.4-inch TFT display. It’s a complete instrument you can use to spot nutrient lockout zones without relying on single-point probes.

What You'll Build

You’ll assemble a motorized XY scanning stage driven by two NEMA 17 steppers and a CNC shield, mount the UV excitation source and photodiode detection circuit, and wire the analog signal chain through LM358 op-amps and an ADS1115 ADC. The final instrument places a hydroponic sample in a cuvette, scans point by point, and renders a pH image on the ILI9341 TFT — a fully functional fluorescence microscope purpose-built for nutrient solution analysis.

What You'll Learn

• Interfacing a photodiode with multi-stage op-amp conditioning for low-light fluorescence detection
• Controlling bipolar stepper motors with A4988 drivers and a CNC Shield V3 from Arduino Mega
• Acquiring high-resolution analog readings using the ADS1115 16-bit ADC over I2C
• Building a raster scanning routine and rendering a 2D pH map on the TFT display

Kit Contents

Why Buy This Kit Instead of Sourcing Parts Separately

Who This Kit Is For

This advanced kit is designed for B.Tech ECE and mechatronics students building final-year projects, Smart India Hackathon teams working on IoT agriculture challenges, and experienced makers who want to explore fluorescence imaging. If you’re at an IIT, NIT, VIT, or BITS campus and need a robust, self-contained project that demonstrates sensor fusion and motion control, this kit gives you a polished instrument and a deep learning experience.

Built and Backed by Compoden

Every Compoden kit ships with an AI build companion trained on this exact project — accessible via a QR code on the box, with WhatsApp and email backup. We've spent 10 years building projects for makers, schools, and institutions across India. If a part fails because of a manufacturing defect, replace it free within 7 days.

Choose your assembly option:

• Soldering Kit — 25W soldering iron, 60/40 solder wire, flux, and small perfboard for permanent assembly.
• Breadboard Combo — 800-point full-size breadboard with 65-piece jumper wire pack for solderless prototyping.