Mini Zen Garden With Waterfall

During the Covid-19 lockdown I wanted to create something which would bring a little bit of nature to our flat (when travelling to the wildrness was barely possible 😞). I decided to create a miniature zen garden with a waterfall.

Step 1: Intro

The garden is based on ESP8266, it is controlled by Blynk app and it has 3 functions. You can control the waterfall, control RGB led inside the cave and control the LEDs around the garden.

Step 2: Material & Tools

• Garden (mechanics)
  • Polystyrene foam
  • Concrete
  • Acryl colors
  • Some plants to your garden :)
• Garden cirucitry
  • ESP8266
  • Capacitors 220uF
  • Resistors 1k
  • 1N4007
  • RGB Led WS2812 board
  • Any white LEDs with resistors (I used 330Ohm)
  • Mini water pump
  • Transistors to control pump and LEDs (BC337) but any other NPN possible to run enough current according pump

Step 3: Mechanical Part

I decided to use the polystyren foam as a base since it is easy to cut to the shape you need. The sculpture is a composition of three parts that are glued together in a way that allows the water to flow from top of the sculpture through a small waterfall. For most of the cuts I used a foam cutter, and a simple knife. I needed to prepare all holes and hidden parts for future implementation of electronic. The main ESP board is inserted from a down side and there is also WS2812 inside to allow changing the color of the light as you want. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of white LEDs soldering, but firstly I prepared cable along the edge of the sculpture and after that I soldered LEDs to the desired positions. On the picture, you can see the position of the pump on which is attached a silicon tube passing through all the layers of the polystyren foam right to the top of the sculpture. When I was satisfied with the shape, I covered the polystyren layout with a simple layer of concrete. After a few days of drying, I covered the concrete with a combination of grey, white and black acrylic paint in spray. I also used few drops of blue powder dry and in the end the scuplture was covered by transparent paint in spray.

Step 4: ESP8266 Part

Like I mentioned, the mini garden is based on ESP8266. Very simple schematic is attached in this step, as well as arduino code. I used dev board version CH340, but you can use any ESP8266 board you are used to work with. I had couple problems with ESP which where solved after I added 3 electrolyt capacitors 220uF, so be sure you will block power supply for ESP properly. To communicate with ESP through phone with Blynk app I simply follow the instructions here . Make sure you will put a correct PIN numbers in your Blynk app according the board you have. I have to say it was a little challenge in the beggining. To use the WS2812 just with one PIN I used possibility of virtual pin V0. For a mini pump, I bought a random mini pump which was available, but even though it was announced as ultra silent, I have to admint the sound is a little bit annoying. Anyway, make sure that you will use transistor or relay to swith the pump. All LEDs are connected in a parallel way and controlled by transistor BC337. By that you can either just turn them on and off or use PWM slider in Blynk app. I used only breakout board since the circuitry is super easy. In a bottom of the garden there is a hole where you can put the circuitry - see picture.

Step 5: Final Look

Once I was satisfied with the result, the only things which were missing were some plants, rocks, and whatever you like in the mini garden. You can check the final look in the video I attached. The waterfall is amazing especially at night when combination of falling water and enlighted plants are really soothing.