Rice Planter
Many moons ago, I found a Rice Cooker. The buttons and LCD display was in some Asian language, and it was missing the pot part that goes inside. So, rather than washing it out and using it to cook rice, I put it in my closet, figuring I’d do something with it someday. Well, that day finally came.
This after noon I was washing my Philodendron plant, when I figured I should repot it. Maybe split it up, so I had one I could take to work an put in my cube. I looked through my extensive collection of pot-like items, and came upon my rice cooker. At first I was going to strip it down, removing the electronics, but then I thought, Why not make the display usable? After much finagling, I got it workable.
I don’t want to cook my plant, nor start a fire, so I unhooked the main heater element. Unfortunately, when I plugged it in, the wake-up sequence failed because the electronics noticed that the heater was “broken”. At least I’m pretty sure that’s what it was thinking—I don’t know Kanji. So, I replaced the heater element with a resistor. It was necessary to use a very high resistance one so that it didn’t get too hot. But, the circuitry was satisfied with even a 1,000,000 ohm (brown-black-green) resistor. But if I take out the heaters, what good is the display on a rice cooker? Especially if it is full of dirt! Well, it has a clock.
In the picture above, you can see the display, but the big numbers are not the time—that is the time when the rice will be done. I’m not sure what what I’ll do with that function, however. Mostly I’ll want it for the clock:
There’s the clock. Yeah, it took me into the evening to get it done. But, now that I know how, I’d be faster next time. Next time I need to make a planter out of a rice cooker.
I’ll take it to work and spread the Philodendron arms around my cube. Then I can tell how much time I waste watering my plant.
April 30th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
That has to be one of the coolest pots i’ve seen. Gutted computer monitors are rather cool as well, great for larger trees and such.
April 30th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Think of the possibilities of using the heater on a very low setting for raising tropical plants that need it warm! or just for seed starting. or a wintertime greenhouse situation. I guess it doesn’t do much for your carbon footprint though. Would the plant in it offset the carbon emission from the electricity use?
May 6th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Zion wonders if you could use the “Rice will be done in…” feature to tell you when to water your plant.
G.O.M. adds: Greehouse gases and carbon footprint exchange? With your Philodendron growing from only office light? t least something is utilizing the light from those flourescent tubes… And I’ll bet they stay on all night - at least the security minimum (Is there one immediately over your cubicle?)