Industry grade soil moisture sensor - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: sairfan1
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2019, 06:54:18 pm
content: Which soil moisture sensor you use for industry grade project? I'm looking for with at least 3% accuracy and low power project (3.3-5v)I tried to search some on mouser and digikey but did not find something that i can usein general search i was able to find some most of them are a complete product not specific sensorrather than experimenting on different sensors, i was looking for to take advantage of one's experiencethanks

author: conducteur
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2019, 08:16:43 pm
content: I'm also busy with measuring soil moisture level, but it seems to be not that easy at all to get a sensor that's reliable and accurate. The "chinese" soil moisture sensors doesn't measure the soil moisture, but they measure the amount of ions in the soil. That is to some extent related to the soil moisture level, but not useful. The 'capacitive' sensors do a better job, but they're definitely not good, there must be a better solution.... So i'm interested in the answer too...

author: RobBarter
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2019, 08:59:03 pm
content: I looked into this a while ago (purely personal reasons at the time) and came across a method using the relative dielectric constant of the surrounding soil measured using a 1.4GHz signal.Seehttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/257093743_A_new_14-GHz_soil_moisture_sensorIt's on my project list to build one at some point

author: sairfan1
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2019, 09:33:15 pm
content: though its not a solution but found interesting article DIY sensorhttp://gardenbot.org/howTo/soilMoisture/

author: larsdenmark
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2019, 08:52:31 am
content: I'm using these:https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Soil-Moisture-Analog-Capacitive-Sensor-V1-2-Corrosion-Resistant-Sensor-Cable/153088654851Make sure you choose the "Capacitive soil moisture detecttor". They are not industrial strength, but they work. I wouldn't make any claims about the accuracy, but you'll most likely need to calibrate any sensor in order to get accurate results.Why do you need a 3% accuracy? And what is the 3% relative to (fully saturated wet soil or lower levels of moisture)?These are industrial strength, but they are pricy:https://vegetronix.com/Products/VH400/They claim an accuracy of 2%.

author: Rerouter
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2019, 08:56:53 am
content: The other thing you have not given is the range of moisture you need to cover, is it a humid day to a bucket of water? and in what resolution, OK 3% accuracy, but does that mean 1.5% steps of resolution, or something more

author: sairfan1
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2019, 03:05:17 pm
content: @larsdenmark I'm planning to start this project but first learning things related to it, that ebay sensor is pcb based that does not work long and get damage, (though i read some work around that by putting in thin plastic bag you can increase its life and it works good)My perception is for farms land 3% accuracy is workable, I do not know what other parameters are required, I'm still learning this.