A True Soil Moisture Sensor: SHT20
There soooooo many companies designed kits called "Plant-Hydration-Kit", such as the https://www.smart-prototyping.com/Zio-Plant-Hydration-Kit-v1, but the most significant features are that they all have a "soil moisture sensor" in their product/kit…. Like this:
What I have tested for this kind of "soil moisture sensor" is ugly bad……
1. The sensor output is bad... the output data either high, or low, or unstable…. For example, In the air, It can be 100, while a finger touches 500, while in dry soil 300, if a little water touched, 500. it changes a lot depends on how deep you dig it into the soil….
2. No water-poof… it is impossible that you can avoid some water touch them, and the whole board got useless, and even short the VCC to GND… burn the whole system. This is high risk even this "Plant-Hydration-Kit" a kit for makers.
So, in a real water kit, an industry leaves soil moisture is necessary. Which I suggest is the SHT20:
https://www.makerfabs.com/soil-temperature-and-humidity-sensor-sht20.html
It’s output stable and water-proof.
I tested the module with Maduino, with the library of SHT20. Connect it to Maduino with A4/A5, and the VCC/GND:
In the air, the output humidity and temperature are really good:
And then insert it into the soil, in 10s, the output data get stable, and reliable, no matter how deep you dip it into the soil:
I try to put some water around the sensor, the output data changes Continuously, without any jumping… which is reasonable.
The metal case also proofs waters in, which ensures the sensor works OK with rain:
The sensor works well in the rain…~ this makes the kit a really working smart plant watering kit…
This article is first published by Makerfabs.
There soooooo many companies designed kits called "Plant-Hydration-Kit", such as the https://www.smart-prototyping.com/Zio-Plant-Hydration-Kit-v1, but the most significant features are that they all have a "soil moisture sensor" in their product/kit…. Like this:
Or this: 
But, I want to ask all these vendors, do you have used this kind of module relly, to test the soil moisture, while try to water them?
But, I want to ask all these vendors, do you have used this kind of module relly, to test the soil moisture, while try to water them?
What I have tested for this kind of "soil moisture sensor" is ugly bad……
1. The sensor output is bad... the output data either high, or low, or unstable…. For example, In the air, It can be 100, while a finger touches 500, while in dry soil 300, if a little water touched, 500. it changes a lot depends on how deep you dig it into the soil….
2. No water-poof… it is impossible that you can avoid some water touch them, and the whole board got useless, and even short the VCC to GND… burn the whole system. This is high risk even this "Plant-Hydration-Kit" a kit for makers.
So, in a real water kit, an industry leaves soil moisture is necessary. Which I suggest is the SHT20:
https://www.makerfabs.com/soil-temperature-and-humidity-sensor-sht20.html
It’s output stable and water-proof.
I tested the module with Maduino, with the library of SHT20. Connect it to Maduino with A4/A5, and the VCC/GND:
In the air, the output humidity and temperature are really good:
And then insert it into the soil, in 10s, the output data get stable, and reliable, no matter how deep you dip it into the soil:
The output:
I try to put some water around the sensor, the output data changes Continuously, without any jumping… which is reasonable.
The metal case also proofs waters in, which ensures the sensor works OK with rain:
The sensor works well in the rain…~ this makes the kit a really working smart plant watering kit…
This article is first published by Makerfabs.
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