Have you ever heard about the soil moisture sensors? What is the working and purpose of this sensor? The soil moisture sensor is applied to regulate the amount of water found in soil. The direct measurement of finding water in soil requires drying, removing, and weight of the soil sample.
The sensor can measure the quantity of water indirectly by evaluating the sample soil with other soil properties. The industry developers evaluate different aspects of soil as a proxy of moisture, such as electrical resistance, and interaction with neutrons.
The connection between soil moisture and property should be vary or calibrated. It depends on the environmental factors, which include its temperature, soil type, and conductivity. Do you know that our reflective microwave radiation can affect our land soil moisture?
Well, researchers conclude that it is also beneficial for sensing the radiation remotely in agriculture and hydrology. Some advanced probes instruments are recommended by gardeners and farmers to check the moisture level in the soil.
The type of sensor usually refers to the tool that can give us an accurate amount of water found in our land soil. But why mostly farmers and gardeners prefer to use this sensor?
Purpose of soil moisture sensor:
The Soil Moisture Meter has typically used the capacitance to evaluate the water substance of soil. It is useful to get an estimation of the dielectric properties of the dirt, which is an element of the water content. Essentially embed this rough sensor into the dirt to be tried, and the volumetric water substance of the dirt is accounted for in percent.
The advanced sensor is utilized in various exploration applications. It is used in farming science and agriculture, including water system arranging, atmosphere research, or ecological science.
You need a moisture meter of high quality to work with this sensor. The meter is used on the soil material to check and compare the material’s moisture by weight. A low-end dampness meter for soil can show inaccurate measurements. The soil moisture sensor is a bit expensive, but you can also make it on your own. Further, we will share some tricks and steps to make a DIY soil moisture sensor.
Before you read further, here you can check the best soil moisture meters for plants.
How to make a cheap DIY soil moisture sensor?
To make a brilliant soil moisture sensor, you need to have some tools and parts first. We will share some steps through which you can make a high-quality sensor in less money.
1) Collect all essential tools
You need several parts and tools that are necessary for making this sensor. The tools include:
- Two galvanized nails of 2.”
- One bottle of a cap which should be 1 inch wider
- ¼ watt of the resistor (10k ohm)
- Some jumper wires (Female)
- Solder wire
- Hot glue gun
- Soldering iron
2) Make a sensor
Once you gather all tools and essential parts, you need to assemble them in the right way. Let’s follow our guide on how you can make a sensor by using these tools.
- First, you have to get the nails and punch them through jug top 1 inch separated that is fundamental the separation between the nails may influence your perusing of dampness.
- Now use hot gun to paste them on the right spot.
- Now solder both wires to each nail.
- Once you attach the wires on all nails now open the top with the hot glue. By using the hot glue, you can make it solid so we could embed them in the dirt.
- In the end, connect the resistor of 10kohm on the center pin of nano connect. Clearly connect probe 1 to nail 1 and probe 2 to nail 2 by using Arduino 5v pin.
3) Connecting the sensor with the Arduino:
- After computing, upload the code to your Arduino board.
- To do this, you need to open the monitor and whoola, you can see the reading.
- You can modify the code easily. Take the variable to know about the value of the sensor. You can change the external components as well.
4) Understand the working of the sensor:
By following our steps, you have successfully made a sensor. Do you know the science behind the operation of this soil sensor? Let’s check its working!
The probe 1 is energized with 5V, and probe 2 is grounded. When we dipped the sensor in the soil, the medium connected between both probes with conduct a sense about the moisture level; both probes receive some information through electrons.
The calculation of moisture level through this sense is tedious. The code in the Arduino will determine the amount of moisture. The resistors between the pins create a reference for us to calculate accurate moisture measurements in soil particles.