Simple moisture meter circuit?

[Jeff Leites]

My newest garden moisture meter bit the dust. One of those simple but overpriced ones where the wires from the probe attach to a micro amp meter that shows Dry, Moist, Wet. The probe is in good shape but the meter is kaput. I'd like to build one in the same case that perhaps has a couple of LEDs for moist or wet. Does anyone have a simple circuit?

 

[Braeden Hamson]

Can we get any details on your meter? Also what's your electronics skill level? Depending on the type of probe you have this could take some doing.

 

[Externet]

----> https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=garden+moisture+soil+meter&opensearch=true

 

[Braeden Hamson]

Yeah buying one sounds better than building one. If you're not interested in electronics. If you are however this would be a great arduino project.

 

[Harald Kapp]

Here's a schematic for a DIY project.

 

[Jeff Leites]

----> https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=garden+moisture+soil+meter&opensearch=true

https://www.google.com/search?q=mctube+guitar&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1
At those prices I do have to ask myself "why bother?". I'd prefer just picking one up when I'm in Home Depot, Walmart, etc. but they want as much as $16 for the exact same item.

Can we get any details on your meter? Also what's your electronics skill level? Depending on the type of probe you have this could take some doing.

The meter I'm referring to is very simple. The probe has a tip isolated from the shaft. Dissimilar metals. The tip is wired to one side of the meter, and the shaft to the other side. So the probe when inserted in moist soil forms a battery and the voltage is measured by the meter. I was just thinking of making something similar but with a couple of LEDs or bar type LED IC in place of the cheap delicate meter. It shouldn't be that hard but I didn't want to spend hours experimenting to reinvent the wheel if there is already a schematic floating around. My interest in electronics comes and goes over the years and is not currently at a peak ;-) As for skill level, over the decades I have built (for amateur radio use) using ICs, an electronic keyer, and code memory keyer, a QWERTY keyboard to morse code keyer. For guitar, using tubes, a clone of the Fender standalone reverb unit, a preamp/distortion booster type of gadget (the McTube https://www.google.com/search?q=mctube+guitar&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1 ). My interest in guitar electronics is still there, amateur radio... not so much.

Here's a schematic for a DIY project.

Where?

 

[duke37]

Just click on "a schematic for a DIY project"

 

[Audioguru]

My interest in guitar electronics is still there...

EEK! I heard severe distortion on that You Tube video that I hate to hear. The guitar sounded much better with my hearing aids turned off.
I think electric guitar players are deaf to that severe distortion.

 

[Jeff Leites]

Just click on "a schematic for a DIY project"

Thanks! That's pretty close to what I have in mind (sans the mains power supply). BTW, Just for grins I measured the voltage from the probe. It's just under .9 volts in very moist soil.

 

[Jeff Leites]

EEK! I heard severe distortion on that You Tube video that I hate to hear. The guitar sounded much better with my hearing aids turned off.
I think electric guitar players are deaf to that severe distortion.

It depends on the kind of music you like to listen to. If you like jazz or classical music, you want to hear a very clean sound. Blues and rock need some soft tube overdrive, Heavy Metal... I'm with you!

 

[BobK]

It depends on the kind of music you like to listen to. If you like jazz or classical music, you want to hear a very clean sound. Blues and rock need some soft tube overdrive, Heavy Metal... I'm with you!

Actually no. You want your equipment to faithfully reproduce the music the way the artist recorded it. Yes, hard rock / metal uses a lot of distortion purposely. But you do not want to add distortion with your the equipment you are listening on.

Bob

 

[Jeff Leites]

Actually no. You want your equipment to faithfully reproduce the music the way the artist recorded it. Yes, hard rock / metal uses a lot of distortion purposely. But you do not want to add distortion with your the equipment you are listening on.

Bob

I absolutely agree with you in respect to "the equipment you are listening to", that should produce the most accurate reproduction of the input as possible. I'm only talking about the sound coming from the speaker of an electric guitar amplifier, and distortion in terms of the output not being an exact reproduction of the amplified sound of the vibrating strings. Guitar distortion has been intentionally used in creating music since the early days of the electric guitar. It can be a mild overdrive, a buzzy fuzz, or a god awfull heavy metal noise.

I refer you to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distortion_(music)

 

[BobK]

And I agree completely with you. I have an electric guitar and tried recording it by taking the signal directly out of the guitar, and it sounds awful! I found that electric guitar is recorded through a mic off the speaker of your amp. This sounds like an electric guitar. The waveform coming out of the jack sounds like what an acoustic guitar would sound without the soundboard and hollow body. The speaker and it's open back perform the same function, though with very different results. Then there is the distortion and other effects you add to make the sound the artist wants.

Bob

 

[Jeff Leites]

Glad we're on the same page
Of course if you want to record without an amp, these days there is no shortage of processors (such as a Line 6 POD) that will let you do it.

We see, to have gotten away from the original topic, but I guess my question has already been answered