July 07, 2017 by Ryan Jones
This moisture sensor can measure the moisture level of a plant's soil and notify you when it needs more water.
| 2 | Micro USB cables | ||
|
|
|||
| 1 | Plant & some water | ||
|
|
|||
So far, this has been a very hot summer, but I forget to water my plants when I'm busy. That's where my Debra 2 moisture sensor comes in. Welcome to the Little Shop of Moisture Sensors!
Feeding Debra 2
The sensors wires plugged in accordingly
The sensor's output ranges from 0-3.3V. I divided this range within the code into three separate segments that correspond to the three moisture categories: "Feed me", "A little more", and "Satisfied". In other words, "dry", "moist", and "wet". When the analog voltage is between any range of specific values, one of the responses will be displayed on our serial monitor. A snippet of the example code can be found below.
#ifdef USE_MANUFACTURER_MOISTURE_EQ
if(volt <= 1.1) { moisture = printf("Satisfied"); } else if(volt > 1.1 && volt <= 1.82) { moisture = printf("A little more"); } else if(volt > 1.82) {
moisture = printf("FEEED MEEEE");
}
To run our program, it is easiest to use two micro USB cables: one plugged into the user port for debugging/upload and the other for monitoring our results. After plugging in your cables, you will first want to open the AD Eclipse IDE. Within this program, open the example code and run a proper debugging session, as shown on the Analog Devices site. When it's complete, you'll need to hit stop.
Open your go-to serial monitor program and set the proper COM port and baud rate, ours being 115200. Instantly, you should see the data flow. If the soil is dry, the screen will read "FEEEED MEEEE", and if it's wet, it will read, "Satisfied". Change this however you want, but always be sure to listen to your Debra 2, as she may get aggressive.
Happy gardening making!
A glimpse at my live results
Start my career as an Audio Engineer, now turned professional maker!
