I'm trying to make a system that will measure the salinity of water in ppm. Would it be possible to use a soil moisture sensor to measure salinity? I know that it is meant to measure the conductivity of soil by the varying amounts of water it contains, but a fellow amateur maker said that there is a way find water salinity with one. The image below is what I've got so far.
This type of sensor is subject to corrosion pretty quickly
have you tried dipping it into water with various level of concentration and see what happens?
I have. The results seem to vary a little bit for the same salinity and there doesn't seem to be a clear linear fit to the graph for different salinities.
Do you know if there is a simple way to convert the sensor readout to a salinity measurement (µS/cm^3 or ppm, etc.)?
I don’t think there is - these sensors are very very basic… I would not trust them much even for water level or humidity on the long run
Each and every time you use that sensor you are adding metal ions to the water. So the conductivity will change, but the salinity will stay the same. Use distilled water ONE TIME for each test and clean and wash the sensor between tests.
Thank you for the advice.
Thanks for the insight.
Super helpful! Thanks.
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