what does the small board that comes with siol moisture sensor do? can his be done away with? also when moisture sensor is exposed to air it shows 650-700 and about 250 when water. shouldn't it read closer to 1200 when in the air? what is the best way to increase the resolution of this sensoe
What are you talking about?
I did just that, but it showed me a plant instead.
When I looked up the data sheet it said I have to "place plant in the soil to be measured. Leaves are firm when moist, leaves hanging when too dry". It didn't mention how to hook it up to an Arduino, or how I could otherwise get any readings beyond the digital "wet/dry" from it, while OP's message suggests it's something analog.
So in all, I'm a bit at a loss. Or maybe that crystal ball is just crappy.
the link you posted for to the soil sensor did not work
LOL, okay okay my fault. I certainly could be more descriptive. this is the soil sensors I bought "XCSOURCE 5pcs Soil Moisture Sensor And Automatic Watering System for Arduino TE215". there is a small board that comes with the sensor it goes between the probe and the controller. I'm guessing it helps convert the analog value into digital? I was just wondering if this could be done with and use Arduino nano programing instead? also when I open the serial monitor and watch the analog values returned from the sensor the values range from 650 dry- 250 wet. because the Arduino reads analog input on a scale from 1024-0 is there a way to make it have a better resolution or distance between the two values. this would help make the sensor more accurate?
here is a amazon link if that helps. let me know if there is anymore information u require? I am using the sensor to make my own version of a self watering plant controller on a larger scale. I'm trying to keep the cost per unit to a minimum. Thanks agin
These sensors are of course not accurate.
They have a digital out (can probably adjust this with the pot to set a level), and an anlog out. One power LED, one that will light up when too dry or too wet, one of the two.
To have them last longer than a few weeks make sure to switch off the sensor when not measuring (i.e. disconnect the power to it), and keep measurement time to a minimum.
You'll never get readings of 1200 on analog, the maximum is 1023.
Right, the pot adjust the moisture level that the digital output closes at. My question is can we do with a pot and coding on the nano in it place of the board? if I just want to use the analog value is there a need for the board? I tried hooking the probe directly to a1 and + or -. It don't work very well. Of course I did not give it much effort. also I have read about the corrosion problem and plan on using the sensor for a few seconds every couple of hours during daylight. thanks agin
Wire it as a voltage divider, between Vcc and GND and A0 at the middle. Measure the resistance of wet/dry soil to come to a reasonable pull-up resistor value.
Also better connect to a digital pin instead of Vcc so you can actually disconnect the sensor. resistance should be high enough to not overload the port of course.
Then measure for a fraction of a second at a time if just DC but using AC is of course better (but harder to handle).
got it thank you. ill try it