DIY Soil Moisture Sensor

Michael Ciuffo built this neat soil moisture sensor for his girlfriend, since she’s had some bad luck with plants. He writes:

In the June 2012 issue of Nuts & Volts, they did a spread about making a soil moisture sensor with an iPhone interface:

And when I heard my girlfriend say that she has trouble remembering to water her plants, I put two and two together.

Most of the N&V article discussed the code required to interface with the iPhone, but the important part for me was that their soil moisture sensor was nothing more than a simple conductivity sensor. The more water in the soil, the lower its resistance.

Such a sensor doesn’t measure soil moisture in any kind of universal unit, but for a single sensor in a particular soil sample, the measured conductivity is repeatable and proportional to the moisture level. I call these conductivity units “AMU”s or “Arbitrary Moisture Units”.

Neat project and nice build!


Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!

Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!

Join over 38,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord

CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org


New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — New Products 11/15/2024 Featuring Adafruit bq25185 USB / DC / Solar Charger with 3.3V Buck Board! (Video)

Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: A New Arduino MicroPython Package Manager, How-Tos and Much More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi

EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey

Adafruit IoT Monthly — The 2024 Recap Issue!

Maker Business – Adafruit Daily — Apple to build another chip at TSMC Arizona

Electronics – Adafruit Daily — SMT Tip – Stop moving around!

Get the only spam-free daily newsletter about wearables, running a "maker business", electronic tips and more! Subscribe at AdafruitDaily.com !


No Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.