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Soil moisture indicator

Electronics / Fixtures
Added 13 comments

Hello everybody. Who grows lemons at home knows how difficult it is to guess when the plant needs to be watered, as the pots are very large. For these purposes, I made a soil moisture indicator from several parts and two pencils. As a basis, I took a ready-made humidity sensor.


I replaced the native electrodes with two pencils, since this sensor will collapse from corrosion in a month.

Two pieces of heat shrink are required to secure the wires.

For alarm, I installed a buzzer and a crown battery.

To power the device, I took an old charger for the phone.

The actuator is a conventional relay.

Connection diagram.

Graphite in the soil will last a long time, you can take a graphite rod from a round battery. As soon as the soil in the pot dries, the buzzer will give a signal.
The sensor has a sensitivity control, and pencils can be set at any distance from each other.

I placed the device in a finished box. I installed a switch on top to turn off the device at night.

This design works for me for 3 years and helps a lot in growing lemons.
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13 comments
0
Reply To quote A complaint
Quote: Coudeyar
The stainless steel is different - I have salt for the fish for a year lying in the stainless steel bath, the bottom is blackened.

yes So you're out of luck, and I also have a barbecue made of stainless steel 1, 2 mm. and it does not twist and does not burn. I got lucky.
Here is the capacity under the acid (photo), it contains about half the capacity of sulfuric acid, it has been standing for more than ten years. I have no sense in this, but cooking is not good (which would be great), it does not work.
+1
Reply To quote A complaint
Stainless steel is different


Exactly! .. I already spoke about this in one of the topics - under the "popular" name "stainless steel" there are hundreds of different alloys! The only thing that makes them attractive is that they are iron alloys, but they are alloyed with various additives, which gives them different properties! There are carbon and "malleable", there are heat-resistant, heat-resistant, acid-resistant, etc ....
As a rule, now steel with good properties is very expensive, and therefore, for "unpretentious purposes" the production of cheap "relatively stainless steel" has been established)))). They do not oxidize under normal conditions.
It was in the USSR, when they did not save on quality, there were only a few alloys that possessed almost all the necessary properties at once .... And in conversations they were generally divided into two types - “magnetic” and “non-magnetic” (soft) ...

Especially often people "pierce" on what they take for barbecues, for example, an expensive heat-resistant stainless steel. A barbecue leads and twists at the first calcination! After all, the term “heat-resistant” means only that it will not oxidize with strong heating !!! And in order not to deform, there is another alloy, and its commercial name is not heat-resistant, but heat-resistant stainless steel. And it costs even more ...
+4
Reply To quote A complaint
Quote: Coudeyar
And the coal rods in the nuclear power plant are ... the reaction is to make the water boil.

Right ready text for KVN. )))
Author -1
Reply To quote A complaint
Quote: To Delusam
This is news to me, I have had concentrated sulfuric acid in my stainless steel for ten years now.

The stainless steel is different - I have salt for the fish for a year lying in the stainless steel bath, the bottom is blackened. And the coal rods in the nuclear power plant are ... the reaction is to make the water boil.
+2
Reply To quote A complaint
yes Well, a joke from me.
In 1970, my son was born. He wrote frequently, describes himself at night and wakes up until he begins to feel discomfort, turns on his "siren" .. Then for a long time he had to calm him down, too, to experience his own discomfort.
So I built a multivibrator with a squeaker and a flashing light, we "slipped" the sensor into the crib. The goal was, in time to eliminate the leak and prevent the discomfort of the beloved child.
And at night, we jump with my wife from incomprehensible. The intermittent signal and the room will be lit up with bright flashes; the sleepwalkers did not immediately realize what was happening. But the stress was good, then they themselves could not fall asleep for a long time.
Of course, we changed the diapers for our son, he didn’t even wake up, but they decided to stop the experiments on this.
That was the case. stop
0
Reply To quote A complaint
Quote: Ivan_Pokhmelev
Quote: Coudeyar
I have a lemon!

This is not for me, this is Business'y: about the LED, he suggested, I only logically-practically developed the idea.

yes Thanks! I thought that my thoughts were already clear.
1. One block.
2. One source of energy.
3. Neither turn on nor turn off.
4. The savings are continuous.
And if there are a lot of "pots", you can put each in your own sensor and not touch it. I went through the "pots" at a convenient time and determined who wants to "drink" from the plants. Generally saving. For this, there is a device specifically, not so expensive. Your option is more useful for automatic watering.
+1
Reply To quote A complaint
Quote: Coudeyar
stainless steel just dissolves and blackens

dontknow This is news to me, I have had concentrated sulfuric acid in my stainless steel for ten years now.
Author 0
Reply To quote A complaint
Quote: Ivan_Pokhmelev
This is not for me, this is for Delyusam: about the LED, he suggested, I only logically-practically developed the idea.

I have 100 of them. Miracles and more!
0
Reply To quote A complaint
Quote: Coudeyar
I have a lemon!

This is not for me, this is - Business'y: about the LED, he suggested, I only logically-practically developed the idea.
Author +2
Reply To quote A complaint
Quote: Ivan_Pokhmelev
The LED should be blinking to better attract attention, then you can throw out unnecessary relays, a buzzer and a “Crona”. And the fact that you notice the alarm not at the moment of operation, but later - for irrigation is irrelevant, the operation point is configured very conditionally.

I have a lemon!
+1
Reply To quote A complaint
The LED should be blinking to better attract attention, then you can throw out unnecessary relays, a buzzer and a “Crona”. And the fact that you notice the alarm not at the moment of operation, but later - for irrigation is irrelevant, the operation point is configured very conditionally.
Author 0
Reply To quote A complaint
Quote: To Delusam
2. Why not use a stainless steel on the sensor? Pencils (graphite) are not very durable (you have to stick and poke often)
3. When replacing the sensor (and with a new one), it is necessary to adjust the sensitivity of the device.
4. I use the LED, the buzzer at night (if in the house) can scare.

Hey. Lemon once every 10 days is fed with liquid fertilizer, stainless steel just dissolves and blackens. Graphite does not oxidize. At night I turn off the device, with the LED I thank you for the hint, I will definitely redo it. A tree is 10 years old and a very large pot cannot be raised ... I just raise the remaining trees for 3.2.1 years and already know whether to water it or not.
+1
Reply To quote A complaint
1. There is a ready-made module that combines both of yours.
2. Why not use a stainless steel on the sensor? Pencils (graphite) are not very durable (you have to stick and poke often yes )
3. When replacing the sensor (and with a new one), it is necessary to adjust the sensitivity of the device.
4. I use the LED, the buzzer at night (if in the house) can scare.

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