Next generation sensor now available:

https://www.tindie.com/products/ProtoArt/greenthumb-wifi-soil-moisture-sensor-gen-20/

The GreenThumb

The GreenThumb is the perfect tool to keep track of the most important factors to keep your plants healthy. This sensor measures the volumetric water content, soil temperature and nutrition levels in the soil and the amount of light.

With the wifi connectivity it wakes up at a regular interval to report the measured values to a database(locally hosted or cloud). This makes it very easy to create graphs and overviews:

Technical part The GreenThumb uses a frequency domain technique to measure the volumetric water content at a very high oscillator frequency. This makes the sensor less sensitive to soil types and nutrition levels compared to similar sensors on the market.

The sensor uses a single CR123A or 16340 battery. With regular intervals the rechargeable battery has a life span of up to 84 days. As the sensor has a buck-boost voltage regulator on board, every little bit of energy will be pulled out of the battery with a constant voltage for the on-board electronics allowing a very stable sensor reading.

The sensor has an auto-downloading feature enabling it to automatically upgrade to the latest firmware when available. This can be a firmware of your own or one provided by us.

Dimensions: 2.1x2.3x11cm

Sensor Configuration By pressing a button on the sensor within 5 seconds after insertion of a battery, the GreenThumb will boot to configuration mode. You can connect to the configuration panel of the GreenThumb using your laptop, home PC, phone(android & iOS) or any other wifi capable device.

The configuration panel allows you to set the wifi network, database server and update interval. If there is a firmware update available and you choose to update your sensor, simply select our update server and the sensor will update itself.

Other information - Battery not included with the sensor. A standard CR123A or 16340 rechargeable battery is used. - The GreenThumb does not come with a housing and has exposed electronics. You can 3D print a housing yourself or use epoxy or plastidip to protect the electronics. Coating the sensor legs will extend the sensor life as well(but might require calibration).