Automatic irrigation with soil sensors

[icdog]

Been using blumats for awhile now and they work well but at times have issues that make them a pain.
I'd like to replace them with an irrigation system that uses individual sensors in each pot to turn on and off the water.
Does anyone know of such a system?

I've searched but can't find anything yet. There is something called an 'arduino' and 'funduino' which might work but I don't know enough about them yet.

 

[Lyfespan]

Been using blumats for awhile now and they work well but at times have issues that make them a pain.
I'd like to replace them with an irrigation system that uses individual sensors in each pot to turn on and off the water.
Does anyone know of such a system?

I've searched but can't find anything yet. There is something called an 'arduino' and 'funduino' which might work but I don't know enough about them yet.

amazon, look up raspberry pi, plug in sensors, python, and commonly used algorithms. you can put together a quick lil module to handle that

 

[queequeg152]

all of the arduino specific soil moisture sensors ive ever seen are garbage conductivity based affairs.

theres a number of reasons why conductivity sensing is shit, but the biggest is the fact that they corrode constantly, and hence constantly drift.

imho the best way to do this is with soil tensiometers + a vacuum transducer.

 

[icdog]

queequeg152 do you know of a complete package that does this?

 

[queequeg152]

queequeg152 do you know of a complete package that does this?

yea sorry, i would have elaborated yesterday, but i got involved in something else.

you want to talk to the people at irrometer or jet fill. they are the most common sellers of tensiometers im aware of. they will sell the transducers along with what ever monitoring systems ... but be aware, there is nothing special about these transducers. they are simply vacuum sensors. you can easily get a vacuum sensor from another cheaper source.

the problem will be how to interpret the transducer signal. most transducers will output either a 4-20ma signal, or a 0-10volt signal.

you are going to need a programmable 'panel meter' or 'controller' from newport, omron, yokogawa etc. you basically need to be able to tell the meter that 0ma = 0 pascal and 24ma = 50 pascal, with a linear slope between. its not that difficult.

irrometer sells the 'mlt' tensiometer which is geared specifically towards light, low bulk density, high pore space soilless mixes.

its even possible to get tensiometers geared for rockwool slabs.

you want get one geared towards what ever your soil is then look for a transducer that matches its vacuum range.

you also need a kit to maintain these meters. usually just need a little suction pump, but there might be some other junk you need.

 

[queequeg152]

oh yea... one of the above mentioned manufacturers sells a dial switch. basically a readout with a little sensor that you can move around the dial, such that you can adjust the switching point to what ever you want. no clue what this thing costs... but seeing as how these folks sell mostly to golf courses and vineyards, it stands to reason they could cost a grip.

tensiometers require peroidic maintenance btw. i never mentioned that above. you will have to refer to the manufacturers documents, but its probably going to want to calibrate them every three weeks or so, but refer to the manufacturers documents.

http://www.irrometer.com/pdf/Irrometers/111%20%20Model%20MLT%20%20Web%206.pdf

http://www.irrometer.com/pdf/Irrometers/117_Automation_Output_Options_WEB.pdf

 

[testymctester]

Not repping either of these products, but I believe growtronix and smartbee have irrigation control with sensors for the grow media.

 

[queequeg152]

Not repping either of these products, but I believe growtronix and smartbee have irrigation control with sensors for the grow media.

how do the sensors work exactly? are they the expensive capacitance or dialectric based sensors or are they just conductivity based?

this is hugely important if you want a meaningful, repeatable result.

even if you can get a conductivity based sensor... plated in some noble like metal such as palladium or platinum or something else with a favorable reduction potential, you still have issues surrounding the natural conductivity drift of soils as you irrigate with fertilizer solutions.

 

[Kiva]

They are dielectric from what they told me and what I saw on their vid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKITSpjKT14&index=6&list=PLRG3ZemrqXwMcT4FNL_euDz25_3FhU5_9

 

[Zipsort]

I use the smart bee it works great

 

[queequeg152]

They are dielectric from what they told me and what I saw on their vid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKITSpjKT14&index=6&list=PLRG3ZemrqXwMcT4FNL_euDz25_3FhU5_9

this fucking guy. moving his head all over the place.

jesus fuck.