Circuit's Blog :
Return to BlogOutdoor System for Garden Monitoring
Posted Feb 07, 2012 at 3:01 pm
Figure 1
The project was intended for measuring the moisture content from the resistance between two probes to produce a garden monitoring outdoor system.
The device has been automated to assess the soil moisture by measuring the moisture content and temperature at two foot depth, moisture content and temperature at three inch depth, humidity at the surface, temperature at the surface, and sunlight intensity at the surface.
All buried solder connections are covered with epoxy for water proofing so the buried sensors did not require much protection. A protective housing from an outdoor electrical box is used for the remote programming modules that contain the humidity sensor with sensitive electronics and connections that could be affected by weathering or any liquid that could destroy the sensor. Mounted on top is the CDS cell that needs to point straight up for detection of Sun while mounted underneath is the surface temperature sensor for free air sensing shielded from the Sun.
A sprinkler can be automatically controlled to avoid manually watering the garden. A small valve can be added together with a hooked up RC servo for opening and closing the sprinkler with proper timing for watering.
Comments on this post:
Featured Products
Sullins Connectors
Wire-to-board interconnection options from Sullins feature a wide range of sizes and applications
MCC Voltage Suppressors
MCC’s TVS series high-power suppressors protect sensitive components from voltage spikes and transients
Bourns RS-485 Eval Boards
Evaluation boards that streamline evaluating circuit protection on RS-485 serial device ports
2 years ago: i guess this circuit is very intelligent since it functions by detecting the moisture in its surroundings. I want to build this and put it in may grandfather's garden :)