Reading soil moisture sensor data
When automatically watering plants, we need to know when we have to add water to the soil. An easy way to detect that the soil is too dry is to use a soil moisture sensor. We are going to use a capacitive soil moisture sensor in this project, which provides the readings as an analog signal.
The sensor has the following technical specifications:
- A 3.3 V to 5.0 V supply range
- A 3.3 V operating range
- An analog output in the range of 1.5 V to 3.3 V
- An operating current of 5 mA
Sensors from other manufacturers might differ slightly in these specs. Datasheets are usually provided by the vendor you buy the hardware from. We'll now start off by assembling the circuit.
Assembling the circuit
We only need some cables, the sensor itself, and a breadboard to begin with. Depending on the manufacturer of the sensor, the labels on the port of your sensor might differ. The one I use has the following labels:
- AOUT (short...
