I have a number of the ecowitt soil sensors and quite like them for use in my gardens and the odd pot. However for my lawn, I need to put the sensor in a spot where I don't mow. Which is in a spot that has constant shade and near a tree or shrub.
Anyone have any devices or applications where they are measuring the soil moisture where there is actual grass? I could put a physical cover over the sensor I guess, maybe mesh to its not fully sheltered but is physically protected.
I don't believe there any any devices that can be buried...and even if they existed then a battery operated device would need the battery changed and inherently hard to find.
Or even better, any ideas of good alternatives that are not sensors to use to trigger my lawn to be watered. I guess it's not as important as my flower beds so maybe soil moisture doesn't really need to be measured.
I'm also using Ecowitt sensors outside, mainly for range. I originally started with using Spruce Zigbee Sensors, but they would not stay connected out in the yard.
If you can get Zigbee out there, the Spruce Sensors are pretty flat if you push them all the way into the ground:
I use Tuya Zigbee sensors from Ali Express for inside plants. They work with the built-in Third Reality Soil Moisture Sensor driver.
Right. I've been stuck in the ecowitt sensor rut so I didn't look elsewhere. In the older days I used to use an esp8266 and a cheap probe.. went through various types of probes. Didn't find any of them reliable enough. Then tried ecowitt sensors and they were heaps better so I stopped looking..
I'll look at the spruce options. I have a repeater out there not to far away. My Sonoff ZigBee water solenoid works well out there but potentially they have better range.
Ah, yes, this is truly a logical statement and thankfully it's also dead wrong. Checkout the new Ecowitt WH51L soil moisture sensor. The instructions (to my utter surprise) say to completely bury the sensor. As odd as that sounds, it is connected to the antenna/head unit that stays above ground and is where the batteries are installed. I put the head unit on a 3-foot wooden stick hammered into the soil immediately adjacent to where the sensor is buried.
And yeah, I had to read the manual twice before I believed it.
I don't think that is @peterbrown77.pb was getting at. A pole could be added to the middle of the yard now just to mark where the sensor is so it doesn't get mowed over. The point made was that a totally underground sensor would cut the signal, which you confirmed, as the WH51L needs an above-ground head unit in the middle of the yard for batteries and signal.
Your point is well taken. Maybe that is the case. But I will say his comments about mowing the grass resonated with me. Because that was the problem we had. And I had stupidly put the WH51L's into the ground just "stake-deep", IYKWIM. But as soon as I realized my mistake and buried them fully, then the grass could be fully mowed without an issue (save for the big wooden stake that's easy to see and avoid). I can't tell you how many of the older WH51's were ruined by a gardener driving right over it lol!
Thanks all. I typically use an rtk mower for the lawn. I'm leaning towards putting a irrigation solenoid box in the ground (cut down so it's not so deep) and putting the ecowitt wh51 soil sensor I have in that so it's level with the ground but shouldn't get grown over or block too much of its RF range..May make the level of checks moisture a little low but I'm thinking it'll be between 50mm and 150mm so maybe ok.
I liked the Spruce sensor that @chrisbvt mentioned but unfortunately they aren't available in Australia.
All the other ones have parts exposed well above ground it seems. I can also put a container over the ecowitt wh51 but that doesn't look as good.
On a seperate note. I had a wh51 fail after a few years and contacted ecowitt (on Amazon) to ask if this is common as I'm not too sure to buy more or not... And they sent a replacement with minimal questions other than the serial number. Didn't even have to send it back..thought that was great service. I get they charge a premium price however.
This is exactly what I do. I use those green bamboo plant stakes with my misol sensors (That’s the 433 MHz version of the Ecowitt). Just remove the stake and sensor and set aside while I mow, then replace afterward.
There is one sensor that is designed to be partially buried to avoid lawn mower blades. I don’t remember the name, but it was huge so you needed to dig a big hole in your lawn, closed system and expensive, so I didn’t purse it further. Keeping the sensor in one spot permanently makes no sense.
Just a thought, I wonder how much the cable on the WH51L can be extended? I'm sure it would aad some resistance and change the readings a bit, but that might not matter if you just need to find a trigger point.
My thinking is that the sensor probe could be buried in the middle of the yard, and the wire to the sender unit could be extended and also buried, with the sender unit being on the edge of the yard where it doesn't get in the way of mowing.
Interesting project. I tried something like this on an esp8266 a number of years ago but it was soo much work and ended up more like hobby code and not anywhere near as polished as that looks.
I ordered a wh51L @mluck and some split conduit to protect the cable when it comes out of the ground. I will bury the sensor and the cable as indicated above. The box sitting on the garden edge.
I would have considered the Spruce sensor @chrisbvt but it was too hard getting it into Australia.
Hmm your comment is making me wonder if I missed something important here. I didn’t do anything to protect the wire (beyond run it up the wooden stake to the head device). Is there a reason you chose to use conduit? What were you concerned could happen without conduit?
