Building a wireless soil moisture sensor to control garden irrigation by using Home Assistant #1

In this video I explain one of my current projects. I would like to build and use wireless soil mositure sensors in the garden outside, to control the irrigation.
Everything should be integrated into my house automatization which is based on KNX in combination with Home Assistant.
00:00 Teaser
00:24 About the project
02:28 Timeline
03:11 Selection of soil moisture sensors
05:07 Selection of ESP boards
06:49 Preparing the hardware
11:45 Integration into Home Assistant
21:04 Visualization in Grafana
---------
CODE
github.com/Chri5At/soil_moist...
---------
PARTS
Sparkfun ESP32 Thing: www.sparkfun.com/products/13907
AZ Delivery ESP32 (affiliate link): amzn.to/42xUedL
DF Robot Firebeetle ESP8266 (affiliate link): amzn.to/3HSmX3v
DF Robot Firebeetle ESP32 (affiliate link): amzn.to/4cWdB4o
Capacitive Soil Moisture Sensor: thepihut.com/products/capacit...
DFR Soil Moisture Sensor v1: thepihut.com/products/gravity...
DFR Soil Moisture Sensor v2 (affiliate link): amzn.to/3XT8WMj
AZ Delivery Battery Shield (affiliate link): amzn.to/3OA5UqA
INA3221 Board (affiliate link): amzn.to/3waUofj
---------
RECOMMENDED VIDEOS
Andreas Spiess - 463 Why most Arduino Soil Moisture Sensors suck (incl. solution)
• 463 Why most Arduino S...
Flaura - Smart Plant Pot - Kapazitive Bodenfeuchtigkeitssensoren funktionieren nicht + Fix für v2.0/1.2 Arduino ESP32 Raspberry
• Capacitive Soil Moistu...
---------
MUSIC
Delighted by Roa / roa_music1031
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported - CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: bit.ly/3vDLFBW
Music promoted by Audio Library bit.ly/3vyFoaB
Sunset by Cykarl / cykarl
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported - CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: bit.ly/3RrpA0w
Music promoted by Audio Library bit.ly/3TqQM2j
Digital World by Alex-Productions / alexproductionsmusic
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported - CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: bit.ly/3NtoaS7
Music promoted by Audio Library bit.ly/48foZpB
Ocean Melody by Spiring / user-57630131
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported - CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: bit.ly/3TqlgkY
Music promoted by Audio Library bit.ly/474R55Q

[@creativemakerat]

Sorry guys, I'm unfortunately behind schedule with the second part of the video. I should be finished by Thursday next week.

[@ArnodeLange]

really want to know what the best board is

[@luisillo26]

Waiting for the next drop of this project, thanks for all the details on your explanations.

[@Mjenneau]

Hi any update on this? Loved the vid!

[@nicocesar]

Hi! good video. Any ETA when the second part is coming up?

[@Borland12345]

Add me to the list of the people who can’t wait to hear the results of the comparisons!

[@creativemakerat]

I almost don't dare to answer Started the second part back then but never finished it - unfortunately I don't have the time and the whole project is in the drawer. I'm still completely covered with work over the summer and I hope that I'll have some time to do crafts again in September. But i'm going to finish this 🙃 As many of you asked - the clear winner is the large sensor from DF Robot . The two ESP boards from DF Robot are also much better in terms of energy consumption. Sorry for the huge delay and thanks for all the support, I really appreciate it.

[@MARY-si9gl]

Genau das was ich gesucht habe. Ich habe auch bereits die ersten Versuche mit den einfachen Sensoren von Amazon und Ali gemacht. Absoluter Reinfall. Hoffe das zweite Video kommt bald.

[@byurhanbeyzat]

Can't wait for the second part

[@suprep2245]

Also waiting for whenever you are ready...

[@sachader]

Thanks for a great video, it is helping me a so much in finding out which hardware to use at home for my set up (indoor and outdoor plants). I look very much forward to your follow-up video. I especially like that you are comparing multiple boards and sensros, and also appreciate the structure of the video (distinct chapters and also sharing the various requirements in the way that you do). Thank you for all the effort you put into this!

[@creativemakerat]

Hello. Thank you for the nice feedback. Unfortunately, I'm a little behind schedule with my second episode on the topic - but I should be done with it in two weeks ;-)

[@kherhitesh]

Nice video , also i am waitng next part

[@gsmivo3285]

I look forward to part 2 and I rarely post a comment but you asked for it at the end and I decided to leave a comment which you are reading right now. the end

[@creativemakerat]

Thank you for your comment, I really appreciate it.

[@davemeiser521]

Please keep this gowing

[@CookieTube]

Very nice video. Can't wait for the next chapters..... But MAJOR TIP/REQUEST: *Would it be possible to lower your screen resolution when recording please!* Even at 1080p playback it is extremely hard to follow along as the recorded resolution is much much too high (and thus texts, menus, etc way too small, even on 1080p playback). It is even completely impossible to see the GUIs and code on tablets with lower resolutions. PS: I wouldn't mind even more detailed/longer videos though 😉

[@creativemakerat]

Thank you for this hint. I've never thought about that because I only use 4K monitors. But of course it makes total sense. For the second part I have already created a large part of the screen captures, from the third part on I will change the screen resolution to Full HD 👍

[@paulcutty8048]

This is very impressive. I am waiting for the second part, and I am very interested by this. I tried commercial sensors from sonoff, and they are nothing but disappointment, I won't bother to elaborate on this here. I have one question: any idea about the range for such a sensor? Your garden looks large enough in your introduction. Do you also consider external antenas? Greetings from Switzerland (French speaking side)

[@creativemakerat]

I think that depends on a few factors. On the one hand, which access points are used and how good the “line of sight” is. On the other hand, of course, it depends on the board used and the general design of the sensor. In short, I think you can only find out through testing once the prototype is ready. I'll definitely try to test the range (when the time comes) - thanks for the question.

[@charley2070]

Sehr schön. Das sieht doch schon mal ganz gut aus. Mit welcher Konstellation bist du nach 3 Monaten den am zufriedesten?

[@creativemakerat]

Morgen Abend kommt der zweite Teil der Serie, in dem ich die Testergebnisse präsentiere und meine Auswahl vorstelle.

[@LarsMelzer]

sehr spannendes Projekt - ich möchte mir auch sowas basteln, verstehe aber noch nicht alle Punkte. Eventuell helfen dann die weiteren oder andere Videos. Ich bleibe auf jeden Fall dran 🙂

[@creativemakerat]

Hallo Lars, freut mich, wenn dir mein Projekt gefällt :-)

[@LarsMelzer]

@@creativemakerat kennst Du den Kanal Matthias Schwaighofer Art? Ist ein Landsmann von Dir (Innsbruck). In die Community 3D Druckbegeisterter würdest Du gut reinpassen. Gruß Lars

[@DevArt59]

Where is the 2nd part ?

[@creativemakerat]

I'm very sorry for the huge delay. Unfortunately I don't have any time to continue working on the project. Things should finally continue in September, even if summer is already over again.

[@rufus4779]

Thank you for your video. Very informative. Question: Did you consider using the Seeed Xiao ESP32S3 or ESP32C3? If so, why didn't you test it as well. Just curious as I am in the process of building my own capacitive based garden monitor and am in the board testing phase. I have the exact same boards plus a Seeed Xiao ESP32S3.

[@creativemakerat]

I'm glad you like it. In fact, I received the relatively new ESP32-C6 board from Df Robot a few days ago. I will include this in the comparison in my next video on this topic. I don't know Seeed Xiao's boards. In your opinion, what would be the advantages of the S3 or C3 boards? Many thanks for your suggestions!

[@scottlevine8710]

I'm trying to build this project and I have ESP-WROOM-32 ESP32 ESP-32S Development Board 2.4GHz Dual-Mode WiFi + Bluetooth Dual Cores Microcontroller Processor Integrated with Antenna RF AMP Filter AP STA Compatible with Arduino IDE . Which implementation should I use? Thanks in advance.

[@creativemakerat]

I recommend the large sensor from DF Robot (Soil mositure sensor v2). Guessing your board comes from Amazon (at least that's the page it gave me when I searched for it on Google). I couldn't find a schematic for this, so I would suggest that you measure the battery voltage with a voltage divider (as shown in the video with the Sparkfun board). In the second part of the series I will explain how the INA3221 can be used to measure energy consumption in detail (but that will take until I finish the video). Thank you for your interest and let me know if it worked.

[@scottlevine8710]

@@creativemakerat I think I've installed correctly. Can I use another integration (ie. gauge) to monitor?

[@creativemakerat]

@@scottlevine8710 yes of course.

[@Tntdruid]

Any link to part 2?

[@creativemakerat]

The second part of the series will be coming out tomorrow evening, featuring the test results and my top picks =)

[@Tntdruid]

@@creativemakerat very nice 👍

[@adailhorst1816]

I build one using sensor 1.2 and a ESP01 ... I cannot see (really) this working fine... every time is between 99 and 100% :( (some times I do not put water in plant for 2 weeks ... ) do you already test using ESP01 ?

[@creativemakerat]

I think the problem is the sensor and not the board (as long as you work within the valid input range of the ADC). Give the Soil mositure sensor v2 from DF Robot a chance - the sensitivity is much better (yes i know, it is also much more expensive).