Soil Moisture Sensor - Intel Galileo

This is just a simple tutorial to guide hardware enthusiasts on how to set up a soil moisture sensor using Intel Galileo. Just follow the steps below to get started

Step 1: Brief Description

Essentially a Soil Moisture sensor measures the water content in soil, whereby, without much of a stretch you can tell when the soil needs more water or when it's over-watered. At the point when the dirt dampness decreases, the sensor output will decrease in value.

The two probes in the sensor are used to pass current through the soil, which will eventually read the resistance to get the moisture level. More moisture allows soil to conduct electricity easily due to less resistance, while drier soil does not conduct electricity well because of higher resistance. This will enable you to judge when and whether a plant needs water or not, simply by observing the sensor outputs. Finally, my hope is that after reading this excerpt you will be able to make your own soil moisture sensor using the Intel Galileo to keep track of the water to improve the plant growth in your garden :-)

Step 2: Acquire Hardware

The Soil Moisture sensors can be acquired by purchasing it from eBay, Amazon or any online electronics shop. It is affordable to anyone who is serious with the project

Step 3: Requirements

Components

Intel Galileo Board

Moisture sensor module

Breadboard

Tools

Side cutter

Stripping knife

Multimeter

Materials

Power Cables

Power supply

Jumpers

Pin definition:

Analog outputs

Digital outputs

Black wires

Red wires

Software

Text Editor – (Sublime Text for my case)

Step 4: Backend

The back-end code is built in C++ using sublime text interface. This can easily be done using sublime text, one of the most popular text editors

Step 5: Build Environment

The type of board used to test is the Intel Galileo Gen 2, but any type can be used. Following the code, sensor data is received by A0 pin, you can use any as well

The test data was showing values above 300 when the soil is moist and above 500 when dry. When placed in water the value dropped to 100.

Your values might vary from the one I used to run the test depending on the environment that you are. But that does not mean you are wrong. Testing it in different environments will show you how the sensor output values changes with the different soil moistures. This shows you how essential the Soil Moisture sensor using Intel Galileo can be.