I found this awesome soil sensor and I finally got it to work great with home assistant so I thought i’d share in case some of you need long range soil sensors.
**** Please read through, there has been a lot of changes since the original post. Many of great additions. I hope this is what you’ve been looking for! ****
*** UPDATE****
Since I have posted this, the maker has moved onto a newer version that I have NOT tested. Here is the newer revision: Lora Temperature/ Humidity/ Soil Moisture Sensor V3 | Makerfabs
Another update
Wow this seems to have gained traction! YAY glad i could give back to the community!
Please jump to the latest as there are some smart people who have been moving this project along nicely and I have been away.
I’m using this great project called OpenMqttGateway with LoRa and BLE enabled as the receiver. This is a great project I highly recommend it if you’re not familiar. I use the BLE for the Flower care probes that work well, they just don’t have the range I need.
Anyhoot these LoRa probes are amazing so here it is:
Arduino code I tweaked based on the example provided by the maker (I don’t really know how to code, this is me figuring out due to necessity) so if anyone has a better way to write this, by all means post in the thread!
Also keep in mind that there are frequency laws to respect based on your county’s laws, here I am using 915E6, but make sure to us the appropriate value for you. Ensure this is consistent and matches the board you are using for OpenMqttGateway, the antenna, the and the OpenMqttGateway LoRa configuration.
#include <avr/wdt.h>
#include <avr/sleep.h>
//#include <RadioLib.h>
#include "I2C_AHT10.h"
#include <Wire.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <LoRa.h>
#include <ArduinoJson.h>
#define NODENAME "Soil_1"
#define DIO0 2
#define DIO1 6
#define DIO2 7
#define DIO5 8
#define LORA_RST 4
#define LORA_CS 10
#define SS 10 // GPIO18 -- SX1278's CS
#define RST 4 // GPIO14 -- SX1278's RESET
#define DI0 2 // GPIO26 -- SX1278's IRQ(Interrupt Request)
#define BAND 915E6
//#define SPI_MOSI 11
//#define SPI_MISO 12
//#define SPI_SCK 13
#define SPI_MOSI 11
#define SPI_MISO 12
#define SPI_SCK 13
//#define SPI_SS 10
int ledPin = 13;
int shu = 0;
int sensorPin = A2; // select the input pin for the potentiometer
int sensorPowerCtrlPin = 5;
int sensorValue = 0; // variable to store the value coming from the sensor
int16_t packetnum = 0; // packet counter, we increment per xmission
float temperature = 0.0; //
float humidity = 0.0;
//float dewpoint = 0.0;
String errcode = "";
// SX1278 radio = new Module(LORA_CS, DIO0, LORA_RST, DIO1, SPI, SPISettings());
AHT10 humiditySensor;
ISR(WDT_vect)
{
Serial.print("[Watch dog]");
Serial.println(shu);
delay(100);
shu++;
wdt_reset();
}
void setup()
{
wdt_disable();
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
Serial.begin(115200);
Serial.println("[Start]");
delay(100);
SPI.begin();
//setup start
Serial.println("[Setup]");
delay(100);
// initialize SX1278 with default settings
Serial.println(String("Sensor name is :") + String(NODENAME));
Serial.print(F("Initializing ... "));
SPI.begin();
LoRa.setPins(SS,RST,DI0);
if (!LoRa.begin(915E6)) {
Serial.println("Starting LoRa failed!");
while (1);
}
// else
// {
// Serial.print(Success!));
// Serial.println("LoRa ok");
// while (0)
// ;
// }
LoRa.sleep();
//AHT10
pinMode(sensorPowerCtrlPin, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(sensorPowerCtrlPin, HIGH); //Sensor power on
Wire.begin();
if (humiditySensor.begin() == false)
{
Serial.println("AHT10 not detected. Please check wiring. Freezing.");
}
else
Serial.println("AHT10 acknowledged.");
read_sensor();
//setup over
low_power_set();
}
void loop()
{
wdt_disable();
if (shu > 7) //(7+1) x 8S
{
//code start
Serial.println("Code start*************************************");
read_sensor();
//code end
Serial.println("Code end*************************************");
//count init
shu = 0;
}
watchdog_init();
delay(10);
sleep_cpu();
}
//Set low power mode and into sleep
void low_power_set()
{
Serial.println("[Set]Sleep Mode Set");
delay(100);
set_sleep_mode(SLEEP_MODE_PWR_DOWN);
sleep_enable();
watchdog_init();
delay(10);
sleep_cpu();
}
//Enable watch dog
void watchdog_init()
{
MCUSR &= ~(1 << WDRF);
WDTCSR |= (1 << WDCE) | (1 << WDE);
//WDTCSR = 1 << WDP1 | 1 << WDP2; //1S
WDTCSR = 1 << WDP0 | 1 << WDP3; //8S
WDTCSR |= _BV(WDIE); //not rst, inter interrutp
wdt_reset();
}
void read_sensor()
{
digitalWrite(sensorPowerCtrlPin, HIGH); //Sensor power on
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
sensorValue = analogRead(sensorPin);
delay(200);
if (humiditySensor.available() == true)
{
temperature = humiditySensor.getTemperature();
humidity = humiditySensor.getHumidity();
}
if (isnan(humidity) || isnan(temperature))
{
Serial.println(F("Failed to read from AHT sensor!"));
}
}
digitalWrite(sensorPowerCtrlPin, LOW); //Sensor power on
String lora_msg = "#" + (String)packetnum +" NAME:" + (String)NODENAME + " H:" + (String)humidity + "% T:" + (String)temperature + " C" + " ADC:" + (String)sensorValue;
StaticJsonBuffer<200> jsonBuffer;
JsonObject& root = jsonBuffer.createObject();
root["id"] = "LoRaADC";
root["name"] = NODENAME;
root["model"] = "LSMS092D";
root["tempc"] = temperature;
root["hum"] = humidity;
//root[" Dew Point"] = dewpoint;
root["adc"] = sensorValue;
//root["topic"] = home/OMG_01/LORAtoMQTT;
//JsonArray& data = root.createNestedArray("data");
//data.add(temperature,6); // 6 is the number of decimals to print
//data.add(humidity); // if not specified, 2 digits are printed
//root.printTo(Serial);
//root.printTo(LoRa);
// This prints:
// {"sensor":"gps","time":1351824120,"data":[48.756080,2.302038]}
Serial.println(lora_msg);
packetnum++;
LoRa.beginPacket();
// LoRa.print("test");
root.printTo(LoRa);
// LoRa.print(temperature);
// LoRa.print(humidity);
// LoRa.print((String)sensorValue);
LoRa.endPacket();
// radio.transmit(lora_msg);
delay(1000);
LoRa.sleep();
}
Don’t forget to grab the library files from the maker’s github (I2C_AHT10.h)
Arduino board should be “Arduino Pro or Pro Mini”
Processor should be “ATmega328p (3.3, 8 MHz)”
Pinout is defined in the silkscreen on the board.
When flashing the code to the device i had to briefly press the onboard reset button just before the upload took place.
Finally, in home assistant i’m using this as my configuration:
- platform: mqtt
name: "Soil_1_ADC"
state_topic: "home/OMG_01/LORAtoMQTT"
value_template: '{{ (value_json.message|from_json).adc }}'
unit_of_measurement: 'µS/cm'
- platform: mqtt
name: "Soil_1_humidity"
state_topic: "home/OMG_01/LORAtoMQTT"
value_template: '{{ (value_json.message|from_json).hum }}'
unit_of_measurement: '%'
- platform: mqtt
name: "Soil_1_temperature"
state_topic: "home/OMG_01/LORAtoMQTT"
value_template: '{{ (value_json.message|from_json).tempc }}'
unit_of_measurement: '°C'
And a HUGE thank you to all the people who worked on this!!!
ENJOY!
