Soil moisture sensors

[wmaker (Tommy Long)]

As an FYI,

If distance/reach is an issue, one may consider a LoRa based Soil Sensor.

Awesome! LoRa Soil sensor

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. *** 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 a…

There is a community using these. I have only recently been trying these out, so can not yet attest to how well they can hold up to weather, water, etc. but they have been sprayed with a waterproof coating, which I believe is the manufacturer’s own special sauce.

[ssergiio]

So after all the discussion what is the best quality/price one?

[Joao-Sousa-71 (Joao Sousa)]

@sparkydave

The bluetooth version here. They work well and can be linked to HA either directly if your server has BT or using a BT proxies with ESPhome.

@sparkydave quick question about this bluetooth sensor:

I have the gl-s10-bt-proxy (The Best Home Assistant Bluetooth Proxy: GL.iNet GL-S10 | Blakadder's Smarthome Shenanigans) with ESPHome, and is this sensor working with the Xiaomi BLE integration?
Thank you!

[dualtronic]

@Joao-Sousa-71

this sensor working with the Xiaomi BLE integration?

Yes, it works with the Xiami BLE integration. But make sure you select the bluetooth version for $20. The cheap for $6 doesn’t have BT.

[Joao-Sousa-71 (Joao Sousa)]

Thank you! Just order it from aliexpress.

[Joao-Sousa-71 (Joao Sousa)]

BLE Sensor arrived! Fw 3.3.6 Immediately discovered by HA, Bluetooth range seems very high using gl-s10 proxy. Seems a good purchase.

[peterbarbosa (Peter)]

Question (if youre still around) - my computer recognizes it on ESPhome web, but everytime I try to flash it with ESPhome I get the error:

Failed to initialize. Try resetting your device or holding the BOOT button while selecting your serial port until it starts preparing the installation.

I tried to put it in Download mode (not sure how to tell if Im doing it correctly) but no luck. For Download mode I follow these steps:

Press and hold IO0
Plug USB cable. Wait seconds for boot
Release IO0

cc: @WallyR

[WallyR (Wally)]

@peterbarbosa

my computer recognizes it on ESPhome web,

What it?
Each board may have a different approach on how to get it into flash mode, so knowing the board is important.

[peterbarbosa (Peter)]

On the chip I see Espressif ESP32-S2-SOLO or 21098-ESPS2SOLO

On the board I see SOIL_SENSOR_ESP32S V03

Apologies in advance, as Im new to setting up these boards. Hopefully this is what you need, let me know otherwise.

[peterbarbosa (Peter)]

And for further context, I have the battery unplugged and removed the board from the case so the USB cable is secured into the port. Also made sure Im using a data cable and can see it as a USB serial device.

And for further context, I have the battery unplugged and removed the board from the case so the USB cable is secured into the port. Also made sure Im using a data cable and can see it as a USB serial device.

EDIT: Okay turns out ESPHome web doesnt work well with this board so I’m going to use Adafruit ESPTool to flash a bin. I will try to use ESPHome manual download to create the BIN file.

Any good projects for ESPHome I can reference for this sensor?

cc: @WallyR @Ksully86 if you would know.

cc: @WallyR @Ksully86 if you would know.

[WallyR (Wally)]

I used ESP flasher when I flashed mine, but it was ages ago, before the ESPHome web flasher became available.
I will see what is possible when I get back home next weekend.