Soil Moisture

Soil moisture and temperature at root depth, so irrigation runs on what the ground actually needs — not a timer and a guess.

Irrigating on a timer waters the calendar, not the crop. The OGLAS Soil Moisture sensor reads what the ground actually holds — at root depth — so water goes on when it’s needed and stays off when it isn’t.

What it does

  • Reads soil moisture — volumetric water content from a probe in the root zone; one or several depths.
  • Reads soil temperature — the other half of the germination and growth picture.
  • Reports on a schedule — hourly is plenty; deep-sleep between reads keeps it running a season on battery.
  • Drives irrigation — feed the reading to a Smart Switch: water only when moisture is below threshold and the weather isn’t about to do it for you.

Hardware

A capacitive soil probe (no corroding exposed electrodes) on an OGLAS analog node, battery-powered with a small solar trickle — see Off-grid power.

Pairs well with

  • Smart Switch — moisture below threshold turns on the irrigation.
  • Weather — “dry soil and no rain forecast” is the rule that saves the most water.
  • Water Pump — the thing the moisture reading ultimately drives.

Building this into a larger site? That’s exactly what we do — start a custom build or email us.