Maintaining proper Soil moisture is essential for the proper growth of crops and plants. Moisture required for one type of plant can be different for another plant. Properly balancing the moisture level increases the yield of crops. We have designed a Soil moisture detector mini project to monitor the soil moisture level. This is one of the important mini-projects for agriculture applications.
Various blocks and important components used in this project are the power supply unit, soil moisture sensor, comparator, microcontroller, crystal & reset circuits, LCD display, a key, an LED, and Buzzer. We have used an 89s51 microcontroller which is from the 8051 microcontroller family.
Description of the Block Diagram:
Soil moisture sensor: The resistance of the soil decreases as the moisture inside the soil increases. The voltage divider arrangement made with the soil moisture sensor converts this variable resistance into the variable voltage.
Comparator: The output voltage from the sensor is given to the comparator. We have used LM358 op-amp IC as a comparator. This comparator IC compares the output of the soil moisture sensor with a fixed threshold level. It gives a high output when the sensor crosses the threshold level.
Buzzer: The microcontroller turns on a Buzzer when the soil moisture level crosses the threshold level.
LED: We have used a LED to indicate that soil moisture has crossed the desired level.
LCD Display: Whenever the threshold level is crossed, the microcontroller displays a respective message on the LCD display.
Microcontroller: The 89s51 microcontroller is the main component of a Soil moisture detector. It reads data from the Soil moisture sensor, reads the status of the Key, controls the buzzer & LED, and decides the messages that are displayed on the LCD display.
We have used a Key in the soil moisture detector circuit. This key acts as a toggle switch. The position of the Key decides whether the buzzer should be activated at a low level or a high level. You can change the position of the key anytime. With the help of this key, we can use this project as a Low moisture detector or a High moisture detector.
Key turned OFF: In this case, the microcontroller activates a Buzzer whenever the soil moisture level is Low.
Key turned ON: In this case, the microcontroller activates a Buzzer whenever the soil moisture level is High.
Block diagram of the project Soil moisture detector mini project
Applications of the Soil moisture detector mini project
This project is very useful in farms, greenhouses, plant nurseries, and house gardens.
The soil moisture level detector project can be used in the greenhouse. It can detect the water contents for the moisture contents of the soil.
Advantages and future enhancement of soil moisture detector project:
The main advantage of this project is that this is a low-cost soil moisture detector project.
This soil moisture level detector project is easy to use.
This project is beneficial for farmers.
We can add a relay to control the water supply pump as a future enhancement.
As a future enhancement, we can also send an SMS alert to the user by adding a GSM modem to the soil moisture circuit.