Topic: Adding Soil Moisture and Soil Temperature Sensors to VP2+

[TraderGary]

We have a small vegetable and flower garden and have decided to add soil temperature and moisture sensors. We're near Atlanta, Georgia and garden year around. The ground never freezes.

I have some questions for anyone who has done this.

I understand the station is wireless to my VP2+. The distance from VP2+ to garden is 75 feet.

Are the sensors themselves wired or wireless to the garden transmitter?

We are thinking we only need one soil temperature sensor. What do you guys do?

We have 5 raised beds and we are thinking we would like a moisture sensor in each bed. Is this a good idea? What would you do?

What kind of maintenance is required for an installation like this?

[Aardvark]

I can help you. I have had a fully wired station for the past 20 years. I have worn out two of them .
The sensors have 2 wires each . the VP2 transmitter as 8 ports for each wire on the soil moisture and 8 ports for each wire on the soil temperature.   You can only have 4 soil moisture probes on a station.  The VP2 ISS will be fine, the data sent from the soil moisture station goes independently of the ISS.

Here is the url to read the manual   https://support.davisinstruments.com/article/0rlcu9d7xx-manual-vantage-pro-pro-2-soil-moisture-sensor-temp-probe

and for the transmitter:  https://support.davisinstruments.com/article/37mxf42l5t-manual-optional-ac-charger-kit-for-vantage-connect-hd-solar-power-kit-6710

Give both a read and come back for more help.

[TraderGary]

I have a WLL 6100.
Are you saying that the station in the garden transmits directly to the WLL?
Is it powerful enough to transmit to the WLL through two wood frame walls?

[SteveFitz1]

I have 2 soil temperature and 2 soil moisture sensors.attached to a wireless transmitter about 30 feet from my house. It transmits through at least 7 walls to the Davis 6100 located at the other end of the house.

Steve

[TraderGary]

Using the WLL 6100, can the WLL Android app and weatherlink.com on my browser be used to read the soil moisture and soil temperature data?

[johnd]

I think this is understood but let me just spell it out. To connect soil moisture and other soil (etc) temperature or leaf wetness sensors to a VP2 system then you must buy a 6345 multi-sensor transmitter, which is a different beast to the ISS transmitters and, as with every VP2 transmitter, must run on its own transmitter ID.

A single 6345 transmitter can be connected to (up to) 4 soil moisture sensors, 2 leaf wetness sensors and 4 temperature sensors. You need to purchase the 6345 transmitter and required sensors separately (other than the 6345CS bundle, but that would likely be overkill for any domestic installation). For best accuracy, the soil moisture reading needs to be temperature corrected and it's recommended that this is done by pairing each soil moisture sensor with a soil temperature sensor buried nearby and at the same depth as its paired soil moisture sensor. (Otherwise the ISS air temperature will be used AIUI, but that's obviously often different from the soil temperature.)

Don't be tempted to rush the installation of a new Watermark soil moisture sensor - for best results, it does need preliminary soaking as per the instructions. And also allow a few days for the sensor to bed into its new home before taking the readings too seriously. The sensor needs a little time to equilibrate fully with its surroundings, especially from new.

The 6100 WLL can receive data from ANY combination of up to 8 VP2 transmitters, so absolutely it can receive from an ISS plus a 6345 transmitter. A VP2 console can receive data from one ISS and one 6345, but no more. 6345 data is fully uploaded to weatherlink.com and can be viewed in the browser app in the usual way. Remember that 6345 temperature data received via a console will be truncated to a resolution of 1°F, but the same data received via a 6100 WLL will retain its full 0.1°F resolution.

I'm struggling to remember whether 6345 data via a 6100 shows up in the smartphone app - someone else may be able to chip in. IIRC this wasn't possible initially when the v2 app was first released, but may now have been added into the Additional Sensors section.

[SteveFitz1]

Using the WLL 6100, can the WLL Android app and weatherlink.com on my browser be used to read the soil moisture and soil temperature data?

Absolutely. The soil information is available on both the Android app and WeatherLink.Com on your browser.

Steve

[GlynH]

I know you guys were talking about soil sensors but I've been thinking of adding the Leaf Wetness Sensor and its transmitter station to my VP2+ setup with console & IP Logger just to give me a heads-up when it starts to rain and before the ISS tipping spoon registers its first 0.2mm tip.

I have asked Davis how it integrates into the Weatherlink.com website and the iOS App and was hoping to see how it displays and what it looks like in both.

If anyone here might be able to comment and post a couple of screenshots so I can see how the data is displayed it would be much appreciated.

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

[Aardvark]

I am going to bow out as you have others helping.  good luck.  One thing they are not telling you.  Be careful of those plastic push levers in the transmitter for the soil m oisture.  you have to hit them square on, or they break and you cannot open them.  so you have to send the whole thing in to be repaired.  a design flaw

[Aardvark]

I know you guys were talking about soil sensors but I've been thinking of adding the Leaf Wetness Sensor and its transmitter station to my VP2+ setup with console & IP Logger just to give me a heads-up when it starts to rain and before the ISS tipping spoon registers its first 0.2mm tip.

I have asked Davis how it integrates into the Weatherlink.com website and the iOS App and was hoping to see how it displays and what it looks like in both.

If anyone here might be able to comment and post a couple of screenshots so I can see how the data is displayed it would be much appreciated.

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

set it up on your phone app,  it works fine:

[GlynH]

Thanks for that Aardvark...your handle has nothing to do with the F-111 does it by any chance?

I looked at the best way of adding it to my station but didn't see an easy way of doing it.

In the app if I go to Add it only gives me the choice of adding WeatherLink Live or AirLink.

On WeatherLink.com website I get the options of adding WLL, Enviromonitor, Vantage Connect, Data Logger and WeatherLink IP.

I've obviously missed something here...

-=Glyn=-

[johnd]

You're looking at adding a new station (or upload device I would rather say). Adding eg a moisture sensor/transmitter to an existing station still gets uploaded via the existing station - no new station needed. (Fortunately, otherwise you'd need a separate Pro a/c for the new station.) You just select the sensors you want to display on the main weatherlink.com menus, so if you don't have a sensor actively uploading then you won't currently see that option.

NB An IP logger shows fairly different configuration options on weatherlink.com from data uploaded by eg WLL, so when talking about weatherlink.com options or issues it's quite important to be clear about which upload device you're using.

[TraderGary]

Using the WLL 6100, can the WLL Android app and weatherlink.com on my browser be used to read the soil moisture and soil temperature data?

Absolutely. The soil information is available on both the Android app and WeatherLink.Com on your browser.

Great! I was concerned that the data could only be read on the Davis Console and I don't use the console. It would have been nice if Davis had shown a screen capture on their site of how the garden data looks on the PC and Phone apps. I find that I use my Android Phone Davis App the majority of the time as it is always in my pocket.

[TraderGary]

I am going to bow out as you have others helping.  good luck.  One thing they are not telling you.  Be careful of those plastic push levers in the transmitter for the soil m oisture.  you have to hit them square on, or they break and you cannot open them.  so you have to send the whole thing in to be repaired.  a design flaw

Thanks Aardvark! Your many years of experience is invaluable. Don't just disappear. 

[TraderGary]

The input of everyone is very much appreciated.
These forums are an amazing resource. 
I have a much better idea of what I'm doing now.

I've now ordered one each of the following:

6345 Davis Leaf & Soil Moisture/Temperature Station Less Sensors
6440 Davis Soil Moisture Sensor
6470 Davis Stainless Steel Temperature Probe

[azchrisf]

They are useful to me to monitor my sprinkler frequency.
The Watermark sensors need to be presoaked for 24 hours, and can last several years depending on salinity of the soil.

Of interest you can use the leaf sensors as trace rain detectors, or a condensing fog detector if turned upside down and placed in a large cap. I still have this setup but it's idle because I can't afford to host my weather page anymore.