moisture sensor for inground sprinkler

11 years ago

What are some good moisture sensors for an inground sprinkler system, and how do they work?

If I went this route, it would make more sense than a timer, since there are many times we do get plenty of rainfall, but it would be nice to have an automated system kick in for times (like now) when it's dry, but avoid wasting water when it's not necessary to water.

I know these exist - what are some good ones? Do they have to be calibrated, etc?

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Comments (3)

hairmetal4ever
Original Author
11 years ago
My first quick search suggested there are "rain" sensors that simply detect that rain is falling, and "moisture" sensors that actually detect moisture in the root zone.

The rain sensor makes sense on the surface, but theN I imageine that "rain" it is sensing that shuts off the sprinkler could be a 4 minute light shower that doesn't even penetrate the surface.

So is a buried moisture sensor a better option?
KubotaMaster
11 years ago
Me personally i have a UGMO ProHome ground moisture sprinkler system.

How the UgMO ProHome Works you may ask? It is a cost-effective, wireless water sensing "watchdog" the smart sensors are placed underground in each sprinkler zone to measure soil moisture and temperature at the root level (the most important part of the plant) up to 12 times an hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. These sensors will wirelessly transmit data in real time on a zone-by-zone basis to my UgMO ProHome base station that was installed next my existing irrigation timer. Acting as the "brains" of my irrigation system, the base station determines when the grass and/or plantings have reached their optimum moisture level. If the ground is sufficiently moist, UgMO will automatically interrupt the sprinkler in that zone, turning it off before any water is wasted. It will still work even when it rains. Plus it has a zone manual overide"Plus Not only is this an easy install for contractors, but it is a simple technology for me too. So i Set it and then forgot it, and then i watched my water and $ savings accumulate. I.m.o it saves alot if hassle. The only drawback to the installation is i had to dig up slices of turf in my beautiful Bermuda lawn to install the sensors.
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I have the Toro wireless rain sensor with the discs that have to dry out before it turns the system back on. I have is set so it shuts the system off if we have more than 1/4" of rain and it works very well. I paid ~$50 for it at Home Depot. Neighbor across the street has her lawn company come out in the spring to turn her system on and then they come back out in the fall to shut if off. I have offered to teach her how to use her controller, but she isn't interested. We do have private wells here, so it costs ~$0.25 to water per hour, but wasting is wasting.
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(shakes head.... Must... Not... Buy... Acclima... 36... Zone... System... ) I'm not being sarcastic at you samlundstrom but I AM being sarcastic at me. You see I'm a gadget freak and just love things that take the chore out of everyday tasks. I'm disabled and only recently got into this gardening obsession and have bought a couple of Hozelock timers for my garden and though I looked for a single system that could control mulitple areas (front garden, back garden and mini greenhouses) I couldn't seem to find squat here in the UK. It's sods law that I've laid out the front and back garden irrigation out and now I find two systems that use sensors to stop wasting water. The other one I found was a UK company (see link below) and I still may get a better system after I've seen how I cope this year. It's ironic though, I just setup the back garden watering system and watched it turn on (hooray I shout)... then just seconds after the soddin' heavens opened up and totally soaked me and the garden and there was my automatic watering system still pushing out the litres to add to the newly created swamp. Go figure... Seriously though, anything that will reduce the amount of water usage is good for the environment. At the moment I'm just glad I'm not on a water meter as my Bamboo is one thirsty plant hehe. Oh yeah I nearly forgot... another reason for me being sarcastic at myself was the fact that I only have a small garden and making it use more than 4 zones would mean I would have to start making every container become a seperate zone which is kind of on the obsessive side heh. Still if I DID have a big garden it would be excellent to have such flexability. Here is a link that might be useful: UK Watering System (Gardena)
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KubotaMaster
11 years ago
Me personally i have a UGMO ProHome ground moisture sprinkler system.

How the UgMO ProHome Works you may ask? It is a cost-effective, wireless water sensing "watchdog" the smart sensors are placed underground in each sprinkler zone to measure soil moisture and temperature at the root level (the most important part of the plant) up to 12 times an hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. These sensors will wirelessly transmit data in real time on a zone-by-zone basis to my UgMO ProHome base station that was installed next my existing irrigation timer. Acting as the "brains" of my irrigation system, the base station determines when the grass and/or plantings have reached their optimum moisture level. If the ground is sufficiently moist, UgMO will automatically interrupt the sprinkler in that zone, turning it off before any water is wasted. It will still work even when it rains. Plus it has a zone manual overide"Plus Not only is this an easy install for contractors, but it is a simple technology for me too. So i Set it and then forgot it, and then i watched my water and $ savings accumulate. I.m.o it saves alot if hassle. The only drawback to the installation is i had to dig up slices of turf in my beautiful Bermuda lawn to install the sensors.

moisture sensor for inground sprinkler

Comments (3)

hairmetal4ever
Original Author

KubotaMaster

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moisture sensor for inground sprinkler

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hairmetal4everOriginal Author

KubotaMaster

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hairmetal4ever
Original Author