Build Instructions

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• 1

  Programming the mcModule to check soil moisture

  After working out the soil moisture variables (see YouTube video at the bottom) using the wireless debugging feature in mcStudio, we loaded the code onto the module and put into a planter. We programmed the module to check the soil moisture every 30 seconds as well as the temperature every minute and then send that information via MQTT to our broker, CloudMQTT.

  The module is also programmed to check the temperature every minute and also relay that information via MQTT to our broker.

  We also programmed the module to check its battery level every 2 hours and send a notification to a smartphone using IFTTT by setting up an applet to receive the information from the module and then alert on Android (using the IFTTT Android app) if the low-battery message was received.

  *Note - we programmed to check the soil every 30 seconds, the battery voltage every 2 hours and temperature every 60 seconds for the purposes of this example but in real-life and for a long battery life, you could easily set the intervals to only a couple of times per day or mix and match your intervals with the different variables you are measuring to tailor the information to your needs

  Define PinMode Pin0 As AnalogInput Alias MoistureLevel 
  Define PinMode Pin6 As DigitalOutput Alias enableMoistureLevel 
      
      Class RainSensor         
          Shared Event measureMoisture() RaiseEvent Every 30 Seconds 
              enableMoistureLevel = True 'turn on voltage divider 
              Thread.Sleep(40000) 'sleep 40ms for voltage to stabilize
              Dim voltage As Short = MoistureLevel
              Dim payload As ListOfByte = New ListOfByte
              Dim payString As String = "" 
              If voltage > 1500 Then
                  payString = "Dry - I NEED WATER"
              ElseIf voltage <= 1499 And voltage >= 600 Then
                  payString = "Fairly Moist" 
              ElseIf voltage <= 599 And voltage >= 335 Then
                  payString = "Moist" 
              ElseIf voltage < 355 Then 
                  payString = "OVERWATERED"
              Else 
              End If 
              enableMoistureLevel = False 'turn off voltage divider
              payload.Add(payString)
              Lplan.Publish("mcThings/MoistureLevel", payload)
          End Event
          Shared Event sendMQTT() RaiseEvent Every 1 Minutes 
              Dim payload As ListOfByte = New ListOfByte() 
              Dim TempC As Float = TempSensor.GetTemp
              Dim TempString As String = TempC.ToString() 
              payload.Add(TempString) 
              Lplan.Publish("mcThings/GardenTemp", payload) 
          End Event
          Shared Event measureVoltage() RaiseEvent Every 2 Hours
              Dim BattVolt As Short = Device.BatteryVoltage
              If BattVolt < 2200 Then 
              Lplan.IFTTT("YOURIFTTTKEYHERE", "MoistureSensorBatt")
              Else
    
              End If
          End Event
      End Class

• 2

  Viewing the incoming information on Android

  Using an Android MQTT App called IoT MQTT Dashboard we are able to see the incoming information from this device. There are many other great MQTT apps in the Google Play store that you should check out!

  Note - We had other mcModules reporting variables into the app including a rain sensor device!

• 3

  YouTube Video

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