Kitronik 'Mini' Prong Soil Moisture Sensor for BBC micro:bit

The Mini Prong soil sensor is a short version of the original Prong sensor that has been specially adapted for use with the Kitronik Greenhouse Kit for BBC micro:bit.

The Mini Prong soil moisture sensor for BBC micro:bit is a sensor board that can be connected to a BBC micro:bit with crocodile clips to monitor the moisture present in the soil. The two conductive tines are placed into the soil. Any water or moisture in the soil will conduct to give an analogue voltage that can be read by the BBC micro:bit.

Mini Prong is powered from the 3V supply of the BBC micro:bit. Use either the USB or JST connector on the BBC micro:bit to power the circuit.

The board has been designed to work with croc-clips, to connect between the Mini Prong and the BBC micro:bit. 

When fitted to the Mini Prong moisture sensor, the micro:bit can be coded via any of the micro:bit editors, such as the Microsoft MakeCode editor. The Datasheet at the foot of this page includes technical information and a MakeCode blocks coding example.

Note:

• To ensure that the mini Prong moisture sensor has a long and fulfilling life, it is better to write your code to perform a moisture check every so often rather than continuously. When the check is performed continuously it promotes rapid erosion of the electrodes.

Features

• Measure soil moisture levels.
• Attach to the micro:bit with crocodile clips.
• Compatible with both BBC micro:bit V1 and BBC micro:bit V2.
• Write code for it with any micro:bit coding editor.

What's in the box?

1 x Prong Soil Moisture Sensor for microbit.

Resources

• Datasheet.
• General Safety Advice.