Drill & Drop Soil Moisture Probe

Drill & Drop Soil Moisture Probe Installation

Drill & Drop Soil Moisture Probe. Agriculture and pristine ecosystsms worldwide are already experiencing more frequent hot spells with low precipitation. As a result of impending climate change, droughts are expected to intensify in Austria, Europe and globally. As a result, soil moisture monitoring and irrigation of crops, urban and natural ecosystems will become increasingly important. Vienna Scientific distributes soil moisture sensors from Sentek Technologies - an Australian irrigation specialist with 25 years years of experience. The latest generation of Drill and Drop Soil Moisture Sensors integrates advanced telemetry, intelligent software, and easy installation to support irrigation scheduling and soil moisture measurement in an easy-to-understand way.

Drill & Drop Soil Moisture, Temperature, EC Sensors - Overview

Drill and Drop Soil Moisture Probe Bluetooth

The Sentek Drill & Drop probes, which are inserted into the soil, are available in

 

and there are several lengths to choose from to suit different crops. Length are single point (10cm, SDI-12 only), 30, 60, 90, 120 cm and 150 cm (SDI-12 slimline only). "Standard" Drill & Drop probes measure soil moisture and temperature, TriSCAN probes measure in addition salinity (electrical conductivity, EC). 

 

Drill & Drop means particularly easy installation in the soil. The hole for the probe is prepared with a special tapered drill, without mud/slurry, as slurry can lead to inaccurate measurements. The probe can be installed in minutes in all types of soil using any electric drill and base plate for guidance. As a result, they are able to provide accurate readings right from the start. Each individual probe carries sensors at 10 cm intervals, and thus simultaneously records a profile of the soil moisture and temperature, and salinity (TriScan version) at each soil depth.

  • Wireless probe types connect to a smartphone app via Bluetooth - taking away complex and expensive cellular and satellite modem telemetry. The Sentek app is available in the Android / iOS stores. The data is then uploaded from this app to the associated analysis software Sentek IrriMAX Live. Graphics clearly show the depths from which the roots take up their water. This evaluation enables irrigation closely oriented to demand to increase yield and save water. See Table 1 (below) for Drill & Drop "Bluetooth types".
  • The wired probes are available for three logger protocols: RS232 (Plus, Compact, Solo & Modbus), RS485 (MULTI & Modbus) and SDI-12 Probes. Cables (5/6 m) are either connected to the top (i.e. removable cable) or the side of probes. See Table 2a-c (removable cable) and Table 3a-c (side exit cables) for details

See Table 4 for drill & drop installation tools.

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Drill & Drop Bluetooth Probe - Features

Drill and Drop Bluetooth Soil Moisture Probe Features
  • Include moisture, salinity and temperature sensors at 10 cm intervals down to 120 cm soil depth
  • Wireless and battery operated for convenience.
  • Tapered shape allows quick and undisturbed installation in most soil types without compromising quality.
  • Accurately measuring the actual soil moisture profile, not just the slurry (used to install other probes). Pre-normalized sensors with standard calibration equations build-in.
  • Data downloaded to the Android/Apple Connect App (even without cellular coverage) on your phone and seamlessly uploaded to IrriMAX Live. Data graphs can be accessed in IrriMAX Live from any web browser (smartphone or laptop).

In summary, the Drill & Drop Bluetooth Probe is ideal for annual field crops and any other application (urban ecosystems, short-term experiments, etc.) that requires efficient installation and extraction. It improves irrigation management to save water, energy, fertilizer and time while increasing yield and quality. Give it a try this growing season!

Table 1. Drill and Drop Bluetooth Probes for soil moisture and temperature, partially with additional salinity sensor (TriSCAN). In the lenght 30, 60, 90 and 120 cm. Slime-line tapered, sealed and encapsulated. Used with smartphone for data collection.

Model/Types Drill and Drop
Bluetooth Probes 		OPEN

Drill & Drop Wired Probes - Features & Types

  • Many available lengths: 10 cm ("single point", SDI-12 only), 30, 60, 90, 120 and partially 150 cm (SDI-12 only)
  • Sensors are fixed to the probe in 10 cm (4 inch) increments. 
  • Choice of sensors: 1. soil moisture and temperature sensors, or 2. soil moisture and temperature plus salinity sensors (TriScan)
  • Fully encapsulated, quick and easy to install and can be completely buried to reduce the risk of machinery damage
  • Best choice for short-term use, such as the monitoring of vegetable crops, due to the fast and easy install and extraction techniques.
  • Reliable option for long-term use, as it can be installed and left untouched for many years, perfect for automatic data logging & transfer stand alone or together with other sensors
  • Different cable types (removeable (top), side exit) for all purposes
  • Different communication protocols fitting other sensors
    • RS232 (Sentek Plus, Compact, Solo & Modbus RD232)
    • RS485 (Sentek MULTI & Modbus RD485)
    • SDI-12
  • Probe to Internet (Sentek IoT DTU), access soil profile data through IrriMAX Live.

Communication Types

  • RS232 / RS485 communication to a Sentek PLUS DTU or third party Modbus logger. The RS232 / RS485 probes are pre-configured with the firmware appropriate for the Data Transfer Unit (DTU) to which they will be connected, i.e. Sentek PLUS, Sentek MULTI, third party Modbus RS232 / RS485 loggers. The probe type (RS232 or RS485) can be changed by uploading new firmware to the probe.
  • SDI-12 communication to third-party SDI-12 loggers. 

Drill and Drop Probes - Removeable Cable

Sentek D&D Removeble cable probes

Removeable cable probes


Table 2a RS232 Drill & Drop Probes with removeable cable - RS232 Modbus and GPRS/G4 R/C versions; ask for USA and AUS versions. Moisture = Moisture and soil temperature; TriScan sensors also include salinity measurements. Sensor positions at 5, 15, 25 cm etc. (depending on length). All probes feature a 5 m cable. 

Model/Types RS232 Drill and Drop
removeable cable 		OPEN

Table 2b RS485 Drill & Drop Probes with removeable cable - RS485 Modbus and GPRS/G4 R/C versions (EU); ask for USA and AUS versions. Moisture = Moisture and soil temperature; TriScan sensors also include salinity sensors. Sensor positions at 5, 15, 25 cm etc (depending on length). All probes feature a 6 m cable. 

Model/Types RS485 Drill and Drop
removeable cable 		OPEN

Table 2c SDI-12 Drill & Drop Probes with removeable cable. Moisture = Moisture and soil temperature; TriScan sensors also include salinity sensors. Sensor positions at 5, 15, 25 cm etc. (depending on probe length). All probes feature a 6 m cable. 

Model/Types SDI-12 Drill and Drop
removeable cable 		OPEN

Drill and Drop Probes - Side Exit Cable

Sentek D&D Removeble cable probes

Side Exit Cable Probes


Table 3a RS232 Drill & Drop Probes with Side Exit Cable - Modbus RS232 and GPRS/G4 R/C versions (EU); ask for US and AU versions. Moisture = Moisture and soil temperature; TriScan sensors also include salinity measurements. Sensor positions at 5, 15, 25 cm etc (depending on length). All probes feature a 5 m cable. 

Model/Types RD232 Drill and Drop
Side Exit Cable 		OPEN

Table 3b RS485 Drill & Drop Probes with Side Exit Cable - Modbus RS485 and GPRS/G4 R/C versions (EU); ask for USA and AUS versions. Moisture = Moisture and soil temperature; TriScan sensors also include salinity measurements. Sensor positions at 5, 15, 25 cm etc (depending on length). All probes feature a 5 m cable. 

Model/Types RS485 Drill and Drop
Side Exit Cable 		OPEN

Table 3c SDI-12 Drill & Drop Probes with Side Exit cable. Moisture = Moisture and soil temperature; TriScan sensors also include salinity measurements. Sensor positions at 5, 15, 25 cm etc. (depending on length). All probes feature a 5 m cable. 

Model/Types SDI-12 Drill and Drop
Side Exit Cable 		OPEN

Drill & Drop Probe Installation Kits

Table 4 Drill & Drop Probe Installation and Extraction Tools, including base plates, augers of different length etc. All augers can be operated with electric drills (recommended). 

Model/Types Drill and Drop Probes
Installation and Extraction Tools 		OPEN

Application Potential of Sentek Drill & Drop Soil Moisture Sensors

The Sentek Drill & Drop soil moisture sensors were used in many field field trial inclusive e.g. in tomato production. On one half of a trial field, irrigation management was implemented based on data from the Sentek soil moisture sensors. The other half was managed as before. Later, differences in plant developmental status and maturity became clearly visible. Over the same period of time, on the half farmed with Sentek-Drill & Drop probes managed to save 1500 m³ of water per hectare (or a saving of 180 €/ha). The tomatoes achieved a more attractive, intense red color and a fuller flavor, with an average 0.7% higher Brix (sugar content).  

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