suggestion for soil moisture sensors which compatible with NI Labview??

[fauzan]

any suggestion for soil moisture sensors which compatible with NI Labview?? help me~~!!!!

[JohnMc19]

Hi fauzan,

This may be what you are looking for:

Soil moisture sensor

Hope I have helped,

[fauzan]

its too expensive 4 my final year project

[Dennis_Knutson]

Do you want to directly connect you sensor to the pc or to a DAQ board? Do you have a DAQ board to connect to? Too expensive means what kind of price are you looking for?

[Broken_Arrow · Accepted solution]

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@fauzan wrote:

any suggestion for soil moisture sensors which compatible with NI Labview?? help me~~!!!!

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Allow me to address your concerns about "compatible with NI LabVIEW" by asking you a question. What soil moisture sensors are compatible with C++? Visual Basic? Visual C? JAVA?

Sensors always have a connecting layer between itself and the computer. Sometimes, the sensor itself connects straight to the computer via USB. Most of the time, there is a connecting layer that interfaces to the computer - USB, RS-232, GPIB, PCI - and that connecting layer is a DAQ, or simplified for your application, an Analog Input Module. It's up to you to program your software to interface with those devices.

Now, I don't mean to insult your intelligence. I bet you already know this stuff. But your question reads like you have the same misconceptions about LabVIEW that a lot of people have. That being, that LabVIEW is somehow a direct interface with hardware, and you just buy sensors and LabVIEW magically presents the data. No matter what some well intended people would have you believe, that is not the case.

OK, so take for example this soil moisture probe. It outputs 0 to 3 volts and costs $30. So now we need a way to measure voltage and send the voltage data to a computer. Let's use USB. This thing here will do the job, and then some, for only $50, and is compatible with LabVIEW. My point is - LabVIEW is compatible with the device that ultimately hooks to the computer - the sensor is just a voltage output device.

I am not afiliated with nor do I endorse or receommend the two devices I have linked to, they were just the result of a 10 second google search.

[fauzan]

thank you sir..

actually, im new in this Labview software...

thats mean i can use any type of sensor is it??

[Broken_Arrow]

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@fauzan wrote:

thank you sir..

actually, im new in this Labview software...

thats mean i can use any type of sensor is it??

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That's right, any type of sensor, but you have to decide how you want to read the sensor. Let's assume you don't find one that just plugs directly to your computer. You need to answer these questions for yourself:

1. What type of output should the sensor have? -----> Pick Voltage Out (easy), Current Out (fairly easy), Wheatstone Bridge (harder without front-end conditioning).
2. How will I measure the sensor? ----> Pick a DAQ or Analog Input Module capable of reading the sensor's output type.. and see #3.
3. What type of interface to the computer should it have? ----> Pick the DAQ so that it connects to the computer the way you want. Do you have RS-232 available? Maybe not these days. USB is a good choice. A PCI slot might work. PCMCIA also. Or do you want a turn-key National Instruments solution that does front-end signal conditioning and everything for you, with supplied LabVIEW example programs? Sounds like you don't want to spend that kind of money.

good luck