Utilization of Soil Moisture Sensor as an Early Warning of Drought in Plants with Arduino Microcontroller

Abstract

Drought in plants is one of the common problems that often occurs, especially in potted plants that are indoors and completely dependent on manual watering by the owner. This research aims to design and implement a soil drought early warning system using a soil moisture sensor (FC-28) integrated with an Arduino UNO microcontroller. The system is designed to read the soil moisture level in real-time and provide visual notification through a 5 mm LED indicator. The method used includes designing an electronic circuit consisting of a moisture sensor, Arduino, LED, and other supporting components. The FC-28 sensor detects soil moisture and sends an analog signal to the Arduino for processing. If the moisture value is lower than a predetermined threshold, the Arduino will activate the LED as a sign that the soil is dry. Tests were conducted on three types of planting media (loose soil, clay, and husk mixture) in three different moisture conditions (wet, humid, and dry). The test results show that the system can detect drought conditions with consistent accuracy across different types of growing media. The system is effective as a simple monitoring solution that is easy to apply for household-scale plant monitoring. In addition, the system has the potential to be further developed towards watering automation and integration with the Internet of Things (IoT).