{"id":1617,"date":"2011-05-09T18:12:28","date_gmt":"2011-05-10T01:12:28","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-04-30T09:24:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T16:24:01","slug":"1617","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/1617","title":{"rendered":"Soil Moisture Sensor Troubleshooting and FAQs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"\/product\/soil-moisture-sensor\/\">Soil Moisture Sensor<\/a> (<nobr>SMS-BTA<\/nobr>)<\/h3>\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"\/manuals\/SMS-BTA\">Specifications and User Guide<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/product.sms-bta._hero.001-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Troubleshooting<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Primary Test:<\/strong> In air, the Soil Moisture Sensor should read somewhere between -5% and -50%. Grab the sensing portion with your hand, and the reading should go up to somewhere between 10% and 50%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Additional Troubleshooting<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"\/til\/4432\/\">Which Vernier sensors are submersible in water?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Specifications<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Range: 0 to 45% volumetric water content in soil <br \/>(capable of 0 to 100% VWC with alternate calibration)<\/li>\n<li>Accuracy: \u00b14% typical<\/li>\n<li>Typical Resolution: 0.1%<\/li>\n<li>Power: 3 mA @ 5VDC<\/li>\n<li>Operating temperature: \u201340\u00b0C to +60\u00b0C<\/li>\n<li>Dimensions: 8.9 cm \u00d7 1.8 cm \u00d7 0.7 cm (active sensor length 5 cm)<\/li>\n<li>Default calibration coefficients: Slope = 108%\/V; Y-intercept = \u201342%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Calibration<\/h3>\n<p>Calibrate? Usually, no. Possible exceptions: you are testing soil with high concentrations of salt, sand, or organic matter; very precise readings are required. See detailed calibration instruction in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/manuals\/SMS-BTA\">user manual<\/a>. For additional information on sensor calibration, see <a href=\"\/til\/4011\/\">How do I calibrate my sensor?<\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related Products<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"\/product\/go-direct-soil-moisture-sensor\/\">Go Direct<sup>&reg;<\/sup> Soil Moisture Sensor<\/a> (<nobr>GDX-SM<\/nobr>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Specifications and User Guide Troubleshooting Additional Troubleshooting Specifications Calibration Calibrate? Usually, no. Possible exceptions: you are testing soil with high concentrations of salt, sand, or&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[720,2348,2350,2349],"class_list":["post-1617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-maintil","tag-sms-bta","tag-smsmain","tag-soil-moisture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}