Sentek Drill & Drop Soil Moisture Probe

• 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.

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.

• 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 on your network
• • 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.

• 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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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). 

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).