Description: This capacitive soil moisture sensor is distinguished from most resistive sensors on the market and uses capacitive sensing to detect soil moisture. The problem that the resistance sensor is easily corroded is avoided, and its working life is greatly extended. The sensor has a built-in voltage regulator chip that supports a 3.3-volt working environment, which means it works even on a 3.3V control board. A miniature PC such as the Raspberry Pi only needs an external ADC (analog to digital signal) conversion module to work. With an external screen and a motherboard, you can talk to your plants! See if it is thirsty and you don't need more water to moisten. Operating voltage: 3.3 VDC Output voltage: 0 ~ 3.0 VDC Interface: PH2.54-3P Size: 98 x 23mm (LxW) Package included: 3 x Capacitive Soil Moisture Sensor
It works fine. Note that input voltage MUST be in range 3.6 to 6.0V (maximum rating of used LDO regulator). Output analog voltage is from about 2.83V down to 1.73V, higher moisture = lower voltage. Output voltage of course depends on penetration depth, deeper = better sensitivity, so put it into the soil up to the line drawn on PCB. Design is simple, TLC555 generates square wave signal, which goes into the low pass filter compund by 10k resistor and "sensor capacitor" (created on PCB) - higher capacitance, better filtering, lower amplitude. This signal is than captured through diode at output capacitor (peak detector with slow discharge).
Current consumption at 5V is about 4mA.
If you want to use it at 3.3V, you can use it as is just note that LDO will be in dropout state so it will not filter the input power and output voltage will be lower than show in attached picture. Or, you can remove the LDO and short it's IN and OUT pads on PCB by wire.
I have drawn the schematic and made some measurements for different conditions: put on free air, in the dry and wet soil and in water (100% and 50% in it). See the attached picture for results.