soil moisture station is a bit weird today

Today we have a steady rain and the ground is no doubt saturated. however, I am noticing that the soil moisture probes at three different depths are going toward the dry range rather than the saturated. I am betting that the unit is bad. I haven’t been out there to open the unit up to see if moisture / water is in the case and causing a short. It is strange because all summer they were doing fine. The soil moisture probes are new, so that isn’t it and there is no way the soil can be dry.

I wrote Davis about the problem and I am waiting to see what they have to say. I did recently replace the battery in the unit, but it is also solar powered, so that isn’t it. My console claims 95% reception right now, so…

Has anyone had anything similar to this?

not exactly sure, why but the soil moisture is coming back to normal readings. I did wade out in the garden and gave a look at the transmitter and it looked dry , anyway it is supposed to rain again and that might give a clue if it happens again. I don’t want to give into the urge that I need a second transmitter…

saving pennies for a vantage vue console to put into the bedroom … (what else at my age can go on in there??)

Yes, I am observing the same thing, but only in automn/winter period (from october to march) - see for instance my data for november 2009:

I don’t know the cause. It may be related to the nature of the soil and/or the temperature correction.

Regards

I noticed if the rain is drizzle it doesn’t change upward, but if there is a good steady rain, then we get the climb and it settles back again.
I had been thinking of digging up the sensors and replanting them elsewhere, after all it is only 4 inches… however, it is too muddy out there for the job… so… I might have to wait until spring

JackT, I like your graph that shows soil moisture vs rainfall ( I had to lookup Pluie to verify :wink:). I think I’ll work on a similar plot.

It is interesting to watch the lag time or lack of from rain to soil moisture response depending on the antecedent conditions.