®
Soil Moisture Sensor
012-10538C
Setup
8
Removing the Probe
When removing the soil water potential probe from the soil, do not pull it out of
the soil by the cable! Doing so may break internal components and make the
probe unusable.
Handling and Care
For the probe to accurately measure water potential, the ceramic disks must
readily take up water. If the ceramic disks are exposed to oils or other
hydrophobic substances, then the ability of the disks to take up water can be
compromised. As much as possible, minimize the exposure of the ceramic
disks to skin oils, synthetic oils, or other hydrophopic compounds.
The probe consists of two engineered ceramic disks sandwiched between
stainless steel screens and the probe’s circuit board. The disks are brittle and
can chip or crack if mishandled. Sharp trauma such as dropping the probe onto
a hard surface can cause the ceramic to break. A cracked ceramic will cause a
loss of accuracy.
Setup
Hardware Setup
The following three steps can be performed in any order.
1. Connect the mini-DIN plug of the Soil Water Potential Probe cable to the
front end of the Soil Moisture Sensor box.
2. Connect the Soil Moisture Sensor to a PASPORT-compatible interface.
3. If you will be using a computer, connect the PASPORT interface to the
computer’s USB port.
Software Help
See the SPARKvue Help or PASCO Capstone Help for information about
collecting, displaying, and analyzing data.
•
In SPARKvue, select the HELP button (
) in any screen including the
Home Screen.
•
In PASCO Capstone, select PASCO Capstone Help from the Help menu,
or press F1.
Frozen Soil
Under frozen soil
conditions, the probe
cannot accurately measure
the water potential of soil.
However, the probe is
unaffected by repeated
freeze-thaw cycles, so the
probe can remain in the soil
year round.
The mini-DIN plug on the
Soil Water Potential Probe
cable fits into the sensor
box in only one way.
Calibration
The Soil Water Potential
Probe does not require any
calibration by the user.
