soil_moisture_wemos

soil_moisture_wemos.ino

This main file for the code uses the Deep Sleep mode to minimize power consumption. The original version ran on an Arduino UNO, now runs on an ESP8266 style processor, the ESP8285 specifically (Wemos D1 Mini Lite).

The code allows for over-the-air updating. You need to signal the ESP8266 device to stay awake (using the awake command described below) rather than sleeping so you will have enough time to update it. You can command it to go back to the normal transmit-then-sleep cycle after you have updated the code.

secrets_example.h

Set up your secrets.h file like this. The MYADDR field is the last octet of the IP address. I use a 192.168.2.x network.

Connect the Adafruit SeeSaw soil moisture sensor as described in:

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-stemma-soil-sensor-i2c-capacitive-moisture-sensor

The sensor draws 5 mA in normal operation. You can connect the +V pin to D6 on the ESP8266 and the program will turn the sensor on when starting, then turn the sensor off when going to sleep. So instead of 5 mA, the whole setup draws about 0.1 mA when asleep.

In the HA developer tool "Services", using the mqtt.publish service use this example to set the desired mode along with the retain flag for this topic. This way the ESP8266 will get the message when itconnects after being asleep.

{"topic": "sm1/modereq","payload":"awake","retain":true}

-or-

{"topic": "sm1/modereq","payload":"sleep","retain":true}

and switch between going to sleep after a report, or staying awake indefinitely.

See services.png for a different view.

A helpful webpage from randomnerdtutorials:

https://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp8266-deep-sleep-with-arduino-ide/

another good reference:

https://thingpulse.com/max-deep-sleep-for-esp8266/