Controllingood power to moisture sensors

[rchamp]

Hi there,

I just recently built a battery powered moisture sensor with 2 of the sensors posted on the site.

Detection is quite accurate and I didn't need to tweak much. However, I noticed they draw quite a bit of power even with removing the leds.

Anyone have ideas how I can modify my code to leverage powering them using digital out pins vs vcc to turn them on after sleep and off before going to sleep? Currently 2 AA batteties will only last a week with the APM sleeping at 15 min intervals? I need to check to see if the APM can handle the current of each sensor. Haven't hooked up the multimeter to test draw quite yet but and looking for ideas.
Many thanks

[mfalkvidd]

@rchamp check out https://forum.mysensors.org/post/52232
I'm looking at 10 years battery life with 2xAA. My code is on github, but I haven't ported it to MySensors 1.5 yet.

[rchamp]

I'm in the 2.0 code. I'll have to play around some more and do some tests over the next few weeks. I like using the intermediary modules to generate a binary alert vs doing the analog reads. Seems faster to calibrate based on the moisture levels I need for different plants. However, the battery drain of those modules is crazy.

I'll do some current measements aND report back. If the consumption is too high for the pro mini digital out, I reckon I can use a mosfet to control power to the modules and power it on and wait a little before getting my reads. I think that will be the fastest solution and least path of resistance (no pun intended) :)