e-Jurnal Electrical Electronic Innovation & Project Design Exposition 2023

(7th EEIPDEx 2023)

June 2023, Politeknik Sultan Idris Shah, Malaysia

AUTOMATIC WATERING SYSTEM USING

RAIN SENSOR AND ARDUINO
Theeneshraj A/L Saravanan & Siti Harliza Binti Mohammad Razali
Department of Electrical Engineering
Politeknik Sultan Idris Shah
Selangor
theeneshrajtsm1991@gmail.com

Abstract— This project is made for gardeners to water the
plants without turning the water tap manually. It is also
implemented as an energy and time saver because the gardener
usually forgets to turn off the water tap and it’s difficult to turn it
off when it’s raining outside which will cause the water supplied to
the plants is more than needed. The system was developed by using
Arduino Nano as a main microcontroller that can control and give
instructions to the solenoid valve (automatic water tap).
module to make setting the time more easy, high-cost
implementation and reliability.
My project Automatic watering system using rain sensor
and arduino was using Arduino UNO as a microcontroller
which is it can be as a microcontroller and also can transfer
the data from the sensor and create an output by processing
the data from the rain sensor module.

Keywords—Arduino UNO, Watering system, rain detector B. Main function of project

My first research project which is using moisture sensor.
I. INTRODUCTION The function of Arduino AT Mega238 in this project is to
Nowadays, many gardens are using advanced technology control moisture sensor that will be used to gain all the data
for watering and fertilizing. This project is designed and from sample water into its own memory before transferring it
engineered to reduce user’s time and energy in watering to pc.
plants. The concept used in this project is to automatically Next project is Automatic watering system with three
open the water pipe at a specific time. The user can set the sprinklers. This project based on watering system with three
time according to his/her favour. The system also reacts to sprinklers and clock module for time setting. The clock
rain where it won’t water the plants when it rains. This is module is also another main component in the project.
because it has a sensor that can detect rain. The water
detector can sense rainfall and delay the watering time This project is made for any kinds of gardens and any
automatically, if not it will water the plants according to the types of watering systems to make the watering work easier
time setting. The user can set the watering time depending on and time efficient. So, with this product the probability of
the plants. The user can also set the time delay whenever wasting time and energy can be reduced. If it’s raining at the
rainfall is detected. This system is portable, where it can be garden, the sensor automatically detects the rain water and
used at any place and anytime. Moreover, it can be turned on delays the watering time according the time setting. This way
or off by the user. This project uses rain water sensor, DC the plants won’t be over poured with water.
12V relay control module, and electric solenoid valve. If the
sensors detects the rain, it will delays the watering time and if
its already watering, it will stop on time.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Selection of sensor
Based on the previous research, there were two types of
projects that similar to my project but using different sensors.
My first research is Automatic watering system by moisture
censoring. This project was carbon arc gouging rods and
IRF640 MOSFET. This project needs DC Power Supply in
order to activate it and monitor the sample water in real-time.
Next project is Automatic watering system with three
sprinklers. This project was using DS3231 Real time clock

EEIPDEX 2023 Electrical Engineering Department, PSIS

 III. METHODS  Arduino IDE. This software is the most important
In order to make this project working perfectly, the block thing in this project. From this software program can
diagram had been made as a plan before proceed the project. be created based on embedded c language then, it
can be transferred into ESP32 board.
 Proteust. This software was used to plan the
schematic circuit before connected it into the real
circuit.
 AutoCAD. This software was performed to create
hardware casing for Water Quality Monitoring
System machine before make it reality.
Figure 1: Block Diagram
D. Flowchart System
Based on this block diagram, it contains rain water sensor.
The main controller is Arduino UNO include the input power
is 12V power adapter and the output is electric solenoid
valve which works when the Arduino sends signal.

A. Schematic Circuit

Figure 3: Flow Chart operation system

Figure 2: Schematic circuit The flowchart shows that the operation of the system. The
first operation of the system is switch on the devices. Firstly,
rain sensor will detect the rainwater to make sure whether
Based on the diagram below, it shows the circuit that will it’s raining or not. Then the Arduino will delay the watering
be used to connect between all the sensor, and battery as the time by stopping the solenoid valve.
power input into Arduino UNO main board in order to make
Automatic Watering System functioning well.
E. Prototype Development
B. Circuit Operation
 There is basically two parts included, the first one is The development of small scale of automatic watering
hardware & second one is software. The hardware system which is in my house where the main idea of this
part has sensors which help to measure the real time project is to water the plants according to its needs and not
values, another one is the sensors module itself water it when it rains otside.
converts the analogy values to digital one, Arduino
UNO Flash Memory gives the connection between
hardware and software.
 In software we developed a program based on
embedded c language.

C. Project Softwares F. Mechanical Design

There have 3 types software that had been used to make
this project working well.
Rainwater sensor will be put on the side of the PVC Box
based on the sketch below. The menu button will put at the
front of pvc box for the user to set the time. Then from
Identify applicable funding agency here. If none, delete this text box.
Arduino UNO it will give power to the solenoid valve and A. Installment of Components
give command to solenoid valve based on the time setting
set by the user. From sensor, it will transfer the value to
Arduino UNO and then it will off the solenoid valve.

Figure 4: Back view prototype of Automatic Watering

System
Figure 5: Installation of components

There are two power adapters at the side of the device. One This diagram shows all the main board Arduino UNO is
is for the Arduino UNO and another one is for solenoid connected with rain sensor including the solenoid input and
valve. output into one pvc box.

G. Sustainability Element in The Design Concept B. Casing Installation

This product more efficient, friendly, and reliable

because it is light and can be portable from other device
which it can be used for any type of garden. It is easy to
install and uninstall.

IV. RESULTS AND FINDINGS

This chapter will be showing the finding of the hardware

project and also the result after experiment using this
product.

Figure 6: Casing Installation

The function of the casing is to protect the device from

external hazard, and it is a protective for the relay and
Arduino UNO in order to make sure that the components
inside not to be broken. The casing is made up by using the
PVC box with 8 x 16 cm as a casing to protect the
microcontroller.

C. Result
 [1] Poyen Phd, Faruk & Bhattacharya, Kaustav & Ghosh,
Apurba & Bandyopadhyay, Prof. (2014). Irrigation – An
Automated Design Proposal. 10.15242/IIE.E1214037.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292629263_Irrigati
on_-_An_Automated_Design_Proposal

[2] Project Arduino4u.com

http://www.arduino4u.com/2016/04/4.html

[3] Arduino Project Hub

https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub

[4] “Automated Watering System for Plants | Arduino

DIY Projects | Step by Step Guide” YouTube, uploaded by
Creative Life with Jarvis, 25 September 2021,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFPEO_c_hTg&t=17s

[5] M Mediawan et al 2018 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci.

Figure 7: Table for output using three slots for time setting. Eng. 434 012220.
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/434/1/0
12220/pdf
V. CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, we can conclude that humans sometimes
can be forgetful. They need to always be reminded so that
something which is important will not be forgotten. By
proposing an Automatic watering system project, this
system will help users to water the plants at correct time and
efficiently. The assembly of rainwater sensor in the system
will help users to be less worried about the rain. This is
because the system will delay the watering time if the sensor
detects the rain. Automatic watering system will function
with good time setting in the Arduino Nano and then it will
on and off the solenoid valve according to the time setting.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
High appreciation goes to my supervisor, Puan Siti
Harliza Binti. Mohammad Razali, laboratory lecturers and
also my family and friends for all encouragements, guidance
and supports that helped us a lot in completing and finishing
this final year project throughout this semester.

REFERENCES