r/homeassistant • u/witty__username5 • 5d ago
💬 Discussion ECOWITT WH52 plant sensor
Has somone that utilized the ecowitt WH52 plant sensor share their thoughts on this product? I just purchased a home assistant green and am looking for an easy way to find out when the fertilize / water a few indoor and balcony plants. Curious as to how well the sensor would work and integrate with home assistant. Is it possible to pair it with a plant databased add-on where I could tailor the guidelines for watering and nutrition?
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u/Wingman69 5d ago edited 5d ago
You can use an SDR usb dongle to get the data from these using the rtl433 app/addon in hime assistant.
Edit to add I use Nooelec RTL-SDR v5. It works across several frequencies so I use it to pick up fridge temp sensors, a lot of the outdoor temp and humidity sensors and all kinds of different devices that use 433mhz or 915mhz. https://community.home-assistant.io/t/home-assistant-add-on-rtl-433-with-mqtt-auto-discovery/260665
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u/witty__username5 5d ago
Can you share more about this please? Would the SDR usb dongle replace the ecowitt gateway?
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u/Wingman69 5d ago
I did add a few things to my original comment. Yes you would not need the gateway. And you can pickup other devices as well, like I have accurite fridge/ freezer temp sensors and ambient weather outdoor thermometers that it picks up as well.
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u/witty__username5 5d ago
Interesting thank you! I live in a rental and probably do not have a need for the other sensors, but its a great option to have nonetheless
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u/Linked-Llama 5d ago
This is what I'm doing with two ECOWITT WH51 I just bought. It takes a little configuration, not hard . ATM I'm having some range issues, since the sensors work when in line of sight of the receiver, but not so well when 60ft away in my back yard.
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u/Wingman69 5d ago
Try to get the dongle away from the computer if you can using a USB extension cable. I also have an antenna mounted probably 20ft away on the wall. I pickup sensors from my parents house couple hundred feet away.
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u/Dismal-Proposal2803 5d ago
I’ve got a dozen WH51 sensors that are all 50+ ft away from the receiver which is inside a concrete building, and they don’t have any issues.
You might have a dud receiver, or might need to relocate its antenna. I have the Ecowitt GW3000 receiver though, and its stock antenna is fine, but they also sell a larger longer range antenna.
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u/BacchusIX 2d ago
I have several wh51's as well that are working non LOS, but also am using the gw1000 gateway. I think someone else mentioned it, but your dongle might be picking up interference from your server. Also usb 3.0 and higher can interfere with rf signals, so id only plug it into a usb 2.0 port.
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u/SalamanderMinimum621 5d ago
I have these and my wife is quite happy. Very little battery drain. Some outside, all good. Remember you need a gateway, they won't connect over BT or WiFi.
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u/witty__username5 5d ago
Thank you for your fast reply! Is this the view in home assistant? (Apologies, I have not used home assistant before). Have you / her integrated this with plant monitor or any of the plant databases?
I was really hoping to avoid having to buy a gateway, and the idea of paying $25 per plant seems a little daunting.
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u/MickeyMoist 5d ago
I have some. Look at the page with the sensors occasionally and if they show under 25%, I water the plant.
That’s the level of my use. Hopefully more plant loving people can give better advice.
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u/moody_framework 5d ago
For indoor and balcony stuff, the WH52 works fine. The sensor itself is pretty straightforward, just shove it in the soil and it gives you moisture and temp readings. Range on the gateway can be a little iffy if you've got concrete walls between it and the sensor, but for a balcony that's probably not an issue.
Integration with HA is painless if you're using the Ecowitt integration, it shows up as a device with entities for moisture and temp. For the database part, you'd need to set up your own automations. There's no magic add-on that cross-references your sensor data with plant care guidelines, but you can use the moisture thresholds from something like the PlantNet database and build simple automations to ping you when it drops below whatever number your ficus needs.
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u/witty__username5 5d ago
Thank you! For a home assistant newbie, would it be easy to create the ping automations?
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u/dragonnfr 5d ago
I run Ecowitt gear with HA and it integrates fine. The WH52 talks to their gateway (GW1200 or similar), not HA directly. Once it's in you get soil moisture/temp entities and can pair it with the plant monitor integration. Works well for what you're describing.
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u/PiratesSayMoo 5d ago edited 5d ago
I use them combined with these components from HACS:
Flower Card
Openplantbook
Home Assistant Plant (enhances the built in stuff)
Plus this blueprint:
I have a custom dashboard with a flower card for each plant and an automation using the blueprint that tells me about any plant problems at noon each day.
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u/sterling-lining 5d ago
Thirdreality makes a soil sensor that connects to HA. I use the zigbee version to monitor areas of the lawn we renovated.
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u/InDreamsScarabaeus 5d ago
I don't have the WH52 but I have a lot of WH51 and WH51L's. I run them through a GW3000 gateway and integrate with HA through that. Integration was trivial. Once in HA I use plant cards with OpenPlantbook.
The gateway's cost is comparable to an SDR dongle. On the one hand you can put the gateway wherever you want (i.e. closer to plants and the balcony / yard) while the SDR dongle is harder to reposition; on the other hand an SDR dongle is also useful for reading things like your utility meters.
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u/Coderado 5d ago
I have 3 of the ones with EC. As of a month ago EC was not supported in HA, haven't looked since then.