LoRaWAN® Soil NPK, pH & EC Sensors

A probe buried in the root zone that reads one soil chemistry parameter and sends it over LoRaWAN® kilometres to a gateway on a battery or a small solar panel, with no cable and no SIM at the plot. Macnman makes three: the LSS X3 for electrical conductivity, the LSS X4 for pH and the LSS X1 for a nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium trend, all on the same node with threshold alerts and the Maya app.

Start from the decision the reading drives. Fertigation dosing and salinity management act on EC, so the LSS X3 is the first probe on most farms. Acid-loving crops, soilless media and liming decisions act on pH, so the LSS X4 goes into tea, coffee, berries, vines and polyhouse beds. A nutrient trend between lab samples is the LSS X1's job on trial plots. When moisture is also the question, the LSS X2; when all seven readings are, the LSS X5 7-in-1.

From the datasheets: the LSS X3 reads soil EC from 0 to 10,000 µS/cm at ±3 % of full scale with 10 µS/cm resolution and a response time under 10 seconds, on an IP68 probe. The LSS X4 reads pH 3–9 at ±0.3 pH with 0.01 resolution, a response time under 15 seconds and a stated long-term stability of 5 % a year or better. The LSS X1 reports nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium from 0 to 1,999 mg/kg each at ±2 % of full scale with 1 mg/kg resolution, on a probe rated 5–45 °C.

Not as a laboratory does. No probe of this class measures the ions directly; independent tests found the N, P and K outputs follow the soil's electrical response, and advise against setting fertiliser doses from them. Macnman's datasheets call the figures a trend estimation. Use the trend to see a dose arrive and decay and to time the next lab sample; set the dose from the lab.

The Maya app exposes calibration parameters, and the datasheet states no procedure for them. In practice an NPK probe of this class is scaled to a lab assay per soil and per season, and even then it tracks the soil's electrical response rather than the individual ions. Use the lab assay to interpret the trend and set the dose; use the probe to see the dose arrive and decay and to time the next assay.

The LSS X5 7-in-1 reads moisture, temperature, EC, pH, N, P and K from one probe. The single-parameter probes on this page each read one of EC, pH or the NPK trend, with the same chemistry figures, for sites that need one parameter at many points, or that are adding EC or pH to an existing moisture network. Both share the node, the radio, the app and the gateway.

Bulk EC: the conductivity of soil, pore water and air together at the electrodes, which rises with moisture and salts. Fertigation recipes quote pore-water EC, which is derived from bulk EC and moisture by a model, and the Soil Health Card reports a laboratory EC on a 1:5 soil:water suspension. The three numbers differ, so use the X3 for the trend and the alerts and the lab for the absolute figure; compare them once at commissioning and keep the offset.

The LSS X3 datasheet does not state whether the reading is referenced to 25 °C, and this page does not claim it. Soil temperature changes EC by a few per cent per degree, so compare like with like: read the trend at the same time of day, or pair the X3 with the LSS X2's soil temperature on the same gateway and correct on the platform.

Yes, both from the EC probe. A dose that arrives shows as a short rise in EC at the root zone that decays as it is taken up; a block that never rises missed its dose. Salt building shows as a baseline that climbs after each irrigation and never fully recovers; the high limit flags it while a leaching flush still fixes it, and the probe confirms the flush worked.

The LSS X4 datasheet publishes the electrode's accuracy and a long-term stability of 5 % a year or better, and lists calibration parameters among the settings in the Maya app; it does not publish a calibration interval, a replacement interval or a certificate, and this page does not claim one. The practical check is a lab sample beside the probe each season; where a tender requires a traceable certificate, ask before quoting.

Because it is a soil-range electrode: agricultural soils and growing media sit between about pH 4 and 9, and the electrode and its stated accuracy cover that band. Sensors that quote 0–14 are usually water pH transmitters adapted to soil. For a process tank, a drain or an aquaculture pond, ask about water pH probes on the MacSync RS485 converter instead.

A pH electrode needs moist contact with the soil to read; in dry or cracked soil the reading drifts or stalls. The X4 datasheet states a 5–95 % humidity range for the probe and no moisture threshold; other makers of in-soil pH heads quote a response only above about 30 % soil moisture. Bury the electrode in the irrigated root zone, water in at installation and read the trend around irrigation events.

Into the active root zone: typically 15–30 cm for field crops and vegetables, deeper for orchards and vines, and into the bed itself for cocopeat and soilless media. Insert the electrodes fully into moist soil with no air gap, or open a slot and press the soil back; let the site settle for a day before trusting the figures. The NPK probe is rated 5–45 °C, another reason to keep it below the surface in summer.

The datasheets list cocopeat and greenhouse media among the soils the probes are suited to. In media the pH drifts fast and locks nutrients out within days, so the usual setting is a report every 15 minutes with tight limits. A polyhouse with a metal frame is served by an indoor gateway or by mounting the node outside the frame on the IP68 cable extender.

The datasheets describe both as soil probes for burial, and this page does not claim a water rating for them. For fertigation tanks, drain water or a pond, ask us about water pH and EC probes on the MacSync LX1 RS485 converter, which puts an industrial water probe on the same LoRaWAN network.

The 19 Ah battery variants are rated about 2 years at 5-minute reports, 4 years at 15-minute reports and 7 or more years at hourly reports (datasheet estimates). The solar variants pair a 20 W panel with an 8,000 mAh rechargeable battery for plots that report every few minutes. Battery level is sent in every uplink.

The soil sensor datasheets list battery and solar variants for LoRaWAN, MacTalk and BLE, and no mains DC variant. A power adapter is an optional accessory; tell us the site and we confirm what applies.

Through a controller on the same network, yes. A MacSet LX1 opens the valve or starts the pump on the rule your platform sends it, and the MacTalk variants talk device to device to a MacSet with no gateway on site, so an EC limit can start a leaching flush on a farm with no network at all.

Kilometres, depending on terrain, canopy and antenna height. The node transmits at 23 dBm with −137 dBm sensitivity on LoRaWAN®; a MacLink Gen-2 gateway on a farmhouse, a pump house or a water tank typically covers a plantation or a research campus. The coverage calculator gives a first estimate and the Maya app's Ping test confirms each plot.

One per management unit: each fertigation block, each polyhouse bed group, each section of an estate, each treatment plot in a trial. A probe per block beats one probe per farm for finding the block that is building salt or drifting in pH. A pilot of three or four probes on the blocks that behave worst settles the count.

Yes. The probes join any LoRaWAN® v1.0.4 network server — ChirpStack, The Things Network, Orbiwise, Netmore, MQTT platforms or a private LNS — by OTAA with pre-loaded keys, and the readings reach your farm platform, the university's server or a dashboard over MQTT or HTTPS. There is no mandatory Macnman cloud and no subscription.

IN865 for India, plus RU864, EU868, US915, AU915, KR920 and AS923, set when ordering. LoRaWAN in India uses the delicensed 865–867 MHz band, so a farm, an estate or a university runs its own gateway without a spectrum licence; the devices are WPC compliant and RoHS conforming.

The node is IP65 with an IP67 option and rated from −40 to +80 °C; the EC probe is rated IP68 for burial. Mount the node above flood level on a pole and keep the probe at root depth, where the soil stays within the probes' ratings (−20 to +60 °C for EC and pH, 5–45 °C for the NPK probe).

The reading, event flags on threshold crossings and the battery level, in an AES-128 encrypted LoRaWAN® uplink, periodic or on an event. Decoding is documented with the product; tell us your network server and we send the decoder for it.

The data is yours. The sensor sends to your own network server and from there to the platform you choose, over MQTT or HTTPS. Macnman supplies the hardware, the documentation and the decoder, not a mandatory cloud.

Open a slot at root depth, insert the probe fully into moist soil and press the soil back; mount the node on a pole above the bed with the supplied clip and screws; the solar variant's panel faces the sun clear of the canopy. Pair over Bluetooth with the Maya app to set the intervals, the limits and the LoRaWAN class, check the calibration parameters, read the live value, run a Ping to confirm the gateway, and the device joins by OTAA. No trench, no laptop.

The MacSync LSS node with its probe, a mounting clip, mounting screws, the user manual and the warranty card. The IP68 cable extender and a power adapter are optional accessories ordered separately.

Yes. The MacSync LSS X1, X3 and X4 are designed and manufactured in Pune, Maharashtra. They are WPC compliant for the IN865 band and conform to RoHS; the datasheets state both. No calibration certificate is claimed.

Yes. The LSS X1, X3 and X4 share the node, the radio and the decoder with the LSS X2 moisture probe and the LSS X5 7-in-1, so a farm runs EC on the fertigation blocks, pH in the polyhouse, an NPK trend on the trial plots and moisture everywhere, all on one MacLink gateway and one dashboard, beside the weather station and the rain sensor.

Yes, and it is a natural fit: the Soil Health Card reports pH, EC and N, P, K among its twelve parameters from a lab test, and the LSS X4, X3 and X1 follow those three between cards on a demonstration plot. The probes join the institution's own LoRaWAN gateway and network server, the data stays with the institution, and Macnman sends the decoder. No conformity with or endorsement by the Soil Health Card scheme is claimed.

Four lines, and the probe is only one: the number of management units, which sets the probe count; battery or solar at each; the gateway, usually one per farm plus one for a far corner or a polyhouse; and the integration into the platform you run. To quote, send the list of plots with the question at each (nutrient trend, pH or salinity), the soil or media and the crop, the reporting interval you want, whether a LoRaWAN gateway and network server already exist, whether a controller must act on the reading, and the platform the data should reach. With that we confirm the probes, the variants, the count and the gateway position.

Yes, and it is the recommended way in: three or four probes on the blocks that behave worst, one gateway, your own network server, through one season, with a lab sample beside each probe at the start and the end. The pilot kit on this site is that set; the rest of the plots join the same gateway afterwards.