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The original was posted on /r/homeassistant by /u/EngineerBoy00 on 2026-06-07 18:32:27+00:00.
I'm automating the watering of two very large pots I have flanking my front door. My plan was to use soil moisture sensors from ThirdReality to trigger the watering.
I got two of the ThirdReality Smart Soil Moisture Sensor Gen2 units and put one in each pot. I fully watered the pots and both sensors showed moisture readings briefly peaking up near 100%, then settling down to the 75%-85% range after a few hours of draining, which was expected.
However, from that point forward both sensors essentially did a daily oscillation between 75%-85% but never decreased overall, for literal weeks. I have a commercial handheld soil moisture sensor which I could insert right near them and it gave expected readings.
If I slid the pots around to clean behind them then the ThirdReality sensors would suddenly jump to correct levels. Similarly, if I removed and reinserted the sensors they would register correctly. I thought maybe the soil was loose/uncompacted and had air gaps so I ensured it was compacted, but this did not change the behavior.
Note that when I watered the sensors would register the increase in moisture without issue, the problem was after the watering they would never decrease below the 75%-85% range unless I jiggled or reseated them.
I opened a case with ThirdReality support and the bottom line was they said it was a connectivity issue due to the LQIs of the devices being between 85 and 150. I was able to export the readings from HA and show dozens of readings per hour with micro-variations in moisture levels, to me clearly proving that connectivity wasn't the issue, but ThirdReality support stuck to their guns.
Finally, I moved the sensors and hub closer together to get LQIs above 150 consistently, but the issue remained the same. At that point I was done with these sensors and ThirdReality support and switched to a different vendor (Ecowitt) whose sensors have been functioning perfectely, inserted just a few centimeters away from the ThirdReality sensors.
Note that I've happily used other ThirdReality products, such as their zigbee wall plugs, without issue. However, given the fact that two separate moisture sensors exhibited the same issue AND ThirdReality support continually gaslit me regarding connectivity I cannot recommend these moisture sensors.
That being said I'd be very curious to hear from anyone else who has used these sensors and NOT had this issue.