Knowledge Base
General
Customer Service & Support Department:
Phone: (888) 832-CROP (2767)
Email: support@cropx.com
Sales Department:
Phone: (888) 832-CROP (2767)
Email: sales@cropx.com
Raw data is collected by the Sensors and transmitted to the CropX cloud, where it’s analyzed by our software and made available via our mobile application and website.
You can easily sign up through our website (click here) or via our mobile application, which can be downloaded by clicking the icons below.
During the on boarding process, you will be asked to map your field(s) and CropX will provide you with a recommendation on the number of sensors needed and where to place them.
Your annual subscription is not automatically renewed each year, it must be renewed. You can renew your subscription by clicking here or by contacting our office at (888) 832-CROP or support@cropx.com.
The number of sensors needed is dependent on the number of acres in your crop, the types of crops you’re growing, the topography of your fields and the soil type and texture. After you’ve registered with CropX and mapped your field(s), we’ll recommend the number of Sensors you’ll need and the exact location of where to place them. Generally speaking, we recommend 1 sensor per 40 acres, but the grower can certainly decide to increase or decrease the number of sensors in use.
Signal strength can potentially be affected once plants grow above a certain point, particularly for taller crops (i.e. corn). Plants are roughly 80% water and cellular signals do not transmit well through water. As a result, as the crops grow taller, the cellular signal may weaken. Depending on the cellular signal strength in your area, we may recommend adding an antenna extension.
Generally the battery lasts one season, about 8 months to one year. It depends on the reception in the area, a lower reception will lead the sensor battery running out faster.
The sensor uses a cellular network to transmit (3G or 4G). It comes pre-equipped with a SIM and no adjustments are necessary.
Using CropX
Our application is accessible via your smartphone, computer or tablet.
You can log into your account via our website by clicking here.
You can also download our FREE mobile application from the Google Play or Apple Store by clicking on the icons below.
It’s not currently possible to edit field boundaries. If you’d like, we can delete the field for you and you can re-draw it, just make sure there’s no active sensor in the field.
*NOTE: If a field is deleted, all the associated data is deleted permanently and cannot be accessed.
It’s not possible to delete a field, but we can do it for you. Just let us the username and field name, and make sure there’s no active sensor in the field.
*NOTE: If a field is deleted, all the associated data is deleted permanently and cannot be accessed.
Enter the field and click the soil zone, click the 3 dots at the top for the field options, and edit the data.
Setup
You can easily sign up through our website (click here) or via our mobile application, which can be downloaded by clicking the icons below.
During the on boarding process, you will be asked to map your field(s) and CropX will provide you with a recommendation on the number of sensors needed and where to place them.
CropX Sensor installation is completely do-it-yourself and can be completed in minutes. Your Sensor(s) will be shipped along with an installation kit, which includes a step-by-step installation guide along with the necessary equipment you’ll need. You’ll need to have access to a drill and a 1/2 gallon of water.
Each sensor can be installed in under 5 minutes. Third-party installation is not required; the Sensor is designed to for do-it-yourself installation.
Download our Installation Guide by clicking here.
Deactivating and uninstalling a Sensor is a simple process that requires the use of the CropX app and the installation kit you received along with your Sensor.
Using your mobile app, navigate to the Farm/Field in which the Sensor is located. Ensuring you’ve selected the correct Sensor to uninstall, press the ‘Options’ button in the top right corner (3 white dots). From here, you’ll click on ‘Activate / Deactivate Sensor’ and on the next screen, you’ll click the ON button next to the Sensor’s name to deactivate it (ON = activated and OFF = deactivated). A pop-up window will ask you for confirmation to uninstall your Sensor and by clicking ‘Yes, deactivate,’ your your Sensor will be deactivated.
Once you’ve deactivated your Sensor using the app, you can now remove the Sensor from the ground, using your installation kit. The soil must be wet to uninstall the Sensor, so we recommend that you remove it after irrigation or rain, otherwise, pour water in the area surrounding the Sensor the day before you plan to uninstall it. Using the T-handle driver, extension tube, Sensor head adaptor socket tool (socket tool) and a shovel, please follow these instructions:
- Remove the antenna.
- Mount the socket tool to the grooves on the top of the Sensor head.
- Connect the extension tube to the socket tool.
- Connect the T-handle driver to the extension tool.
- Turn the T-handle driver counterclockwise to loosen the Sensor from the ground, as shown in the photo below.
- If you feel strong resistance from the Sensor, use the shovel to dig around it and pour more water in the area to loosen the soil.
Once your Sensor is removed from the ground, remove any excess dirt from the Sensor, fully charge the battery and store the Sensor and it’s components in a safe location for next season.
Payment
The only costs associated with the CropX Sensor are as follows:
- The cost of the Sensor(s)
- The annual subscription fee (per Sensor)
For pricing information you can contact our sales team.
Your annual subscription is not automatically renewed each year, it must be renewed. You can renew your subscription by clicking here or by contacting our office at (888) 832-CROP or support@cropx.com.
Preferential flow & the effect of soil sensors’ geometry
True soil sensing means accurately measuring natural water flow through soil. However, Installation of all commercial soil sensors has been scientifically proven in many published papers to disturb the natural soil structure and affect water flow. In 1997 Rothe et al. published a paper in the leading soil science journal, suggesting that water content measurement is “highly sensitive to installation effects”.
Tube-shaped sensors (e.g. Sentek, Aquaspy or traditional tensiometers), are inserted into a drilled hole directly or with a lubricating slurry of mixed soil. The geometry of the hole and tube allows water to flow along the shaft of these sensor rapidly; quicker than it would take for it to reach the same depth through undisturbed soil.
Fork-shaped sensors (e.g. Decagon and Acclima) require digging a pit, inserting the sensors horizontally in the side walls and filling back the pit with soil. The disturbed soil changes its hydraulic properties and causes preferential flow pathways to form near the sensors.
Therefore, in most cases, the sensors’ readings will not accurately represent the actual soil moisture that is available to the plants in the soil, but will rather report a biased soil moisture value depending on the magnitude and nature of the disturbance.
The biased readings may lead to ill-advised irrigation decisions, typically resulting in under-irrigated fields and loss of yield.
When integrating such inaccurate data into big-data systems, the output would be completely off, and meaningless.
To solve this problem, CropX have developed a revolutionary soil sensor with a patented spiral geometry that allows a fast and easy installation, unprecedented accuracy and unbiased results due to the prevention of water flow around the sensor.
CropX conducted a study showing that probe geometry may significantly affect the accuracy of the soil moisture sensors. Probes with a geometry that that minimally disturb soil structure, such as the spiral design of CropX probes, are found to be superior to other commercially available probes and provide more accurate readings that closely represent the moisture content of the soil.
To view & download the study, visit pref flow whitepaper
Adding soil data
Soil data can be added or edited through the web app only.
To learn how to do that click here
Get your irrigation prescriptions
You can get your irrigation prescriptions by following the Irrigation prescription process
Reading the graphs
Learn more about using CropX data here
How to draw a field
Fields can be drawn on both the web and mobile app. Learn more about drawing a field here
Read VWC data
Learn more about Volumetric Water Content (VWC) here
Getting Started Guide
Let’s get started. follow our guidelines here
How to install the CropX sensor
How to change sensor’s antenna?
The sensor is not coming out of calibration, what should I do?
- Run a sensor diagnostic. The sensor may not be transmitting.
- Contact support – we’ll help identify the cause.
The sensor has stopped transmitting, what can I do?
In cases that the sensor stops transmitting, the culprits are usually the battery or the antenna.
Can you please follow the troubleshooting steps:
- Confirm that the battery has a charge – was the battery low before it stopped? You can also ask us to check the last known battery level.
- The sensor can also be uninstalled from the field and plugged in. If the light is not green, it’s charging.
- Confirm that the antenna isn’t damaged
- Check that the antenna is raised as high as possible
- Make sure the connection between the extension cable and the antenna is tight
- Make sure the connection between the sensor and the antenna cable is tight:
- Disconnect the antenna and then re-attach it
- You can watch this video to see how to do this: https://youtu.be/OJsysx9Irrw
- Make sure that the o-ring is on the antenna base