The latest version of ConnectedCrops provides the ability to change sensors throughout the year and use them in different locations.  This is useful when you want to measure temperature inversions in the winter, and monitor temperature differences inside/outside a canopy in the spring; however, this causes problems when comparing data across multiple seasons.  Luckily, the ConnectedCrops Archive/Restore feature helps you manage and organize your data.

Scenarios when you need to carefully manage your data

You need to carefully manage your datasets when you are:

• Swapping Sensors: You can use a temperature sensor in winter and soil moisture sensor in the summer.
• Changing what you’re measuring: You can change a temperature sensor from measuring soil temperature to air temperature or water temperature.
• Installing sensors in new locations: You can use the sensors at different sites to compare how water or temperature differs in different fields, different parts of the same field, or at different depths or heights.

When changing the sensors on a station, you have to configure the mobile app to make sure you receive the data correctly and manage the pre-existing sensor data. The mobile app has a Configure station feature that allows a user to change the sensor name, type, and port. Whenever you make a change, the app will prompt the user to control how the existing data and new data will be managed. You will have the option to (a) append new data to the current data, (b) archive the previous data separately (i.e., the existing data and new data will be stored separately), or (c) delete the previous data.

ConnectedCrops Mobile App Steps:

1. Login using the latest CCMobile app.
2. Navigate to Settings > Configure Station> and choose the station you’re changing
3. Select Sensors Setup>.
4. Select Port A or Port B (or 1, 2, 3, or 4 for a 4 port station) based on the sensor you are changing.
5. Select the Sensor Type, and enter a useful name based on the field location or height of the sensor.
6. Click Save.
7. The app will prompt you to archive the data from the sensor before this change is made.

Please Note: Once you archive the previous data, you can view it using the “Email Excel Report”. You can get to the Excel report by navigating to Home> click on the menu icon (…) next to the station name, then select “Email Excel Report”>.

Pro-tip: If using the same soil moisture sensor in different irrigation areas in the same field (e.g. Field 1 – North, Field 1 – West, etc.) or in different fields (e.g., ‘North field’, ‘West field’, etc.) this feature will help to keep this data separate. If you later move the station back to a previously used location, you will be given the option, through the CCMobile App, to restore the previously archived data for this location. For example, if you have previously archived data from the ‘West field’, and you’ve now moved the station back to the ‘West field’ from somewhere else, the app will ask you if you would like to restore the ‘West field archive’, which means all new data will be appended to this archived data.

If you ever have any questions, please reach out to us.