I have been messing around with this a lot. With a pretty bare esp32 no leds and taking a soil reading every 5 mins (and sent via wifi) I have got 1-2 weeks run

I have been messing around with this a lot. With a pretty bare esp32 no leds and taking a soil reading every 5 mins (and sent via wifi) I have got 1-2 weeks runtime on a 1000mah battery. Reducing wifi and read intervals greatly increases life. You then add in recharging and get much longer runtimes. Ive gotten away with as small as a 6v solar panel 3.5W to keep a box online for 6 months solid.