The water cooler problem

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We have a water cooler at the office, which needs regular refilling. The tank is covered by a jacket, so you can’t see how empty it is.

I envisage some sort of float that would be bluetooth connected and could tell ha the warer level. I don’t think anything based on a ultrasonic sensor would work.

Any ideas?

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I once bought Camelbak’s water meter. It’s a basic displacement meter with an attachable digital display. It needs to be reset upon refill. I can imagine there’s a pipe in the watercooler you could cut to insert it and then use an ESP to pick up the pulses. Maybe even the built-in hall sensor would work.

I don’t know if they still make them though, but there are probably tons of such displacement meters on e.g. AliExpress.

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I know some people put pressure sensors at the bottom of boat water or fuel tanks to sense the level of liquid. I haven’t done it so I can’t offer much more detail, but maybe it’s something to look into.

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https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/32995766328.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.45.948b2ec72GCFcg&algo_pvid=1adb96dc-b00c-40b4-b67d-b1820aaa63bc&algo_exp_id=1adb96dc-b00c-40b4-b67d-b1820aaa63bc-22&pdp_ext_f={"sku_id"%3A"66908382474"}&pdp_npi=3%40dis!NZD!7.47!5.61!!!!!%40211beca116772842018893368d06f3!66908382474!sea!NZ!890852018&curPageLogUid=NKlRVcsa6Xs7

Wire it to a esp32

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Not a digital interface.

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No, but analogue sensors do work with esp. However this one looks digital

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003615506749.html

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you could use an Amazon Dash shelf hacked to use an ESP8266 and an HX711 board to connect it. The large shelf can handle up to 200 lb (91kg).

I use something more DIY (I don’t use the dash shelf) for my propane cylinders.

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Not a bad suggestion !

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