I have had the same sensors working with rpi3 and use 23AWG ethernet cable over 10m. Make sure you are using copper and not CCA.
Re: not getting ‘fuzzy measurements’, it took some tinkering but the key is in the delays between measurements (add sleep between ping and echo reading as well) – and then given the possibility of random echo, take several measurements.
Measurements are taken every minute and then hass will trigger the powering of wells to fill tanks based on threshold levels (i.e. once tank is below 85%, start pumping).
But to save on power costs, it calculates how long it expects that it will need to pump to fill and then begins pumping such that it will maximize the amount of pumping on cheapest power timeslots (with the goal of being full by next business day)
Also using blitzortung integration, if there have been more than two lightning strikes within 20km in the past 30 minutes it will remove power from wells and actuate a physical disconnect of mains (we are in a remote area and a burnt well with a golf course to water is not fun or cheap)
rpi communicates over MQTT back to hass. implementation has been flawless for year+
Example code for rpi to hass mqtt:
#%%Sensor
#Libraries
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time
import statistics
#GPIO Mode (BOARD / BCM)
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
#set GPIO Pins
GPIO_TRIGGER = 18
GPIO_ECHO = 24
#set GPIO direction (IN / OUT)
GPIO.setup(GPIO_TRIGGER, GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.setup(GPIO_ECHO, GPIO.IN)
def distance():
# set Trigger to HIGH
GPIO.output(GPIO_TRIGGER, True)
# set Trigger after 0.01ms to LOW
time.sleep(0.00005)
GPIO.output(GPIO_TRIGGER, False)
StartTime = time.time()
StopTime = time.time()
# save StartTime
while GPIO.input(GPIO_ECHO) == 0:
StartTime = time.time()
# wait for real bounce
time.sleep(0.0005)
# save time of arrival
while GPIO.input(GPIO_ECHO) == 1:
StopTime = time.time()
# time difference between start and arrival
TimeElapsed = StopTime - StartTime
# multiply with the sonic speed (34300 cm/s)
# and divide by 2, because there and back
distance = (TimeElapsed * 34300) / 2
return distance
def middis():
runs=[]
for i in range(11):
runs.append(distance())
time.sleep(1)
#print(runs)
midrun = statistics.median(runs)
return midrun
def cisternlevel(dist_to_water):
#dist = middis()
cisterndepth = 270 #set cistern total depth
bufferheight = 25 #set height of sensor above max waterline + safety buffer
cisternlevel = 100 * (cisterndepth + bufferheight - dist_to_water) / cisterndepth
return cisternlevel
#%% MQTT
import paho.mqtt.client as mqtt
def bigmqtt():
def on_connect(client, userdata, flags, rc):
if rc==0:
cisternclient.connected_flag = True
print("connected ok returned code=",rc)
else:
cisternclient.bad_connection_flag=True
print("bad connection returned code=",rc)
def on_publish(client,userdata,result):
print("data published \n")
pass
def on_disconnect(client,userdata,rc):
logging.info("disconnected reason " +str(rc))
cisternclient.connected_flag = False
cisternclient.disconnect_flag = True
# configure mqtt connection
broker = "192.168.xx.xx"
port = xxx
username = "xxx"
password = "xxx"
mqtt.Client.connected_flag=False
mqtt.Client.bad_connection_flag=False
cisternclient=mqtt.Client("cistern1")
cisternclient.username_pw_set(username, password)
cisternclient.connected_flag = False
cisternclient.on_connect = on_connect
cisternclient.on_publish = on_publish
cisternclient.will_set("borgo/cistern/health",payload="Disconnected",qos=0,retain=False)
cisternclient.loop_start()
try:
cisternclient.connect(broker, port, keepalive=10)
while not cisternclient.connected_flag and not cisternclient.bad_connection_flag:
print("in wait loop")
time.sleep(1)
if cisternclient.bad_connection_flag:
cisternclient.loop_stop()
exit() #exit where?
print("in Main loop")
if __name__ == '__main__':
try:
while True:
dist = middis()
percentlevel=cisternlevel(dist)
print ("distance to top = %.1f cm" % dist)
print ("cistern level = %.1f percent" % percentlevel)
cisternclient.publish("borgo/cistern/level",payload=percentlevel,qos=0,retain=True)
cisternclient.publish("borgo/cistern/dist",payload=dist,qos=0,retain=True)
cisternclient.publish("borgo/cistern/health",payload="Connected",qos=0,retain=True)
time.sleep(10)
except:
print("smth broke")
exit(1)
except:
print("main loop connection failed")
exit(1)
cisternclient.loop_stop()
cisternclient.disconnect()
if __name__ == '__main__':
try:
while True:
print("alors on danse")
bigmqtt()
time.sleep(10)
# Reset by pressing CTRL + C
except KeyboardInterrupt:
print("Measurement stopped by User")
GPIO.cleanup()
And then in hass config yaml mqtt sensor:
sensor:
- platform: mqtt
name: 'cistern_level'
state_topic: 'borgo/cistern/level'
unit_of_measurement: '%'
value_template: "{{ value | round(1) }}"
- platform: mqtt
name: 'cistern_dist'
state_topic: 'borgo/cistern/dist'
unit_of_measurement: 'cm'
value_template: "{{ value | round(1) }}"
- platform: mqtt
name: 'cistern_health'
state_topic: 'borgo/cistern/health'
unit_of_measurement: '%'
