These two screenshots are showing the performance of the sensor.
in a certain point I did use of the filter/delta but without any improvement.
Any idea why sometimes are having this margin/error in measurements? As we are standing is reporting 57 to 88 cm. It is a range of 31 cm which is practically is making it useless
When i was looking at water level reporting the more i read indicated that using any form of ultrasonic sensor would be problematic due to a a number of factors including, high moisture environments, signal bounce due to water surface, signal bounce due to internal tank designs etc
This led me down the path of a throw in type sensor.
I have installed about 3 weeks ago a throw in sensor linked to a Shelly uni. The only issue i am now dealing with is scaling my battery/solar power supply to ensure that winter months do not result in the shelly switching off.
The value received goes through a median filter and then a calculation shows volume.
If you are interested look at a video from Lars Klint on youtube.
Pat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N90C9Xge8Z4 I think this is the video that you are referring to…
My objections are 1) supply voltage 24Vmake it difficult 2)Shelly Uni is something new for me (thinking the time spending to understand esp/esp32 3) pricing
My thoughts about the ultrasonic sensors? very sensitive to the voltage supplying these boards, moisture and the surface reflections.
really I’m confused, I think I should try few things before condemning ultrasonic sensors.
I’m thinking
a) a pipe (holed pipe) with the sensor on top of this
b) a floating surface underneath the sensor eg a plastic plate.
These are something theoretical, on the application may have different results.
Foufoutos,
I supply only 12v power with a battery/solar setup. I have a dc step up to power the sensor. On the test bench it was using about 30mA when running. Shelly uni - connect power, connect wire from sensor. HA picked up immediately (using Shelly add-on native).
I was just making suggestions as I went down this rabbit hole over the past 4 years.
I know some people made 3d printed cones for their ultrasonic sensors - can’t use a tube as that then deflects and distorts signals. I don’t own a 3d printer.
Anyway give it a go and best of luck
Pat
yeah, I have that feeling!
These days we have a temp of near 40C outside and I’m doing an experiment related to the ventilation of the tank. I believe that there is a concentration of moisture in the empty space which is affecting the measurements
Thank you for this information. After reading about the HopperHawk monitor for pellet grills, I started looking at using an ESP32 device in the same fashion. This is looking at water levels, but I see no reason to think that it won’t work for wood pellets. This looks just like what I need to setup a device to monitor my pellet grill bin.
Wow, this is awesome! Definitely going to use the info in this thread.
I have a water purifier (Berkey). And I want HA to refill the tank when empty. ESPhome will measure the amount of water left and HA will refill. I already have a Zigbee water valve that works. And as a bonus I will be able to monitor when the filters need replacement (they last about 22.000 liters I believe).
Only challange now is ti actually get a waterpipe to the Berkey. But with a little luck, I am able to fix that.
Can you please share your complete setup, which hardware you use, how you connect it and the code?
I’m struggling with getting this working.
I’ve tried a ESP8266 and also a D1 mini, both don’t give any information through.
I don’t know if i have to get a LED signal on the AJ-SR04M board, but I didn’t see that.
Thanks in advance!
Thanks for sharing, but this is a different configuration then I have. So I can’t compare it.
I bought a new D1 mini (with 5V) and a new AJ-SR04M sensor (I thought maybe it was broken). But also now after different tries it doesn’t work.
@jonasmoreira could you share your code please. This seems to be the perfect setup. Really close to what I had but I’ve lost my configuration in some tests I was doing.
Long story. I would gladly use your code if it’s working as you seem to say.
hmm, seems this hits me again this year.
I used a tf 131 pressure sensor last year, worked perfect. Now wanted to install it for this season - dead. Reading some amazon reviews this is a common problem after 6 month of use - moist is getting in the sensor.
Now may switch back to a ultrasonic sensor.
This drives me nuts.
I set up a configuration using an ESP32-CAM AI THINKER along with a security camera near my cistern.
I had an issue with sensor reading errors, generating logs of inexplicable timeouts, so I added a relay that interrupts the GND connection cable to the sensor board for 4 seconds, resetting the sensor every time it obtains a NAN value. It worked! Below is the code:
Initially, the sensor was presenting reading errors probably due to secondary echoes, always giving the minimum distance as a result. I fixed this by covering the sensor with foam. But now I have a huge fluctuation in readings, generating a variation of up to 800 liters during the day.
If you are having issues, might want to consider using a float sensor - simple and super reliable even in pretty hostile environments. Mine has been working now for over two years without a hiccup. Basically it’s a stainless steel rod with a float outside that changes the resistance as it moves up and down the rod. As much as I wanted to use something like a sonar or pressure sensor, I went for a float sensor as I suspected that otherwise I would be continually replacing sensors…