Water tank level sensing and Home Assistant

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Water tank level sensing and Home Assistant

1 | 2 | 3

668 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 359

Lifetime subscriber

#3160317 17-Nov-2023 06:49

fe31nz:

I thought Tasmota is open source - so if the ESP32 hardware can interface to two SR04 sensors, it should be fairly easy to change the Tasmota code to support the second sensor.

Yep, someone submitted a PR with those changes a few years ago but for some reason it never got merged. So that's an option, but it certainly makes it harder. If I have time I'll raise another PR and see where it goes.

pih

668 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 359

Lifetime subscriber

#3160321 17-Nov-2023 07:06

johno1234: Or just get two esp32s and run them as separate devices?

Yep, in hindsight I should have ordered a few and that would have been an easy enough workaround. It just seems overkill though.

johno1234

3431 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2935

#3160389 17-Nov-2023 08:23

pih:

johno1234: Or just get two esp32s and run them as separate devices?

Yep, in hindsight I should have ordered a few and that would have been an easy enough workaround. It just seems overkill though.

Yeah, it's hard to get your head around how cheap these little devices are though. I like separating them as it only adds a few dollars yet the simplicity will save a hundred times that amount in design, coding and testing. Even better, it will add redundancy.

Just get one going then when it's perfect make a second one. Then make a few more and sell them!

rbensonx

30 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 7

Subscriber

#3160794 18-Nov-2023 10:18

I have a tankmate sensor which has been really reliable and accurate. About to start in the home assistant journey and will see where I get. The supplied app is basic but from a monitoring point of view its fine.

Will post if I manage anything interesting

pih

668 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 359

Lifetime subscriber

#3160813 18-Nov-2023 12:41

rbensonx:

I have a tankmate sensor which has been really reliable and accurate. About to start in the home assistant journey and will see where I get. The supplied app is basic but from a monitoring point of view its fine.

Will post if I manage anything interesting

Thanks, yeah I had a look at off the shelf systems and they looked really expensive for what they are. I have 5 tanks across two properties actually, but only 2 I really care about. If it works really well I'll consider monitoring all of them, but spending almost $1000 on the first two wasn't really ever on the cards. It looks like Tankmate is doing the ultrasonic sensors, the Davey TankSense product (which has very poor reviews) uses a hydrostatic sensor like what I was originally going to use, and there are others as well.

Hwale

72 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 19

#3160824 18-Nov-2023 13:06

pih:
rbensonx:

I have a tankmate sensor which has been really reliable and accurate. About to start in the home assistant journey and will see where I get. The supplied app is basic but from a monitoring point of view its fine.

Will post if I manage anything interesting

Thanks, yeah I had a look at off the shelf systems and they looked really expensive for what they are. I have 5 tanks across two properties actually, but only 2 I really care about. If it works really well I'll consider monitoring all of them, but spending almost $1000 on the first two wasn't really ever on the cards. It looks like Tankmate is doing the ultrasonic sensors, the Davey TankSense product (which has very poor reviews) uses a hydrostatic sensor like what I was originally going to use, and there are others as well.

Tankmate uses radar sensors, I think they have a pressure sensor too that goes to the bottom of the tank.

My lidar setup cost a few dollars lol. $500 for tankmate is insane for what it is.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

rbensonx

30 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 7

Subscriber

#3160828 18-Nov-2023 13:22

Uses a pressure sensor and a transmitter unit. Cloud based portal and an app. 3 standard AA batteries last about 18 months. Robust and well made, comes with everything you need to install it. Given the cost to deliver water to our place is about $300 for 10,000 litres it’s proved to be good value.

So it’s all relative I guess. 30 mins to install, that’s good use of my time.

I’m happy

pih

668 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 359

Lifetime subscriber

#3160831 18-Nov-2023 13:38

rbensonx: Uses a pressure sensor and a transmitter unit. Cloud based portal and an app. 3 standard AA batteries last about 18 months. Robust and well made, comes with everything you need to install it. Given the cost to deliver water to our place is about $300 for 10,000 litres it’s proved to be good value.

So it’s all relative I guess. 30 mins to install, that’s good use of my time.

I’m happy

Each to his/her own. I don't know about the Tankmate product, but it looks like it only samples twice a day? One of the things I wanted to achieve was continuous monitoring, so I could be alerted to sudden drops in water levels. I already have a Tasmota smart plug on the water pump which will cut power if it runs longer than 30 minutes without stopping (preventing draining the tank if a pipe bursts after the pump), but I'd also like to be warned if there's a catastrophic failure between the tank and the pump: It may only take half an hour to drain the whole tank. That's easy to do with HA, and since I have mains power at the tanks (that's where the pump is) I can have it monitoring constantly.

The biggest reason for a DIY approach though is something I haven't mentioned: I actually enjoy building stuff like this :)

rbensonx

30 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 7

Subscriber

#3160835 18-Nov-2023 13:48

Yep get the DIY angle. I'd do that if I had time. The Tankmate will report 24 times a day (config option), does the leak detection and notification stuff etc.

For me it does what I need. My DIY is more angled around my solar system and home automation.

Knowing the tank is not leaking and when to plan tanker loads in summer is peace of mind.

rbensonx

30 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 7

Subscriber

#3160837 18-Nov-2023 13:55

Good point about the pump. I'll configure my smart plug to cut out if it's going continuously. Simple solution

My current issue is about 14 apps on my phone and starting on the Home Assistant path to tidy that up

rbensonx

30 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 7

Subscriber

#3176378 30-Dec-2023 19:37

I've integrated tank mate into home assistant (along with a bunch of other things). Still happy with the purchase

Geekzone support

Support Geekzone with one-off or recurring donations Donate via PressPatron.

Hwale

72 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 19

#3176398 30-Dec-2023 22:19

rbensonx:

I've integrated tank mate into home assistant (along with a bunch of other things). Still happy with the purchase

What TankMate product did you get? I can only find radar sensors on their NZ site, not a pressure sensor which is what I think you're using unless I read wrong.

spacedog

496 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 62

#3179385 9-Jan-2024 14:50

Azzura:

If I ever get one...it'll be this - Receiver (inside plug-in unit) is rated for 100-240V, 50/60Hz, Up to and over 1km can be achieved. - PTLevel Wireless Tank Level Monitor

I have one of these, but it's damn pricey. The housing is not as UV and weather proof as I would like it to be either so I have had to build my own plastic enclosure over the the transmitter/sensor. Also the plastic fittings and hose clamps that come with it are not proper stainless, are prone to rusting and are pretty low quality plastic. My first one failed as the plastic plugs warped and it stopped readin accurately - they did send me a replacement though. It's been going for a few years, but I expect that it's going to keel over soon and so I'm already looking for something similar to this that is more durable/robust.

pih

668 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 359

Lifetime subscriber

#3222948 25-Apr-2024 21:14

I finally finished this today on my day off... It's been hanging over my head all summer and I finally got it done in the lead up to winter when the tanks are always full 🤣

So I ordered a second ESP32 (see previous discussion), but while the "80% there" project sat on my desk the last few months, someone with a bit more time on their hands managed to implement support for up to 3 SR-04 modules on Tasmota (development branch), so I only need the one ESP32 now after all.

I laser cut a box for it plus a mount for the sensor. I only have the one sensor set up at the moment because for the life of me I can't find the other two modules I bought, but all I have to do is plug the second module in and it will start recording that as well.

I have very roughly calibrated the first tank, I'll need to fine tune it still. I'll set up a few alerts and monitor over the coming weeks and months. Ignore the spikes in the graph, that was some testing pre-installation. Time will tell how accurate it is!

neb

11294 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10018

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3223176 26-Apr-2024 20:09

Ge0rge:
myopinion:

I have a hose attached to the tap on the bottom of the tank. Turn it on and lift it up till it stops, then I know the level.

That doesn't really get the level into Home Assistant with any sort of automation though, which is what the OP is after?

Does the OP have kids, and can they type?

1 | 2 | 3