rno310:
Hello ScottGSeems like you found an elegant solution to a problem I would like to solve. One year into it, how has your solution performed? Did you get reliable readings? How often did you end up having to change the battery?
It works great. It's very reliable. I think one battery will last all summer. The battery I'm using now was installed May 28, so it's been almost 2 months. You can see the battery voltage over time on Xively (it's channel 15). I've got all the code on GitHub.
I did have an unusual problem the other day. The program adds water in 15 minute increments when it senses the water level is low. I get a text message every time this happens. I got four text messages over an hour indicating the pool just kept adding water. I knew that wasn't right. So I went home and discovered a chipmunk holding onto the float, trying not to drown. The sensor just thought it was low water continuously. That chipmunk was lucky I went home to check on things.
I need to make my code a little smarter so it waits a bit before adding water right away. I do have a 120 minute per day max on the water fill, but I'm going to lower it to 60. I typically only need 15 to 30 minutes a day for water.