Swimming Pool Water Level Sensor

Other Hardware Sensors
21

I have the pump running during the day and I need to measure the water level while the pump is running. If the water level start to drop, then air gets in the pump and the pressure drops.

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Sorry, I didn't realise when I made that last post, that the problem was solved a year ago.

What sort of wireless range do these panstamp gadgets have ?

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michinyon:
What sort of wireless range do these panstamp gadgets have ?

I haven't tested the limits, but I have several of them in use. The pair for the water level sensor are about 30 feet apart. I have some others that are on the 2nd floor of my house and they communicate with a panstamp in the basement. They seem to be fine if you have them around the house or yard.

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ScottG:
I ended up using a simple float switch. Since my sensor is battery powered I wanted something very low power. I ended up using a panStamp which is like and Arduino pro mini with a radio transceiver built in. I set it up to sleep for 8 seconds, wake up, check the level, transmit the status then go back to sleep. The whole thing is attached to my skimmer cover. I also added an accelerometer and set it up for low power setting. I did this so the sensor would know when the cover was not in place. I didn't want it to send out a low water signal when I removed the cover to clean out the skimmer basket. I'm using a CR123 battery and the voltage drops about 1/100 volts per day (the panStamp is also transmitting the battery voltage). So that's not bad. The panStamp does have a different sleep mode which uses even less power. Also the accelerometer is powered all the time, even though it doesn't use much, I could probably power it with an output pin, only turning on power to the accelerometer when I wanted to check it.

I attached a couple pictures of my setup.

I know this thread is old, but I am looking for a way to determine when my pool water level gets to a certain height so I know I need to go out and pump some water out of it (to prevent the water level rising and going behind the liner) during the winter...At the moment I need to go out periodically and open the cover to visually inspect the water level and it would be better if I were simply alerted (assuming this works!!)

How did your solution work out? It looks like from the picture that you made a plate with the sensor hanging below...Where did you attach the plate?

Thanks again!!

25

The $1.50 float switches you see on Ebay work great. Just put them in a (leaky) box so they don't get destroyed by the UV in sunlight.

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@scampa

Not sure if you are still interested but I did much the same thing using a different method. I utilized a eTape liquid level tape sensor and a arduino clone.

You can read more about how I did it here:

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@Md500_Pilot ,

Thanks for the reply! The tape looks interesting!! I think I’ll order one and run some tests. I’m in the North East US so it would need to withstand the winter temperatures...I’ll check it’s specs...

Thanks again!

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Looks like the eTape has an operating temp own to 15 degrees Fahrenheit...I’m not sure this will work for me since it gets below zero here at times

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Read the regulations applicable to electricity and pools - humans are very sensitive to shock when wet .

The powering of your system is critical to safety, a wall type adapter is not likely to be good enough .