I have a rainwater collection system that feeds into several water tanks. I’d like to be able to monitor the tank levels for a variety of reasons, first and foremost because of the fact that we get almost no rain in the summer, and I have run the tanks to empty before.
In the past, I have used Milone eTape connected to an Atmel microcontroller to monitor water levels for a few different applications. I’d like to use this again if possible.
The eTape essentially acts as a potentiometer in a circuit. I’ve done some research on various ways to feed this into HomeAssistant, but I’m not really sure what’s best. My water tanks are just behind the wall from my HA server, so I could connect directly with USB, serial, or ethernet. WiFi or Zigbee or also options; nearly every other device I have connected to HA is Zigbee.
What I’m ideally looking for is a device that can take a voltage level between 0-5VDC, or a 5k potentiometer, and feed the result into HA. Building something isn’t out of the question (as long as I can program it in C or C++), but an off-the-shelf solution that integrates with HA would be ideal.
I think I might have misstated what I already had. In the past, I have built tank-level sensors using the eTape, but never for integration with HA. For example, reading the level of an RV water tank and feeding the output to an LCD screen.
I currently have no system in place to monitor the levels of my water tanks, other than walking over to them and saying “yep, they’re empty again.” The system doesn’t have to be high-tech, in fact that’s what’s pushing me away from something like EPSHome; it feels like overkill. I just need to be able to read a resistance level that corresponds to a water level and somehow feed it into HA.
I had considered just using a leak sensor to detect if the tanks are empty, but I’d really like to have an indication of the current level so I know if I have enough left for the next watering cycle or if I need to supplement my tanks from municipal water.
I’ve looked at ESPHome, but this still means I have to build a circuit board with the ESPHome core device, if I understand correctly? This would certainly work, but it seems wasteful to me when I don’t really need a microcontroller at all, just an ADC that HA can read. If this is the best option, though, I’m open to the idea.
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Take a look at
https://community.home-assistant.io/t/4-20ma-to-i2c-board-for-water-tank-level-sensing-how-to-make-an-esphome-component/540283
I do have do ask - does it have to be high tech? Aware you have a system in place, but does it have to match in for the sake of matching?
I think I might have misstated what I already had. In the past, I have built tank-level sensors using the eTape, but never for integration with HA. For example, reading the level of an RV water tank and feeding the output to an LCD screen.
I currently have no system in place to monitor the levels of my water tanks, other than walking over to them and saying “yep, they’re empty again.” The system doesn’t have to be high-tech, in fact that’s what’s pushing me away from something like EPSHome; it feels like overkill. I just need to be able to read a resistance level that corresponds to a water level and somehow feed it into HA.
I had considered just using a leak sensor to detect if the tanks are empty, but I’d really like to have an indication of the current level so I know if I have enough left for the next watering cycle or if I need to supplement my tanks from municipal water.
My go-to for anything sensor related is esphome. Maybe a resistance sensor could work for you. https://esphome.io/components/sensor/resistance.html
I’ve looked at ESPHome, but this still means I have to build a circuit board with the ESPHome core device, if I understand correctly? This would certainly work, but it seems wasteful to me when I don’t really need a microcontroller at all, just an ADC that HA can read. If this is the best option, though, I’m open to the idea.
You could easily hack up something in a few minutes based on an Arduino Nano.