Making Efficient, Reasonably priced Water Degree Screens

Water wells are easy issues, however that doesn’t imply they’re maintenance-free. It may be vital to observe water ranges in a properly, and that will get difficult when the properly is distant. Business options exist, in fact, however are usually costly and even impractical in some circumstances. That’s the place [Hans Gaensbauer]’s low-cost, buoyancy-based properly monitor is available in. An Engineers With out Border undertaking, it not solely cleverly measures water stage in a easy method — logging to a textual content file on a USB stick within the course of — nevertheless it’s so low-power {that a} single battery can run it for years.

The monitor [Hans] designed works within the following method: droop a size of pipe contained in the properly, and connect that pipe to a load cell. The obvious weight of the pipe might be immediately proportional to how a lot of the pipe is above water. The fuller the properly, the much less the pipe will appear to weigh. It’s very intelligent, requires nothing to be within the properly that isn’t already water-safe, and was designed in order that the electronics sit outdoors in a weatherproof enclosure. Value comes out to about $25 every, which compares fairly favorably to the $1000+ vary of business sensors.

The idea is intelligent, nevertheless it took extra that that to create a workable answer. For one factor, house was a difficulty. The complete properly cap was solely six inches in diameter, most of which was already occupied. [Hans] figured he had solely about an inch to work with, however he made it work by designing a customized load cell out of a bit of aluminum with 4 pressure gauges bonded to it. The ensuing sensor is slender, and sits inside a nylon and PTFE tube that mounts vertically to the highest of the properly cap. Out from the underside comes a metal cable that attaches to the submerged tube, and out the highest comes a cable that brings the alerts to the remainder of the electronics in a separate enclosure. Extra particulars on the properly monitor are within the undertaking’s GitHub repository.

All one has to do after it’s put in is swap out the USB persist with retrieve readings, and each as soon as in a protracted whereas change the battery. It positive beats taking guide sensor readings always, like meteorologists did again in WWII.