Ultrasonic sensors for ATO?

[Bob2bob]

@Ryan115 @Sisterlimonpot I have it measuring my return chamber in my sump which has no visible water movement on the surface so I think that should not be a problem.

The angle of the sensor is a good point. I definitely had a hacked together setup so that could have 100% been bugging the data as they were probably off from each other.

 

[User]

There was a group of guys that were experimenting with those sensors for ATO purposes back in circa 2012 in the DIY forum of reefcentral. It's been so long but as I recall they proved to be unreliable because of the turbulence of the water surface.

Curious what your findings were.. I'll be tagging along.

I know they were ReefCentral Dudes, and not in our level, but couldn’t they just, umm, turn off the circulation pump for 2 mins?

 

[User]

I think I might look into a few non-contact capacitive sensors. This way I can do everything with relays and leds and not need to figure out an arduino or raspPi

Although it would be nice to have an output that gives me a percentage, instead of green led x 3= 30% for example. On a 100 gallon storage container, percentage makes the conversion easy, lol, 53% = 53 gallons

I wonder if there is a way to code it so that a push button can reset the calibration point to zero?

That way, you can now exactly how much RODI you added to the barrel, and can then weigh out the required lbs salt to mix perfect.

I guess I could just note the pre/post values and do some math...

Sorry for the brain dump

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I know they were ReefCentral Dudes, and not in our level, but couldn’t they just, umm, turn off the circulation pump for 2 mins?

Definitely a viable solution. I'm under the impression that the purpose of the sensors is to monitor evaporation and use the data to control a pump to supply RODI water to top off. To stop turbulent water, you would have to shut off the return pump and thus raise the water in the sump faulting the entire purpose for the sensor readings.

The question becomes, "why add extra steps when an optic sensor will do the same thing without shutting down pumps to take a reading?"

If I understand Bob's approach (and I may not) he will take multiple readings with 2 separate sensors and throw out the outliers and average the remaining to get a fairly accurate picture of the water level and top off based on that. There's other things to consider, does this happen in real time so that you can successfully shut off the pump at the correct level?

I'm sure that these are things that Bob has considered and has a good approach to deal with them.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I think I might look into a few non-contact capacitive sensors. This way I can do everything with relays and leds and not need to figure out an arduino or raspPi

Although it would be nice to have an output that gives me a percentage, instead of green led x 3= 30% for example. On a 100 gallon storage container, percentage makes the conversion easy, lol, 53% = 53 gallons

I wonder if there is a way to code it so that a push button can reset the calibration point to zero?

That way, you can now exactly how much RODI you added to the barrel, and can then weigh out the required lbs salt to mix perfect.

I guess I could just note the pre/post values and do some math...

Sorry for the brain dump

I get it, this is more for storage water levels... If that's the case, if/when etape comes down in price and different lengths are readily available, I think we will see a lot of folks experimenting with them.

 

[User]

Definitely a viable solution. I'm under the impression that the purpose of the sensors is to monitor evaporation and use the data to control a pump to supply RODI water to top off. To stop turbulent water, you would have to shut off the return pump and thus raise the water in the sump faulting the entire purpose for the sensor readings.

The question becomes, "why add extra steps when an optic sensor will do the same thing without shutting down pumps to take a reading?"

If I understand Bob's approach (and I may not) he will take multiple readings with 2 separate sensors and throw out the outliers and average the remaining to get a fairly accurate picture of the water level and top off based on that. There's other things to consider, does this happen in real time so that you can successfully shut off the pump at the correct level?

I'm sure that these are things that Bob has considered and has a good approach to deal with them.

Ah, yes. Difficult to do in that situation. I was thinking more from sw mixing barrel standpoint.

But yeah- I think multiple data points, etc like Bob has planned and finding a low turbulence area would be essential

 

[User]

I get it, this is more for storage water levels... If that's the case, if/when etape comes down in price and different lengths are readily available, I think we will see a lot of folks experimenting with them.

That e-tape is cool, although would still need programming something to convert the output to a decent easy display. Although a voltmeter with a conversion chart next to it would work

I’ve saved that in my ‘watch list’ - cheers

 

[Bob2bob]

@Sisterlimonpot was right for my purposes, but i think it could easily be used for a water mizing station which i also have...

"If I understand Bob's approach (and I may not) he will take multiple readings with 2 separate sensors and throw out the outliers and average the remaining to get a fairly accurate picture of the water level and top off based on that. "

but wrong about my foresight
"I'm sure that these are things that Bob has considered and has a good approach to deal with them."

Im glad this thread picked up. motivating me to pick this project up again.