Hi
I am keen to try this but I have no power at all to the tank. It is 50m away.
In addition I would like to link to the pump supplying this tank which is 400m in the opposite direction.
Any suggestions for solar power? Wireless communications options?
Thanks a lot
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Hi Andrew,
I’d recommend going with a Particle Electron board as it will be the easiest way to get cellular communication happening. As far as power, I’d definitely go with this:
It’s a great, reliable board which will enable you to connect a solar panel to keep the LiPo battery charged. If you are clever with your sensor readings (using sleep modes and monitoring at regular intervals), you shouldn’t have an issue with keeping the battery topped up.
Thanks alot. Looks like a bit more reading to do.
I am looking forward to having a go.
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It can be a bit of a jump, but I’d recommend taking a read of our tutorial for using that board with your proejcts: https://core-electronics.com.au/tutorials/how-to-use-solar-lipo-chargers.html
Sam
thanks very much for your help.
I am happy to use the solar charger. In fact dead keen!
It was more the recommendation to use 3G card.
3G is a bit patchy where I live (i.e. often it does not exist), so while I can see 3G at the tank, it is rough where the pump is (which does have 240V). Would I need a 3G card at each end so the tank can tell the pump to switch on or off?
So I was hoping there might be a wifi solution with the range I needed to get to the pump, but maybe not?
Still finding it all quite daunting, but very exciting at the same time!
Also in the original specs for the project Denver chose an ultrasonic sensor, but I am leaning to a pressure sensor as they seem more robust. Is the analogue input that much of a problem? Didn’t seem to be after watching the tutorial videos. So many questions…
Cheers
Andrew Ritchie
Provided you can get reliable data from the sensor, then you’ll be fine. If the 3G reception is a bit patchy, you might want to look at setting up a LoRa network using a Pycom board:
Thanks I will look into these.
Cheers
Andrew Ritchie
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Hey Andrew,
As per our conversation on the phone, the LoPy board looks like it’s going to be a great option for your needs. If you want to power that board in remote locations, this tutorial might help you get across the line with Solar Powering the setup.
Furthermore, you expressed interest in creating a GUI for your setup. As someone new to the Python Programming language, it might be valuable for you to take a look at this chapter in our Raspberry Pi Work Shop which is a great introduction to the use of TKinter for GUI Design.
Thanks for getting in touch with us again Andrew, let us know how you get on with the project.
Thanks Aiden. I will keep learning!
Aiden
Do you provide help with a shopping list?
Hey Andrew, I can help out with product recommendations if you need it. What exactly did you need.
Solar kit (or do I need to define level sensor first?)
Pycom Lopy
What acts a signal receiver?
I recommend starting with the LoPy first. Follow the Pycom tutorials, verbatim and don’t worry for a nanosecond how you are going to use it for your own projects, to begin with. Follow each of the Pycom tutorials step-by-step, to get a feel of the Pycom hardware and its functionality.
Everything will fall into place by the end of that experience.
Graham
excellent advice!
Forgive my ignorance. Where are the Pycom tutorials?
I can’t see them on your website
Cheers
Andrew Ritchie
I missed this post!
You can find them here https://docs.pycom.io/
We will also be creating some in the weeks to come.
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Look forward to yours. Better style.
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