Introduction: LORA Tank Level Sensor

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This is my 6th LORA instructable. The first one was LORA peer to peer communication with arduino. You can use the server node of this instructable to receive data from this sensor. I have built this because I needed a low power consuming sensor to measure the waterlevel of my rain barrel. I didn't foresee any cabling so I needed a battery powered node to send the data. Since LORA doesn't consume much power it's perfectly suited for this task.

As sensor I use an ultrasonic sensor. This kind of sensor sends sound towards the object and then measures the time until the reflected signal is returned.

Because the sensor will be placed in a moist environment I choose to use a waterproof version of the HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor namely the jsn-sr04t.

According to the datasheet this sensor runs between 3 and 5.5v and has a range between 20cm and 600cm.
In the code I set the range between 25 and 350cm.

Step 1: Needed Parts

Sensornode:

Tools:

Step 2: Create the Antenna

For the antenna I use some leftover cable of my 2x2x0.8mm or 2x2 20awg bus cable.
On the things network you can choose your tranceiver and antenna frequency band by country.
These are the lengths per frequencie:

  • 868mhz 3.25 inches or 8.2 cm (this is the one I use)
  • 915mhz 3 inches or 7.8 cm
  • 433mhz 3 inches or 16.5cm

Step 3: Soldering the Esp Shield

  • Remove the resistors of the esp shield (see R1 to R3 in the red field)
  • Solder the rfm95 chip onto the esp shield.
  • Solder the pinheaders onto the esp shield
  • Solder the antenna onto the esp shield. Don't use without an antenna you can damage the shield.
  • If the pinheaders aren't soldered onto the arduino solder these too.

Step 4: Wiring

The wiring is very simple.
Connect the wiring as in the schematic.

Step 5: Coding

Upload the sketch and use the server node of my first lora instructable to receive data.
You can see the data entering in the serial monitor.

Attachments

Step 6: Conclusion

In this instructable I made a sensornode for measuring the waterlevel in a pond or citern that makes use of LORA. If you like where this is going please comment or make it your favorite. This way I know if I have to continue these kind of instructables or not.