DIY Blackwater Tank Monitoring with ESP32/SensESP and XKC-Y25-V Non-contact liquid sensor - Tech E14

[@Mr_Chris]

Nice job - I just built one based on this video. 5 sensors for the freshwater tank and 3 for my poop tank. - should make a nifty addition to my openplotter setup

[@ApresSail]

Thanks, good luck with your project!!

[@rafaelmguimaraes]

Excellent! Thanks for sharing. I'm starting to study basic electronics to automate and use more cost-effective equipment on my boat, and your videos encourage me. Thanks!

[@ApresSail]

Glad it helped you!!

[@pauloweidebach3544]

Very good. Thanks a lot for this video! I have some doubts here at wiring. Could you make a simple wiring diagram please?

[@ApresSail]

each sensor has 4 wires, make connections as follows: Brown = 3.3v, same pin can be used for multiple sensors Blue = ground/0V, same pin can be used for multiple sensors Yellow = the digital pin you want to assign to it, this pin is individual to this sensor Black = Not connected Hopefully that helps?

[@cheaperukbills774]

Very useful content Jason - thanks once again.

[@ApresSail]

Glad you are enjoying it!!

[@kruzweg3860]

Nice idea! The next think I will build for my boat. So far I have now ready and working a modified OpenPlotter project and a satellite ESP32 for the motor perimeters. All is working fine. I am now curious if your second ESP32 for the battery and tank has an off/on switch or if you have a solution to avoid current drain if you are not on your boat. Perhaps you will mention this in another video? Continue the interesting project, it is an inspiration for me to add things to my own project 😊

[@ApresSail]

Glad you liked it! with regard to the power, I have a fuse box near the helm that is connected to a breaker at the nav station. It currently powers my helm screen, Autopilot, USB Hub and Maiana. I will add 2 more connections for the Battery/tank monitor and Engine/bilge monitor

[@jims1128]

Very cool. Wondering if this could be used to run my bilge pumps??

[@ApresSail]

it could, but not sure how you would deploy it? if you watch my video on the install of the engine monitor, you will see a float switch that I installed to signal high bilge water, this simple switch could be deployed with a relay to run the bilge pump or in combination with a ESP32 or Pi to warn the operator or count/log bilge pump usage

[@jims1128]

I will check that out. As logging running of bilge is also something I want to do. These typical float switches fail too often......maybe use this method for backup bilge and logging...

[@ApresSail]

@@jims1128 Agreed, touch wood, my float switch and bilge pump have been very robust but having a higher float switch that sounds an alarm or warning is great piece of mind - I wish I had it when we grounded in Port Sheldon intake last year!!!

[@jims1128]

@@ApresSail using one of the sensors that unused in the water tank vid would be a great way to setup a high water alarm. Hmmm...u have the wheels turning now. Great vids btw. Learning a lot

[@ApresSail]

@@jims1128 Glad you like them!!

[@antonyslack3710]

Hi Jason, thanks for this. Have built your battery monitor and engine monitors, all looking great. When you did this project did you consider using one of these ultrasonic sensors DS1603L? It appears to be able to see through steel, so possibly a great solution for other non plastic tanks.

[@ApresSail]

Thanks, my tanks are all plastic and the sensors I used were pretty cheap, I didn’t find that part number in my search - good find!!

[@Somm_RJ]

Up to what thickness of a tank wall can this work?

[@ApresSail]

According to the datasheet (naylampmechatronics.com/img/cms/Datasheets/XKC%20Y25%20T12V.pdf) 12mm, but I would test it before doing a full deployment

[@user-jo7wk6qb8d]

What kind of glue can I use to attach these to the water tank ? I wan't to hot-glue the sensor to the tank but vibrations are going to make them fall off, duck tape is a good option but far from optimal, solvent based glues can damage the sensor I think since it's plastic too ! what do you recommend ?

[@ApresSail]

I used a simple epoxy syringe like this one: amzn.to/4b8CIAj

[@virginijuspetrauskas9930]

Thanks for the video. Great idea! Have you tried this with a black water tank? Does it work well? What about the viscosity of black water? I found the following description of the sensor: When the dynamic viscosity is less than 10 mPaS, it is measured normally. 10mPaS

[@ApresSail]

Thanks for the comment, I guess we will see, I installed them at the end of 2023 season (see the video - kzbin.info/www/bejne/b4HReaqboLCng80si=6CXSHJ4lJjdORKpX) but the only liquid in there was pink antifreeze. I think my tank is mostly liquid anyway, so it may not matter. I guess if you use the tank for only number2's then you may have an issue - great discussion!!

[@virginijuspetrauskas9930]

@@ApresSail Hi, thanks for the quick reply! I watched your video to the point where the 3M sticky pads were too thick. Have you tried removing the sensor cap and adjusting the sensitivity?

[@ApresSail]

@@virginijuspetrauskas9930 No, I didn't try that, instead I just used a thin layer of epoxy.

[@MarcWitteveen]

Would be cool to do it with a sensor returning a resistive value

[@ApresSail]

Do you mean a continual resistance change as it fills up or just a different resistance as the 5 or 3 sensors turn on? For the first - there is an external tape that you can apply that does this, but it is really expensive. For the second, I expect you could use a bunch of resistors, and possibly transistors to resolve a voltage that differed depending on how many sensors were giving 1s. Then you could use a single analogue pin on the ESP32.

[@MarcWitteveen]

@@ApresSail no, most tank sensors return a resistive value eg 240-30 ohm.

[@simonepitzalis3545]

Hello, Nice video! I have a simple question, wich glue I can use to fix a sensors at the tank? Thanks you for the answer, Simone

[@ApresSail]

I am planning on using 3M sticky pads, like the ones you get on GoPro mounts or use to attach a car rear view mirror to the windscreen - amzn.to/3P8D6Gv. make sure the tank is clean and free from oil/wax etc

[@jimhooper6204]

Jason, I loaded the program into my ESP32 but I don't get any connections to SignalK. What part I'm I missing to make the SignalK paths?

[@ApresSail]

did you connect the ESP32 to your network? if not you should find an SSID with its name for you to logon to and then attach it to your network. once on your network, it will automatically find your SignalK server and send a request for authorization. In SignalK, go to Security --> Access Requests. You have to be logged in!! hope this helps? it you have your ESP32 connected to a PC by USB, you should see the device trying to connect in the monitor window in visual studio code

[@jimhooper6204]

Thanks for the quick reply. You gave me enough info that I was able to figure out that I needed to uncomment the "set_wifi(SSID, Password)" line. Thanks for sharing such great software.@@ApresSail

[@ApresSail]

No problem, glad I could help!!

[@moore2522]

Just a side note: These sensors will not work on metal tanks.

[@ApresSail]

Thanks!!

[@neilhansen6803]

Hi Jason, I plan to take this solution and implement it on my boat sometime in April. All my bench tests went fine. But thinking about the installation it would be very useful to have some sort of indicator in the head itself of how full the tank is. For example an LED that goes yellow when 1/2 full and Red when full. Looking at the available commands I am not seeing anything that specifically references LED (like ESPHOME). Is it as simple as calling DigitalOuput and setting the pin too High?

[@ApresSail]

I think it would be as simple as commanding pins high, not sure exactly how to do that but it should be easy to work out. For green/amber/red you could use 3 LED’s or an RGB one and then use resistors or PWM to get the right levels on each channel

[@TakeingCrazyPills]

Love it - curious how your install went - I have a metal black water tank with no metering yet so I am curious to install something like this. I have a 1993 Hunter 35.5 called Dharma!

[@ApresSail]

I haven't installed mine yet, in fact, I recorded that video on Sunday night!! all weekend I was working on my engine monitor install, but that's another story... However, my tank is plastic. With a metal tank, it might be a little harder. The Datasheet that comes with the sensor suggests using a fitting to take it away from the metal tank or a separate tube up the side. I do wonder if the pump out hose could be used to check the level of the tank? as long as it wasn't reinforced with metal...

[@TakeingCrazyPills]

@@ApresSail I will be testing - my parts are arriving today - my fuel tank is plastic so perhaps if not blackwater I could mount to fuel?

[@htool843]

I tried the same, but the sensor wasn’t reluable due to watery film on the inside of the tank. Later learned the sensor sensitivity can be adjusted.

[@ApresSail]

@@htool843 good point, I may not fully glue them at the start, in case I need to adjust the sensitivity - Thanks!!

[@ApresSail]

@@TakeingCrazyPills probably, the write up says "It can detect liquid level of various toxic substances, acid, alkali and all kinds liquid in high pressure airtight container." you could always power one up and try it, you will see the red LED if it works - good luck!!

[@natalietonra]

Is it possible to use 12 of these sensors to monitor my printer ink cartridges with the board you're using? If not what would i need? I'd like to be alerted along with the light on the sensor to come on when my ink level drops to a set point which i hope to achieve by calibrating the sensor. I think you can tune/calibrate these sensors with a small screwdriver if you remove the plastic cap (bit with the label on) Maybe i could do without being alerted with software and just power all 12 sensors and just calibrate them so the LED comes on when the ink gets to a low level. Also, is this 'V' version you're using NPN or PNP? I suspect it's a NPN. Also does yours have the hidden calibrating screw behind the labelled cap on the sensor?

[@ApresSail]

yes, there is enough IO for 12 digital inputs, but no more. you can tune them, but I am unsure of the repeatability, if you are trying to use them from , say a top surface to a depth. The ones I have are normally low, but it is selectable by grounding the mode wire

[@adamwalter2573]

Any idea how to mount it to a solid vertical tank ? Made from plastic and temperatures outside range from 10-40C. Same with relative humidity. If I glue it (hot glue) it will surely fall off. Anyone made something "working" ?

[@ApresSail]

I haven't done mine yet but I was planning on using the same 3M tape you use for GoPro mounts. I have these stuck on my Ski helmet and they have been there for years - wet, frozen, hot, collisions, shock..... - amzn.to/3XPSWsu

[@adamwalter2573]

@@ApresSail Hey, thanks for this hint with this 3M tape. I even has a better (same?) solution with the "repair tape" you use for sticking car mirror. This should be dual side (glue) and transparent. However, my water tank is outside and prone to humidity (up to 100% RH) and temps 5-40C. Ask me in a month how it went on my side.

[@ApresSail]

​@@adamwalter2573 Good luck, I hope to get mine on soon, but it is a pain to get to and I like to sail during the sailing season and fix during the winter!! However, I cant test this without being able to fill the tank