DIY Water Level and Flowmeters using Blynk and Arduino Project - Everlanders hack the World!

[@davidklenk5253]

You make it look so simple. Projects like this are marvelous. Thank you.

[@Everlanders]

Thank you! 😊

[@virgilmcmayers4974]

The motorhome become a space ship, LoL... I like it! Traveling always helping to become more creative! And you are the proper indicator of it. Keep this spark warm on you!

[@SN-qu2gz]

I love that robot arm. I am a grown man and it still makes me giggle everytime you use it. Oh and the video was good too.

[@Everlanders]

I am a grown man and it still makes me giggle every time I use it!

[@jdaleske2]

I quite enjoy the thoroughness of your explanations! Thank you.

[@Everlanders]

Glad you like them!

[@abbv2x]

It's so awesome to see practical and well executed projects like yours and then to top it off, you graciously share it with us! Well done!

[@SkydivingKiwi]

Every time I google something about the sensors I got for my rig, I end up here. Epic stuff, thanks a lot! :)

[@LevityVans]

Love your videos! Every one I watch I feel more inspired to learn and create some really innovative environments. Thanks for all your hard work shooting video, editing and providing such great content!

[@Everlanders]

Thank you sir...

[@swaterman08]

Awesome! I am also a fan of reflector and the digital arm is a nice touch!

[@rups22]

This is so smart, ideal for retro fitting

[@alifgilani9611]

Man you have some mad skills! Pretty awesome!!!

[@MrTHEBRITINWA]

Always a mind blow watching your skills...Thanks

[@Everlanders]

I appreciate that, Thanks!

[@etiennegignac]

Awesome, I made it to the members list! I just bought a similar platform (2012 F550) inspired by Turtle Expedition, and that's how I discovered your channel. I'm an electrical engineer working in the aerospace world so the automation hits right home.I think I have watched all your videos in the lat couple of days... I will try to catch the next livestream since I do have a couple of questions on the rig itself. Mostly how you feel about your wheelbase compared to the longer versions. Keep up the good work. All the best from the Gatineau/Ottawa region.

[@Everlanders]

Welcome aboard! I'd love to chat about wheelbase on our next live stream, we have the 165" wheelbase, 84" Cab-to-Axle. For our needs we would not want to go an inch longer... The streets in small town Mexico are narrow and tight turning corners, and when off-roading we are already tapping the frame on high center obstacles... Much longer wheelbase would make both of these problems much harder to deal with. Also with a truck that new you will need to be careful about diesel fuel, DPF, DEF, in Central American countries, as I am sure you are aware. But in the end it is a very personal decision, how much interior space you require, if you want to leave the beaten path, if you want to head outside Canada and the USA, etc... We'll chat later...

[@CrankyCoder]

So awesome!! im always amazed on what you have been able to do on that truck!! soo awesome!

[@Everlanders]

You and me both!

[@BrokeOverLand]

I’m loving these tech videos.

[@kevinkidderphotographer]

Just stumbled across your channel. Great content!!! Thank you for sharing!

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

This is awesome! Someday when I have an RV travel trailer I would love to do stuff like this!

[@jp040759]

i LOVE YOUR POINTING PAW!!!!!

[@dawudihadidro1042]

Thank you for your sharing knowledge, Kind regard from INDONESIA 🙏

[@georgepederson5015]

I love the system it is something I would like to try and scale-up for the farm use in terms of water to the house

[@Everlanders]

Yes, would be very easy with the only difference being a larger flowmeter like this one: www.aliexpress.com/item/32892459728.html

[@georgepederson5015]

@@Everlanders yes for the going into the house but coming into the reservoir is a 4 inch pump so I will reduce that to a 2 inch and then connect 2 inch flow metre

[@bradleyjohnson452]

Such a cool project. I have a cabin that is fairly off grid. We use a water tank that is about 200' up the hill from the cabin. It would be nice to monitor water flow in and out of the tank wirelessly. At the tank I would have to do a small solar panel for usb power. Inside I would have the app and most likely a led status with flow and full indicators.

[@JockeSelin]

I have been toying with thee idea of using weight sensors to measure fluid levels, but this seems a lot more attainable. 😁👍🏻👍🏻 Thanks for another great vijeo.

[@Everlanders]

I looked into load cells for a project earlier in life, had problems with drift and temperature affecting the accuracy. In a mobile application, I would expect it to be harder because of the massive g-forces the load cells would see with bumps in the road, etc... Also, the load cells would be the only mounting point for whatever tank you use.

[@JockeSelin]

@@Everlanders Yeah, those are pretty much the reasons why I have paused that idea. I believe you can smooth out the readings in software, but I'm not really happy to hang hundreds of litres of fuel from the frame using load cells. It's probably OK, but it doesn't feel right. It would also be affected by, for example, dirt thrown up on a tank (not a problem inside with water tanks, on the other hand). I wasn't aware of temperature, and such affecting the reading. Project definitely paused now. Thanks!

[@tra757200]

What a cool system and a damn fine idea. While my “Almost Overlander” is a factory built Northern Lite camper on a Silverado 3500 HD-Duramax, I am definitely going to add flow sensors to my water system. I have a lot of work to do to get it customized to how I want it but implementing several of your ideas for systems in my “factory” rig just makes sense. I suppose that it would take more stuff like a pump, hoses, etc. and limit the way you refill if you were to build a “fill system” with flow sensors, but it would be cool. I really hate the pump type water system I have because of the noise the pump makes and the power it robs from my power store so I’m keen to do the air system for water similar to yours.

[@Everlanders]

Thanks for the kind words, I remember how terrible the pump noise was in our previous RVs, I went so far as to build an air-over-water pressure accumulator to limit how often the pump would run... But I love this pressurized system much better!

[@ochjoo77]

Cool idea to use the flow meters, I was just getting started with setting up my etape sensors but now I will add the flowmeters too, this way I can use the etape for fill-up detection and do the fine tune with the flow meters. Always cool stuff you come up with, your home automation is a big inspiration!

[@craigmckenzie8028]

Great video. Sounds good that you will be able to continue on your journey south soon. Take care

[@Everlanders]

Yes! Sadly we didn't expect the border to open so soon, so now I have too many projects on the go... But we should be able to start moving in the next week or so!

[@craigmckenzie8028]

Wow that is wonderful news. Good luck heading south.

[@garyamatthews1]

Super Tech Videos... Getting closer!

[@trevormaness2089]

little late to the part, but this is awesome, nice job with all of it

[@ShizzleMyChizzle]

Epic video!

[@ronfuller4193]

I also have flow meters on our camper water supply. As a retired building automation engineer I don't like missing even a few pulses which maybe your code does when you disable interrupts. The way I ended up doing it goes roughly as follows Interrupt routine If read_flag is true count=1 read_flag = false else count = count + 1 Return Main loop Blah Blah Disable interrupts Count_hold = count Read_flag = true Enable interrupts Process count_hold Blah Blah As always enjoyed your video

[@ronfuller4193]

First let's make what I sent last night more complete (ie correct) Main loop Blah Blah If read_flag is false Disable interrupts count_hold = count Read_flag = true Enable interrupts Process count_hold Blah Blah 2nd approach ,no disable interrupts Interrupt routine Count = count + 1 Return Main loop Blah Blah Previous_count = hold_count Hold_count = count Incremental_count = hold_count - previous_count Process incremental count Blah Blah Count_hold = count 3rd How about a 2nd tempory wemos that just counts pulses and does nothing else (ie no comms, no anything else) to see how many pulses actually happen per water canister or cannisters. Maybe this will find the missing water. Thanks again for your videos

[@Everlanders]

Hey Ron... I've tried everything I know to do, tapped all my programming friends and stumped the online forums... I'd be willing to put up a bounty on this if you think you have the coding/debugging skills to pull it off... Send me a message here if you're interested... everlanders.com/about-us/

[@charlesgomes9268]

@@Everlanders How did you go with micro managing the counters ? I'm wondering as I'm thinking of adding one of those flow meters on the output of my 1/2 3GPM (30 LPM) water pump for my LMTV build . The pulses on the 1/2 version are even more critical to high level precision as they carry more water per pulse.

[@Levi_Allen]

Awesome project. Hadn’t occurred to me to use a flow meter vs a tank meter. This is great. How does the quick connect on the flow meters work? Is that npt, threaded or? I might be better off finding one that is better ready to connect to 1/2 pex.

[@Everlanders]

The push to connect fittings on my flow meters simply have o-rings and little teeth on the inside, when you push the PEX style tubing in, the o-ring seals it up and the teeth grab tightly onto the tubing. It seems like all the larger flow meters have threaded connections, so you may need to use a PEX to NPT adapter. I am more than happy with 3/8 tubing, it helps us conserve water.

[@questioner1596]

This is the same system the ScanGauge uses to monitor fuel levels. I bought one when a fuel gauge on a family car failed and you just reset it every fill-up. The ScanGauge allows you to set the fuel tank size and calibrate your fuel consumption. It makes alot of sense, but I also wouldn't have thought to use the same principle for RV water levels!

[@offthebeatenpath9144]

A great mod. 👏👏👍👍

[@comndo95231]

Did I understand correct that the wemos modules do not need to seek out a remote server on the web to relay data?

[@Everlanders]

We utilize both the cloud-based Blynk servers as well as a local server running on one of our Raspberry Pis inside the truck... In this way, we have access to all of our remote controls and data when we are away from the truck, as well as in and around the truck when we are off-grid.

[@TheDiverJim]

Doings the same in my house. I don’t think you need the voltage dividing network. You can use the internal pullup resistor to 3.3v as the sensor input voltage is driven low on pulse.

[@Everlanders]

I measured 5 volts on the output... So put the divider to be on the safe side.

[@TheDiverJim]

@@Everlanders guess i will double check mine

[@cluek9780]

I’ve paralleled your system and look forward to this video. I’ve likewise found a bit of frustration detecting water supply levels, tho dunno if I have the skeelz for this (a non-programmer)......

[@Everlanders]

Link to my code is in the description...

[@ryanchristie5349]

The code stuff isn’t that hard once you get past the basics. Watch a few videos on writing arduino sketches and you’ll find that there aren’t THAT many basic parts to code, it’s how you tie everything together to get the computer to do your bidding. Then look at other people’s code and you can modify for your own evil purposes.

[@thomasbearden6841]

Have you thought of adding a second dual-float to the first container? You could use it to automatically reset your water level after you refill. And if you wanted to get really fancy, you could have it recalculate your ml/pulse on your flow meter every time it cycles through the first keg.

[@Everlanders]

Sure, you could do that... I don't have any more floats with me here in Mexico...

[@bushcraftbasics2036]

Very cool, just subscribed.

[@Everlanders]

Thanks for the sub!

[@HandyC]

I was thinking about what to do for mine when I build it as my current factory meter is just empty, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, full which is way too granular for my liking. My initial idea was to use something like a gas tank level sender, but then thought rust maybe an issue, so along the same design lines I was going to replace the variable resistor track and finger with magnets and reed switches which would allow me to pot the entire thing in tank. I do like the flow gauge idea but as you have found out, it can drift and does require regular resetting.. hmmm food for thought.. I can see you fill your kegs manually but if you didn't, would there be any extra advantage to having an filler neck flow gauge too to measure input., bit like a shunt, you need to measure both input and output to get an accurate reading.

[@Everlanders]

Well, in practice it's accurate within 1 liter so far... and when the floats are tripped it logs the value so that flow meter calibration factor can be adjusted or averaged.

[@AP-us2lc]

WOW! RV Hacker level #5

[@Everlanders]

How many levels are there?

[@bparkinson1234]

Great idea. Thanks

[@Car_reviews_now]

I FORGOT TO TELL YOU BUT I SAW YOU ON THE HIGHWAY LIKE A YEAR OR TWO AGO!!!!!!!!!!!

[@chrisb2239]

👀 Positive Comment. 😉 Brilliant!

[@Everlanders]

Boom!

[@TheGideonp1]

Positive and negative comments... Attempt #1 'I hate how much I enjoy watching these updates and improvements'

[@Everlanders]

Oooooo! A combo comment!!! Noice!

[@BQAggie2006]

Where do you get your D1 Mini's from? It looks like you're using the Pro's given the U.Fl antenna connector on them, and those are bit harder to find on Amazon.

[@Everlanders]

I have both, I get them directly from Wemos/Lolin. I rarely use Amazon because I've had so many problems with cheap clones (and their unwillingness to do anything about it). m.aliexpress.com/store/1331105

[@Harjinder.Australia]

I made a water flow meter and put it in my 4wd. I also have a pump and a solenoid valve connected to the same 12v line as the arduino uno. The pump and the solenoid are creating voltage spikes on the line when turned on/off and that makes the uno display garbage data. I am wondering if you had any such issues and how did you sort it out?

[@Everlanders]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyback_diode

[@sspence65]

Did your flow sensor come with BSPT threads? I need to convert to GHT.

[@Everlanders]

No, I ordered the push to connect 3/8 tubing style.

[@George_us]

Hey, Do you recall where you purchased the faucet for the drinking water? Thanks

[@Everlanders]

Home Depot, La Paz, Mexico, Isle 9

[@GlenBeer]

Great videos!! You mentioned it was raining a lot, have you considered collecting rain water?

[@Everlanders]

I designed our roof with a lip all the way around and thought to have a drain in each corner, but decided it wasn't worth the hassles.

[@CarryOnRTW]

Great video as usual. Regarding the random level fluctuations, could you be getting bounce on the interrupt lines for the flow meters? So each pulse might be generating multiple interrupts? I'm sure you've debugged this a lot already and your log timestamps would show consecutive pulses being ridiculously close together if this was the problem. Or knowing you you've probably got a USB scope/logic analyzer laying around your truck to luck at signals like this. You can debounce it in firmware but I don't see any debounce in the original code you linked to above. Basically take a timestamp when you receive an interrupt and compare it to the timestamp of the last one. If they are too close together, ignore it as its likely just jitter.

[@Everlanders]

Thanks, but no, It's not the hardware interrupts, I grounded those pins at the input and the results are the same. I added debug lines to each input pulse (and everywhere else) the loss happens when it looses connection to the server and reconnects. So there are no debug lines written... It's been a tough one to track down... community.blynk.cc/t/flow-meters-sporadically-log-flow-when-there-is-none-otherwise-works-perfectly/48204/21

[@bogdanhh]

What I didn't particularly understand is the level. Is this automatically calculated - would it be automatically calculated if you would have only one tank or does it need to be reset each time you fill the tank up? Thanks!

[@Everlanders]

I hit the reset button when I fill, further, the levels are adjusted at the 2 float switch levels.

[@filchaneco506]

sir how did you make a design with blynk? do you have a tutorial for it? thanks

[@Everlanders]

yes

[@filchaneco506]

@@Everlanders can i have the link for the video sir?

[@Everlanders]

@@filchaneco506 www.google.com/search?q=youtube.com+everlanders+blynk

[@oklahomaoverland]

Always cool to see your projects! Did you get the randomly disappearing water figured out?

[@Everlanders]

Nope

[@oklahomaoverland]

@@Everlanders Boo. Wish I had a clue.

[@myranepton2427]

Do you hold the values within the eprom incase you need to power off/reset the wemos, or is the blynk server holding the data. Thanks

[@Everlanders]

The local Blynk server holds the values through resets. However I'm migrating everything over to InfluxDB as Blynk has decided to abandon the users who paid for Blynk V1 in favor of a Subscription based V2. It doesn't affect me and our local server, but I'm moving away from it on principal.

[@warrenscorner]

Love your tech! I don’t recall a video showing how you setup a network. You flashed some links for a couple of seconds but I don’t like to stop the video I’m watching and then go off to another which leads me to another and then I lost the original video. Sorry for the negative rant. I’m looking at using some ESP32-Cam modules and a raspberry pi with Node-RED. Is the Wimos easier than ESP32? Is Blynk easier than node red? Thank you for the awesome tech videos.

[@Everlanders]

The Network video is here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/haazfZeNpN-Dp9U It's quite old already, but largely the same setup we're running today.

[@sporktar]

How accurate have the flow meters been for tracking the water supply? The floats in the last bottle are a clever failover to correct any inaccuracies when you're running low, i may have to steal that idea for myself.

[@Everlanders]

+/- 1% so far...

[@djlyon117]

I love all of your videos. I’ve got a 20yr old motorhome thats 42’ long. I’d like to integrate some of your projects into it. Can you connect to your rig via cellular data or does it have to be connected to WiFi?

[@Everlanders]

We have a LTE router built-in that provides us with a local WiFi hotspot.

[@djlyon117]

Everlanders I thought you did from a previous video. Can you keep an eye on things if you were to go to town or back to Canada?

[@Everlanders]

Indeed we can!

[@djlyon117]

Everlanders that’s great. I’d like to be able to keep an eye on temperatures and voltages. We have it parked where there isn’t any power. Anyway, keep the videos coming. Even the “boring” ones lol. I enjoy them all and some of them several times. You always sound like one of the guys just bs-ing as you cover some pretty technical stuff.

[@xxstormuxx]

How did.ypu do that water icon (💧) showing on blynk app?

[@Everlanders]

The same way you got it into this comment! 😃 Just type it with your Emoji Keyboard 💦

[@xxstormuxx]

@@Everlanders thanks

[@jeffcampsall5435]

How do you power all of your individual wemos boards?

[@Everlanders]

I just leach the nearest 5v rail

[@jeffcampsall5435]

@@Everlanders aren’t they 3.3 v boards ?

[@Everlanders]

Yup, but they have a 5 to 3.3 regulator onboard, so I use that...

[@jeffcampsall5435]

@@Everlanders you are my new GEEK mentor 👍 and Canadian (eh) 😉

[@davidhopkins]

Very interesting. Thank you. I don’t understand where the data goes from the arduino. What app are you using to display the data? I didn’t catch the name of the arduino you are using that has wifi built in. Wemouse?

[@Everlanders]

Wemos D1 Mini and Blynk

[@davidhopkins]

@@Everlanders got it. The big problem with Blynk is (I think) you need to be connected to the internet. I take it your Wemos must be connected, not just your phone. Is that an issue for you? It will be for me. I’m trying to find a solution that can work over Bluetooth using an esp32. I should be able to set up a very rudimentary data display. Shame if I can’t use Blynk.

[@Everlanders]

No, just run the local Blynk server.

[@Tom111060]

... this is top notch ... even comprehendable for dummies like me ... but did I miss out this cool looking app? (... it looks like the brain of your automation ... well - the assistant to the "big one" ...)

[@Everlanders]

Blynk?

[@Tom111060]

@@Everlanders aaah ... saw it in the fridge cooler video ... Thanks ... Stay safe.

[@davidhopkins]

I’m considering this project for my boat. Appreciate it. How accurate is the flow meter? Have you adjusted the number of litres per hall sensor click based on real world usage? Are there certain types of water use that make the sensor less accurate? I won’t be able to include float switches.

[@Everlanders]

I've since adding an averaging loop that when the top floor is tripped, the number of pulses counted so far is recorded and added to the list to be averaged. In this way I can get within 50ml per fill-up of the tank.

[@davidhopkins]

@@Everlanders interesting. If I follow you, it sounds like you could take that number from the top floor and just rewrite the code with that number. I’m guessing that number is a constant. My hall sensor is on order. I’m eager to see how consistent the sensor is. It will be so nice to know how much water I have left because that is currently my limiting resource when I am anchored. Thank you.

[@stingy49]

Ever get the random level jumps fixed?

[@Everlanders]

nope

[@stingy49]

@@Everlanders Dang

[@thevabhas7225]

Sir it's online anywhere.. or WiFi only..

[@Everlanders]

Anywhere using our Local Blynk server.

[@sreckosreckovic1851]

😀

[@ayavilevich]

might not be a good idea to use serial.print inside an interrupt handler.

[@Cptnbond]

Hi there, great episode. I joined tier 1 after this, however I don't understand how to get access to your "member only" content on everlander.com yet, can you help?

[@Everlanders]

everlanders.com/members-password/ (But the members only section is for Tier 2 and up...)

[@pesomistic7656]

this was a great video here is my negative comment > that terminator hand doesn't match the beard!

[@Everlanders]

Ahhhhh, ya got me!

[@Jagendra_patel]

Project code is password protected, How can get password ?

[@Everlanders]

everlanders.com/members-password/

[@fachromiez]

So.? DIY where is the code or schematic?

[@Everlanders]

On the website.

[@fachromiez]

I think the project you made is better than the one on the website. can i know the code

[@Everlanders]

everlanders.com/2020/09/23/measuring-water-levels-using-flowmeters/

[@fachromiez]

@@Everlanders password protected 🥲

[@johaoosthuizen941]

does it work on new blank app??@@Everlanders

[@swaterman08]

I left a Positive comment earlier, here is my negative one. We need to find a way to dedicate and let the world know we miss the Hyneman

[@Everlanders]

Criticism taken, we all need a little more Hyne!

[@RoboRrrr]

Hi, does anyone know what the password is?

[@Everlanders]

I sure do... everlanders.com/members-password/

[@RoboRrrr]

Thanks, perfect project

[@Harjinder.Australia]

I made a water flow meter and put it in my 4wd. I also have a pump and a solenoid valve connected to the same 12v line as the arduino uno. The pump and the solenoid are creating voltage spikes on the line when turned on/off and that makes the uno display garbage data. I am wondering if you had any such issues and how did you sort it out?

[@Everlanders]

Obviously if you have back EMF spikes coming off that motor it's going to completely screw everything up, you need to learn about isolated power supplies.