Cheap vs Expensive Wireless Water Level Monitors Unboxing (Rain Harvesting & Cisterns)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 เม.ย. 2019
- Book used to design our water system: bit.ly/2r2eRvb
All of our water system videos: • Stupid-Easy OFF GRID W...
Click “Show More” for monitors in this video.
Monitor #1 (Monitors 4 Less): amzn.to/2WeLG8I
Monitor #2 (Tekelek): bit.ly/2ITwVoK
Monitor #3 (Tekelek): amzn.to/2GUSPWw
Monitor #4 (AQUATEL): bit.ly/2PBUmDA
Monitor #5 (Smart Water): bit.ly/2GNLabr
WHO WE ARE
In 2015 we quit our lives in the city to buy bare land in the country and build a timber frame home from scratch with our bare hands, debt-free, with no prior experience. It’s been a wild ride of ups, downs, highs, lows, rain and rainbows, but we haven’t lost sight of our goals and have gotten further in three years than we thought we’d get in ten. Join us as we build our house, develop our rural property, practice traditional skills such as gardening and food preservation and go to even greater heights (literally) of exploring the world through aviation as a new private pilot!
VIDEOS YOU MAY ENJOY
Young couple builds their own dream home: bit.ly/2zvq9yp
The big reveal of our house plans: bit.ly/2OpTPm1
The big timber frame raising: bit.ly/2F5Xrua
The day we got our sawmill: bit.ly/2P9AQS1
How we made $1,000 in one day milling lumber: bit.ly/2P8Muwm
Why we built a hot tub before a house: bit.ly/2Ff605I
We drilled a well & you’ll never believe what happened: amzn.to/2PzIbqW
POPULAR PLAYLISTS
Chronological order: bit.ly/2kGUf8E
House build from beginning: bit.ly/2SRTQCX
Foundation of home: bit.ly/2zuoSrr
ICF basement / garage: bit.ly/2ztLZCn
Timber frame workshop: bit.ly/2OsU67E
Structural insulated panel installation: bit.ly/2Qr0U7X
Metal roof installation: bit.ly/2AOsqGQ
Building a debt-free home strategy: bit.ly/2RACcBX
Aviation: bit.ly/2RBlkuT
Gardening / food preserving: bit.ly/2Ff5PY6
FOLLOW US REAL-TIME ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Editing video takes time, ya’ll, and we have a house to build! For our most up-do-date progress follow us on social media.
Instagram: bit.ly/2D6DErZ
Facebook: bit.ly/2zwL2tj
ENJOY THIS VIDEO? SUPPORT US WITHOUT PAYING A DIME!
It takes us 40+ hours a week to document our journey on both our blog and our TH-cam channel. If you enjoy watching our videos and want to help us to produce more of them, learn how you can help us without spending a dime! purelivingforlife.com/support/
SOME FAVORITE TOOLS & GEAR
Jesse’s pocket knife: amzn.to/2zuur9g
Jesse’s pocket flash light: amzn.to/2KUVsYT
Favorite LED portable cordless work light: amzn.to/2Qhd3Qt
Favorite no-spill fuel pump: amzn.to/2Dq95OV
Favorite BBQ sauce: amzn.to/2PEZlGa
Jesse’s work shoes: amzn.to/2qwF0Vk
Jesse’s work jacket: amzn.to/2E0OMYF
Jesse’s casual jacket: amzn.to/2BB8kjM
Jesse’s waterproof / insulated boots: amzn.to/2FIzyJs
Alyssa’s pocket knife: amzn.to/2PG9wdt
Alyssa’s work boots: amzn.to/2qwF4V4
Alyssa’s work leggings: amzn.to/2qOnSdR
Alyssa’s work overalls: amzn.to/2ADtrA8
Alyssa’s fleece-lined work pants: amzn.to/2PWv5Hz
Alyssa’s thermal top: amzn.to/2KAgdce
Alyssa’s thermal bottoms: amzn.to/2zvQaOS
Alyssa’s messy bun beanie: amzn.to/2QtFSp5
Alyssa’s scarf (matches messy bun beanie): amzn.to/2QR9S1E
Alyssa’s waterproof / insulated boots: amzn.to/2DZIisN
Favorite book on timber framing for beginners: amzn.to/2yR0xg0
rain water, rain barrel, water level gauge, cistern level gauge, water level indicator, water level monitor, wireless water level monitor, wireless water monitor, tank level indicator, rainwater tank gauge - บันเทิง
I'm going blind and my hearing is improving, at 15:38 You slipped and said you're having twins, Congratulations
I had a large amount of information typed out about how your dogging these devices and asking for them to perform tasks that you might need on the space shuttle, but not on your property there. You need something that will tell you if your tank is full, 3/4 full, 1/2 full, 1/4 full, etc. You don’t need to know how much water was used 9 months ago on a Tuesday, who cares. You have a well, for some reason you aren’t hooking it up straight to the water purifier and then back to the tank so you have unlimited water. Your playing around with garden hoses, having to run them in and out of your garage to possibly fill your tank. Pick one, take the monitor into the house, the sensor up the hill, if you have a connection, great, install it and use it.
Having installed similar systems there are some things to consider. ultra sonic will not read or read correctly if the water is turbulent, water is dumping in from the top creating waves, or something else is causing waves. To correct or compensate for this you can use a vertical pipe to create a smooth surface. Most recommend 4 inch or larger but 3 inch sometimes works. A hole drilled at the top is needed so the water levels inside and outside of the pipe can equalize. The bottom of the pipe is recommended to be 3 to 6 inches above the bottom of the tank. You can also do this for a round tank if you have a flat surface or pipe fitting for mounting. These were recommendations from the MFG for our conditions.
I love you guys but i couldn't fathom sitting thru this one guys
When Are you going to start on the Inside Upstairs Framing? That's what I want to see, ya finish the interior...
Sorry... 2:59 "heating oil" IS a flammable liquid, placard 1993...
Drill a hole on the top lids. add a 1/2 "X 1 ft. pvc on the top lid hole. add a rubber seal on top of the pvc. a wood dowel with a foam float inserted in the pvc pipe. Paint lines on the stick.
My old school system has wires. A pair of Flygt float switches. Turns on a light when the tank is empty, turns on a light when the tank is full. Originally meant to control the pump, on and off, then be changed to a Milltronics level sensor. So easy for me to flip a switch once in a while that the upgrades never happened. Those products were chosen because they are the primary level sensors in the twenty something water treatment plants I operated. Reliable. Small towns and big cities. Everything was Flygt or Milltronics for level sensing.
You have pipes in the tank. A float switch isn't a big deal.
Jessee, you are gonna be a great dad, but you're gonna drive the kid crazy with the way you explain things... there's gonna be a lot of eye rolling and sighing, accompanied by "oh boy, dad is at it again". :D
Very interesting how this turns out... Thanks Jesse! 👍😁
"...let's listen for the ultrasonic..."
You don't want to be using treated water from the tanks for the garden. It's expensive because you did the softening and anything else to the water. It is not good for the plants with the higher salt content. You should pull direct water of the water line before you treat it for your plants. This might require another storage tank above the garden and a pressure tank or auxiliary pump to feed your bushes. Keep the treated water for in the house and maybe washing the vehicles to reduce water spotting.
Can't wait for install video :)
First a Wranglerstar video and then this, Awsome!
Missing you working on the house ! And the cat in the videos is a must . All though I enjoy every video ...
I think you said you were sending soft water to your tank (from well to water softener to tank). If that's the case you don't want to use soft water in your garden. First - soft water will kill the plants. Second - it's a waste of soft water. Just water your garden from the well.
WOW, that was great, thanks for the info, I think you are with looking every month👍👍👍👍👍
@5:45, if you had (8) 55 gallon barrels, surely they are all connected to each other such that the level in one is the level in them all right? right?
Did you pay for all of them?
You can get extension cables for those wifi antennas. Easier to get them in line of sight.
My wife or I just turns the lid a 1/4 turn, comes right off. After taking a quick look. We go through the same boring process, but in reverse. The best part about this video is it made me think of a song I haven't thought of in years. So thanks for that. Oh, the song. Your in luck it's on Utube, it's received over 5 million hits. Give it a listen. (Zager and Evans - In The Year 2525). PS @ 2:30 it says it all. LMAO
If you're using 8 smaller containers for rainwater harvest, just connect them together and the water level will always equalize between them so you still only need 1 sensor.
If you want it to work, stick to wired units. Like at home with your internet network, use a ethernetcable if you can and only if there are no other option use wireless. I would be happy to put in a days work to have a wired water tank level system and then forget about it and always work and don't have to deal with (wireless) connection problems and changing batteries. I think you already put wires in the trench, so the hard part is already done. Believe me, you do not want to second guess the system and losing trust in it, resulting in not using it.
You geeked out too much for me on this one.
Why complicate everything? A simple float switch could keep water in your tanks. You set the empty/fill parameters when you install the switch. One and done at less than 25 dollars.
On any double A batteries, I would buy the rechargeable ones because they don’t leak like normal batteries when they get old, been using mine for over three years. The one with the 6V battery I would go with a few 18650’s with a device to control the voltage going to it.
Didnt realise there was soo much involved in being a homesteader!!! On TV the other day "The Homestead Rescue", team the Raineys, were in "North IDAHO" where a trucker & his wife decided to buy land Surrounded by trees and had they were afraid the trees would catch fire & burn down theyre house, Soo NORTH Idaho has Fire & Flood worries, but where you are in Idaho you dont!, you are lucky.
Great video, *head spins*. I'll be watching for the updates! I dont know if any exist but maybe poximity switch type mounted on a pole inside the tanks?
Makes me wonder that if you use the others that are done contactless if the signals sent to be sensed for level reading will confuse the other units. Cause otherwise you would have to really spread out the units to avoid cross confusion.
I can really recommend the pressure sensor system. It will be way more reliable than the ultrasonic ones. I have a lot of experience with measuring water levels in my well. I had a lot of problems with the ultrasonic sensors but the pressure sensor worked right away and was also more reliable and accurate.
"non flammable liquid like heating oil" LOLOLOL
well, best I could come up with, is could use this equipment to determine water levels which is good, do they determine how clean the water is? no so more dollars for a different system to check the quality of water? How much for a system that can do both, check water levels, and cleanliness of water? I think advancements will come over time as water becomes more of a priority. Good video though, thanks.
I was just wondering if you ever figured out that the table would be acting as the liquid level while you were testing your first monitor so if you told it the depth was 6ft would holding it a foot above the table would measure roughly 5ft left
You are making it way too complicated. Just bury a line into the house, hook it to a
pressure tank, and wire it to a pressure switch and relay. I've lived in rural Iowa since
1976 and that's how my system works. Keep the cistern for emergencies.
Put in a clear tube at the house that matches the height of the tank and just look at the tube! (JK!)
tekelek made air conditioners here in adelaide at one point and had merged with tytronics about 15 years ago but i don't know what they have done since as i got out of electronics back then
If the first sensor is ultrasonic, it is probably measuring more of the volume of (ultra)sound reverberation in a given container. You would have to stick it in the neck of a vase or closed container to test it more accurately. I suspect you wouldn't want any free standing pieces that could vibrate inside the tank and likewise no foam or sponges.
Glad you're finally getting a handle on the cistern liquid levels. Ultrasonic level transmitters can be quirky. Based upon your tank dimensions, you can make a simple Excel spreadsheet which will give you a table of inches of tank depth vs gallons.
It was reading from the floor not off the table on the 1st unit. that is why it was saying 5 foot. Check the Cheap one off the floor not the table. I think you will find it reads just fine.
heating oil is flammable
Was the tree on the top of the hill bent like that when you moved in if so keep an eye out for large foot prints and big hand prints on the car windows
All I can do is give a thumb up....watched all of the video but didn't understand much...still a good video. 😀
"can be used for any non flammable liquid, fuel oil for example" ... must be a cold house heating with non flammable fuel oil.
Dude, this could have been done so much easier and simpler!
You have a pipe from your cistern to your house. Put a pressure gage, with fine marking, on it, fill your tanks and boom. There is full. Mark it with a magic marker.
You have the height of your tanks. 3.5 foot tall, 4’ tall, whatever. Take your tank height, in inches, and times by 0.0361. Minus that from your magic marker, and there is your empty.
With commercial sonic level sensors you can see the sound impinge upon the water. Try holding them over a glass of water maybe.
The one with the solar panel may be a problem for you, how much shade does your tank area get?
As far as putting something in the tank, you and Alyssa were in it, did you shock your boots and tools with chlorine? When we put floats in large municipal tanks they were put in a very strong bleach/water solution for about 30 minutes to shock them before they got to go near the tank. Did the same thing to the boots we wore when working off the ladder in the tank.
See if the tank manufacture has a lookup table for your tanks, this will give the gallons in the tank by the level of the water.
Since you are a DIY couple look at Arunino systems they are WiFi and the sensors are cheap. You can program anything you want to monitor.
I guess I'm more of the DIY crowd in that I'd buy a Raspberry Pi and build something with sensors to do wireless to the house and then potentially over the internet.
You found every type of measurement system you could "fathom" - was that pun intentional?
Wow! Hope u got it figured out!👍😎🇨🇱
The TS FT002 is cheap and does a pretty good job. Our Sender unit shit itself after I went to change the batteries which failed post 12 months.The plastic became brittle and the holder for the batteries just fell apart, lucky for me it's cheap so I purchased another. Set it up and now I can have two monitors (The old one I kept) with the new single sender unit. The only issue with this unit is the destructions....they are bloody woeful! Only to be used as toilet paper because they don't do anything else! PS negative with the curved tank...mine is round and it measures fine I have mine off set to one side about 600mm fro the edge, measures fine.
i think a good monitor is just an accurate pressure gage. if you have all the taps off in the house, the pressure will be higher (not by much) if the tank is full. this can be in your house
"She JUST had the baby and is already working!" was my first thought before I realized it was old footage. Nice one.
have you considered using a toilet tank float valve to keep it full?
Wait....are you guys having twins?!?! You said "My kids will be 10 years old by then and they can check the cistern levels."
Sorry. Just speculating :D
i would opt for a float switch ...as you use water it will fill tanks up,if your that concerned then any of those products will tell you how empty or full your tank/s are ,as for litres or gallons it doesn't matter ,its how much water you have ,you already know your tanks are 200/0 gals or more...i've personally have yet to see any that give actual fluids capacity ...and tbf i dont think theres any out there....remember don't complicate the simple....lift lid see how much water or use a stick with lines of measurement... or send a small boy up and check it for you ...
It is so funny. Regular posters would be hiding their appliances. In your videos it is proof you have moved into a home with full facilities :-) Washing machine, dryer, fridge/freezer... good to see.
ah yes, the "curved tank" (A cylinder laying on its side). The Empty, Full, and 50% marks will be accurate, but not the points in between. Unfortunately, the tank will appear to empty the fastest when it is first full, or close to empty.
Besides cleaning, you need to define what do you want. An automatic subterranean pump starter to keep cisterns full most of the time? or a manual control with some kind of alarm? Same question to fill upper tanks ( if you have those, at ceiling level). If you want, i can send you some schematics about automation systems and elements to drive pumps.
Thank you for the frequent usage of metric for your international viewers :D
just a thought. Radio signals (wireless is a radio signal) don't always react that close to each other. Put them at least 20 feet from each other and see what happens. That said, I have a electronic weather station that measures everything. After 5 years of use, two of the functions no longer work. Humidity level went out first. The second, temperature is not always accurate. Asian beetles got into it last year and slimed some of the sensors.
Wow! I think I caught that, did you mea to say that? :)
Maybe you could do a rainwater catch for the garden? You do have a water tank. You have a very large metal roof?
Any thoughts?
Yes, put the tank on the hill behind the house so that it has some head to flow to the garden.
If using ultrasonic, you want to install it into a focus tube. That will stabilize the water level, and provide more reliable readings. It’s also sensing liquid not a solid so distance from a table is not going to be the same as distance to a liquid.
The high level of Physics and Mathematics determines volume in your tanks with the barrel with ribs and funny shapes. It isn't a can shape or a ball shape. Having a remote calculate that is over expectations sorry to say. It is much like you calculating the square inches of land you have with and without trees... Shoot the sensor off the wall - easier to get 10 feet or less. Gives more dynamic change for urgent alerts. Some of this might bluetooth and the long range is segbe or another comm link. Antenna length is bandwidth
I'm thinking that the systems with the coax connected antenna, that you could run a coax cable up a tree to achieve line of sight for the antenna.
Put a piece of electrical conduit onto a float, and run it through the lid Low tek, battery free and dependable just look out the window. for night reading mode wrap reflective tape at 1/2 way and 1/4 marks shine torch, count marks. pretty easy also if your a smart guy you could put a float switch in your tank to auto swich your bore pump on, if it goes mote than half way
Some ultrasonic could give fuse readings when condensation build up under sensors. Go for a pressure sensors type of you can get one
Is it not seeing the wood table and going to the floor of your basement?
If you want to be frustrated go with wireless technology. If you want to know how much water is in your cisterns use multiple floats and copper conductors, the way a municipal water system would.
Just a thought on the external antennas... the antennas can be moved away from the units and an extension cable can be used between the 2 units. Other styles of antennas may be available to extend the range between the tank and house units.
I would go with the $60 one and just put the display in view of my security camera so I could view it on my phone.
Toilet tank float on the end of the well feed. A cattle water tank float valve would do it too.
A toilet system would work for me😅
Buy an Arduino and build your own thing
Cant wait to find out which one works for you Jesse
Bait and switch? Where's the rain water harvesting? Not even a mention!
The Smart Water system allows for mounting the transmitter module in a location that gets a better signal to the lower part of your property. This keeps critters away from the unit.
HEY JESSE AND ALYSSA, NOW THAT WAS INTERESTING. I HAVE TO ADMIT THAT ABOUT HALF WAY THROUGH I DID FALL ASLEEP BUT IT WAS 23:00 AT NIGHT. WHEN I WOKE UP I DID GO BACK AND LISTEN TO THE PART THAT I MISSED.
JESSE, I THINK YOU SHOULD DO COMMERCIALS FOR A LIVING. YOU ARE VERY GOOD AT EXPLAINING THINGS AND THE PEOPLE THAT MAKE THIS AND OTHER ITEMS THAT YOU COULD USE IN SITUATIONS LIKE YOURS SHOULD HAVE YOU AT LEAST DO TRIAL VIDEOS FOR THEIR PRODUCTS. INFACT, BOTH YOU AND ALYSSA ARE BOTH VERY GOOD AT EXPLAINING THINGS. YOU GUYS ARE BOTH VERY COMFORTABLE IN FRONT OF A CAMERA AND THAT MAKES IT A PLEASURE TO WATCH YOUR VIDEOS.
LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING THE RESULTS OF THE WATER SENSORS OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS.
I unscrew the fill cap and put my 10 ft piece of wood trim which I marked every foot. When I’m down to around 15 inches, I call the hauler for water. Pretty simple.....
that might be tough in the middle of a multi day Idaho bilzzard
Jrbpa 57, Your post inspired me and there is already 149 comments. So I didn't want you to miss mine, thanks.
My wife or I just turns the lid a 1/4 turn, comes right off. After taking a quick look. We go through the same boring process, but in reverse. The best part about this video is it made me think of a song I haven't thought of in years. So thanks for that. Oh, the song. Your in luck it's on Utube, it's received over 5 million hits. Give it a listen. (Zager and Evans - In The Year 2525). PS @ 2:30 it says it all.
Or they could check how Dorthy Ainsworth did it on her cistern, i think she used a bucket and lid, a round pole with a flag on it and a sleeve in the roof of the cistern. When the flag is low she needs water and she can tell from about 300' away. Saw it in backwoods home magazine several years ago.
Yes, but what about Bugaboo? What does she think 🤔?
Your test methodology is sketchy. A better test would be to fix the sender unit, in a fixed position, and move the "bottom" closer or farther away.
There could be algorithms that ignore movement of the sensor unit itself.
Ultrasound works through measuring the time difference of the original and the reflected pulse. The difference is then calculated into depth measurement which can be used to calculate volume and other parameters.
Do you have a water meter going into the house? Lots of off grid folks like to know their consumption rates.
Love your guys videos! Alyssa, love your taste in music!
Given that your basement is dug into the hillside I think you'll be lucky if any of the receivers will pick up a signal from the sensor unit.... I may be wrong.
You said that your kids would be ten by the time the battery runs out. Does this mean that you are having twins, triplets, quads, quintuplets?
Jessie that most expensive unit, A device that has a removeable antenna , should not be powered up unless you have the antenna connected, check the instructions to see what it says.
one DIY tip: you can convert any battery powered system to wall-powered by buying an inexpensive transformer and soldering the output wires to the battery contact pads. It is just a matter of buying a transformer of the correct voltage and sufficient amperage.
I really liked your "shame on you Dewalt" video, maybe once you test the monitors you can do another 'shame" video on the worst one based on what stated capabilities were and actual performance?
Hook house up to well...
Put rain collection on cisterns....
Water garden with cisterns....
No monitoring required...
Maintenance free life!!!!!
Very interesting thank you.
Sending prayers and love ❤️ you all four are amazing and thank you so much for being you!
It's not specific gravity that last sensor measures, since the density of the fluid isn't the thing that's changing. It's a straight up pressure sensor that's measuring the pressure or weight of water above it.
Thank God somebody picked up on that. Unless Idaho has some kind of unique water that has variable specific gravity based on depth!
Ultra sonic means you can't hear it lol and you probably should have used a bucket of water for you tests.
You coulda gone lo-tech with a float, a pole in a hole, and a flag on top.
Basic but awesome stuff. I like your un-boxing reviews. As an Engineer, I look forward to your tests and review.
WHEN you going to take use flying dad?? Hehhee Love it guys. God Bless..
Thanks but I wonder why they all must have a dedicated display? Why not simply just a transmit sensor that uses your phone as a display?
Just remember to clean those tanks.. Those will help you to keep your water cleaning system working a longer time, but remember to clean tanks once or twice a year, and you´ll be happier! :-)
Congrats.
Not that you read comments, but why in the world are you insisting on using those tanks when you have a well? A pressure tank would be cheaper all the way around....
because the cisterns generate free, gravity based water pressure. Using the well would require a pump to go off every time they turned on the water for anything.
Could be you need to test in water.
Aww the "kids" can change the batteries. ❤
Use the antenna of the last one on the second to last one should get the range your looking for or find a radioshack with a uhf antenna and use a SMA to UHF adapter
well that only makes sense if you know the frequency which is used, bigger antennas only make sense until λ/2, so half the wafe length. A lot can be gained by just grounding the systems via a groundplaine, but yes it would probably help a lot. If you also want an outdoor antenna at the house (probably overkill) but a setup like the following could work:
SMA to UFL Adapter:
www.aliexpress.com/item/Mini-PCI-U-FL-to-SMA-Female-Connector-Antenna-WiFi-1-13-Pigtail-Cable-IPX-to/32807394006.html
Antenna cable:
www.aliexpress.com/item/LMR195-Cable-1m-SMA-Female-Male-to-N-Male-Plug-RF-Coaxial-Extension-Jumper-Cable-LMR195/32798955930.html
Antenna:
www.aliexpress.com/item/Multi-band-806-960-1710-2700MHz-Omnidirectional-Fiberglass-Antenna-N-Female-gsm-3g-dcs-repeater-antenna/1471004901.html
Any old GSM/800 Mhz antenna will work just be carefull when buying them the connectors are a little bit confusing.
First device: replace batteries annually - or with other words you might just as well inspect the tank/fill level yourself.
Device 2: bare bones, wall display not ideal
Device3 : set up seems simple enough. Plenty of useful features. Like the USB adapter
Device4 : it’s the basic sensor and display with the intention of expanding it. As in, got another tank, purchase this expansion pack
Device5 : great accuracy, good display and versatility. Overpriced
Preliminary conclusion:
Device # 3 is the winner but only because it’s much better then #2 at just 20 bucks more. But even # 2 is overpriced.
In this day and age of $300 iPads, any company trying to sell you their own display is just making money for an inferior product.
You have two options
- simple measurement of fill level, do the math yourself and put a cheat sheet next to the monitor
- go for a sophisticated model but only the ones using an app on your smart device.
Keeping actively (your own spreadsheet) track of consumption (water/power/fuel) will give you a much different sense of your habits.
Ideally you want to do a fall and spring inspection and top off of your tank anyway. I don’t think you need a monitor for that.