this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2026
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homeassistant

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Waterwell sensor (lemmy.world)
submitted 4 days ago by redlemace@lemmy.world to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world
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For quite a while I had been longing to measure the waterlevel in my well.

The first attempt with a HC-SR04 failed due to distance (4 meter deep well) and problems of how to mount it in the well. Then I came across the JSN-SR04 sensor. It's all running on an esp2866 (I found it to have better wifi than the esp32). Several parts re-used from old projects. Added small solar panel to keep it all self contained. Data is sent to homeassistant (mqtt) and a bit of log/debug data to syslog.

Due to circumstances had it been lying on my desk quite a while, but finally, today I was able to install it!
I screwed a drainpipe cap to the lid of the well and mounted the sensor in another. A simple pipe connector in between works like a charm.

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[–] Starfighter@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I assume you've used ESPHome for the firmware?

Did you have to mess around with deep sleep or is the battery + solar combo so overkill that it doesn't matter?

Anyways very cool project. Thanks for sharing

[–] redlemace@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I use deep-sleep. At the moment it measures 3x in the hour. The esp however is on a pcb with connectors. The rst-d0 link is on the pcb as is the us module (also connectors) and the power (also connector) I can just pull the esp from the socket to re-program.

[–] JustEnoughDucks@slrpnk.net 3 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Awesome! Very cool. I am planning to do something similar with our 10kL tank, luckily not as deep and I can run PoE to it for full wired.

How do you use the well level data? It is obviously using groundwater and isn't a tank, but is there a sort of guideline to go by to know if you can use a lot or a little?

[–] whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] JustEnoughDucks@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 days ago

That is indeed very interesting. I didn't think of a pressure transducer, thanks for sharing! Waterproof ultrasonic sensors are cheap enough that I think I will put both in and see how they differ over time.

[–] redlemace@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

I register it as centemeters above the outlet. That will tell enough. Over time you'll get a feeling for it of how much you use i guess. (It's mainly to predict if my wife can refresh water for her ducks)