Hi,
I have some open white plastic tubs with carnivorous plants on my balcony, and I need to monitor the water level in them (photo attached):
![Water Level Sensing for outdoor plastic water tubs? 2358391-0](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=438669.0;attach=2358393;image)
I'm trying to keep the water level in them >= 30mm if possible. (At first, it will just be for alerting - later on, I'm going to try to link it to a drip irrigation and/or misting system)
This is an an exposed outdoor balcony - I can have a waterproof control box somewhere, with a Raspberry Pi/Arduino/NUC, but it may be some distance (e.g. 1.0 - 3.0 meters) to where the sensors are.
I'm looking at a few different types of water level sensors, and confused as to which would be best here:
Firstly, I'm not sure which of these would do best at these low water levels (e.g. 0mm up to 50mm).
Secondly, I'm not sure which of these will do best outdoors, exposed to the rain, UV, and possibly a bit of dirt?
Thirdly - although this may be surmountable - is the larger distances between the sensors and the waterproof control box.
The Grove sensor above looks pretty good - however, it's I2C - so I'm guessing I might hit some kind of distance limitations? I was thinking I could use the
Qwiic Differential I2C boards to try to extend the distance? (But then I also need to figure out a way to waterproof those boards, and the both the JST-SH and RJ45 connectors, since it will all be outdoors).
Modbus (RS485) might be better for the distances - however, most of the Modbus sensors are quite expensive (e.g. > USD 100 per sensor), and seem more designed for every larger tanks full of petrol, oil, or other harsh chemicals (i.e. they're over-engineered for just water - and also I assume for very large volumes, and so may not do well at 30mm of water in a small plastic tub).
What do you guys think would be a good solution here?
Thanks,
Victor