Articles

1. LoRa remote water tank level and pump controller: intro
2. LoRa remote water level and pump controller: server software
3. LoRa remote water level and pump controller: client software
4. LoRa remote water level and pump controller: server PCB
5. LoRa remote water level and pump controller: client PCB
6. LoRa remote water level and pump controller: entire server with 3D printed case
7. LoRa remote water level and pump controller: entire client with 3D printed case

Problem

First, the problem: I must refill a 1,5Km far water tank, so I need two devices:

a server pump manager, that If the remote tank does not start the pump with a relay and when the tank is full, stop the pump.

• Start-stop pump;
• Manage the remote message;
• Prevent dangerous action if the remote device is no more active;
• Monitor to select an operation mode and status.

A client in a remote position (tank position) checks the water level and warns the Server if It’s all ok or if the tank is full.

• Check the max and min level;
• Warn Server about status;
• Battery and solar-powered;
• Sleep mode if no more need.

Demo video

Display menu

I use an OLED ssd1306 display, very little; I’m going to manage a set of Icons to better understand the operation; I change the menu icon by rotating an encoder and selecting it by clicking the encoder.

I change the language by including a file with all the labels.

I use a simple state machine to manage the Display; a switch managed by the encoder value is used to show the correct icon; the values are:

PUMP_START_MENU: start the pump and wait for it to be complete; the only safe controller is a timer that stops the pump after an hour.

PUMP_START_PING_MENU: start the pump and wait for a ping message every 20 seconds; if the tank is full or there is no message after 20 seconds, It stops the pump.

PUMP_STOP_MENU: stop the pump and tell the client to go into sleep mode.

STATUS_MENU: graphical status of the devices (pump active, battery status, and tank level).

STATUS_MENU_DETAILED: descriptive status of the devices.

Assembly

To assemble, you can refer to the silkscreen of the PCB, and I do It quite verbose.

LoRa wireless remote water tank and pump controller (esp8266) Server PCB up

And I also create a video of the soldering phase

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQLXeBToEfg

Here is the result of your work

Then, we must start to assemble the components, the LEDs, switch, display, WeMos D1, and EByte E32.

Assembly video

Test video