- Intro
- Instructions for use
- Calibration sensors
- Specifications
- Probe Features
- Application
- FAQ
- Known Issues
- Community
- Resource
- Store
- The Story
Intro
How about adding another non-contact water level sensor to those various Home Assistant devices? We've been searching and exploring the possibilities of various sensors for a long time, and after DIYing the Human Sensor 1U, 2A and others, we didn't stop there. One question has been bugging us, how to make them simple, yet quick enough to be simply available and then be able to bring people together to explore the possibilities of these things?
At 2A, we've enjoyed exploring the possibilities of this hardware with everyone. After all, not everyone has exactly the energy to DIY their own hardware and design an enclosure, then source various modules and hardware and do comparative research.
The sensor we're exploring this time is the Y23A, which we've been testing over and over again for almost a month now, and we think it's pretty interesting. It can detect non-metallic water level non-contact, the maximum wall thickness is 15mm, and it is waterproof itself. The principle of detection is capacitance change, and the manufacturer has set up a calibration button that can be used to adapt to different wall thicknesses and capacitance values of different liquids (press the small button on the probe with a relatively sharp object while making sure there is liquid, and a series of calibrations will begin automatically).
The probe is connected using a 30cm cable to the master, which uses a series of very mini ESP32-C3 modules we've been using lately, and one of the features I like about it is that it supports ESP Web Tool swiping (whereas the S2 requires a special tool). We used 3D printing to create a little square box for the main controller, goodbye, bare circuit board. The master controller is small and uses Type-C to connect to the power supply (5V, 1A power supply).
After some testing, we believe that this hardware has its own unique specifics and roles, and we invite you to join us in exploring more of its possibilities.
The sensor is capable of supporting non-metallic containers up to 15mm in size and detecting if the liquid level reaches the position.
Easily integrated into HomeAssistant through the ESPHome firmware, we are now starting to think about what some of the benefits of getting water level information could be.
I think this has been a fun process to explore, so I'm looking forward to all the interesting things that everyone everyone can find out from it and, in the end, make Home Assistant a little bit more powerful.
We named it WS1, we wanted the name to be simple and natural, and they are always ready to be integrated into our Home Assistant.
Work Demo: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/R4ehpJT4xlg
Instructions for use
Although manufacturers advertise sensors as very powerful and seemingly omnipotent. But in our idea and application, we applied it to a humidifier with no water level detection and it worked quite well. Also a thickness like 10mm seemed to respond well in our basic tests.
I guess the fascinating thing about this sensor is that it doesn't have to touch the liquid to detect it, which enables some interesting uses.
As with all SCRREK sensors, it's just a few simple steps to access the Home Assistant.
- Plug in the USB power (Type-C powered) and let it boot up.
- Wait for about 10 seconds or so and a hotspot will appear, "Waster-Sensor WS1", connect to this hotspot, select your network, enter your password and click confirm.
- Now Home Assistant on the same network will automatically discover the device.
From now on, you will be able to know all the time whether the water level sensor detects the water level or not and use this information for some interesting automation.
Calibration sensors
Sensors are based on the principle of capacitive detection and suffer from the problem of sometimes being too sensitive or not sensitive enough.
From the sensor documentation:
If the non-contact level sensor does not detect or the detected level deviates from the sensor distance, the Setting method. Use small objects (such as pens, toothpicks) to click the sensitivity button, the LED indicator begins to flash, the sensor begins to automatically adjust the sensitivity. 3-5 seconds, the flashing stops, the LED indicator lights up, the automatic adjustment is complete, to achieve the most suitable sensitivity required by the current position. Note: The position to be detected must have liquid, not empty, otherwise the setting is invalid.
Specifications
- Size: Control(
28mm x 28mm x 15.3mm), Probe(about34mm x 24mm) - Power supply:
Type-C power supply, 5V 1A. - Response Time:
500ms - Sensor Thickness (sensitivity) Range:
0-15mm - Control to Prober Wired Length:
30cm - Error value:
+/-1.5mm - HomeAssistant integration method:
ESPHome built-in firmware, no ESPHome Addon required. - Connection method:
Wi-Fi - Power consumption:
Average 8-ma, 5V - Installation:
Adhesion to the outer surface of containers
Probe Features
The main characteristics are derived from the sensor's introductory information.
Features
- Non-contact detection
- Easy installation
- Stable detection
- High sensitivity
- Strong anti-interference ability
- Support detect various liquids
Note
- It can't be in direct contact with liquid, it can't be placed inside liquid.
- It can't test metal containers.
- Avoid installation at the water inlet and outlet.
Application
- Water tower
- Sewage treatment
- Drone irrigation
- Medical equipment
- Aquarium
- Smart Appliances
FAQ
Can i use this for my pet auto refillable water bowl to detect when the water level is too low?Its something like this(evilplushie@reddit)
Looks like a great app, it's not metal and it shouldn't be more than 15mm thick, which is like great kind of scene.
Can I buy it on eBay in the uk?(Nigel Smith@FB)We are sorry to say that we offer worldwide shipping, but there will be a small inconvenience. Due to the limitations of eBay's multinational sites, it seems that if you are logged in on another country's site, you see a blank space in our store, in which case you can only find it by searching for keywords like SCREEK WS1.
Another trick is to replace the com with co.uk inside the (https://www.ebay.com/itm/186042208549) on the US site. You can also apply these tricks for German sites, etc.
And how long is the cable as I’ll be using this outdoors and need to run the cable indoors (probably 2m)?(Nigel Smith@FB)A type-c cable that is 2m long or longer is no problem at all, all they do is power it. But the probe part is 30cm and it will come with a very mini very small controller to connect to the ha via wifi. we included a 1m long type-c cable.
I’ve ordered one for a test - probably will need at least a couple to check for full/empty. I’ll have to find some way of waterproofing this as it’ll be used outside. Any suggestions?(Nigel Smith@FB)As a rudimentary version, it can currently only detect one water point, and for the time being it may only be able to add one more set to detect another water point. We hope to make improvements and add another possible set of sensor probes after gaining some experience. There are also some new sensors that seem to be interesting, for example they can continuously detect changes in water level height of 17cm. But we hope that after proper if WS1 accumulates some experience, we will make some expansion upgrades to WS2, which can support the insertion of 2 sets of probes. Because the plug can be unplugged and re-plugged, so those WS1 users, you can just need a WS2 + a set of probes, add the original probe on the line. These are some very original ideas, and at this point, we want to work with you to verify that this sensor is reliable and can be adapted to operate in a variety of environments. Can connecting in Home Assistant bring convenience. This is the process of exploration that we often emphasize, in which we have the opportunity to improve and make it better. Or discover together what's wrong with it and decide it's not so great.
I wonder if this can be used to monitor liquid chlorine levels in a pool dispenser.(Aaron Morris@FB)I briefly checked the documentation and the description in there seems exciting in Product Overview, if it is a true description:
Does it detect the actual level (height) or just the existence of liquid in the container?(Nguyen Hoang Thang@FB)it can only detect just existence.
But this problem drove us to think farther ahead, and we found some sensors that were 17cm long at their shortest, had the i2c protocol (the ability to read a range), they were linearly responsive, and cost a lot of money, with the probes themselves approaching $15. Calibration is required for initial use, but we look forward to possibly looking into it in the future.
Would this work through a fibreglass bath tub to detect when bath is full? If so I would contact bath manufacturers who could make self filling bathtubs a lot easier.
For bathtubs, it depends on the thickness, and if it's less than 15mm thick, chances are it's achievable.
But we always wonder if the sensor's of the probe are more suitable in this case.
Because there is too much water in the bathroom and that could cause interference.
But this is certainly an interesting question, we know there are also water level sensors for contact surfaces and I feel they are more suitable for this.
But we don't have such test data, unfortunately.
My concerns about using it if it's just DIY are that it's going to be dragging around a rather long USB cable, and the fact that the controller isn't waterproof.
This can only tell if a liquid is present or not, not it’s height in a tank for example?(ttgone@reddit)Yes, there is only so much ws1 can do, and we hope to have access to different sensors capable of detecting level changes in the future. At the moment we are aware of some non-contact linear level sensors, they are as short as 17cm and are able to detect changes in the liquid inside, which looks interesting.But they are also very expensive.If ws1 goes well, we hope to use the funding from it to continue to expand the range. Providing a diverse range of water level detection needs. The desire to keep exploring appeals to us.
Sounds ace, just ordered to the UK. I have a cat drinking fountain and this will be perfect to alert us when it's low(nikotime@reddit)This sounds like a great fit for the app and look forward to your future feedback. We have a reddit feedback group, r/screekworkshop, so if you wish to share your suggestions in the future, feel free to crosspost to the screek group at the same time, so that you can easily use the wisdom of the group to continue improving these sensors.
Known Issues
- When the target vessel is a device like a humidifier, there is a period of time when the trigger jitter occurs when the water level disappears, that is, it turns on and then off again for a few seconds. This is normal behavior for the probe, but it draws a lot of stray data. We expect that in the future some data processing can be added to the firmware update, such as providing switches to filter data that is turned on for too short a period of time. This expects wisdom from everyone together.
Community
https://www.screek.io/contact/
Resource
Y23A Probe Documentation (online tool translation):
Store
