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Published November 24, 2021

MEGR 3171 - Filter Pitcher Pilfer Sensor

After getting absolutely fed up with our roommate's antics of not filling the pitcher back up, we put sensors on it to know when they steal.

BeginnerFull instructions provided8 hours80

MEGR 3171 - Filter Pitcher Pilfer Sensor

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Breadboard (generic)

Particle Argon

DHT11 Temperature & Humidity Sensor (3 pins)

Elegoo Water Level Sensor

Male/Female Jumper Wires

USB-A to Micro-USB Cable

Software apps and online services

Particle Build Web IDE

ThingSpeak API

Story

Tired of roommates that take your water filter pitcher out of the fridge, take an egregious amount of water, and either don't put the pitcher back in the fridge, don't refill it back up with water, or the worst case scenario; both those things at once?!?! Well, so were we before we attached water level and temperature sensors on the pitcher to know whether it was filled back up and whether it was in the fridge or not, respectively.

The exact purposes of each sensor are quite self explanatory; the water level sensor checks to see if the water level within the pitcher is above a certain level, and for this project that baseline is near the top of the pitcher. Ideally, it should regularly be full. The temperature sensor sends data on the temperature of the surroundings of the pitcher, ideally with it being at the refrigerator temperature a majority of the time.

All of this data is then graphed using ThingSpeak, where trends in the data can easily be seen. Using build.particle.io, we wrote the functioning code that allowed the Particle Argon to send the data collected by the sensors to the ThingSpeak cloud. Additionally, we created a functioning power button for the system using a second Particle Argon that controls the power output to the first Particle Argon.

Water Level/Temperature Sensor Argon attached to pitcher

Water Level and Temperature Sensor Argon

The water level sensor is wired through the top of the pitcher and sits on the side, monitoring when the water comes in contact at the desired position. The temperature sensor, being on the exterior, is more-so meant to monitor whether the pitcher is within the refrigerator and less so the exact temperature of the water.

Killswitch Argon

Pictured above is the Argon that turns off the main Temperature/Water Level Sensors from taking data.

Events Log REDACTED

The data being read by the Argon in the form of events.

YouTube Video

Project YouTube Video

Live ThingSpeak Data

The live ThingSpeak data is linked below

https://thingspeak.com/channels/1574971

Code

// This #include statement was automatically added by the Particle IDE.
#include <Adafruit_DHT.h>

// This #include statement was automatically added by the Particle IDE.
#include <ThingSpeak.h>

// This example assumes the sensor to be plugged into CONN2
#define DHTPIN A0     // what pin we're connected to

// Here we define the type of sensor used
#define DHTTYPE DHT11        // DHT 11 

DHT dht(DHTPIN, DHTTYPE);

bool humid = false;

int waterSens = A1; //define water sensor
int waterVal; //define the water sensor value


TCPClient client;


unsigned long myChannelNumber = 1574970;
const char * myWriteAPIKey = "9F1QX51OUX6HOH3S";


void setup() {
    
    ThingSpeak.begin(client);
    
 pinMode(A0, OUTPUT);
 pinMode(A1, OUTPUT);
 Serial.begin(9600); 
 dht.begin();

}

void loop() {
    // 2 second delay between loop iterations.
    delay(2000);

    waterVal = analogRead(waterSens); //read the water level sensor
      delay(1000);
    
    String level = String(waterVal);
      Particle.publish("Water_level_value", level, PRIVATE);
      delay(1000);
    
        Particle.publish("[kenny_argon]", String (waterVal), PUBLIC);
    
      ThingSpeak.setField(4,waterVal);
      

    // Read temperature in Celsius
    float t = dht.getTempCelcius();
    // Read temperature in Farenheit
    float f = dht.getTempFarenheit();

    // Check for any failed reads failed and exit before trying again.
    if (isnan(t) || isnan(f)) {
        Serial.println("Failed to read from DHT sensor.");
        return;
    }
    
    Particle.publish("[kenny_argon]", String (f), PUBLIC);

  ThingSpeak.setField(3,f);
  
  Serial.print(dht.getTempFarenheit());
  Serial.println("t");

  
  ThingSpeak.writeFields(myChannelNumber, myWriteAPIKey);  

  delay(15000); // Delay ThingSpeak updates to 15 seconds so that it does not attempt to update too frequently 

}

int button = D3;            //assigns button to D3
int val = 1;                //creates the val variable
int counter = 0;            //counter is set to 0
bool state = true;

void setup()
{
pinMode(button, INPUT);     //assigns button to input
Particle.variable("Butt",state);
}

void loop() {               //this will read the button press, and make an event for the main argon to power off.
    
    val = digitalRead(button);
    
    if (val == LOW) {
            counter = 0;
            state = false;
            Particle.publish("Butt", String(counter));
            delay(0);
    }
    else
    {delay(100);
    }
    
    if (state==false) {
        if (val==LOW) {
            state = true;
        }
    }
}

Credits

Jeffrey Pulsfort

1 project • 1 follower

Contact

MEGR 3171 - Filter Pitcher Pilfer Sensor