Fluid level meter version 2


 


The fluid level meter described elsewhere on this site, has a number of pitfalls. The common wire in the sensor is not grounded. In real situations however, it may be possible that the water is grounded, i.e. in a mobilhome's water system the heating device is metal so it will ground the water. This causes misreadings and that is why I had to adjust the software using longer timings and a different waveform on the sensor wires. But this caused electrolytic and other effects on the sensor wires, because the current was not a perfect AC anymore but a pulsed DC. So the sensor wires where damaged after some amount of time.

I used to have a different circuit, built from a magazine "Elektuur", aug. 1995. This device works without a microcontroller, and uses a "LED-array" as a display. I decided to use this device (slightly modified) as a sort of "signal-cleaner" for the actual device (the fluid level meter extension using a PIC, described below). The "Elektuur" circuit puts an almost perfect AC to the sensor wires with a high frequency (several kHz), and the common wire is properly connected to ground. I removed the LEDs from the Elektuur device and put 8 headers (connectors) in stead. I plugged in a flat cable to connect the whole thing to my own device (using the PIC) so I was able to use it as some enhanced display.

The "Elektuur" magazine article shows a printed circuit board for the circuit. You can use this printed circuit board as shown, but you must cut the +5V lead away from the regulator because the +5V will be provided by the PIC. Replace the LEDs with printconnectors (headers) for convenient connection to the PIC. I also added a blue LED and resistor just to be able to see when the device gets its power from the PIC. The circuit that is described below is actually an extender (I call it the Elektuur fluid level meter extension). It controls most things: it provides the +5V power for the Elektuur device (using port RA0), it switches on and off automatically (itself, the Elektuur device, the LCD module and the LCD backlight). My original device, called the fluid level meter (say version 1) didn't had to be changed one bit. Only the software had to be slightly modified. Port RA0 is not used as an AD converter anymore but as a digital switch to put on and off the Elektuur device, and PORTC is now constantly used as input to poll the output of the Elektuur circuit. The rest of the software was not changed, it provides the other functions like showing the result on the LCD display as a bar graph or as a number, setting the number of liters per bar (sensor) and store this in EEPROM, auto switch on and off after some time, control background lights, etc.

The measured level is shown on the LCD display in a bar graph, representing 1/8 through 8/8 of the tank volume. A second view can be activated to see the amount in liters. The number of liters for one level can be set, and is stored in EEPROM. For other features, see the readme file on this page.

Remarks about this project:

The input labelled 'to waterpump' can be used to automatically switch on the device, for instance when a pump starts running. The input can be connected parallel to the pump. If not used, ground this input to avoid problems.

The LCD display module is a standard Hitachi-compatible module available everywhere (16 chars x 2 lines with background light). This module has it's own circuit board, I "sandwiched" this with my own circuit board (exp board) to form a nice single unit, the final display module (with PIC).

Don't forget the wire bridge (points marked with * must be connected together).

In the circuit for the sensor module, the connections to ground and plus are not drawn for the 5 IC's, to keep the diagram more comprehansible. Don't forget these.

Adjusting: put 4 sensors in water (and also the common wire). Adjust P1 so that 4 blocks are shown on the LCD.

Schematic diagram of the sensor-circuit (the "Elektuur" device)

List of components for the sensor-device

PCB layout for the sensor-device

Component setup for the sensor-device

Circuit explanation:


IC4 is a counter/oscillator combination and is the key element in the circuit. The oscillator outputs its AC signal on pin 7. This signal is lead (through voltage divider R3/R4) to pin 3 of IC5 (multiplexer IC) which is used as an input. The same signal is also lead to the rectifier/demodulator build up with D1/R1/R5. The resulting rectified signal is compared (with IC2, an opamp) with a constant voltage. If a selected electrode is under water, there will be an extra load on the AC signal, which causes the output of the demodulator to drop a little bit. The comparator will react by changing its output level. All this takes a fraction of a second because the multiplexer will only handle one electrode at a time by connecting the AC signal to the selected electrode.
The multiplexer doesn't only select the measuring electrodes, but also (through IC3, a BCD to decimal decoder) the eight outputs of the circuit (pin 0..7 of IC3). Using the 'enable' input of IC3, powered by the output of the comparator, the status of each electrode is passed through.
The two NAND gates (IC6) close to the output of the comparator and to the "enable" input of IC3 are used for compensation of the fact that the measured value of each electrode is slowed down a bit by C1/R5.
On each output a constant high level can be found if the corresponding electrode is dry, and short pulses of low levels will be found there if the corresponding electrode is lying under water. Current consumption of this circuit alone, if LED is removed, is about 0.660 mA.

Schematic diagram of the display-circuit

List of components for the display-circuit

Circuit explanation:


The connector marked "+-12345678" is connected to the other circuit (the Elektuur sensor circuit). On the "+", a plus 5 volt tension will be put by port RA0 of the PIC16F873 microcontroller. This will only happen if the device is put on (or is automatically put on) and after the LCD module and the processor itself are stabilized (cfr. source code). In all other cases, a 0 volt level will be found here. The "-" is there only to connect the grounds of both circuits together. Connections "1" trough "8" are connected (using flat cable) to the outputs of the Elektuur circuit. On this circuit, they are also connected to port C of the processor, which is configured as all inputs. The software in the microcontroller will constantly poll port C, this means it is checking (during about 5 ms per electrode) if a selected electrode has been low at least once during the period (= electrode under water).
The LCD module is a typical character based (16 x 2) Hitachi compatible LCD module available in many places. It is controlled using 4-bit mode from the microcontroller.
Transistor TR1 is used to power the LCD backlight LEDs. This takes about 110 mA of current, which cannot be handled directly by the PIC.
Potentiometer VR1 is for adjusting the LCDs contrast.
The circuit is meant for RV's and is connected to the light battery (12 V), so it shouldn't take to much current. By using a "low drop - low quiescent current" voltage regulator (LP2950 5V or if you can't find this one, the 4805CV) the circuit takes only about 1 mA in stand by mode (this is when the PIC is in 'sleep' mode so the LCD module, background light and the Elektuur circuit are off). When everything is on, the current consumption is about 120 mA. If after a while (about 5 minutes) the background LEDs are switched off by the software but the LCD is still on, the current consumption is about 9 mA (both circuits together).

Source code for this project

Features

Some pictures

Both devices together.

Both devices are connected using flat cable.

 Vertical display.

Vertical display with backlight.

 The level is expressed as a bar graph.

Bar graph display.
The display-circuit built as a sandwhich construction.

LCD module and PIC circuit "sandwiched".

  Home         Back to Electronic Projects