I'm setting up a household water-tank level sensor that I'd like to be able to monitor from (practically) anywhere to a mobile device or remote PCusing the above-mentioned ESP8266-based setup. The device is sampling at 5min intervals, each sample is asingle integer range 0 - 230 (cm of water height). Also toggling a 'heartbeat' boolean variable to indicate it's still alive.
Just getting stated with the ESP8266 and Arduino IoT Cloud via WiFi which was easy & convenient as it only took a few hours to get a solution up & running...complication/maintenance.
However, the free Arduino IoT cloud is limited to 1 day of historical data (I'd like months to a year). It also hides the bulk of the cloud API (which is convenient) though I'm not sure yet how to handle recovering from WiFi outages etc.
Internet searches uncover a ton of options many of which are far to up-market for my purpose.
It also appears there's another route using a local server (eg RPi) that receives the data (via NodeRed or similar) but then to access outside the local WiFi network means exposing a web server or similar - sounds like an extra tier or development and
Any advice would be helpful...
I'm setting up a household water-tank level sensor that I'd like to be
able to monitor from (practically) anywhere to a mobile device or remote PCusing the above-mentioned ESP8266-based setup. The device is sampling
at 5min intervals, each sample is a single integer range 0 - 230 (cm of
water height). Also toggling a 'heartbeat' boolean variable to indicate
it's still alive.
Just getting stated with the ESP8266 and Arduino IoT Cloud via WiFi
which was easy & convenient as it only took a few hours to get a
solution up & running...
However, the free Arduino IoT cloud is limited to 1 day of historical
data (I'd like months to a year). It also hides the bulk of the cloud
API (which is convenient) though I'm not sure yet how to handle
recovering from WiFi outages etc.
Internet searches uncover a ton of options many of which are far to
up-market for my purpose.
It also appears there's another route using a local server (eg RPi) that receives the data (via NodeRed or similar) but then to access outside the local WiFi network means exposing a web server or similar - sounds like an extra tier or development and complication/maintenance.
I'm setting up a household water-tank level sensor that I'd like to be able to monitor from (practically) anywhere to a mobile device or remote PCusing the above-mentioned ESP8266-based setup. The device is sampling at 5min intervals, each sample is asingle integer range 0 - 230 (cm of water height). Also toggling a 'heartbeat' boolean variable to indicate it's still alive.
Just getting stated with the ESP8266 and Arduino IoT Cloud via WiFi which was easy& convenient as it only took a few hours to get a solution up& running...complication/maintenance.
However, the free Arduino IoT cloud is limited to 1 day of historical data (I'd like months to a year). It also hides the bulk of the cloud API (which is convenient) though I'm not sure yet how to handle recovering from WiFi outages etc.
Internet searches uncover a ton of options many of which are far to up-market for my purpose.
It also appears there's another route using a local server (eg RPi) that receives the data (via NodeRed or similar) but then to access outside the local WiFi network means exposing a web server or similar - sounds like an extra tier or development and
Any advice would be helpful...
--
Cheers,
Chris.
On 02/03/22 02:38, Chris wrote:a single integer range 0 - 230 (cm of water height). Also toggling a 'heartbeat' boolean variable to indicate it's still alive.
I'm setting up a household water-tank level sensor that I'd like to be able to monitor from (practically) anywhere to a mobile device or remote PCusing the above-mentioned ESP8266-based setup. The device is sampling at 5min intervals, each sample is
and complication/maintenance.Just getting stated with the ESP8266 and Arduino IoT Cloud via WiFi which was easy& convenient as it only took a few hours to get a solution up& running...
However, the free Arduino IoT cloud is limited to 1 day of historical data (I'd like months to a year). It also hides the bulk of the cloud API (which is convenient) though I'm not sure yet how to handle recovering from WiFi outages etc.
Internet searches uncover a ton of options many of which are far to up-market for my purpose.
It also appears there's another route using a local server (eg RPi) that receives the data (via NodeRed or similar) but then to access outside the local WiFi network means exposing a web server or similar - sounds like an extra tier or development
Any advice would be helpful...
--How about one of the 3G or 4G mobile data modules. Just call into it to
Cheers,
Chris.
get the results, which can come from an rpi or similar board with a
serial or network interface. Only downside is the need for a sim card
but not expensive for low usage or bandwidth.
Or, a 3 or 4G router with network at one side could be made to work as
well, where you could just access an internal host directly via the
mobile network. Easy to secure as well...
Chris
On 02/03/22 02:38, Chris wrote:
I'm setting up a household water-tank level sensor that I'd like to be
able to monitor from (practically) anywhere to a mobile device or
remote PCusing the above-mentioned ESP8266-based setup. The device is
sampling at 5min intervals, each sample is a single integer range 0 -
230 (cm of water height). Also toggling a 'heartbeat' boolean variable
to indicate it's still alive.
Just getting stated with the ESP8266 and Arduino IoT Cloud via WiFi
which was easy& convenient as it only took a few hours to get a
solution up& running...
However, the free Arduino IoT cloud is limited to 1 day of historical
data (I'd like months to a year). It also hides the bulk of the cloud
API (which is convenient) though I'm not sure yet how to handle
recovering from WiFi outages etc.
Internet searches uncover a ton of options many of which are far to
up-market for my purpose.
It also appears there's another route using a local server (eg RPi)
that receives the data (via NodeRed or similar) but then to access
outside the local WiFi network means exposing a web server or similar
- sounds like an extra tier or development and complication/maintenance.
Any advice would be helpful...
--
Cheers,
Chris.
How about one of the 3G or 4G mobile data modules. Just call into it to
get the results, which can come from an rpi or similar board with a
serial or network interface. Only downside is the need for a sim card
but not expensive for low usage or bandwidth.
Or, a 3 or 4G router with network at one side could be made to work as
well, where you could just access an internal host directly via the
mobile network. Easy to secure as well...
On 02/04/22 07:34, pozz wrote:
Il 04/02/2022 00:57, chris ha scritto:
On 02/03/22 02:38, Chris wrote:
I'm setting up a household water-tank level sensor that I'd like to
be able to monitor from (practically) anywhere to a mobile device or
remote PCusing the above-mentioned ESP8266-based setup. The device is
sampling at 5min intervals, each sample is a single integer range 0 -
230 (cm of water height). Also toggling a 'heartbeat' boolean
variable to indicate it's still alive.
Just getting stated with the ESP8266 and Arduino IoT Cloud via WiFi
which was easy& convenient as it only took a few hours to get a
solution up& running...
However, the free Arduino IoT cloud is limited to 1 day of historical
data (I'd like months to a year). It also hides the bulk of the cloud
API (which is convenient) though I'm not sure yet how to handle
recovering from WiFi outages etc.
Internet searches uncover a ton of options many of which are far to
up-market for my purpose.
It also appears there's another route using a local server (eg RPi)
that receives the data (via NodeRed or similar) but then to access
outside the local WiFi network means exposing a web server or similar
- sounds like an extra tier or development and
complication/maintenance.
Any advice would be helpful...
--
Cheers,
Chris.
How about one of the 3G or 4G mobile data modules. Just call into it
to get the results, which can come from an rpi or similar board with a
serial or network interface. Only downside is the need for a sim card
but not expensive for low usage or bandwidth.
What do you mean with "just call into it"?
I bought a Netgear 4G router for evaluation and also to use as a backup
for the isp. That provides standard internet access just by fitting a
sim card. Really cheap for low bandwidth applications and it's always
on. Haven't tried it, but assume external access would be possible by
opening an incoming port to the local network. IP address is dynamic,
so you would need dynamic dns.org, whatever, but it should possible.
On the local subnet, a couple of pages of C on an rpi, to open a file
on the sd card and log tank values as needed. Login via ssh or run a
web server to access the stored data. Advantage is that it's a self
contained solution dependent only on a mobile account.
Solutions like cloud etc really are overthinking what should be a simple problem to solve...
Chris
Or, a 3 or 4G router with network at one side could be made to work as
well, where you could just access an internal host directly via the
mobile network. Easy to secure as well...
In my experience, it's not always possible to connect to a server that
is connected to a mobile 3G/4G network. Many mobile operators give
connectivity that is guaranteed to work for "standard web browsing".
Dynamic IP addresses, private IP addresses, firewall, NAT and similar
"filters" are enemis of servers.
This is the one of the reasons why IoT devices aren't server, but they
usually run a client (HTTP, MQTT or others similar) that connects to a
Cloud system.
Il 04/02/2022 00:57, chris ha scritto:
On 02/03/22 02:38, Chris wrote:
I'm setting up a household water-tank level sensor that I'd like to
be able to monitor from (practically) anywhere to a mobile device or
remote PCusing the above-mentioned ESP8266-based setup. The device is
sampling at 5min intervals, each sample is a single integer range 0 -
230 (cm of water height). Also toggling a 'heartbeat' boolean
variable to indicate it's still alive.
Just getting stated with the ESP8266 and Arduino IoT Cloud via WiFi
which was easy& convenient as it only took a few hours to get a
solution up& running...
However, the free Arduino IoT cloud is limited to 1 day of historical
data (I'd like months to a year). It also hides the bulk of the cloud
API (which is convenient) though I'm not sure yet how to handle
recovering from WiFi outages etc.
Internet searches uncover a ton of options many of which are far to
up-market for my purpose.
It also appears there's another route using a local server (eg RPi)
that receives the data (via NodeRed or similar) but then to access
outside the local WiFi network means exposing a web server or similar
- sounds like an extra tier or development and complication/maintenance. >>>
Any advice would be helpful...
--
Cheers,
Chris.
How about one of the 3G or 4G mobile data modules. Just call into it
to get the results, which can come from an rpi or similar board with a
serial or network interface. Only downside is the need for a sim card
but not expensive for low usage or bandwidth.
What do you mean with "just call into it"?
Or, a 3 or 4G router with network at one side could be made to work as
well, where you could just access an internal host directly via the
mobile network. Easy to secure as well...
In my experience, it's not always possible to connect to a server that
is connected to a mobile 3G/4G network. Many mobile operators give connectivity that is guaranteed to work for "standard web browsing".
Dynamic IP addresses, private IP addresses, firewall, NAT and similar "filters" are enemis of servers.
This is the one of the reasons why IoT devices aren't server, but they usually run a client (HTTP, MQTT or others similar) that connects to a
Cloud system.
This is not a commercial product, just an initial foray into this space
and hopefully a more convenient way of keeping tabs on my water level
without having to resort to uncovering the manhole & using a dipstick. We recently build a deck over the tank as an outdoor area and even though I
have a (screwed down) hatch in the deck over the manhole, it's an extra
level of annoyance to get to it.
Chris <chris.h...@gmail.com> wrote:
This is not a commercial product, just an initial foray into this spaceDepends how much this is a 'project' rather than an end goal, but Home Assistant will cover most of that.
and hopefully a more convenient way of keeping tabs on my water level without having to resort to uncovering the manhole & using a dipstick. We recently build a deck over the tank as an outdoor area and even though I have a (screwed down) hatch in the deck over the manhole, it's an extra level of annoyance to get to it.
HA on a Pi to do the web front end / phone app / etc
ESPHome on the ESP8266 to run the sensor node (just needs a config file if the sensor type is already supported). HA auto-detects the ESP8266 and fetches/logs the sensor data.
Nabu Casa to provide the cloud connection so you can link back into your HA instance from outside your network. It also provides various cloud service interfacing that can't be done locally, eg Alexa and Google Assistant.
The first two are free, Nabu Casa is $6.50 per month. That's not super
cheap, but feeds back into funding Home Assistant. You are free to do your own port-forwarding/dynamic DNS/etc setup if you'd rather not pay for that.
Theo
On Saturday, 5 February 2022 at 03:45:13 UTC+11, Theo wrote:
Chris <> wrote:
This is not a commercial product, just an initial foray into this space and hopefully a more convenient way of keeping tabs on my water level without having to resort to uncovering the manhole & using a dipstick. We recently build a deck over the tank as an outdoor area and even though I have a (screwed down) hatch in the deck over the manhole, it's an extra level of annoyance to get to it.Depends how much this is a 'project' rather than an end goal, but Home Assistant will cover most of that.
HA on a Pi to do the web front end / phone app / etc
ESPHome on the ESP8266 to run the sensor node (just needs a config file if the sensor type is already supported). HA auto-detects the ESP8266 and fetches/logs the sensor data.
Nabu Casa to provide the cloud connection so you can link back into your HA instance from outside your network. It also provides various cloud service interfacing that can't be done locally, eg Alexa and Google Assistant.
The first two are free, Nabu Casa is $6.50 per month. That's not super cheap, but feeds back into funding Home Assistant. You are free to do your own port-forwarding/dynamic DNS/etc setup if you'd rather not pay for that.
TheoThanks! I'll have a look at this...
--
Cheers,
Chris.
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