Sensor help for new project

Community Projects
1

I am looking to put together a remote station that will send in data via a cell modem.

I want to incorporate a device that will tell me the water level in a well. I’d rather not have to put a sensor down to the bottom of the well to get the water pressure, so I was thinking of something that will tell me the distance to the water surface, and I can figure out water depth from there.

Sensor would have to have a range of at least 30 feet, and operate outside (will not be directly exposed to wind/rain/snow, but could have temps down around -20 Celsius).

Will an ultrasonic sensor work for this application? Something else?

2

There are sonar depth sensors designed for use in wells, but they aren’t cheap. Call your local well installation service for info.

Maxbotix has some general purpose, exterior usage/long range sonar range finders that may work: http://www.maxbotix.com/

3

I saw those on the main Sparkfun site, but they all seemed to have a max range of about 20 feet. I can contact Maxbotics directly and see if they have better information.

4

After contacting Maxbotix, I decided to go with their MB7066 model. It has a 10m range, and analog voltage and pulse width outputs for hooking up to an Arduino.