Monitor Water Softener Salt Level?

[deep spade]

Hi All,

Looking for a way to keep an eye on the salt level in the brine tank. I've seen a few DIY setups but worried/wondered how the sensors handle being exposed to the salt. Does anyone know of a production unit for this purpose? Or used the DIY and how long they have lasted?

Thanks!

Example of the DIY setups:
https://discord.com/channels/330944238910963714/1428519137079988274

[turbid sigil]

I have seen one somewhere where a person used weight sensors instead which means was not exposed. Could look into that?

[deep spade]

Hmmm that does sound interesting. But also a lot more complex. I'll see what I can find thanks.

[turbid sigil]

This is what I was thinking of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlIS2HsSdWY

[deep spade]

I've seen a few like that. Mine is a tank up to just above my waist. I'd have to calculate the full weight when it regens and is full of water and see if the load sensors can handle all that.

[deep spade]

Just to circle back around to this. I ended up going with an ESPHome setup using a D1 Mini v4 and a AJ_SR04M sensor. I was worried the weight for the full tank would be too much. And I was worried about a non waterproof sensor getting eaten by the salt. Code I used is below. Many thanks to the folks over in the EPSHome discord for helping a ton with it. It's in and working in HA. Just need to tidy up the dashboard a bit maybe make it a % with a gauge.

# Definition: definitions/boards/d1-mini/manifest.yaml

esphome:
  name: softener-salt-level
  friendly_name: softener-salt-level

esp8266:
  board: d1_mini

logger:
  
api:
  encryption:
    key: "***************"

ota:
  - platform: esphome

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password

sensor:
  - platform: ultrasonic
    name: waterproof-sensor
    echo_pin: GPIO4
    trigger_pin: GPIO5
    id: sensor_ultrasonic_1```

[turbid sigil]

Nice, Looks like an awesome solution. ESPHome is great for this kinda thing.
Good Luck with the setup 🙂