This "pool monitoring system" is designed to analyse and follow up the status of your pool environment. Using your cell phone, you can easily check and control temperature, water pressure and humidity.
The architecture is designed around:
- the microcontroler ESP32, as hardware
- an integrated AP in ESP32, as web server
- Home assitance with MQTT broker to pool frequently information to the phone cell
The programming language is C++ in PlatformIO. These choises are based on recent and efficient desgin.
The device can be configured by a web interface (first launch / WiFi connexion error / long press).
As, exempla, it can show :
- in / out temperature of the heat pump
- external temperature, pressure and humidity
- water pressure
The device can be configured using a brower on any computer, phone cell or tablet (first launch / WiFi connexion error / long press). An AP is created on the ESP32. This version is not protected against hacking.
The system is given has is. The code is open source and can be used for personal use.
This project requires an ESP32 ([A]) as a microcontroller and some peripherals:
- 1 BME280 sensor (I2C) for external temperature, pressure and humidity [B]
- 2 DS18B20 sensors (1 wire) for water in and out temperatures [C]
- 1 ADS1115 ADC (I2C) for the analog water pressure sensor [D]
- 1 analog water pressure sensor 0-30 PSI (0-4,5V) for the sand filter [E]
- 1 I2C LCD 20x4 to display current information [F]
- 1 push button to activate the LCD backlight (simple press) or launch configuration mode (long press) [G]
The list of available commands can be obtained by sending the command help.
> help
Available commands:
Configuration:
infos | Print configuration infos
get <key> | Get the value of a configuration key
set <key> <value> | Set configuration value (needs reboot)
save | Save configuration
reboot | Reboot the device
Tools:
scan <deviceType> | Available device types : i2c, ds18b20, wifi
id | Print the device ID
network | Print the network infos
help | Print this help"
Here is some examples of commands:
> id
ID: 66666666
> infos
Configuration infos :
---------------------
poolHeaterInAddress: 28:6a:76:4c:38:43:13:23
poolHeaterOutAddress: 28:65:16:4b:ab:42:13:43
mqttServerIP: 192.168.23.123
mqttServerPort: 1883
mqttUser: mqttuser
mqttPassword: Passw0rd
mqttTopicPrefix: piscine
debug: 4
---------------------
After testing the signal quality, I found that the signal is not good enough. I've tried to add an external antenna, but it didn't work.
As described on some web pages, one can add an external antenna to your ESP32. To do it, one can cut the existing antenna on the ESP32 module and solder wires on it. Here is some links (Link #1, Link #2)
To make my hack more conveniant, I've put an UFL seat IPEX / IPX connector.
My tests shown similars signal quality with unmodified ESP32 dev board and the modified one. In my case, the problem could be the antenna quality. So, for me, that's a waste of time, but could be an interesting idea to try.
My network contains multiple APs. When trying to connect to a given SSID, the ESP32 will try to connect to the first AP that matches the SSID. But this AP is not always the best one. So I've add a scan of available APs with the SSID to find the one with the best RSSI (signal quality). This method works for me and is the one propose on the source code.
When the device is setup, it can be used in Home Assistant. It will send autodiscovery messages to the MQTT broker. It can be easily integrated in Home Assistant.