2018 Third International Conference on Electrical, Electronics, Communication, Computer Technologies and Optimization Techniques (ICEECCOT) 14-15,
December 2018
Wireless Automatic Water Level Controller
Suraj S Bharath V
Department of Electronics & Department of Mechanical
Communication Engineering, Engineering,
Sri Venkateshwara College Sri Venkateshwara College of
of Engineering, Bengaluru,India Engineering, Bengaluru, India
suraj1989kav@gmail.com vbharath1947@gmail.com
Abstract — Water is one of the essential need for the survival of
all human beings, animals and plants. The water overflow from
the overhead tanks in the houses, commercial properties,
educational institutions and agricultural farms increases the
percentage of water wastage. To avoid such wastages
implementation of an automatic water level controller becomes
a key factor which further reduces human intervention. In this
work, an automatic water level controller using bluetooth
wireless technology and Ultrasonic water level sensor is
proposed. The study of automatic water level controller using
wireless technology and wired technology was carried out
separately. The results indicated that automatic water level
controller using wireless technology was superior in
comparison with wired technology which was further validated
with the help of different parameters.
Keywords— Water Level Controller, Ultrasonic Sensor,
Bluetooth
I. INTRODUCTION
Water is one of the most useful natural resource in our
day today life. The Indian government data says by next 30
years the country’s each household will have only about 1.1
million liters of water per year to use, down from 1.8 million
liters in 2011.Therefore it becomes a primary duty of every
individual to conserve this precious water. Many a times the
water gets wasted without our knowledge. There is a scope
for saving this unintentional wastage of water via
technology, amongst which one can be automatic water
level controller which can control water overflow.
The conventional automatic water level controller uses
conducting wires to detect the water level and wired
technology to control on and off the water pump. The use of
such conducting wires in water leads to corrosion after few
years. The wired technology is also not suitable for water
pumping system in agricultural farms because length of the
wires becomes a constraint. Hence we undertook this work.
The proposed system utilizes an ultrasonic sensor to detect
the water level .With the help of bluetooth technology the
wireless analogy is implemented to overcome the constrain
of distance between the overhead tank and the pump. The
microcontroller Arduino UNO is used to fetch data from the
water level sensor and to automate the pumping system. The
microcontroller at the sensor unit generates a unique code
depending up on the water level sensed and sends via
bluetooth. The display unit receives the unique code through
bluetooth and turns on and off the pump accordingly with
the help of another microcontroller.
978-1-5386-5130-8/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE
Sridhar N.K
Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering,
Sri Venkateshwara College
of Engineering, Bengaluru, India
sridharnk52@gmail.com
In this paper, section II gives the details about existing
methods of the automatic water level controller. In section
III the proposed work is explained. Results followed by
discussions are described in session IV. The section V deals
with the conclusion
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
C.N. Antanwu et al. [1] proposed a water level controller
based on mc14066 integrated circuit which acted as
threshold detector.
Rishabh Das et al. [2] used PLC and SCADA for the
simulation of automation in tank level without using float
sensors.
S Pudasaini et al.[3] implemented automatic water level
controller using water conductive sensor as water level
sensor along with short message service notification to the
user.
K Ajinkya, M Rane[6] focused on automatic water level
controller based on four sensing probes to detect water level
and turns on and off the pump without help of a
microcontroller.
B. N. Getu et al.[5] designed a 10 level automatic water
controller system using encoder and digital logic circuit .The
water level was detected by inserting electrodes.
M. R Latte and D Prasad [6] proposed a AT89C51
microcontroller based low cost automatic water level
controller that used RC network to detect the water level.
J Priya and C Sailusha [7] used IR sensor to detect the
water level and only monitoring of water level based on IoT
was implemented.
Malche T and Maheshwary P[8] proposed a IoT based
water level monitoring system for smart villages which uses
a water level sensor that works on water conductivity
principle.
P. Amit Kumar et al.[9] put attention on the ultrasonic
sensor based tank water level controller that works using
arduino microcontroller and priority encoder in wired mode.
III. PROPOSED WORK
The typical water pumping system is shown in fig.1.It
contains a underground tank to store water coming from
bore well or municipality or other water resources, a pump
is used to pump the water into overhead tank so that the
water can be used for household or farming applications.
The proposed work controls the water level of the overhead
tank automatically by turning on and turning off the pump
when the water level in overhead tank goes below the lower
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threshold level and above the higher threshold level
respectively.
The automatic water level controller operates in four
stages as described in Table 1.The stages are named as stage
‘i’, stage ‘ii’, stage ‘iii’ and stage ‘iv’. In the stage ‘i’ the
water level is below lower threshold the pump gets turned
on and the water gets filled in the overhead tank. Then the
water level reaches medium i.e., stage ‘ii’ and the motor
continue to be in on state itself. In stage’ iii’ the water level
Fig.1. Water Pumping System
reaches above higher threshold level and the pump gets
turned off. Once the water reaches stage ‘iii’ the pump
continues to be in turn off state even though the water is
getting consumed till the water reaches the lower threshold
level i.e., stage ‘iv’. The cycle again continues with stage ‘i’
to stage ‘iv’ and goes on forever.
TABLE I. FOUR STAGES IN THE WATER PUJMPING SYSTEM
Stages Water Level Detected Action
Pump turns ON, Water is
‘i’ Low
getting filled in the tank
Pump is still ON, Water
‘ii’ Medium continues getting filled in
the tank
Pump turns OFF, Water
‘iii’ Full about to overflow and
filling stops
Pump still OFF as Water
‘iv’ Medium
is getting consumed.
The automatic water level controller using the Wired and
Wireless technologies are discussed in this framework. The
common components used in the proposed framework are
explained below
1) Microcontroller: The Arduino UNO, a single chip
microcontroller having data processing capability of one
byte at a time is used in this work. This chip utilizes
Reduced Instruction Set (RISC) architecture. It controls all
the operations like fetching data from the water level sensor,
processing the data to calculate the water level, displaying
the water level status in the display as well in the led,
turning on and off the motor (pump).
2) Water Level Sensor: The HC-SR04 ultrasonic senor is
used as the water level sensor in this proposed work.HC-
SR04 uses ultrasonic sound to determine the water level by
calculating time interval between transmission of the high
frequency sound and receiving of echo from the surface of
water. The height of water level from the sensor can be
calculated as seen in [10, eq.(1)].
The speed of ultrasonic sound S at 20̊ C temperature is
given by
S = 343.5m / s = 343.5 *100cm / s
i.e, S = (343.5 *100) / 1000000cm / μs .
S = 0.03435cm / μs
The time T in microseconds from transmitting and receiving
the echo after reflecting by the object kept at a distance d
can be calculated by using the PulseIn function available in
arduino library. So the actual time taken between the
transmitter and object will be T/2.
Therefore the distance d in centimeter between the
transmitter and object in ultrasonic sensor can be calculated
using the relation between speed, time and distance by (1)
d = S * (T / 2) = 0.03435 * (T / 2)
(1)
d = (1 / 29.1) * (T / 2) = (T / 2) / 29.1
3) Liquid Crystal Display (LCD): In this proposed
system to display the status of water level in the tank as well
as the working status of motor a LCD display unit of 16
columns in each of the two rows is used. The Inter-
integrated Circuit ( I 2 C ) board that connects the LCD to
Arduino using the I 2 C serial bus is used to overcome the
consumption of more number of input/output (I/O) pins of
microcontroller by the LCD. Data Signal (SDA) and Clock
Signal (SCL) are the only two I/O pins for I 2 C . The Inter-
integrated Circuit (I2C) Protocol is a protocol intended to
allow multiple slave circuits to communicate with one or
more master chips.
4) Light Emitting Diode (LED) Indicator: A Four legged
LED which emits light of three colours Red, Green Blue is
used in this framework to display the water level status that
is visible from long distance. In the four pins one is a
common cathode to the three anodes. Common cathode is
connected to the ground through a 1kΩ resistor. The three
anodes are connected to three different digital pins of the
arduino microcontroller to control the colour from the LED.
When the water level is low the LED indicator emits Green
colour. Blue colour is emitted by the LED when the water
level is medium. The LED turns Red in colour when water
level is very low.
5) Pump: The pump used in this proposed system is a
DC submersible pump which can operate at a DC input
voltage of 4.5V-12V.The pump is powered by a 12V, 2A
DC adaptor in this framework.
6) Relay: Relay is used to control the working of a high
voltage device by a low voltage. Here the pump works at
12V DC and microcontroller provides only 5V maximum. A
5V relay module is used in this work to turn on and turn off
the pump.
7) Bluetooth: The sensor unit communicates with
display unit in wireless mode using the Bluetooth wireless
technology. The HC-12 bluetooth module is used in this
dissertation. One bluetooth module is kept at overhead tank
and another bluetooth at the display unit that is kept inside
the home.
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 8) Power Supply: The power supply for the
microcontroller is provided from a 230V, 50Hz AC to 9V,
1A DC adaptor.
A. Wired Automatic Water Level Controller
The block diagram of Wired Automatic Water Level
Controller is shown in fig.2. The water level sensor detects
the level of the water in the overhead tank and is given to
the microcontroller for further processing. Liquid Crystal
Display (LCD) displays the information about the water
level and status of the working of the motor i.e., the pump.
The LED indicator also gives indication of the water level
which is visible from long distance also. The water level
sensor alone will be kept above the overhead tank and is
connected by lengthy wires to the microcontroller, display,
LED indicator which are kept inside the building. So it is
called wired. The applications of wired automatic water
level controller are restricted to one floor houses by the
length of the wires.
Power
Supply
LED
Indicat
or
Microcontroll
er LCD
Water
(Arduino
Level
UNO)
Senso
r (Arduino
RELA
Y
PUMP
Fig.2. Block Diagram of Wired Automatic Water Level Controller
B. Wireless Automatic Water Level Controller
The wireless automatic water level controller can be
divided into two parts: Sensor Unit and Display Unit. The
function of the sensor unit and the display unit are explained
below.
1) Sensor Unit: The sensor unit contains the water level
sensor, a microcontroller and bluetooth module as shown in
Fig. 3.
Power Supply
Tx
Water
Microcontroller Bluetooth
Level
(Ardinu UNO)
Sensor
Fig.3. Block Diagram of Sensor Unit
The water level sensor detects the water level water in the
overhead tank, the microcontroller decides in which stage
the water level belongs to out of the four stages i, ii, iii, iv.
Once the stage is decided, the microcontroller sends a
unique code for each stage to the display part using
bluetooth. If the water level is in stage I, the unique code
‘1111’ is sent. For stage ii,’2222’ is the unique code sent.
For stages iii & iv the unique codes are ‘3333’ and ‘4444’
respectively.
2) Display Unit: The display unit consists of bluetooth,
microcontroller, LCD display, LED indicator and a pump
driven by a relay as shown in Fig. 4.
Power Supply
LED
R Indicat
LCD
Microcontroll
Bluetooth
er
RELAY
UNO)
Fig.4. Block Diagram of Display Unit
The display unit starts operating as it receives the unique
code from the sensor unit through bluetooth. The
microcontroller identifies the unique code received and turns
LED into respective color along with displaying the
corresponding message in the LCD. The relay turns on and
off the pump with respect to the code identified. If the code
received is ‘1111’the LED turns to Green color, the relay
switches on the pump and the message of water level is low
and pump turned ON are displayed on LCD alternatively
with a time gap of 2s time between them. The LED turns
into blue color when the received code is ‘2222’ indicating
medium water level and continues to keep the pump in ON
mode. Simultaneously the LCD alternatively displays the
message of water level medium and pump ON. The pump
gets turned OFF, LED turns into Red color when the code is
‘3333’ indicating water level is high and LCD displays the
same. When ‘4444’ is received the LED turns into Blue
color indicating the water level is medium in the LCD as
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well, but keeps the pump in OFF condition till it reaches low The hardware setup of automatic water level controller
level as water is getting consumed. using wired technology based on fig.2 is shown in Fig.5.

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A. Results of Wired Automatic Water Level Controller

Fig.5. Hardware Setup of Wired Automatic Water Level Controller

Relay ON
a b

Relay ON

c d

Relay OFF
e f

Relay OFF
g h
Fig.6. Water level status a ,c ,e ,g of stages i to iv and Motor status b ,d ,f ,h of stages i to iv respectively for Wired Technology

Relay ON
a B

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 Relay ON
c d.

Relay OFF

e f

Relay OFF

g h
Fig.7. Water level status a ,c ,e ,g of stages i to iv and Motor status b ,d ,f ,h of stages i to iv respectively for Wireless Technology

The fig. 6 shows the results of wired automatic water level

controller. In fig .6 a, c ,e ,g shows the status of the water
level for the stages i to iv respectively and b, d, f ,h shows
the status of the motor for the stages i to iv in the LCD .The
LED indictor also changes its color along with the relay
turning pump on and off depending on the water level.

B. Results of Wireless Automatic Water Level Controller

The fig. 7 shows the results of wireless automatic water
level controller similar to wired technology only change is a
bluetooth module comes additional. In fig .7 a, c ,e ,g shows
the status of the water level for the stages i to iv respectively
and b, d, f ,h shows the status of the motor for the stages i to
iv in the LCD .

Arduino
UNO Fig.9.Hardware Setup of Display Unit
The complete hardware setup of wireless automatic water
HC-12 level controller is shown in Fig.10.
Ultrasonic bluetooth
Sensor

Overhead
Tank

Fig. 10: Complete Hardware Setup of Wireless Automatic Water Level

Fig.8.Hardware Setup of Sensor Unit
The hardware setup of sensor unit based on fig.3 is shown
in Fig.8. The hardware setup of display unit based on fig.4 is
shown in Fig.9
Controller
The table II gives the comparison between the Wired
and Wireless technologies used in automatic water level
controller in terms of maximum coverage of distance,
easiness of using the technology, cost while implementing
the technology and external damages such as wires exposed
to moisture, temperature and rats chewing the wires.

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TABLE II. COMPARISON BETWEEN WIRED AND WIRELESS
AUTOMATIC WATER LEVEL CONTROLLER

Technology
Parameter
Wired Wireless

HT-12 bluetooth range is 1km and

Distance Limited by length of
can be improved by use of
the wire
repeaters.
Ease of Use Easy Easy once technique is known
Cost Low Comparatively High
Vulnerable to
External Yes No
Damages

V. CONCLUSION
Automation is one of the concepts to make any system
smart by reducing regular human intervention. The wireless
automatic water level controller was developed successfully
using ultrasonic sensor, bluetooth technology and arduino
UNO microcontroller to overcome the constraint of distance
parameter in agricultural and multistoried building
applications .The results shows that automatic water level
controller proposed in this paper is superior with respect to
wired one. Implementation of this water level controller
helps in preserving water to maximum extent which can
indirectly help in reducing the scarcity of water.

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