Building a Capacitive Liquid Sensor

A capacitive liquid sponsor relies on the fact the the capacitance or charge
between 2 metal plates will change (in this case increase) depending on what
material is between them.
This allows us to create a level sensor that is safe for use with any liquid, this
one will be used in a buggy with gasoline (petrol).
One plate is hooked to ground. The other connects to pin 23. There is a 820K
ohm resistor from pin 22 to 23. The sensor works by charging the capacitor (the
water bottle) and measuring how long it takes to drain through the resistor.

Step 1: Parts

1. A solder-less bread board is strictly not needed but make it a lot easier,
especially if you plan to add other stuff later.

2. Arduino, I'm using an Arduino mega but a standard one should have just
enough pins.
3. LCD character display.
4. Some odds and ends including some wire and a 1M resistor.
5. A computer, you know, that thing your using to read my instructable
with.
6. Patience.

Step 2: Connecting the LCD and letting your creation talk

to the world

Like every step in this instructable there are many ways to do this. I will
show you my favorite.
Your lcd has 16 throe hole solder pads so the first thing is to attach
some pins. If your patent then I recommend purchasing a header like this
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=117.
But if you want to get done as fast as possible (like me) then you can use
wire.
Simple cut 16 pieces of wire at about 1/2" (13mm (longer is okay)). Then
solder them to the board.

Step 3: Connecting the LCD Continued.

Sins I'm using special characters I will be connecting all the wires.
Pin 1 Ground
Pin 2 +5 Volt

Pin 3 Contrast adjust

Pin 4 RS
Pin 5 R/W Goes to Ground
Pin 6-14 Data
Pin 15 Back-light Power
Pin 16 Back-light Ground

Step 4: Data Lines

Now you need to connect the Arduino to the lcd.

It doesn't mater what pins you use, but I recommend following the schematic.

Step 5: Power MaHaHaHa

The usb port on you computer has enough power to run the Arduino and led
back-light so just connect the ground and power rails on you bread board to
the power out on the Arduino board.

Step 6: Make Capacitive Sensor

For testing i used aluminum foil and a plastic water bottle, It will work with
any container so long as it isn't metal.
You can use any type of wire but any non shielded lines will provide poor
performance.

You can use any 2 pins, I chose 22 and 23.

Connect one side to ground and the other to a resister and 2 I/O pins.

Step 7: Programming

You need to add 2 library files to make this work

LiquidCrystal.h http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/LiquidCrystal
CapSense.h http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Main/CapSense
Copy and past this into Arduino 0017 or newer.
//Capacitive Liquid Sensor
//Vadim December 7th 2009
#include
#include

//This is to set the size of the lcd

const int numRows = f=4;
const int numCols = 20;
//This sets the pins for the lcd (RS, Enable, data 0-7)
LiquidCrystal lcd (53, 52, 51, 50, 49, 48,47,46,45,44);
#define Tempin 0x48
#define Tempout 0x49
CapSense cs_22_23 = CapSense(22,23);

uint8_t block[8] = {0xFF,0xFF,0xFF,0xFF,0xFF,0xFF,0xFF,0xFF};

uint8_t tl[8] = {0x0F,0x08,0x08,0x08,0x08,0x08,0x0F,0x0F};
uint8_t tr[8] = {0x16,0x11,0x11,0x11,0x11,0x11,0x1D,0x15};
uint8_t bl[8] = {0x0F,0x0F,0x0F,0x0F,0x0F,0x0F,0x0F,0x1F};
uint8_t br[8] = {0x15,0x15,0x15,0x15,0x15,0x15,0x12,0x18};
void setup() {
lcd.begin(numRows, numCols);
lcd.createChar(4, tl);
lcd.createChar(5, tr);
lcd.createChar(6, bl);
lcd.createChar(7, br);
lcd.setCursor(18,0);
lcd.print(4, BYTE);
lcd.setCursor(19,0);
lcd.print(5, BYTE);
lcd.setCursor(18,1);
lcd.print(6, BYTE);
lcd.setCursor(19,1);
lcd.print(7, BYTE);
lcd.setCursor(0,2);
lcd.print("Fuel ");
lcd.setCursor(0,3);
lcd.print("E");
}

void loop() {
long fuel;
lcd.createChar(2, block);
long start = millis();
fuel = cs_22_23.capSenseRaw(200);

//Temratue makes a bit of a difrence so let it run for 5 min before tuning.
//Adjust this number so that the output is as close to zero as posible.
fuel = fuel - 7200;
//Then fill up the conataner
//Un-comment and adjust this so that the output, when the container is
full,
//is as close to 100 as possible.
//fuel = fuel / 93;
lcd.setCursor(0,0);
lcd.print(" ");
lcd.setCursor(0,0);
lcd.print(fuel);
if (fuel >= 6) {
lcd.setCursor(1,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(1,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 12) {
lcd.setCursor(2,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(2,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 17) {
lcd.setCursor(3,3);

lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(3,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 23) {
lcd.setCursor(4,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(4,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 28) {
lcd.setCursor(5,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(5,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 34) {
lcd.setCursor(6,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(6,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 39) {
lcd.setCursor(7,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(7,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 44) {
lcd.setCursor(8,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(8,3);
lcd.print(" ");

}
if (fuel >= 50) {
lcd.setCursor(9,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(9,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 55) {
lcd.setCursor(10,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(10,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 60) {
lcd.setCursor(11,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(11,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 64) {
lcd.setCursor(12,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(12,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 69) {
lcd.setCursor(13,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(13,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 74) {
lcd.setCursor(14,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);

} else {
lcd.setCursor(14,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 78) {
lcd.setCursor(15,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(15,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 83) {
lcd.setCursor(16,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(16,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 87) {
lcd.setCursor(17,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(17,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 92) {
lcd.setCursor(18,3);
lcd.print(2, BYTE);
} else {
lcd.setCursor(18,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}
if (fuel >= 96) {
lcd.setCursor(19,3);
lcd.print("F");
} else {
lcd.setCursor(19,3);
lcd.print(" ");
}

delay (50);
}
Step 8: Stuff
This is perfect for measuring volatile liquids, even works inside a propane
tank.
Have fun.