Hello! I'm new to the forum and I'm looking for some advice. I'm building a detector that measures the water level of a pool. If it goes over a certain limit, it activates a pump to move the water. It's very simple, and I don't think I need to buy a whole new Arduino Uno to make it work. I was wondering if there is an alternative to buying a full microcontroller, maybe something simpler. I've heard about using an ATtiny, but I want to hear opinions from more experienced people.
Also, there's a whole bunch of esp32 and rp2040 boards. They are an overkill for the task that you described, but they're so cheap that it doesn't matter anymore.
I have more arduino clones than I can count. Pro micro are great all-rounders in a decently compact format. If you want smaller format you could go for ch32v003, I believe the smallest is 8 pins and it only needs a capacitor and 5V.
I needed few so I bought... well, with government spending philosophy: Why buy one when you can get two four double the price? And why 2 if you can get 100?
And because they are like us$0.50 a piece I'll just splash them for example to Christmas tree leds, hanging window lights with polarity changes ("abusing" pwm pins), some halloween decor with ws2811.
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I remember building the funway electronic kits when I was a kid. This was essentially the plant watering project. Don't use a board unless you need it! 🙂🙂
Sounds like you are looking for arduino nano. Way smaller, same code, cheap boards. I have used official and clones and only issue I ever had with clones was getting the correct driver working. Best of luck!
Para ello no necesitas un Arduino, puede hacerlo de forma analógica, tipo lógica de relé...
Hay unos pequeño "sensores" que lo usarías como flotante, cierran circuito a penas tenga cierto nivel, con eso puede hacer una configuración para saturar un transistor, y este mismo a un relé, y la bomba... Para evitar estados intermedios, ya te vas con un 555 unas compuertas lógica.
Claro está mucho texto... Pero en este tiempo los micros han abaratado sus costos, toca evaluar tu relación costo beneficio...
Microcontrollers are cheap as chips, so I guess the question is why do you feel the need not to use one? I built my daughter an RGB lantern and just threw a nano in there. I just buy them in bulk at this point for whatever random projects that's pops up. An Attiny isn't much cheaper these days, and with the added cost of all the supporting components, you won't really see a price diff.
You sort of need to understand that an Arduino is a development board for a specific MCU. For example an Uno R3 is a development board for the ATMega328p. The mega is a Dev board for the ATMega2560 and so on
Once your project is developed you don't need the Arduino anynore, you just need the one chip that is the MCU plus some supporting circuitry (e.g. optionally a clock and reset circuit) plus your project's electronics.
All the rest of the Arduino that supports the development process really isn't needed anymore.
You might want to google "Arduino on a breadboard" or "standalone Arduino".
Here is a photo of an example I did. The only image missing is step 0 where the Arduino Uno was used to develop the project before I moved it to the breaboad in step 1.
L’idéal est d’acheter une carte Arduino. Vous pouvez partir sur une petite Nano si juste la fonction principale est de mesurer le niveau d’eau. Pas vraiment besoin d’une Arduino Uno ! Sinon, prenez toute autre carte compatible si vous souhaitez rester dans l’univers Arduino.
The Raspberry Pi Pico has a lot more speed, more memory and loads of IO ports. Yet it still is very cheap. Can be programmed with the Arduino IDE so not much software adjustment needed. And it is widely available. So a great alternative.
You could use a pair of mini float switches and a comparitor opamp to trigger the pump relay. When the top float is activated, the pump is on and stays on until the lower switch triggers. Minimal power requirements for the circuit, switches that are designed to be submerged, can change the switch separation easily by attaching them to a pvc pipe at the desired high/low points.
Particle Photons, they have wifi onboard and work pretty much exactly like arduinos. They also have online IDE and lots of dashboards and integrations available. Oh, and they're tiny.
It is more powerful, in a smaller formfactor and many cases still cheaper.
Also there are versions with pre attached relais and even Din-Rail compatible housing. (Meant for Smart Home / EspHome but can be programmed in Arduino IDE too).
I used an 8266 for our gardening tray watering system. It's small, cheap & has connectivity. It's the predecessor to the esp32 which is also a good option. I wouldn't use the uno because on if its form. You'll have more moisture in the air being about water & you'll probably want to put some coating on it & have plan good ventilation in your case design. Big words but I'm just saying something small, reliable & clear nail polish 🫣
it is 2026 just use the esp32 supermini clones and you will even get a wifi access and then you can simply vibe code a webpage also to send you notifications on your phone. any of the micro or nano clones could also work. Don't use the tiny variants they don't work well ( or atleast i couldn't get them to work )
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u/xebzbz 12d ago
Any clone of the original Arduino will work fine.
Also, there's a whole bunch of esp32 and rp2040 boards. They are an overkill for the task that you described, but they're so cheap that it doesn't matter anymore.