Gravity: Non-Contact Capacitive Liquid Level Sensor

Makers of all kinds find awesome uses for the ability to measure liquids, whether you are an electronics expert monitoring oil in a machine or a baker judging the levels of their syrup dispensing unit. While the simplest method involves sticking your finger or a ruler into the liquid, sometimes we can’t touch the liquid we’re measuring or don’t want to. Standard water level probes that bob inside simply won’t work well either with closed pipes or precious liquids we wish to not contaminate. The solution is a non-contact option like these remarkable Gravity Non-Contact Capacitive Liquid Level Sensors, which stick onto the outside of your container with a flexible adhesive design.

This awesome Gravity Non-Contact sensor can penetrate up to 5m through a non-conductive container. The sensor detects the presence of liquid using capacitance measurements, but more specifically taps into and couples with the parasitic capacitance that happens when liquids come into contact with a capacitive field. This allows Makers to measure levels without ever dipping a probe into the liquid, and while this may seem somewhat unnecessary at first, it does offer some excellent advantages that submersible probes simply cannot provide. A 3-pin DuPont connector also allows you to easily connect your sensor to other electronics. Gravity Non-Contact Capacitive Liquid Level Sensors are useful in an array of applications, including monitoring the test tube level for a scientific experiment, or detecting how much milk you have left in your coffee machine with a simple slap-on detector.

Typical Applications for Gravity Non-Contact Capacitive Liquid Level Sensor:

When taking a look at what kinds of advantages this sensor can offer, the first benefit that this sensor provides is the fact that you never have to risk contaminating the liquids being measured, which is essential for a lot of food-based processing, but also for oils and fuels that need to maintain a perfect level of consistency and purity. The second benefit is that you also never have to clean the measuring probe, and this not only offers sheer convenience for whoever is in charge of measuring liquid levels, but also means that you can measure multiple different containers without any extra hassle or effort between measurements.

Finally, because of these two key benefits, these Sensors even allow you to automate your level detection system, letting you utilise just a single sensor for as many different containers as you want. This Gravity Non-Contact Capacitive Liquid Level Sensor is flexible and adhesive, allowing you to easily slap it onto the container you wish to monitor.

Additional Resources:

• This is the official DFRobot Non-Contact Liquid Level Sensor Module Wiki, which details some of the specifications, as well as documentation and sample code for utilising the probe effectively.

As self-proclaimed “Robo-holics”, DFRobot is a company comprised of over 100 staff members, of which 30% are engineers who love to build robots. It was started in 2008 with the goal of embracing and promoting open-source hardware, with a core focus on Arduino, Raspberry Pi and their very own LattePanda development boards. Since then, DFRobot have manufactured over 1300 unique modules, sensors and components that all work together and complement each other, allowing users like us to enjoy a full spectrum of cutting edge robotics and electronics without having to pay premium prices.

With the primary goal of developing and manufacturing great quality products, while making them accessible to as many people as possible, DFRobot are rapidly becoming one of the most common-place brands in the world of open-source robotics and electronics. With more than 1300 products developed in-house, and an impressive range of different categories and specialisations, there are few brands in the world who can compete in terms of quality, accessibility and genuine innovation.