Solomon Rhodes & Dolton Delgado

ENEE 2510 Final Lab Project

Water Level Indicator
Group 8
Purpose/Objective:
Both homes and industries need devices to detect levels of water. For
example, when needing to check levels in a water tank, it is not always easy or
possible to economically do so, however, not checking can lead to wasted water
and wasted energy. The solution is a circuit that can immediately tell you what
level the water is currently at. The circuit that we have designed will turn red when
the water levels are extremely low and green when they are near sufficient and an
alarm will sound when the tank is completely full. This was the primary objective
of our final project.

Equipment:
Breadboard
9v battery
220k Resistors
2N3904 Transistors
Buzzer
Red, yellow, and green LEDs
Water
Wire

Background Theory:
Water is not a very good conductor. However, as long as it is not purified or
distilled, it conducts enough to be able to set off the alarm system we set up. By
placing a wire coming from the positive side of the battery into the water. This puts
the positive charge into the water. Each wire is placed at different levels in the
water to indicate where the low, medium and high water levels are. Again, since
water is not a good conductor we cannot simply place the wires into the LEDs.
The voltage is not strong enough to trigger the LEDs themselves, but it is enough
to trigger the switch on a transistor. Theoretically, the switch on the transistor will
trigger when the water level rises to the wire that is in place with it.

Procedure:
Once we got the theory of the project down, we had to build the circuit. We
knew we were going to need resistors to drop the voltage so that we didnt blow
the LEDs so we decided on a relatively high Ohmage of 220k to be safe and they
ended up working well. By placing the one side of the transistors into the ground
of the battery and the other into the water tank, this ensures that when a positive
voltage is observed, the transistor will switch to its on state and activate the LED.
We also placed resistors in between the transistors and the line leading to the
water. We did this to limit the maximum current coming back to the transistor. A
transistor doesnt need much voltage to be activated and we didnt want to ruin any
of our equipment. One of the biggest challenges honestly was making sure we
knew precisely how the transistors worked. It wasnt too hard to figure out, but we
had never had to use them before and it was a new experience.
Once the circuit was built, the process of testing it didnt turn out to be too
difficult. We mainly needed to be sure our transistors were in the right place and
that the correct side of the LEDs were placed into the positive end of the battery.
Schematic:
Here is our design in Multisim.
Circuit Design:
Results/Conclusion:
Our water level alarm system works as expected. Our circuit design is not
very complex, but it is efficient and we were able to get consistent results after
several trials. We observed how placing a positive voltage in the water will cause it
to conduct, even if it did not conduct very much. This slight conduction however is
enough to switch on the transistors and activate the lights in our alarm system.
Overall, our circuit is small, efficient and very functional and practical.