Monitoring river flow/temp/level?

Question

We have a small river by the house. I would like to wirelessly monitor flow, temp and level of stream. All i can seem to find through search are industrial flow sensors. I do not need "continuous" monitoring, but a system of reliable wireless sensors with medium/long battery life (1-2 years).

What is the best solution to my problem ?

Answer 1

Monitoring temperature remotely or semi-remotely can be done cheaply with data loggers. The 'Onset' Hobo is the most widely used temperature logger and its not very expensive. It has an optional wireless setup. They also have a water level logger.
Hobo: http://www.microdaq.com/occ/h8/hobotemp.php

Monitoring stream flow is not as easily done as temperature, and flow meters are very expensive. Adding to the problem is that flow meters must be centered in the current, which is not easy to do since the center changes with flow, and debris will catch on the meter if it is in the middle of the channel. None of meters commonly used for monitoring streaflow would work very well for remote monitoring ( Price Type-AA, Price Pygmy, Marsh McBirney 2000, and Swoffer 2100).

Most stream flows are monitered by height gauges, that measure water stage, and the current is extrapolated by developing a curve relating stream stage to water current or discharge. Height gauges are also expensive. Here's a few at Forestry Suppliers:

http://www.forestry-suppliers.com/drilldown_pages/view_category.asp?cat=318

I don't know of any way to monitor flow remotely without either buying expensive equipment, or building you own setup.

Answer 2

The temp is the easy part. You could get a sensor in the correct temperature range and wire it to something like a LaCrosse weather monitor. As far as flow goes (I'm assuming you mean discharge and not speed) you would almost have to have multiple depth sensors and width sensors to make that calculation. I devised a spreadsheet to calculate discharge with given depth measurements and it works well except you still have to have the measurements. Unless of course, you could divert the river through a structure where you would have a constant width and could measure the depth. That probably isn't practical. If I knew more about your purpose I might be able to give you a better answer.

Answer 3

tricky stuff. look into onto yahoo and bing. this can assist!