I have a great Rika pellet stove, but despite all the embedded electronics, it is unable to warn me just before the pellets tank is empty. As I already have my own low-power wireless devices and home automation tools, I just added a distance sensor and designed some enclosures.

Sensor selection

IR sensor

Cheap usual Sharp sensor needs to be at least 10 cm away from the pellets. It is a no go for this use case as pellets are close to the lid when the tank is full

Ultrasonic sensors

As common as the Sharp IR sensor, the HC-SR04 was an option but I discarded it for two reasons:

• Dust generated by pellets: sensor difficult to clean
• Not working well with a power supply of 3.3 Vdc

STMicroelectronics time of flight sensor

So I went with ST VL53L0X: range adapted to my needs, low power, and it is easy to the clean sensor. Regarding dust, I used it for several months without having to clean it but summer was included, so let’s wait a full winter for feedback.

Hardware

I bought a cheap breakout board from eBay and plug the I2C lines into my NoteRF boards

Software

I just added the library from Pololu to my project then translated the data in Node-Red.

// VL53L0X
if ( sensorType == 7 ) {
    msg.topic = `data/sensor/noterf_distance_${sensorName}/state`;

	var distance = msg.payload.split( "|" )[2];
	distance_percent = 100 - distance/590*100;

	msg.payload = {
	    'rssi': rssi,
	    'battery': battery,
	};

	// Filter abnormal values
	if ( ( distance >= 0 ) && ( distance < 8000 ) ) {
	    msg.payload.distance = distance;
	    msg.payload.distance_percent = distance_percent;
	}
}

Home assistant

As for all other connected things in my house it reports to Home Assistant, which allows a nice interface, that I rarely use thanks to the automation: I am notified on my phone (through pushbullet) when tank level or device battery cross a threshold: the purpose of that device is achieved! Anyway, some fancy displays can be setup in a few seconds:

Device battery needs calibration :-)

Mechanics

I designed with OnShape two 3D printed boxes for the sensor and the electronics/battery, both are using magnets to stick in place The sensor is on the tank lid, while electronics and batteries are outside, hidden on the back of the stove.

Design files:

• Time of flight forGYUL53 breakout board
• NoteRF box