MSGID: <10h8unl$oq21$1@dont-email.me> 41f3278a   
   PID: PyGate 1.5.2   
   TID: PyGate/Linux 1.5.2   
   CHRS: ASCII 1   
   TZUTC: 0000   
   REPLYADDR tnp@invalid.invalid   
   REPLYTO 3:633/10 UUCP   
   First of all thanks to all those who responded on my first efforts to    
   put a battery power Pi Pico W outside and have it phone home.   
      
   Having eliminated temperature and supply voltage as issues, I delved    
   into wifi and router logs, and it was clear that it was sometimes    
   getting a DHCP lease and even occasionally opening a TCP/IP connections    
   and sending data. And might be dependent on where I parked the car and    
   the weather.   
      
   I tried putting a tin tray behind the router and that made it worse.   
      
   Now the layout was that a ground floor router through the window and the    
   garage was not very good at about 30m range.   
      
   Then I remembered I had put an Ethernet port in an upstairs bedroom by    
   the window in case I wanted to use it as an office.   
      
   It was further away - 35m or so - but much less cluttered path. It just    
   had to go through a corner of the garage.   
      
   Instantly the router reported about 8-10dB more signal and almost    
   reliable comms resulted.   
      
   Now instead of 1 in 10 connections working,m I have one in ten    
   connections *not* working.The limit seems to be about -93dBm reported on    
   the Pi Pico and about -90dBM reported on the router/access point.   
      
   What seems to be the key is uncluttered line of sight for as much of the    
   distance as possible. And wind and rain. There are trees /bushes behind    
   and the last two days have been very wet and very windy. And I have seen    
   good connections drop without sending data and reported signal levels    
   up to 10dB worse.   
      
   On the plus side for those contemplating similar, the ultrasonic module    
   seems flawless..   
      
   (HC-SR04) and the original one worked down to about 4V. I believe newer    
   ones will do down to 3.3V.   
      
   Also the nano power timers (TPL5110) works OK. Although it needed 100uF    
   across the output power rails to stop it oscillating :(   
      
   The whole thing seems to be accurate to a couple of litres in a 2500    
   litre tank.   
      
   (I spent several hours trying to remember enough high school    
   trigonometry to work out the area of a chord. )   
      
      
   All in all the reliability of the wireless is about the same as the old    
   commercial (465Mhz)  sensor except that that needed the receiver where I    
   could read it. The luxury of just looking on a web browser makes the    
   whole thing worth while, as is knowing exactly when the batteries are    
   running out. So far in about 6 weeks of battery testing the 3 x AAs have    
   gone from '4.6V' to '4.4V' . Battery replacement does not need the whole    
   unit to be removed. Simply a battery holder and cover with a simple 2    
   pin battery plug.   
      
   The hassle of setting up the C SDK is worth it as there is much that    
   Python cannot do.   
   And I am hoping never ever to have to spend two hours bleeding 60 metres    
   of partially  air filled oil line when the tank runs dry (or is emptied    
   by thieves)   
      
   There are apparently blue tooth solutions that talk to yiur mobile    
   phone, but once again, the phone needs to be in range...   
      
   Anyway thanks to all who helped, and the upshot is that liquid levels    
   sensing with battery powered ultrasonics and a wifi link is perfectly    
   doable and depending on circumstance, very worth doing.   
      
   And I knew all that trig would come in handy one day :-)   
      
      
   --    
   No Apple devices were knowingly used in the preparation of this post.   
      
   --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2   
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)   
   SEEN-BY: 105/81 106/201 128/187 129/14 305 153/7715 154/110 218/700   
   SEEN-BY: 226/30 227/114 229/110 112 134 200 206 275 300 317 400 426   
   SEEN-BY: 229/428 470 616 664 700 705 266/512 291/111 292/854 320/219   
   SEEN-BY: 322/757 342/200 396/45 460/58 633/10 280 414 418 420 422   
   SEEN-BY: 633/509 2744 712/848 770/1 902/26 2320/105 5020/400 5075/35   
   PATH: 633/10 280 229/426