Low Cost Ambient Water Quality Sensors

The mayfly acts in a similar way to other boards, such as Arduino, that can take analog and digital inputs and connect to the mayfly. Through my experimentation, what ever works on Arduino will also work on the mayfly

John is right, just about any sensor you find should be able to work with the Mayfly, though you might have to add some interface circuitry or adapters depending on the power requirements and communication protocol of the sensor. I’ve got Mayfly board working with digital output sensors (either TTL, RS232, or SDI-12 outputs) and analog output sensors, and I’ll be posting code examples soon. It’s also possible to use 4-20ma output sensors if you have an interface, but we don’t currently use them in any of our active projects so maybe someone else can chime in with their experience with using 4-20ma sensors.

As for the types of sensors, we normally use research-grade high-quality sensors for turbidity, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, etc. While the cost is relatively high compared to the low cost nature of the Mayfly, we prefer them because of their precision and dependability. We are also experimenting with different low cost sensors for measuring those parameters and hope to have some results to share later this summer.

We use sensors from a variety of companies, and most times every sensor on our stations will come from a different company. This is because we like to mix and match the sensors for the exact needs of the location and research questions being answered. What parameters are you interested in measuring?

Hi Shannon,

I too want to know which sensors for pH, Temp, DO, and Conductivity you recommend.

I look forward to hearing back fro you.