We have been working on designing and releasing our next sensor version. This one focuses on using more readily available parts and being more versatile depending on the situation in which it is deployed.

To read more about this sensor's design and some rough steps to create your own, visit our new guide at guide.aquametric.live. Keep in mind this is still very much a work in progress, so some of the pages may not be complete.

We were planning to install our sensor via a single aluminum rod hammered into the stream bed. When we reached the stream, we realized that this plan was not going to work. The stream bed was extremely rocky. No amount of hammering was going to mount the rod securely enough.

We settled on mounting the sensor to a tree overhanging the stream. Zip ties were used to secure the main device and auxiliary sensor cables to the log. While it may look crude, the sensor is very securely mounted, probably better than many of our other solutions.

In fact the tree mounting has a slight advantage over our other options. Since, there is no mounting parts that enter the water, there is very little for debris to collect around, so we expect to get more stable stage readings from it.

It has only been installed for a week now, but we have already seen some promising data. This shows the stream recovering to normal levels over a few days after a heavy rain.