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Ask HN: Arduino to measure height above water?

1 points by monk_e_boy ↗ HN
Can you think of a good way to make this:

https://woosports.com/kite/

using an Arduino, but not using accelerometers.

3 comments

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83
Accelerometers are a great choice of sensor in this application imo, why not use them?

GPS would be an alternative, but pricier and probably less reliable. There are of course a variety of ways to measure height above water like ultrasonic or radar sensors but good luck water sealing them and keeping them oriented downward in this application.

monk_e_boy
Putting two Woos on one board gives two different height readings. So they are not perfect.

They also mis-read jumps.

Just wondered if there was a different way of measuring height.

[edit] Boards fall off feet, then get washed around in the surf. This seems to fool the sensors quite a lot.

dekhn
If the water is at the same height as local sea level, then pressure sensor can be used. If properly calibrated it can detect changes of several meters.