How to select the best water flow sensor for your Arduino project
In the last blog How to use Water Flow Sensor / Meter with Arduino, we explained the basics of the water flow sensor and Arduino usage.
You can find dozens of water flow sensors on our website, so the question comes, which one is best for your project? Well, just take 5 minutes to read the blog and follow the simple 3 rules, all your doubts will be gone!
Rule No.1: The application scenario determines the type of water flow sensor to use.
Though you can find a dozen or more water flow sensors on our web market, typically they can be divided into two types:
- Large diameter copper pipe
- Small diameter plastic pipe
YF-B1 ~ YF-B7 belongs to the Large-diameter type. The YF-Bx serials are commonly used in industry, agriculture, and animal husbandry, and therefore require the use of copper pipes that are more resistant to pressure and better resistant to corrosion.
While small-diameter ones are usually used for household appliances. The most common of these are the YF-S201 and YF-S402. The YF-S201 is suitable for card dispensers, water vending machines, while the YF-S402 is suitable for smaller diameter household appliances such as water dispensers, coffee makers. By the way, both YF-S402 and YF-S201 are commonly used in Arduino and Raspberry Pi water flow sensor projects.
Sometimes, you need to measure both water flow and water temperature, like water heaters, or dishwashers. Then you need to choose a water flow sensor with a temperature sensor. Well, we got YF-B4 and YF-B7, both can detect the water temperature.
Rule No.2: Choose the water flow sensor by pipe diameter.
Usually, the pipe diameter of the device that needs to measure water flow is fixed, so you need to choose a water flow sensor that fits the device’s pipe diameter. The water flow sensors on our website are all in the British Standard Pipe(BSP). That’s why can find G1/2 or G3/4 in the sensor name.
Don’t worry if you are using the American National Pipe Thread(NPT). You can still use the BSP water flow sensor with your NPT pipe, Just need to do some simple conversions. For more detail please check the Thread standard.
You can check all the Seeed water flow sensor thread diameter in the following table:
| Type | Dimensions(DN/G) | Working Voltage | Flow Rate Range | Male & Female | Length of Thread | Material |
| YF-B1 | DN15 G1/2 | 5V~15V(DC) | 1~25L/min | Double Male | 10mm | Copper |
| YF-B2 | DN15 G1/2 | 5V~15V(DC) | 1~25L/min | Male in Female out | 10mm | Copper |
| YF-B3 | DN15 G1/2 | 5V~15V(DC) | 1~25L/min | Double Male | 18mm | Copper |
| YF-B4 | DN15 G1/2 | 5V~15V(DC) | 1~25L/min | Male in Female out | 10mm | Copper |
| YF-B5 | DN20 G3/4 | 5V~15V(DC) | 1~30L/min | Double Male | 10mm | Copper |
| YF-B6 | DN20 G3/4 | 5V~15V(DC) | 1~30L/min | Double Male | 11mm | Copper |
| YF-B7 | DN15 G1/2 | 5V~15V(DC) | 1~25L/min | Double Male | 10mm | Copper |
| G1&2 | DN15 | 5V~24V(DC) | 1~30L/min | Double Male | Plastic | |
| G3&4 | DN20 G3/4 | 5V~24V(DC) | 1~60L/min | Double Male | Plastic | |
| G1&2 | DN15 G1/2 | 5V~24V(DC) | 1~30L/min | Double Male | 13mm | Plastic |
| G1&8 | G1/8 | 5V~24V(DC) | 0.3~6L/min | – | – | Plastic |
| M11*1.25-YF-S402 | G1/4 | 5V~24V(DC) | 0.3~6L/min | – | – | Plastic |
Rule No.3: Choose the water flow sensor by parameter.
For the water flow sensor the most important parameters are:
- Water Flow Rate Range
- Max Water Pressure
- Operating Voltage
You can find all the information in the table above, just make sure you choose the right water flow sensor with the right parameter. For Arduino Projects, if you are not sure which one to choose, just try YF-S201 and YF-S402.
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