Back in 2015 we teamed up with Mark and Greta Sheridan the Sheridan Cattle Ranch to build a system that could control water pumps at a range of up to four miles from the storage tanks used to water their cattle.

There are 2 systems: one from the town water source; the other in a remote area run by a generator at the well site. In this case the computer also starts up the generator. Both systems have been working without failure for 9 years. We used Arduino UNO micro computers and built a system that works as follows:

When the storage tank gets close to empty, a sensor is tripped (floating bulb). The Arduino keys up the Motorola radio and sends a set of tones via the VHF repeater system. There is another Arduino at the water pump end that is always listening to the radio. When it hears the correct set of tones it turns on the pump. It then sends another set of tones back to the sending computer that the pump was indeed turned on. If the sending computer does not get the confirmation code it tries 3 times before it sends out an error message throughout the system. System status is displayed at 2 ranch homes, one on site and the other in the town of Meeker, CO.