1. The mounting bracket matters just as much as the radar.
A misaligned radar gives you garbage data, no matter how expensive the sensor is. Spend time getting the mount right. The radar’s job is easy after that.
2. You’re not measuring depth, you’re measuring reflections.
Radar sees surfaces, not substances. It’s like shining a torch into a mirror – turbulence, ladders, scum, bolts, even a wet chamber wall can bounce the signal wrong. Masking matters. Without it, your readings can behave like a radar that's mad as a cut snake.
3. How often you talk to your sensor matters just as much as the sensor itself.
Your radar might last five years…until you start pinging it every five minutes. Signal strength, temperature, firmware updates and polling intervals all matter. Manufacturers will quote battery life based on their best-case scenario. You'll want to know what assumptions they've made, or you'll be back on site sooner than expected.
4. Masking is an art.
The best radars let you set dynamic masks to ignore false echoes (like the weird lip on your chamber lid). Clean data starts with smart masking.
5. Not all IP68 ratings are created equal.
To pass IP68 you can do as little as submersion for longer than 30min at only 1.5m. Ours? Fully submerged. 5 metres. 14 days. If it’s going in a pit, make sure it’s built for reality.
Learn more about how radars work.
