**Abstract Text**
The proliferation of simple, low-cost computing and instrumentation platforms is leading to incredible improvements in measurement capabilities. There are many benefits of do-it-yourself, or DIY, instrumentation, chiefly among them are the relatively low cost to acquire materials and fabricate your own sensor. The DIY platform does, however, come with some trade-offs. For one, the low-cost components are not always robust, which raises questions about their long-term reliability and measurement repeatability. Temple et al. (2020), and more recently Virden et al. (2022), demonstrate the measurement accuracy of a DIY pressure gauge for measuring water levels and waves in the lab and/or field. While initially intended for relatively short deployments of days to weeks, the MEMS pressure sensor manufacturer’s datasheet states that the user should dry the gel-filled membrane regularly to prevent measurement drift. The datasheet suggests drying as frequently as once per day. Though researchers have been using these gauges in the field for nearly three years, we currently do not know the magnitude of the drift, if it is repeatable, and if it is reproducible from gauge to gauge. This  presentation will demonstrate the results of controlled (laboratory) testing of these DIY pressure gauges and provide recommendations for multi-day deployments where measurement drift may be a concern.



Reliability of a Low-Cost DIY Pressure Gauge for Measuring Water Levels and Waves (Room 322, Tuesday June 27th, 8:30am-10:00am)

Engineers, researchers, and climate scientists share developments and innovative practices in the water engineering industry. The Technical Committee for Hydraulics Measurements and Experimental Methods (TCHMEM) of EWRI has organized the HMEM conference six times since 1994, when the first HMEM conference was held in Buffalo, NY. Since then, successful conferences were held in Estes Park, Colorado (2002), Lake Placid, New York (2007), Snowbird, Utah (2012), and Durham, New Hampshire (2017).