Method and system for wireless vehicle tank monitoring

A wireless recreational vehicle tank monitoring system comprising:

• a plurality of non-contact capacitive fluid level sensors, each of the plurality of sensors being mounted externally on a non-metallic wall of an existing recreational vehicle fluid holding tank by an adhesive attachment configured to permit retrofit installation without penetrating the tank wall, each sensor further including an adjustable sensitivity mechanism configured to compensate for variations in tank wall thickness and material properties;
• a microcontroller-based controller in electrical communication with the plurality of sensors, the controller being configured to (i) selectively apply power to the plurality of sensors via general-purpose input/output pins only during measurement intervals, (ii) determine discrete fluid level states of the tank from sensor outputs, (iii) enter a deep sleep state between measurement intervals, and (iv) selectively transmit sensor data only when a change in fluid level state is detected;
• a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) transceiver integrated with the controller, the BLE transceiver being configured to transmit said sensor data in a packed binary format in which individual sensor states are represented as bits, the transmitted data further including at least one of a battery level and a tank identifier;
• and
• a smart device application executing on a portable electronic device, the smart device application being configured to (i) display fluid level states for a plurality of recreational vehicle tanks including at least a fresh water tank, a gray water tank, and a black water tank, (ii) provide a calibration interface enabling a user to activate calibration mode, power on the sensors, and adjust sensor sensitivity while observing a corresponding visual indicator on each sensor to confirm detection, and (iii) store historical fluid usage data with timestamps and present usage trends to facilitate trip planning.