Not built yetNot for sale yetFree winter field test for 4 farms
Know your far water is OK.
A trough running low, a tank heater that quit, a gate left open, a fence that’s down: FarCheck is a planned kit that tells your phone. It’s being built to reach water a quarter mile to a couple of miles out, even behind a hill. That’s the goal; the winter field test will show how far it really reaches. One base station on the house, a sensor at each water. No subscription.
Stand-in photo: Herefords at a stock tank in Montana (USDA NRCS, 2011, public domain). Not our farm and not our sensor.
Photos from the field-test farms will replace it.
Built for water you can’t see from the house
- Troughs or waterers a quarter mile to a couple of miles from the house (our range goal, not yet tested)
- Water behind a hill, a woodlot or a tree line
- Tank heaters and heated waterers that can trip a GFCI on a January night
- Gates and hot wire you’d otherwise drive out to check
- Internet at the house (Wi-Fi, Ethernet or Starlink). No cell signal needed at the water
What it watches, and what you’d get
Example alerts. Wording may change.
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Trough level
Tankside trough sensor
A pressure sensor on the tank floor reads the water itself, so ice on top doesn’t fool it. Reports every 15 minutes (target).
FarCheckBack field trough: low
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Freeze and tank-heater failure
Tankside trough sensor
A probe a few inches under the surface watches the water temperature, not the air. It waits for two readings in a row before it alerts, so one odd reading won’t wake you.
FarCheckNorth tank: heater may be off · water 36°F and falling
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Heater power and pump running
Heater / pump sensor
For a plug-in tank heater, it plugs in between the heater and the outlet. For a well pump, it clips around one wire of the pump’s supply. It tells you when a heater stops getting power while the water is cold, or when a pump runs far longer than it should.
FarCheckWell pump: running 50 min without stopping
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Gate open
Gate sensor
A magnet switch on the gate. You pick how long a gate can stand open before you hear about it.
FarCheckLane gate open 20 min
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Fence voltage
Fence-voltage sensor
Clips to the hot wire and a ground rod. Designed to work with any energizer brand, and it tells you when the voltage sags, not only when it’s gone.
FarCheckFence: 2.1 kV, down from 7.8
What farmers say about checking water now
From public farm forums, about the options they have today. Not about FarCheck.
“We have to go break the ice every few hours and our heater broke.”
SDSU Extension puts the cost plainly: producers “may spend over $1,500 a year on fuel checking water sources.” Read the SDSU article
“…Can check water twice a day instead of an hr horse ride one way.”
“I couldn’t possibly afford to pay $649 per device for each water source, sadly”
How far it reaches
The sensors send their readings to the base station by radio, a low-power kind made to carry a long way over open pasture. A solar repeater on high ground is designed to bridge hills and tree lines. None of this is measured yet.
Nothing here is measured yet. Target means a design goal; Estimate means our best guess from datasheets and similar products. The field test measures both.
We walk your range first
Before anything is installed, Burak walks your farm with a handheld sensor and checks the signal at every water, so you know what reaches before you spend anything.
Winter field test: 4 farms, free
November 2026 to March 2027. Two farms in Maryland or Pennsylvania, two in Virginia. We pick the farms in November 2026.
What you get
- A free loaner kit: the base station and 2–3 sensors.
- Burak installs it in person, after walking your range with a handheld sensor.
What we ask
- A 2-minute text check-in each week: any alerts, and were they right?
- Photos for this page. Your farm’s name is optional.
- One honest 15-minute call in March.
- Keep doing your normal water checks. This is test equipment.
At the end
- Keep the kit free in exchange for a named testimonial, or hand it back.
- Any quote we publish will say you got the kit free.
- First in line for founder pricing either way.
Who qualifies
- Cattle, sheep or horses wintering outdoors.
- Internet at the house. Starlink is fine.
- Your farthest water is at least 1/4 mile from the house, or out of sight behind a hill or trees.
- Within about 2.5 hours of Baltimore.
You’re in. Thank you.
Burak will call or text you within a week. He reads every signup himself.
We pick the four farms in November 2026. If yours is one of them, Burak drives out, walks your range with you and sets up a test kit this winter.
There’s no confirmation email; this screen is your confirmation. Not picked this time? You’ll be first in line for founder pricing in the spring.
Price board
All prices are estimates for the spring 2027 launch.
Base station, 2 Tankside trough sensors and 1 gate sensor
Hilly or wooded ground? You’ll know after the range walk whether you need one, before you spend anything.
For comparison: typical cellular or satellite trough monitors list at $350–$400 per trough, plus $72–$120 per trough per year (Gallagher, SensorTech and Meterra list prices, Oct 2026).
Founder price
$499first 50 kits
Held with a $99 fully refundable deposit when pre-orders open at spring turnout. Refundable means refunded in full, any time before your kit ships. If we never build it, every deposit comes back.
This fall we take no money.
We’ll publish a ship estimate before we take a single deposit.
You’re on the spring list. We’ll email you once, when pre-orders open.
What we know, what we’re aiming for
Nothing here is measured yet. The winter field test is where these numbers get measured, and we’ll publish the results.
Radio and range
- Radio
- LoRa, 915 MHz, on a pre-certified module Planned
- Range from a house mast
- about 1–2 mi over open rolling pasture Target
- How often sensors report
- every 15 minutes Target
Base station
- Connection
- your house Wi-Fi, Ethernet or Starlink Planned
- At the water
- no cell signal needed Planned
- Certification
- FCC testing of the finished product before shipping Planned
Sensors
- Trough level
- pressure sensor on the tank floor; reads under ice Planned
- Water temperature
- probe 2–4 in below the surface Planned
- Fence
- designed to work with any energizer brand Target
- False alarms
- no more than 1 per sensor per month Target
Power
- Sensor batteries
- 3 lithium AA cells, rated to −40°F Planned
- Battery life
- multi-year; measured this winter Estimate
- Repeater
- small solar panel and battery Planned
Questions farmers ask
What about deposits and refunds?
This fall we take no money at all. In the spring, the $99 deposit is fully refundable any time before your kit ships, and if we never build it, every deposit comes back in full.
Will the batteries make it through January?
The sensors run on lithium AA cells rated to −40°F, and we plan to build on the cold-rated version of the radio module. How many years the cells last is an estimate until we measure it on the field-test farms this winter.
Do I need cell signal at the trough?
No. The sensors talk by long-range radio to the base station on your house, and the base station uses your house internet: Wi-Fi, Ethernet or Starlink.
My back pasture is behind a hill. Will it reach?
A solar repeater on the high ground is designed to bridge it. We walk your farm with a handheld sensor before installing anything, so you’ll know what reaches before you spend a dollar.
Will it wake me at 3 a.m. for nothing?
That’s the fastest way to get an alarm muted, so the freeze alert waits for two readings in a row before it goes off. Our target is no more than one false alarm per sensor per month, and the field test counts every one.
How do the alerts reach me?
The plan is a FarCheck phone app, with no subscription. The app isn’t built yet. Prefer plain text messages? Tell Burak on the call and he’ll note it.
Who fixes it if something breaks?
During the field test, Burak does, in person. For spring kits, we’ll publish the warranty and repair terms before taking any deposit.
Does it work with my fence energizer?
It’s designed to work with any brand, because it reads the pulse on the wire itself rather than talking to the energizer. We’ll confirm it brand by brand on the field-test farms.
Who is behind FarCheck?
You’d be dealing with the person designing it, who lives in Maryland and will drive out to your farm. The company behind it is pebl, based in Baltimore. Questions: farcheck@burakali.com
Nothing goes on sale until the field test shows it works, and we’ll publish the results.
What do you do with my phone number?
We use it to call or text you about FarCheck, and for nothing else. We don’t sell or share it.
A note from Burak
I’m Burak Unlu, a computer engineering student at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. FarCheck is my own project, not a university one. I started on FarCheck after reading farmer after farmer ask the same thing online: why does checking one far trough cost a few hundred dollars and a yearly plan, when the house already has internet?
The radio parts exist and are well documented. I’ll drive out and set up the field-test units myself, walk the range with you, and come back if something isn’t right.
Questions: farcheck@burakali.com
Burak UnluFarCheck by pebl · Maryland