X10 Community Forum
🔌General Home Automation => Automating Your House => User Modified Devices => Topic started by: systemdm on May 03, 2010, 09:22:55 PM
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Hope this helps someone avoid the damage this caused.
I wanted something simple to detect if my hot water tank started leaking. Using a DS10A and a sponge from Trader Joe's worked. I used a couple of tablespoons of water poured on the plate. Once the water made contact with the sponge, the sponge expanded and tripped the sensor.
>!
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Cool! That's a good idea; especially for those who are not into building (or even buying) electrical solutions.
A helpful from me.
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What a unique way to sense a water leak.
Helpful from me also.
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Same here with the helpful. This is a great way to think outside the box for an X10 solution.
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I like it.......with a little modification it could signal time for a diaper change. (not quite there yet)
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Quick, easy, and rock solid reliable. I like it. It is helpful.
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Well I can't take all the credit. My girlfriend told me about the compressed sponge.... :'
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Hey, Team effort counts.
This "geniusness" reminds me of an old construction article in the ancient "Popular Mechanics". This back yard engineer put two thumbtacks with wire wrapped under them, in the ends of a wooden, spring style, clothes pin. He wired the clothes pin thumbtacks to the DOWN switch on his Edsel Convertible (1959) top switch. He then suspended a funnel over the thumbtack end of the clothes pin and sandwiched an aspirin tablet between the thumbtacks. If it started to rain the funnelled water running over the aspirin would dissolve it, allowing the thumbtacks to touch, thus lowering his convertible top. Like the K.I.S.S. Water Detector it had to be "reloaded" after each use.
I love this stuff!
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I think easier setup than this is to tape the two leads from the ds10a to the area (assuming it is not metal)
Another method i've heard is two leads from a smoke detector, and when the leads make contact due to water the smoke alarm will sound.
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Super Smart!
Helpful from me!
#:)
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#:) Interesting idea! A helpful from me.
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Pomprocker, investigating this, I read somewhere that would not work. I checked this out by touching the wires together and getting the LED blink. Dipping the wires into water had no such luck. Also you can check this out by dipping the leads of a volt meter into water. Surprisingly this not a direct short. I measured resistance(maybe California water) Let me know if you find out different. I did find the smoke alarm water detector, but I wanted something that would intergrate into X10.
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Pomprocker, investigating this, I read somewhere that would not work.
As I understand it..... when closed (normal state not triggered or open) the DS10A does monitor resistance. I would guess this makes the sensor more tamper proof. There is a "leaf" board (water detection device) that can work with the DS10A. It has been discussed at the CocoonTech forum... here: http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15489&hl=DS10a+water+detection
And here at this forum from Puck: http://forums.x10.com/index.php?topic=12763.msg70887#msg70887
I only know of what I've read about this.... I've never tried it. I like systemdms idea.
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Pomprocker, investigating this, I read somewhere that would not work. I checked this out by touching the wires together and getting the LED blink. Dipping the wires into water had no such luck. Also you can check this out by dipping the leads of a volt meter into water. Surprisingly this not a direct short.
No, the DS10 is a closed loop alarm, so as Dave X10 pointed out, it wants to see a short circuit across the sensor wires as the Normal state and an Open causes the alarm. Exactly opposite of a water detector sensor. Besides, water is only as conductive as the minerals in it (i.e. distilled water has virtually no conductivity). So you would need some type of an amplifier and inverter circuit to interface to a DS10.
The sponge activated water detector is a brilliant idea because it gives the DS10 exactly what it wants to see: an OPEN circuit when wet, and it is cheap.
The high tech, hacking opportunity, expensive solution follows:
If Amazon ever gets these gizmos back in stock, they can directly interface with a PowerFlash by hacking the unit to wire the "Battery-Powered Water Leak Sensor Alarm" piezo beeper to the PowerFlash input.
http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Powered-Water-Sensor-Alarm-5-pack/dp/B000CBVI9E
A DS10 can probably be adapted to these "Battery-Powered Water Leak Sensor Alarm", if the piezo beeper is activated with a continuous DC voltage (typical). A small, SPDT or DPDT reed relay could be used to invert the signal and provide an Open to the DS10.
Found them at Smarthome.com
http://www.smarthome.com/71635/Water-Warning-Leak-Detection-Alarm-5-Pack/p.aspx
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......... A DS10 can probably be adapted to these "Battery-Powered Water Leak Sensor Alarm", if the piezo beeper is activated with a continuous DC voltage (typical). A small, SPDT or DPDT reed relay could be used to invert the signal and provide an Open to the DS10.
There is that thread here: DS10A Modification for Interfacing to a Normally Open Switch (http://forums.x10.com/index.php?topic=11442.msg65292#msg65292) A reversal mod by Puck.
This is what is great about X10. The devices are extensively used and very well known (and cheap to buy). Searching (and reading) here, at other forums, and the Internet in general... provides a wealth of information. Yet even with what seemed to be an already exhausted variety of modifications and add-on devices for water detection systemdm (and his girlfriend) comes up with even one more option.
And... its a mod anyone can do in a couple of minutes.
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systemdm; It is not just your water.
Smarthome made an Insteon Leak Flood Detector Kit and then it quietly disappeared as how the water conducted made it quite unreliable.
It used one of their I/OLinc Modules Sensor Input circuit that has a DC signal on it and must be pulled down to <.8V my tests showed <750 Ohms on the sensor input was needed. They used a Flood Stop XS-01 sensor for the detector and it looks like PC Board with a grid of conductors on it. As water wetted it the resistance went down. I found water properties effected it greatly. My tap water would trigger it sometimes. From the filtered water pitcher no trigger. Also the DC started to etch the runs if wet too long rofl. I did get a WaterBug WB-200 to play with and it seems they use an AC voltage on the sensor which in their case is a plastic block with four metal rivet looking contacts on the bottom.
Flood Stop Sensor. http://www.getfloodstop.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=XS%2D01
I bought just a XS-01 sensor for my tests as I had a spare I/OLinc and Smarthome wants big bucks for all their kits.
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I almost hate admit... I have an area I monitor using a Bunker Hill device (http://www.harborfreight.com/water-overflow-alarm-92334.html) I purchased at Harbor Frieght.
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That's one darn clever idea. It got a helpful from me.
(Just remember to thoroughly remove the sticky stuff on the magnetic switch moving part.)
The reliability of any of the detectors which rely on the water itself providing a conducting path will depend heavily on impurities in the water, which can vary with time and the source of the water.
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This is brilliant.
Using water conductivity is iffy at best.
The sponge is a transformer … a converter. It converts moisture presence to mechanical force.
Brilliant.
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Side trail....Is there a way to generate an SMS from the DS10A alarm(AHP or user created program)?
Thanks
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Side trail....Is there a way to generate an SMS from the DS10A alarm(AHP or user created program)?
Thanks
I dunno about AHP, but in Heyu yes:
SCRIPT all_sec_motion alert clear lobat rcva :: echo $X10_DateString $X10_Function $X10_UnitAlias | nail -s "Low Battery!" <cell number>@vtext.com
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Good Morning America! You know what the news is, stay tuned for the rest of the story.
(sorry, but I miss Paul)
Now for some random thoughts:
I use my AHP software to send an email to my cell phone (not quite sms, I guess, dunno).
When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to go to a physics teacher training session. This is where physics nuts all build home grown toys/experiments and share with the others. One of my favorites was a guy that ran 120 VAC through a glass of water and lit a light bulb. Seems the tap H2O was fairly conductive, but distilled water was less so.
BTW, water comes in many formulations. Inside a fire hydrant, it is H2O. In a nuclear reactor, it's H3O (heavy water). Sometimes, you can find a completely different kind gathering on the outside of the fire plug, known as K9P.
I'm the Knightrider, have a good day.
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rofl
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Using water conductivity is iffy at best.
I built one for myself over 20 years ago using a FET for the sensor. A DC resistance even in the megohm range would trip it just fine. It just took the FET, a few resistors, and a 9V battery. It sounded a Sonalert if the sump-pump pit was about to overflow.
Jeff