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[Brian H]

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  . 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.

[HA Dave]

I almost hate admit... I have an area I monitor using a Bunker Hill device I purchased at Harbor Frieght.

[Charles Sullivan]

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.

[Dave4720]

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.

[systemdm]

Side trail....Is there a way to generate an SMS from the DS10A alarm(AHP or user created program)?

Thanks

[Brandt]

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

[Knightrider]

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.

[dave w]

 

[JeffVolp]

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