Water sensor placement in bathroom

So, I called safemart and Elk. Neither gave me a "guarantee" that it would work, but both thought it likely they would. I ordered 10, figuring for a total of $40, I would have lost that much $$$ if they didn't pan out. I think the Elk would put out enough voltage, but when they show up I'll let you know. :)

If you want multiple contacts on the same zone, you'd need to run them in parallel (they are normally open, so two in series wouldn't help you!), and I'm wondering out-loud what would happen if you tripped multiple alarms at the same exact moment (eg: would your voltage drop because you have 2 or 3 separate closed circuits, and hence the voltage of the elk would be divided in thirds?)
 
rob. ok i understand that. but there is no disadvantage to each having their own zone right? except for some additional programming and taking up additional zones?

is there a risk of not having at least five volts if i run several in parallell? the instructions are clear on making sure a MINIMUM of five volts. i was just going give them 12. maybe less. whatever is easiest.

Sure there is no problem with setting each to a separate zone. I was trying to reduce number of zones and expansion cards for my Elk. I guess you can paraprhase an old saying "He who dies with the most zones wins"
 
rous, wouldnt that depend on how sensitive the water flow sensor is? some water flow meters detect a trickle, so if there is a leak it could be a trickle. or even a big leak that would make the water sensor send an alarm wouldnt go off coz its programmed to not go off if there is water flow. is my babble making sense? LOL

i am interested in your solution. please tell us more.

I'm using an idea basically stolen partially from bwired and mostly from Ed Cheung's page. It involves mounting a hall-effect sensor to the outside of the water meter to monitor the spinning magnet inside. As water flows, the magnet spins and the hall effect sensor reports this as electrical pulses. I feed the hall-effect sensor into a basic stamp with a few other things and output the info serially to a Linux box. The Linux box saves the data in a MYSQL db and also sends it to the HouseBot server to use in processing rules/etc. I think Ed/bwired is using a 1-wire counter to count pulses, I had the stamp lying around so I used that...

I get 100 pulses per gallon so the unit is very sensitive. Just last week I found that I have a slow leak in the toilet - the flap-thingy (NOT a plumber) in the tank is allowing about 1 liter of water through per hour. I noticed it because I was showing water usage at night when everyone was in bed. This is the one toilet I didn't replace in a recent renovation so I suspected it from the start.

I put the system in because about two months ago we all drove about 4 hours to the beach. My brother-in-law was coming by to check on the dog and did so about 5 hours after we left. He walked in to find an upstairs toilet overflowing and water pouring down the steps and out the back door. Needless to say that's what prompted the latest renovation...

Also, on the mop bucket - if it's always in the same place - you can use some type of mechanical switch, perhaps under a pad or mat, to indicate it's presence.

Terry
 
The sensors I have are the 2600 model from Automated Outlet. The 2600 is a N.C. model whereas the 2800 model from Safemart described by Digital Ranger is a N.O. version. Both are made by the same company. I guess that would mean for multiple seonsors to a single zone for the 2600 I would wire them in series so that only a single sensor could open the circuit and trigger the zone. I think this also avoids any issues with needing relays that may be needed for the 2800.
 
This is a timely topic. I started a similar one today on measuring water leakage near pool pump/filter/heater. In my case, it is remote enough that I plan on using a powerline solution so as to not have to pull new wires 150 feet.
 
Hi Guys

For those who dont mind breadboarding some electronic stuff maybe have a look at this chip....It has been mentioned here before a while back.......Its a 4 channel water level detection device which im sure could be used for water leakage detection....each channel has 2 outputs ..One output on each channel could drive an led and the other outputs could be commoned up and connected to your ha system....I sourced some of these chips myself and did some basic bench testing ........You probably could connect the sensors mentioned in this thread or even Hobby Boards leaf sensor ???

http://tinyurl.com/2uvvyb

HTH
Frank
 
X10.com has the DS10A's on sale once in a while, I think I picked up 8 of them for $30 or $40 (don't remember exactly, but it was a good deal).
 
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