How to detect a Low Water situation for a Fountain?

Community Playground General Discussions
#1

I have a fountain in my garden that I’d like to know when it’s low on water so I can shut it off/manually top it up.

The Fortrezz WWA-001 ([url=http://www.asihome.com/ASIshop/product_info.php?products_id=3944]http://www.asihome.com/ASIshop/product_info.php?products_id=3944[/url]) looks promising, but all indications are that it works in the opposite manner to what I’m looking for.

Can anyone suggest something that would do this for me?

Thanks

#2

Not yet…FortrezZ says they are looking at this and apparently they have something as a prototype, but I haven’t seen it yet. I have been looking for this since I grow veggies using hydroponics. I can do everything else with Z-Wave, but I can’t detect water levels or moisture content.

#3

How about a simple float switch attached to screwposts in a Hawking HRDS1?

#4

That would definitely work, I’ll have to give that a shot and also make a temp/water level switch for my beer cooler this summer… ;D

#5

How about a HM-FS001? It is true that (like the WWA-001) it is setup to enter tripped state when water is present, so it is backwards from the application that you want. You could easily setup a scene to trigger when the sensor is not tripped however, thus executing actions when water goes away.

I’ve done this with a door sensor in my home. The door to the basement needs to stay ajar when we are away so that the cat can get to her cat door. It is slightly annoying to see a sensor in the dashboard that is constantly in tripped state, but otherwise it works great.

#6

But, the WWA-01 isnt going to be happy sitting in water full time. The few I’ve had have died a short death when they get wet, Im don’t know much about the HM module

#7

Exactly.

The HM-FS001 has a long probe on the end of a wire that is designed to be able to be submerged. I use one to monitor the water level in a sump.

#8

The HM-FS001 looks interesting, but I can’t see any for sale :frowning:

#9

Could use the contact outputs of a door sensor with a set of leads as a probe? If the probe leads are close enough to each other in the water shouldn’t the water be able to short the contact and send a not-tripped event to a scene when the water drops? or is there too much resistance? Might be worth a test.

#10

@shady, I’ve thought about doing the same thing as an experiment…but never got around to it. I’m just not sure that I’d trust it for a mission critical application like preventing flooding in my basement. :slight_smile:

#11

Just a thought.
The HM-FS001 is triggered when the probes are wet, flashing the built in LED and beeper. So the device would be constantly awake & reporting.
Ps. this device is awesome, long battery life and built very very well.

JOD.

#12

Agreed, it might be worth a try for a fountain. Get’r’Dun and Kinda Fun solution: You could stick the door sensor in a rubber ducky or other fun floating toy and glue/epoxy the magnet to the side of the fountain (may need a stronger magnet), then when the water drops the weight of the float will pull it free from the magnet and trigger the scene.

#13

wow, you guys are really goin nuts here. Build a sensor that tells me when my beer is empty and you’ve got an investor…

#14

We just need to Z-Wave this:
http://articles.cnn.com/2005-09-30/tech/spark.beermat_1_chips-beer-glass?_s=PM:TECH

edit: come to think of it if you could set your fountain on one of these mats and calibrate it accordingly that would work too :stuck_out_tongue: