Low water level alarm

[BushDoctoR]

Hey everyone,

 

Ive been very d

busy lately and sometimes don't check on my plants for a week or so at a time. This has led to me killing not one but two maxijets by letting them run dry so I want to try to incorporate something that'll allow me to get a reminder if I let the res level fall too low. For both the pumps sake and the girls

 

Any ideas how I could make this possible? I'm thinking along the lines of some sort of cheap wifi connected door contact alarm and somehow wire it up to a float switch. Maybe there's an easier way?

 

I could of course wire the pump up to the float switch to prevent it turning on after the water falls below a certain level but I wouldn't be notified that the pump has turned off.

 

Anyone tried anything like this?

 

 

B-Dr

Edited May 2, 2022 by BushDoctoR

[badbillybob]

why not just use a float valve and a top up tank, then you wont need an alarm, or am i missing something?

[Smokey90]

I'd just make a few hours spare in my week to top up and have a look at them if possible? 

[Goodbloke]

I had a similar requirement recently. I was going to be away from home for a few days and my system will only safely go 24hrs unattended.

It's a flood & drain so a float valve top up system for the res tank isn't ideal as the valve would operate as the tank level drops with each flood. I cobbled together a remote 100l tank with a wi-fi operated stop valve, a couple of cheap wi-fi cameras so I can watch the stop valve operate and the water level increase and a wi-fi water leak detector. I use the level detector the other way around to what you have planned, it gives me a real time alarm when my res is full, yours would be suspended within the res and notify you when the water level had dropped below the sensor.

 

Tuya Smart WiFi Water Leak Sensor

 I paid £12 delivered, it connects and works perfectly. They also do a model with an additional float type sensor, but this one worked fine for me.

[BushDoctoR]

21 hours ago, badbillybob said:

why not just use a float valve and a top up tank, then you wont need an alarm, or am i missing something?

 

No room for it and also it's just for a reminder when I forget

 

19 hours ago, Smokey90 said:

I'd just make a few hours spare in my week to top up and have a look at them if possible? 

 

Generally speaking I check on them every 2-3 days but sometimes if I've been really busy I forget. I let my tank empty down to the very bottom to reduce waste and it just takes one feed too many to take it from needing a refill to a burnt out pump

 

12 hours ago, Goodbloke said:

I had a similar requirement recently. I was going to be away from home for a few days and my system will only safely go 24hrs unattended.

It's a flood & drain so a float valve top up system for the res tank isn't ideal as the valve would operate as the tank level drops with each flood. I cobbled together a remote 100l tank with a wi-fi operated stop valve, a couple of cheap wi-fi cameras so I can watch the stop valve operate and the water level increase and a wi-fi water leak detector. I use the level detector the other way around to what you have planned, it gives me a real time alarm when my res is full, yours would be suspended within the res and notify you when the water level had dropped below the sensor.

 

Tuya Smart WiFi Water Leak Sensor

 I paid £12 delivered, it connects and works perfectly. They also do a model with an additional float type sensor, but this one worked fine for me.

 

Awesome! I think this is exactly what I'm after! I've been racking my brain coming up with all sorts of complicated ways of doing it using float valves, WiFi security alarms, and relays but this is perfect! Thanks!