Anyone up for voluntering for a pic project?

[Mike Barnes]

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Harry Bloomfield writes

Hang it on a bit of string and lower when required:-)

>

[Harry Bloomfield]

I've written to the supplier, for more information on that point.

The 1/4 NPT seems to suggest a pipe size of 0.4" - Don't know if that is internal bore or external, but it sounds better than 1/4.

My internal plumbing is around 12mm internal. Too much of a restriction and the shower will not perform very well.

[The Natural Philosopher]

lcd is where it starts to get tricky.

LEDS yes, LCDs - well thats extrta money

Ok thats easy to put into any digital input on any {IC.

No you wont, I only said I'd look at it.

Essentially the thing is a digital counter with reset. And a custom display.

The custom display is the thing.

looks like the bunny

Any arduino main board will do for the rest, although hooking them together is a bit of a rats nest

Probably wont be cheap but its a one off right?

Your hardware design is limited to plugging one board into a breadboard and linking to another board, another and arranging a three wire to the flow sensor, and making a nice e.g. foil lined solid wood box to put the thing in. Arduinos IIRC run on 5V so you need to arrange that as well.

[Tim Watts]

Or he could go old skool and lob half dozen 4000 series logic chips on a bit of vero :)

[The Natural Philosopher]

Oddly, it gets more expensive that way!

[Capitol]

The scales don't have to be weatherproof. They only get intermittent use.They are cheap enough to throw away once a year. The barrel stands on the scales, where's the problem.

[Simon Brown]

They do if you want to be able to glance at some indication of how much water you currently have in the barrel as he does.

Not if you want to be able to glance at some indication of how much water you currently have in the barrel as he does.

Better if you don't have to.

Getting the barrel onto the scales when its full of water.

[Capitol]

As the scales are under 2" thick, I don't see putting the barrel on them as a problem. yes, I do have experience.

[Harry Bloomfield]

The Natural Philosopher presented the following explanation :

I'm giving this a closer look, waiting for a phone call from the company this afternoon. to say whether it counts up from zero or not, plus various other questions about the device.

Biggest concern is the sensor internal diameter possibly being too small and overly restricting the flow. I suspect the sensor is quite similar to what I have already ordered in principle - magnet on a fan blade, triggering a Hall Effect switch. In which case I could probably swap the sensor I have on order which has less restriction, for the original.

I could also maybe look at inserting a x10 pulse multiplier, to increase the count to be more in the range of the device.

[whisky-dave]

that's a TFT usually more expensive.

LCDs will have the advantage of less power.

UNOs, they can run at up to 12V, so a 9V PP3 or 4 AA/AAA should be OK. They ahve 5V regs on board.

[Syd Rumpo]

Might a washing machine pressure switch not be simpler? They are often adjustable and some switch at a few inches of water. They're passive of course and would be outside the tank. A used one to play with would be very cheap.

Cheers

[Simon Brown]

You don't know that he can even lift a full 50L barrel.

Not with what he can do you don't.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Simon Brown formulated on Tuesday :

50+ Litres of water (it will actually be nearer 55L, plus its container It will weigh around 65Kg. It has to be a single handed unbalanced lift, so believe me it is heavy and awkward to maneuver - which is why many choose the smaller barrel sizes.

I can lift it, despite back issues, but I try to avoid it. Which was another good reason for saying a spring balance was out of the question.

[Harry Bloomfield]

As announced way up there /|\ . I have solved it with a ready made flow cheap and cheerful ready made flow counter, but a washing machine pressure switch pipe end needs to be in the tank, or connected to a spigot on the tank. Wires leading to it and faffing about connecting the sensor each time. It would work, but I wanted something needing minimum user involvement. Just pressing a button at each fill was quite acceptable.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[Simon Brown]

It wouldn't be hard to organise some sort of crane system, but your original approach of metering the water as it leaves is a much better approach.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Simon Brown presented the following explanation :

Thank you! The item will not turn up for a couple of days, but I'm confident it will work.

[Fredxxx]

No it doesn't. The important aspect is the head of water, so can be fitted in any pipe at a head to suit the barrel. The issue is any alarm may need to be silenced when water is drawn!

[Adam Aglionby]

Ultrasonic appears to be the method of choice with Arduino`s, just for general interest showing the amount of hardware /software not required ;-)

[Harry Bloomfield]

Fredxxx submitted this idea :

The submersible pump includes a none return valve, to prevent the water dropping back out of the pipe, when lifted out - so attaching it to the pump flow pipe would not work.

There is a second none return valve at the input port for the pump, on the side of the van, to retain the pressure in the internal plumbing system.

Power and water is via a special side by side twin pipe, with water and power plugged in via the one plug. They are pretty much a modular unit, pump at one end, twin pipe, then the plug.

£60 to replace if they fail, so I have fitted a sounder so I know when the pump runs, to avoid it ever running out of water and running continuously. Its very annoying, I really ought to design something to inhibit the sounder for the first two minutes.