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[on:]

A project I've been tinkering with for some months now has paid off. This is an Arduino-based sump and utility power monitor consisting of a sensor module at the sump, and a separate internet interface module to upload data and send tweets (which are then forwarded to my phone) when an alarm condition occurs. The two modules communicate via XBees.

The first alarm tweet went out at 03:01 this morning, but my phone was in my office and I didn't hear it or the repeats sent at 10-minute intervals.

At 03:30 my son woke me because he heard the audible alarm on the sensor module.

By 04:00 the backup pump was in place and running.

The water came within an inch of the top of the sump crock so it may have been a close call. We've had several storms pass through since yesterday evening. There is four inches in my rain gauge now, and it looks like there may be more on the way.

Lessons learned:

1. Teenagers with good ears can actually be useful.

2. Bring the phone in the bedroom at night and/or use a louder and longer ring tone for text messages.

[Reply #1 on:]

Sounds good, Jack. Teenagers can be useful, right.

[Reply #2 on:]

Why not let the monitor start the backup pump? would give you a good night sleep

[Reply #3 on:]

Why not let the monitor start the backup pump? would give you a good night sleep

The backup pump in this case is sitting in a box waiting to be swapped with the one in the sump. Actually one of those battery-powered standby pumps would not have helped in this case. A blockage in the discharge line was actually the problem. This happened once before. But I swapped the pumps before I checked that. Could be the original pump is OK, I'll have to test it later.

[Reply #4 on:]

But why is this a success story? The sensor worked but your monitoring / alarm chain failed. I would consider a louder alarm bell at the sensor

[Reply #5 on:]

It is a success story as a "disaster" was prevented, maybe not as intended but still.    (for Jack the glass is allways half full  I guess

[Reply #6 on:]

I've just modified the alarm chain to include my son.

[Reply #7 on:]

It is a success story as a "disaster" was prevented, maybe not as intended but still.    (for Jack the glass is allways half full  I guess

Just as long as the sump isn't more than half full

[Reply #8 on:]

2. Bring the phone in the bedroom at night and/or use a louder and longer ring tone for text messages.

Or put another Arduino with an Ethernet shield and tweet client in your bedroom so you don't have to remember to bring the phone in the bedroom at night.

[Reply #9 on:]

Or put another Arduino with an Ethernet shield and tweet client in your bedroom so you don't have to remember to bring the phone in the bedroom at night.

Actually it could just be an XBee, maybe even without an MCU. The sensor module could send the alert both to that and the web client module.

[Reply #10 on:]

Would you mind sharing a few more details of how you did it. I'm about to do same

[Reply #11 on:]

Would you mind sharing a few more details of how you did it. I'm about to do same

Hi Mark, glad to share. I have a PowerPoint with a sort of block diagram, is that the sort of thing that would help? IM me your email address and I'd be happy to send it to you.