Trying to come up with unique project...I have seen some videos that 'light up' the water stream via an LED inserted into the pipe...
Project scope:
When water is turned on, led(s) light up the stream.
A temperature sensor determines which LED(s) to light: (#'s in degrees Fahrenheit)
< 40 ....blue LED
98 ....red LED
120 ...flashing red LED (indicating danger)
Now the above should be relatively straight forward to prototype...even the mechanical insertion of LEDs and the Temperature sensor into a 'pipe' containing the water stream is not so difficult.
The piece I have not identified is power. I personally detest devices that require constant changing of the batteries.
IS ANYONE AWARE OF A DEVICE: that would generate this small amount of DC power by having water pass through it?
(background: I often work with 'cognitively challenged' individuals. They often turn on hot instead of cold water. While they may not remember right from left, which is cold and which is hot, they WILL remember FLASHING RED means don't touch.)
I am not too experienced myself, but it sounds like the ideal solution would be to use piezoelectrics. You buy something (I don't have the slightest idea what, though - sorry), and it will generate electricity in response to pressure/movement (in this case, that of the water passing over it).
An easier idea, I think, would be to use batteries, and put the Arduino to sleep when the water isn't running. You could rig some sort of switch to act as an interrupt when the water turned on, thus waking the Arduino and powering your LEDs.
However, (I am curious) how are you going to isolate all of the other components from the water? They are running the exact same 5v dc that you are getting from the usb wall outlet... right? I assume your arduino will be outside of the water stream?
Perhaps I misunderstood your setup. The reason I am interested is that I always thought it would be "cool" to have a similar water feature. Definitely going to be watching the progress with this project!
Does it need to be in the stream? Why not on the wall shining on the sink? Much easier and probably more visible
maybe you can even use electronic valves and regulate the temperature or shut it off if its too hot
And just an idea but maybe a green led to indicate warm range? Then maybe they will learn to keep it warm
IS ANYONE AWARE OF A DEVICE:
that would generate this small amount of DC power by having water pass through it?
I've seen an LED water faucet in an advertisement, so I thougth I'd see how they work.
[u]This one[/u] is powered by the water flow. (I don't know if you could get enough power to power-up a microcontroller.)
[u]This one[/u] is powered by batteries and amost does what you want. "...BLUE LED illuminates the water as it exits your faucet ...switches to the RED LED just before it gets too hot to touch."
Notice how those are all filmed in the dark? How often will the end-user switch off the lights before turning the tap on? I think you need to prototype an LED inside the tap to see whether it actually does anything useful in daylight before you start worrying about how to power and control it.
dmdunyan:
(background: I often work with 'cognitively challenged' individuals. They often turn on hot instead of cold water. While they may not remember right from left, which is cold and which is hot, they WILL remember FLASHING RED means don't touch.)
While not nearly as exciting as glowing water, etc, what about just turning down the temp on the hot water tank to a safe range? Most tanks have a dial on the front for this purpose. Granted, it'll affect the temp throughout the whole house, which has drawbacks (washing dishes, etc), but you've also protect your friends from ALL of the faucents in the house.
The site has a bunch more for kitchen faucets, and a lot for showers too.
The cheapest ones are probably really, REALLY bad quality.
So what's the point? Why try to do ANYTHING fun with an Arduino if you can just buy a commercial equivalent? Why not just abandon the whole hobby microcontroller platform altogether?
Verdris:
So what's the point? Why try to do ANYTHING fun with an Arduino if you can just buy a commercial equivalent? Why not just abandon the whole hobby microcontroller platform altogether?
No need for hyperbole...sometimes it's just better to use an existing product rather than reinvent the wheel. In this case, there is a cheap product that already does exactly what the OP wants, and perhaps the OP didn't know about it. They can always choose to string together a messy $50-per-tap solution if they really want to do this as a learning process, but the OP's stated goal was safety for his friends.
I've seen people come into this forum with questions that shouldn't be answered with "Arduino." One wanted the Arduino to sense a switch closure indicating a closet door was open, and then use an Arduino output to turn on a light in the closet until the door was closed. It was definitely not stifling "ANYTHING fun" to suggest simply connecting the light directly to the switch.
There are many manufacturers, styles, and designs of kitchen taps available on the market these days. The market trends can change and develop in the blink of an eye. So how do you choose the right kitchen taps that compliment your current kitchen style? How do you choose the right kitchen taps (or brassware as it's referred to within the industry) to compliment a remodel? Tom Plumb
dmdunyan:
I often work with 'cognitively challenged' individuals. They often turn on hot instead of cold water.
Well, there you go...... Having been firmly of the view that these devices are specifically made for idiots and pansies, somebody has actually come up with a good reason for having one.
Further, it is almost worth $5 get a self powered fitting just to see how it works.
It wouldn't be hard to do this with Arduino but it would appear to be only for the intellectual exercise. Perhaps you could add some worthy functions, like flow monitoring.
S ANYONE AWARE OF A DEVICE:
that would generate this small amount of DC power by having water pass through it?
That's pretty much the definition of a hydroelectric generator, isn't it?
It really would be a lot easier to run it off batteries. If you can do like Verdris suggested, and have it sleep most of the time, it could run for months off 3 AA cells. If you really don't like changing batteries, get one of those 26AH lantern batteries, and it will run for 7 years or so.
