Hello!
Im seeking to detect when there is ice in my outdoor unit and then turn up the heaters to melt it. But I came to a problem. How to detect ice? There is no sensor specifically for that.
My first thought was why not with soil moisture sensor.
I ran some tests and the result came that it gave around 300-400 in water, 1024 when dry and 1024 when in ice. I dont see how is that so...
So do any one have any ideas how to detect ice and if soil sensor is ok what have I done wrong?
thnx
The best way to detect ice is to measure the air flow thru the cooling coil.
When ice is present , it restricts the air flow relative to when there is no ice
If airflow is too hard to measure then maybe you can use a light-beam that gets interrupted when ice forms.
The thing is I have to detect ice that is minnimum 5 mm thick.. and beam would be stopped with water too, which aint fine.
Do any of you know how accurate are those IR avoidance modules for cars and robots? do they sense 5 mm change? and would it work on ice?
This link will tell you how a heat pump detects frost. Perhaps you can glean some ideas from it.
Paul
Thanx
How did you end up detecting your ice?