Hi,
I want to build a leak sensor to put under my sink.
All it needs to do is get a reading from a water level sensor, and if there is water it needs to make noise. I've found a water level sensor and passive piezo buzzer that both work starting at 3V.
My question is this: I want this thing to last for as long as possible on batteries, while taking a reading every minute or two.
Right now I own an Arduino Micro (not pro). I am considering getting a Pro Mini 3.3V.
Do you think a Pro Mini 3.3V will be strong enough to power the buzzer when needed? And is its power consumption much better than the Micro's?
What kind of battery setup do you think I should use?
I'm very much a noob so any advice would be very helpful.
Thank you!
I'm sure it does, I'm asking because I saw some buzzers that listed their input voltage as "3-50V" so I thought maybe using the low end would mean that it would just be very quiet or something.
I should have clarified that.
Saw a design for a brute force flood alarm. Wooden clothes pin, two thumbtacks, wire, buzzer & battery. Insert thumbtacks into jaws of clothespin, wired to batt & buzzer so buzzer sounds normally. Place a plain, uncoated, ~325mg size, aspirin between the jaws. The aspirin will MELT when exposed to liquid water, allowing jaws to close, sounding alarm. Zero power used until needed. Use same idea to power up project & have it wifi for help.
Considering under a sink rather than a water level sensor I believe what you want is a moisture sensor. The old clothespin and aspirin method goes back to my childhood where we made a rain detector. A moisture sensor can be as simple as a few parts or more complex but I see using a uC (micro-controller) as overkill. A simple Google of "moisture sensor circuit" will give you plenty of examples the simplest being a transistor and a few parts. Here is one simple example.
