Hi there, never used this Andruino stuff before but having found how accessible (cheap) it is to get into I thought I might give is a go to control a pump removing flood water from my patio/soak-aways.
I could not use a float switch as not enough depth so a fish tank switch was used as a sensor. A relay was procured for the pump activation (mains) and the andruino program used to add some hysterisis.
I have powered it from a cheap plugin phone charger (hacked) and it seems to all work - yes it is a quick & dirty hack but time was pressing (and water rising). Just thought I would share. The mega board is overkill and is to be replaced by a nano when it arrives.
To see what the programming was doing I added debug down the serial. Haven't used a soldering Iron in years!
Picture and code follow (code would be pretty printed if the IDE didn't throw a java exception when i asked it to copy).
/*
Mains water pump controller.
Input: float switch or water sensor
(alt temperature sensor)
Output: relay actuator.
Also has hysterisis
Jan 2014
$Id: waterContoller.ino v0.3$
*/
// are you testing, then set isTest = true
// and data will be shown in serial output
// put monitor on.
//
const boolean isTest = true;
void dump();
//
// Variable Declaratoins
//
long pumpOnTime=0; // time pump has been on
long pumpOffTime=0; // time pump has been off ( for hysterisis )
// declare hysterisis constants - miliseconds
const long pumpHysterisisTime = 20 * 1000;
const long pumpOnTimeout = (long)600 * (long)1000; // turn pump off after x minutes
// define Pins on micropro to be used
const int sensorPin = 2; // water level
const int outputPin = 4; // pump relay
const int ledPin = 13;
// define booleans for convenience.
const boolean ON = true;
const boolean OFF = false;
// define state of pump - start with off
boolean pumpIsOn = false;
//
// Setup
//
void setup() {
pinMode(outputPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(sensorPin, INPUT);
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
if ( isTest) Serial.begin(9600);
digitalWrite(outputPin,OFF);
digitalWrite(ledPin,OFF);
}
//
// Loop
//
void loop() {
if ( isTest) dump();
if ( digitalRead(sensorPin) ) {
(void) turnPumpOn( );
}
else
{
(void) turnPumpOff( );
}
// only need to check every second
delay(1000);
}
boolean checkHysterisis(long start, long timeout)
{
return ( (millis()-start) > timeout ) ? true : false;
}
//
int turnPumpOn()
{
int retval=0;
// check timeout if already on
if ( pumpIsOn )
{
// check pump timout
long pumpOperationTime = millis()-pumpOnTime;
if ( pumpOperationTime > pumpOnTimeout )
{
turnPumpOff();
}
}
else
{
// check how long it has been off
// state change
if ( checkHysterisis(pumpOffTime, pumpHysterisisTime) )
{
pumpIsOn = true;
pumpOnTime = millis();
digitalWrite(ledPin,ON);
// warnign - relay needs low on - go figure
digitalWrite(outputPin,LOW);
}
}
return retval;
}
int turnPumpOff()
{
int retval=0;
if ( ! pumpIsOn )
{
// do nothing
;
}
else
{
// check how long it has been on
if ( checkHysterisis(pumpOnTime,pumpHysterisisTime) )
{
pumpIsOn = false;
pumpOffTime = millis();
// warnign - relay needs high off - go figure
digitalWrite(outputPin,HIGH);
digitalWrite(ledPin,OFF);
}
}
return retval;
}
//
// test and debug code
//
void debug(String msg,int val)
{
if ( ! isTest ) return;
Serial.print(msg);
Serial.print(val);
Serial.print("\n");
}
void dump()
{
debug("\n------------------>TimeNow(seconds):",millis()/1000);
debug("pumpOnTime:",pumpOnTime/1000);
debug("pumpOffTime:",pumpOffTime/1000);
debug("pumpIsOn:",pumpIsOn);
debug("pumpHysterisTime:",pumpHysterisisTime/1000);
debug("pumpOnTimeout:",pumpOnTimeout/1000);
debug("sensorIs:",digitalRead(sensorPin));
}
Moderator edit:
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tags added.
