Remote Alarm System to Detect Water Overflow as Well as Water Started Filling in Water Tanks in a Apartment

MakerSpace Chat
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Hello everyone,
My name is Venkat. I wish to make an alarm system to detect when the water is overflowing in water storage tanks in households. I wanted to make this because I have seen that there is problem of water overflow in my grandmother’s house owing to not aware of that water tank is full and some water is getting wasted, the water tank is in second floor and my grandmother is living in ground floor, and there is no elevator also so she has to use stairs to check sometimes whether the tank is filled with water. She has some health issues and I am living at another place so I can’t help her daily. I can’t afford a costly device to solve her problem.

I intended to use science to solve her problem by making a low-cost device that can help her. I used low-cost because I want to buy those parts those needed for the device. If they are affordable, that would be very helpful to me.

Here is the problem:
The device need to detect whether the water is coming from the pipe that is connected to fill the water tank as sometimes even the motor is turned on, the water will not start filling the tank. And I don’t know the specific reason for this.
The device should also be able to detect when the water is filled to a specific limit such that there is no overflow of water from the tank.
The device should be able to do the things without the person needing to reach the water tank i.e. in my grandma’s case, to second floor. The device should indicate these two above mentioned things as clearly as possible.
It would be better if the device works remotely like sending the information to smartphone or can control it through smartphone. It should work in most Indian weather conditions. In my grandma’s case, she lives in coastal area. So lot of raining, winds, and sunny weather can be expected.
The device should work on AC preferably I don’t want any accident happened due to electricity.
If possible the device is working on AC supply like battery, it would be very helpful if the device lets the person who operates it that it’s battery is soon going to run out of charge if that is the case.

Here is the specifications:
My grandma has a smartphone.
Should be portable.
Should work on AC supply.
Detections should be conveyed as easily as possible.
Should work remotely.
Should be okay to work in rainy, sunny and windy weather conditions.

Research I have done so far:
I have seen some videos regarding this problem on YouTube. But the devices shown in the video didn’t meet my expectation. So I want to go on quest to find the procedure to make the desired device.

Any help in this thing would be really appreciated. Please tell me whether it is possible or not to make the device I intended? And please direct me to any resources that would help me in this problem?

Thanks in advance.

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Yes. It is possible.

What part of those devices did not meet your expectation. Please post some links to those videos and why you think they are problematic. Once you identify such issues we have a template for redesign to suit your purpose.

Are you familiar with electronics?

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I have viewed this below video. The instrument runs on direct electricity and not wireless one. My plan is there should be a device at the tank/in the tank which acts as sensor and sends the information to the device in the ground floor in a wireless manner and the device in the ground floor should indicate whether water is started filling in the tank preferably with a lighting of green light on the device, when the tank is half-filled, the orange light should turn on the device and finally when the tank is filled, red light and buzzer should turn on. It will be more if the device sends this information to the smartphone.
I am not so much familiar with electronics. But I reckon I can learn it if needed in the process of making this device. I will try to collect the electronic parts which are not in use from smartphones, and other electronic devices if needed. It will be good to the environment as some electronic waste is getting recycled and will also save me some money in the manufacture of the device.

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We have a couple of options.

  1. WiFi
  2. Bluetooth
  3. GSM modem

The first 2 will depend on the distance between the control box and the user.
The 2nd is independent but expensive due to the cost of a gsm modem.
The controller can be built around an ESP32.
To detect water flow you will require a pressure switch or flow meter. One can buy these or rig up improvised sensors that will detect flow of water. A float switch will determine tank full and provide motor control.

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