Pump_Minder_Details – Marv's Minders

Pump Minder Project Details

Problem:

To have a dry basement, I am lucky enough to need a basement sump pump. The pump works great and keeps the basement dry!! But what if it didn’t? What if the power fails, or if the pump fails? Such a failure could result in a very expensive basement repair. Trust me, I’ve been there and done that and it’s no fun. So, this project helps me monitor the activity of the basement sump pump. We need to get fast alerts when any pump related problem arises.

We need to monitor:

Mains supply power to pumps #1 & #2
Mains supply power to the third pump battery charger/maintainer.
Pump activity (On/Off/Duration)
Backup battery voltage (Pump #3 is DC powered in case of power failure)

Solution Concept:

Create an DIY IOT Pump Minder that monitors the basement sump pump and alerts me if anything seems fishy.

Features:

Real Time Clock to track last on history of pump activation.
Monitors the basement pump and reports status changes.
Alarm will sound to warn that the mains power has been lost.
Non WiFi wireless based data link.
Battery backed up monitor works for hours even if home mains power is lost.

Prototyping a solution:

Components:

Micro-controller

Main Circuit Board

Display

I felt that this device needed a easy to read display with all the vital information. I chose a simple approach of a reliable 20 characters x 4 line LCD display. As shown I display the status of mains power, the current pump status as well as the backup battery voltage. To avoid having the LCD back light on at all times, I added a couple transistors to switch the LCD back light on whenever motion is detected and then turn the back light off after a few minutes of no motion.

Sensors

For the mains supply sensors I went as simplistically as I could. I used USB power adapters on all three power circuits. These power adapter output a 5Vdc level while powered up so, seemed like a good power sensor to me.

For pump activity sensing, I used a Power Sense Tail device on each of the AC powered pumps. Unfortunately, these handy devices are no longer available.

Backup battery voltage is sensed on an available micro-controller analog input at a voltage divider.

Final Implementation:

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Alerts

I built logic in Node Red that sends an ALERT to my phone and my wife’s phone when the pumps lose power or when the Backup battery voltage decreases below 12.0V.

The Push Alert Service that I use is Pushover.net

Project Summary

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ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod
tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. In hac habitasse
platea dictumst quisque sagittis purus sit amet. Orci phasellus egestas
tellus rutrum. Tortor vitae purus faucibus ornare suspendisse. Cras
semper auctor neque vitae tempus quam. Est lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
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commodo nulla facilisi. Et egestas quis ipsum suspendisse ultrices
gravida dictum. Mauris in aliquam sem fringilla ut. Donec ultrices
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elementum sagittis vitae et leo duis. At erat pellentesque adipiscing
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adipiscing. Interdum velit euismod in pellentesque massa placerat.
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