Help on a Project!
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:13 am
Hi,
I'm a "newbie" with almost zero electronics knowledge, but I can use a soldering iron and have a few grey cells left, so am looking for some advice.
By way of background, I live in a rural part of the country and water for my house is supplied from a "borehole". Water is pumped from the borehole to a concrete tank reservoir about 1000 metres away up a hill. The pump is controlled by a timeswitch which operates for a variable period, usually between 1 and 3 hours which is usually sufficient to fill the reservoir. The time varies because the reservoir also supplies animal drinking troughs on a neighbouring farm and the animals drink more in the summer. The reservoir supplies water to the house and drinking troughs by gravity feed.
I try and adjust the time switch so that it just fills the reservoir, otherwise it overfills it which is wasteful on water and power, but sometimes I get it wrong and we suddenly find the water is turning brown as we are draining the dregs from the reservoir and I have to readjust the time switch.
What I would like to do is build some sort of remote wireless on-off arrangement based on the level in the reservoir. The idea being that when the level falls to a predetermined level the borehole pump will be switched on by a wireless signal and then after filling up to say 90% level another wireless signal will switch the pump off. There is no power at the reservoir so I envisage a small solar panel to provide power for the wireless part. MY DIY skills are such that I am sure I can devise some form of float switches to make/break a circuit, but what I am looking for is some advice on the type of kit I need to incorporate to perform the on/off wireless switching at the reservoir and the on/off borehole pump switching at the borehole. The pump is big beast (about .5KW) so I would presumably need some relay in the circuit at this end. I have a friend who is a qualified electrician and can do all the 240Volt mods at borehole pump, ""all" I need is what sort of kit to incorporate into the pump starter circuit!!
I appreciate this is pretty much a shot in the dark, and I'm not even sure I asking the right people - or should I say the right branch of electronics - so please don't be too harsh in your replies!!
Thanks
Alchad
I'm a "newbie" with almost zero electronics knowledge, but I can use a soldering iron and have a few grey cells left, so am looking for some advice.
By way of background, I live in a rural part of the country and water for my house is supplied from a "borehole". Water is pumped from the borehole to a concrete tank reservoir about 1000 metres away up a hill. The pump is controlled by a timeswitch which operates for a variable period, usually between 1 and 3 hours which is usually sufficient to fill the reservoir. The time varies because the reservoir also supplies animal drinking troughs on a neighbouring farm and the animals drink more in the summer. The reservoir supplies water to the house and drinking troughs by gravity feed.
I try and adjust the time switch so that it just fills the reservoir, otherwise it overfills it which is wasteful on water and power, but sometimes I get it wrong and we suddenly find the water is turning brown as we are draining the dregs from the reservoir and I have to readjust the time switch.
What I would like to do is build some sort of remote wireless on-off arrangement based on the level in the reservoir. The idea being that when the level falls to a predetermined level the borehole pump will be switched on by a wireless signal and then after filling up to say 90% level another wireless signal will switch the pump off. There is no power at the reservoir so I envisage a small solar panel to provide power for the wireless part. MY DIY skills are such that I am sure I can devise some form of float switches to make/break a circuit, but what I am looking for is some advice on the type of kit I need to incorporate to perform the on/off wireless switching at the reservoir and the on/off borehole pump switching at the borehole. The pump is big beast (about .5KW) so I would presumably need some relay in the circuit at this end. I have a friend who is a qualified electrician and can do all the 240Volt mods at borehole pump, ""all" I need is what sort of kit to incorporate into the pump starter circuit!!
I appreciate this is pretty much a shot in the dark, and I'm not even sure I asking the right people - or should I say the right branch of electronics - so please don't be too harsh in your replies!!
Thanks
Alchad