Category: Automation

Automation

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Toilet Flush Sensor

Mounting a sensor to the toilet flush button can be very useful. We use it to operate a fan after flushing the toilet.

A reed switch mounted to the flush button wasn’t working. I tried and could not get a switch mounted and operating reliably.

water-sensor-angle2I found a different solution. Sure Electronics sells water level sensors that work using a float. They can be had in horizontal and angled versions. You can also find them easily on eBay and Aliexpress.

The float is operated by the water level in the reservoir. Our toilet fan is switched on and off by the actual water level so it will be on longer if you flush more water.

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Modify MS14A Motion Sensor (433.92MHz)

ms16aMS13 motion sensors work fine with RFXCOM. The MS13 operates at 433.92MHz and my RFXCOM has a 433.92MHz receiver. The only problem with the MS13 is its ridiculous price tag.

Enter the MS14A. It is the US equivalent of the MS13, it’s weather resistant and can be found very cheap on eBay. Big John sells them in packs and ships to Europe. (Only takes a few days).

There is one problem with the MS14A. It operates at 310MHz which is not supported by my RFXCOM. I could have ordered a second 310MHz receiver but in the Netherlands, the 310MHz frequency is not allowed. My other concern was the range and reliability which is far better on 433.92MHz.

Thanks to www.domotica.famschenk.eu I learned about converting the MS14A to 433.92MHz. After the conversion, it operates perfectly fine with my RFXCOM.

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MQTT | Retrofitted OneWire Weather Station

weatherparts

I have had an AAG OneWire Weather Station lying around for ages. It has been collecting dust in the shed for seven to eight years until I had a ‘what can we hack today’ and remembered that I still had it.

Turns out a have a version 3 which uses a DS18S20 OneWire temperature sensor. A DS2423 OneWire counter for the wind speed and a DS2450 OneWire quad A/D converter for the wind direction. oww-schematicsAll three sensors are supported on an Arduino and it will compile in the Arduino IDE for ESP-8266.

Looking at the schematics it wasn’t hard to figure out how to hack the PCB to make it work without the serial to OneWire adapter.

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