|
Wed, Mar 9, 05 at 19:22
| Hello. I was wondering what I need to connect a rain sensor to, to activate a sump pump? I'll be irrigating from a tank, and I'd like to connect an ac timer to a rain sensor, so that the sump pump turns on for a timed period; only if it hasn't rained in a while. The garden is 30 mins away by metro and another 30 walk! It's crazy. Sorry I dont have much experience with these things.
Thanks!
|
Follow-Up Postings:
|
- Posted by more_to_grow z6CT (My Page) on Thu, Mar 10, 05 at 14:25
| I'm not exactly sure how a rain sensor (at least the types of which I am familiar could do this, as they "break" one leg of the circuit when wetted sufficiently) however a soil moisture probe which detects drying (or lack of moisture) of the soil, connected to a simple relay switch, I believe, could function in this way. More specifically a rain sensor gets wetted by rain which is absorbed by absorbent rings, these rings swell, once they swell to a set distance a switch is thrown and breaks the circuit, the timer still runs the system but nothing happens. These rings will dry out rather rapidly, dependent on humidity, sunlight, etc... this is a fairly rapid process on the order of hours or perhaps a day or two. If you are trying to water to makeup for lack of rain a more meaningful measure would be soil moisture |
|
| Thanks for the reply:) Yep, I think that the soil sensor is the way to go. I'm going to go to the Hornbach, which is like a Euro version of Home Depot, to try and find one. I'll update this thread with my findings so that others in my shoes might get some help too. Cheers for the advice! |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Irrigation Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.