{"id":3341,"date":"2011-11-21T01:28:51","date_gmt":"2011-11-21T07:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregsowell.com\/?p=3341"},"modified":"2011-11-15T23:29:09","modified_gmt":"2011-11-16T05:29:09","slug":"wireless-mail-alarm-modified-as-dry-contact-monitor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregsowell.com\/?p=3341","title":{"rendered":"Wireless Mail Alarm Modified As Dry Contact Monitor"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have a sump pump in our basement…actually we have two. One is primary and one is backup. Soooo, what is our sump pump for? Well, when you have a bathroom below ground level, you have to help the pooh pooh go up to ground level to hit the sewer line.<\/p>\n

Well, what happens when your pumps quit working…hmmm. Not good hehehehe. So, we needed a way to alert us when the redundant pump kicked in. The redundant pump has an extra set of dry contacts, so all I have to do is tie into that.<\/p>\n

It wouldn’t be cost effective to run a cable all the way between our NOC and the pump. Nor would it be cost effective to put an ethernet module in place.<\/p>\n

I started searching for something wireless and I found the “mailbox alarm”. This guy averages around $35. It’s got a tilt sensor that you mount to the mailbox door. It sounds an alarm on the base station when the mailbox is opened.<\/p>\n

I took the sensor apart and wired some cat5 into it to connect the dry contacts. I also mounted a test switch so we can do some weekly tests without having to fire the pumps.<\/p>\n