Stray Voltage

[CloudIX]

Does anyone know of a schematic to build a stray voltage monitor. Something that would have a variable pot for setting the base (max) value of voltage in your tank. If the voltage rises above that set level then it could close a relay. This could be used to trigger an alarm on a controller informing you of a problem that you should inspect.

I had a mag drive pump that became faulty last night, you could barely feel the voltage. The whole tank is on a GFI circuit but it did not trip it. This is what got me thinking about this device.

 

[H@rry]

Did you have a ground probe in the tank or sump?

 

[pickupman66]

Did you have a ground probe in the tank or sump?

That was my question...

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[p woodard]

I was tired of getting zapped so I have nothing electrical in the tank or sump

 

[CloudIX]

No I didn't have a ground probe in the tank. Yes I know the ground would give the electricity a place to go but the GFI should protect me if there is stray voltage in the tank. The reason I want to build a monitor so that I will be alerted of stray voltage And can address the problem. If it's all going to the ground Probe how would I know that I have stray voltage problem?

 

[Dowtish]

You wouldnt know. The only thing I do on a quarterly basis is use an analog volt meter. I check my levels, and start unplugging things one at a time. If you could find a way to set the level on a monitor, and have it alert you when something spikes, that would be great.

 

[CloudIX]

I have some ideas but I need somebody a little more accomplished in electronics than myself. I will let you guys know if i make something.

 

[quigimon]

There are a couple of things you could do depending on the money or know how you poses, you could do it with an Arduino UNO and have some simple code written where once a certain threshold of voltage is reached it could do anything from light up an LED to send you a text message or put it on twitter lol. But seriously about 45$ you could have a stray voltage sensor that can even give you a digital readout of the voltage it's sensing and have an LED and a reset button connected and have the digital read out the stray voltage, and if you surpass the threshold flash the LED until you reset it so this way if a condition changes in your tank where you exceed your limit but that condition goes away you can still be alerted to it by the flashing LED.

 

[gmoney243]

There are a couple of things you could do depending on the money or know how you poses, you could do it with an Arduino UNO and have some simple code written where once a certain threshold of voltage is reached it could do anything from light up an LED to send you a text message or put it on twitter lol. But seriously about 45$ you could have a stray voltage sensor that can even give you a digital readout of the voltage it's sensing and have an LED and a reset button connected and have the digital read out the stray voltage, and if you surpass the threshold flash the LED until you reset it so this way if a condition changes in your tank where you exceed your limit but that condition goes away you can still be alerted to it by the flashing LED.

Huh? Can you repeat that in english

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[p woodard]

Huh? Can you repeat that in english

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Mike what I got out of it is for $45 you can have a light that comes on and for free you can put your finger in the tank. Even if you made that you will still have to find the thing that is causing the voltage

 

[CloudIX]

I followed that and if i didn't have an apex controller it would be a awesome idea. Those basic stamps can really do some cool things but Im looking for something a little cheaper. Im thinking a few transistors and resistors with a variable pot, it can trigger a relay that can function as a contact switch for the apex breakout box. Have the apex sound the alarm or even send email. Just need to figure out how to design the breadboard and handle multiple probes. Keep those idea coming and we will have something that we all could use soon.

 

[quigimon]

Mike what I got out of it is for $45 you can have a light that comes on and for free you can put your finger in the tank. Even if you made that you will still have to find the thing that is causing the voltage

HA HA, yes that is true, but he sounded like he was looking for something that was going to alert him without having to stick his fingers in the water, not to mention let him know whether or not he should. Obviously it's something that may be difficult to swallow, the Arduino is a programmable micro controller, using a display(any color you wish) if you wish to show the voltage in the tank, and if you don't want to pay another ±1$ at radioshack for an LED you could make the numbers flash on the display. This is in my opinion the easiest way i can think to have a constant voltage monitoring system, of course you could take a transformer that puts out the required voltage to power a multimeter constantly and monitor it that way but it's real time and doesn't alert you if you have exceeded at some point in time what ever voltage limit you are trying not to exceed. Setting something up like this seems abstract and crazy but if you ever decide you want to expand your monitoring system and add more sensors it's just a matter of adding them and some code to tell the Arduino what you want it to do. If you have not heard of the Jarduino i suggest you check it out, his system touches on this matter ever so briefly, and by no means am i saying that you should go after what he's done, but it is nice work and shows what all you can do with it IF you wanted to.

 

[CloudIX]

I did think about the mulitmeter option but one of the biggest problems is the probes would Corrode if not made of Titanium. I've never seen a multimeter with those kinda probes.

 

[p woodard]

I did think about the mulitmeter option but one of the biggest problems is the probes would Corrode if not made of Titanium. I've never seen a multimeter with those kinda probes.

You can have them made the ends come off

 

[quigimon]

I followed that and if i didn't have an apex controller it would be a awesome idea. Those basic stamps can really do some cool things but Im looking for something a little cheaper. Im thinking a few transistors and resistors with a variable pot, it can trigger a relay that can function as a contact switch for the apex breakout box. Have the apex sound the alarm or even send email. Just need to figure out how to design the breadboard and handle multiple probes. Keep those idea coming and we will have something that we all could use soon.

Gotcha, that makes sense.