Topfox Posted January 11, 2023 Share Posted January 11, 2023 Has anyone ever done anything with a septic alarm. Mine recently went off while I was out at dinner due to a toilet flapper that got stuck open. Luckily my neighbor saw the light and heard the exterior alarm and gave me a call. Would love to do something where I can receive a notification if it is alarming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAV Posted January 11, 2023 Share Posted January 11, 2023 Does your septic alarm have any outputs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topfox Posted January 11, 2023 Author Share Posted January 11, 2023 I need to crack open the box and see. At a minimum when the alarm is going off it lights up a light build and starts ringing a bell. I assume there is some way I could potentially tap into one of those actions being turn on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo1738 Posted January 14, 2023 Share Posted January 14, 2023 On 1/11/2023 at 10:08 AM, Topfox said: I need to crack open the box and see. At a minimum when the alarm is going off it lights up a light build and starts ringing a bell. I assume there is some way I could potentially tap into one of those actions being turn on. Wonder if you could tap into that power and ground for a relay or some other sensor. That being said I have a water sensor near our septic croc and ejector pump that if it senses water it turns off the water to the house and alerts me which sensor is going off. I would know that one is likely to be septic water/sewage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 Many sceptic alarm setups do indeed have a sensor output to tie into security panels, external alarms or in this case you'd tie it to a sensor on a controller and program away. We've done this numerous times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topfox Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 11 minutes ago, Cyknight said: Many sceptic alarm setups do indeed have a sensor output to tie into security panels, external alarms or in this case you'd tie it to a sensor on a controller and program away. We've done this numerous times. Like a relay or a contact? I still need to go look, but I have an EA-3 and a IO Extender near the inside unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 The septic would have what is often called a contact output, you'd wire that to a sensor input on a controller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topfox Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 I found this schematic. I’m looking at this im guess I can either wire into the Alarm (R) which is the red light that lights up when alarm is going off or the Input where the outside float switch wires into? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topfox Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 One side of the input puts out 5v. Then when the alarm activates it puts out none. So would I just wire into this to a contact sensor on the IO Extender in the Sig and GND? Then program off recognizing the voltage being present? What driver do you normal use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 Hmm previous reply of mine didn't load apparent;y. You should wire to the alarm input - it may work but if not you're risking it throws off the alarm completely. Seems like the one you have doesn't have a dedicated ouput - if you're willing to 'life-hack' you could wire to the red light output (assuming it's 5-16v) to sig and ground. At your own risk of course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topfox Posted January 16, 2023 Author Share Posted January 16, 2023 2 minutes ago, Cyknight said: Hmm previous reply of mine didn't load apparent;y. You should wire to the alarm input - it may work but if not you're risking it throws off the alarm completely. Seems like the one you have doesn't have a dedicated ouput - if you're willing to 'life-hack' you could wire to the red light output (assuming it's 5-16v) to sig and ground. At your own risk of course Ok Sig and Gnd of contact on controller. What driver do I use for the detection? Is it just a generic contact driver. Thanks for your help on this. Last time my septic went off I wasn’t home and luckily a neighbor heard it and called me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topfox Posted January 16, 2023 Author Share Posted January 16, 2023 Think I give up. Lol. Tried it and it just keeps blowing fuses on the alarm board. Probably best I let it go vs risking damaging other equipment b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo1738 Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 Yeah probably not worth doing it yourself at this point. Maybe call the septic company see if they have any remote monitoring options? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 Yeah, may not be worth it. As mentioned, there are setups that have a output you could ask for - meant for a tie in to an alarm panel (you would use it to C4 instead, but asking for an option for a security tie in is less likely to get funny looks) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakelay Posted January 17, 2023 Share Posted January 17, 2023 We just put a water sensor in the sump pit just above where the pump would trigger. Never had a false alarm and would let you know if the water in the pit is higher than you’d like which can serve as a proxy for the pump alarm. We had it hard wired into our alarm but I would assume a wireless sensor would work as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAV Posted January 17, 2023 Share Posted January 17, 2023 If you've found a +5v DC output that goes to 0 when alarming, then put a relay on the output to make a dry contact to feed Control4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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