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Cheap Alternative - $32 Wireless Relay - GE Choice Alert


alcatoe

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Last week I came home to a disaster in my basement - my aquarium auto top off unit (auto fills the tank with more water when the water level gets too low due to evaporation) did not shut off in time and filled my sump too high which caused my protein skimmer to overflow spilling gallons of salt water onto the floor while I was not there and made a real mess of my new carpet in the theater!!! Needless to say, I spent the last couple of days working to modify the auto top off to prevent this from happening in the future.

As part of my planning for future disaster prevention, I thought it would be nice to get a text alert if such disaster happened in the future, not just for my aquarium but for my hot water heater , maybe the whole house water filter closet and any other potential water leak areas. Thinking through the solution, I wanted to integrate this into my C4 system somehow. The caveat was that I am going out of the country this weekend and needed something FAST! The Card Access InHome Water Leak Detection would have to be ordered and installed - this would not work as it would not arrive until after my trip. Continued planning.... I came across the $32 GE 45129 Choice Alert Wireless Alarm System Control Center [http://www.smarthome.com/59480/GE-45129-Choice-Alert-Wireless-Alarm-System-Control-Center/p.aspx] and the $20 GE 45133 Wireless Alarm System Water Leak Sensor [http://www.smarthome.com/59483/GE-45133-Wireless-Alarm-System-Water-Leak-Sensor/p.aspx] at Lowes and figured I would give it a shot. My thought was the device has an audible alert when the zones are triggered and I though with enough voltage this would trigger the C4 MC relay and though programming send me a text message.

After opening up the GE Choice Alert, and breaking out the voltmeter, the siren had less than a volt (.11). While I was in there, I thought I would like to possibly use the other zones too for other alerts so I probed the LED's for each zone and they produced about 1 volt during alert. The 4 zone LED's is want I would use to trigger the C4 controller. I soldered small wires to the LED leads on the board and connected them to the relays on the back of the C4 MC then programmed the C4 system with the new relays for each sensor. The zone #4 on the GE is where all water sensors are connected to (wirelessly) so if you have 4 water leak sensors they will all alert on zone #4. The zone #4 LED is connected to the C4 MC relay. When the leak sensor is activated the zone #4 LED flashes as well as the alarm sounds. The LED sends aprox 1 volt through the C4 MC relay connection triggering the text to be sent. See attached image for connections to MC relay.

GE-Choice-Alert-C4.jpg

Now I can rest assured if any leaks from my aquarium or hot water heater happen to occur, I can take action quickly. I also have many other wireless zones I can use for other ideas as well.

Works like a charm!

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Last week I came home to a disaster in my basement - my aquarium auto top off unit (auto fills the tank with more water when the water level gets too low due to evaporation) did not shut off in time and filled my sump too high which caused my protein skimmer to overflow spilling gallons of salt water onto the floor while I was not there and made a real mess of my new carpet in the theater!!! Needless to say, I spent the last couple of days working to modify the auto top off to prevent this from happening in the future.

As part of my planning for future disaster prevention, I thought it would be nice to get a text alert if such disaster happened in the future, not just for my aquarium but for my hot water heater , maybe the whole house water filter closet and any other potential water leak areas. Thinking through the solution, I wanted to integrate this into my C4 system somehow. The caveat was that I am going out of the country this weekend and needed something FAST! The Card Access InHome Water Leak Detection would have to be ordered and installed - this would not work as it would not arrive until after my trip. Continued planning.... I came across the $32 GE 45129 Choice Alert Wireless Alarm System Control Center [http://www.smarthome.com/59480/GE-45129-Choice-Alert-Wireless-Alarm-System-Control-Center/p.aspx] and the $20 GE 45133 Wireless Alarm System Water Leak Sensor [http://www.smarthome.com/59483/GE-45133-Wireless-Alarm-System-Water-Leak-Sensor/p.aspx] at Lowes and figured I would give it a shot. My thought was the device has an audible alert when the zones are triggered and I though with enough voltage this would trigger the C4 MC relay and though programming send me a text message.

After opening up the GE Choice Alert, and breaking out the voltmeter, the siren had less than a volt (.11). While I was in there, I thought I would like to possibly use the other zones too for other alerts so I probed the LED's for each zone and they produced about 1 volt during alert. The 4 zone LED's is want I would use to trigger the C4 controller. I soldered small wires to the LED leads on the board and connected them to the relays on the back of the C4 MC then programmed the C4 system with the new relays for each sensor. The zone #4 on the GE is where all water sensors are connected to (wirelessly) so if you have 4 water leak sensors they will all alert on zone #4. The zone #4 LED is connected to the C4 MC relay. When the leak sensor is activated the zone #4 LED flashes as well as the alarm sounds. The LED sends aprox 1 volt through the C4 MC relay connection triggering the text to be sent. See attached image for connections to MC relay.

http://systaweb.com/wp-content/uploads/GE-Choice-Alert-C4.jpg

Now I can rest assured if any leaks from my aquarium or hot water heater happen to occur, I can take action quickly. I also have many other wireless zones I can use for other ideas as well.

Works like a charm!

God thinking on your part. Sorry about the flood.

Thanks for sharing.

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do you not have a float switch in your wet/dry? are you topping-off with a dosing pump? if so, that is a s-l-o-w fill.

I installed a JBJ ATO with a Mag Drive 7. The JBJ has float switches but the issue was 2 part on my behalf. The Mag Drive 7 is way to powerful to get the water from the reservoir to the sump but it is what I had on hand at the time. The other issue I had was the hose from the pump was submerged in the water of the sump which caused a siphon effect - after the pump kicked on the water kept bouncing back and forth (inside the hose) between the reservoir and the sump, each time filling the sump more and more because it was lower than the hose at the top of the reservoir.

Now I have a smaller pump in the reservoir which dumps water into the top of the tank and not the sump so the water has to travel up hill in order to make it into the tank. Once the pump cuts off, gravity pulls the water back down the hose into the reservoir thus preventing a siphon effect.

JBJ ATO

http://www.jbjlighting.com/prod-ato.html

Mag Drive 7

http://www.marinedepot.com/Danner_Mag_Drive_Supreme_7_700_GPH_Water_Pump_500_to_1000_Gallons_Per_Hour_Submersible_Water_Pumps-Danner_Mfg.-DN1111-FIWPSBFT-DN1125-vi.html

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I used to have a a level probe in my sump and as the level dropped off the probe it would shut off the main pumps and turn on a make up pump that pumped water out of a 5 gal bucket with makeup water and trace elements in it, worked great for over 4 years till I got out of the hobby.

I do miss it, especially now with the ease of automation these days

never used a peristaltic pump and I had shrimp, coral, and clown fish breeding in the tank

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ok, you had good luck and thats good but did you have a failure that dumped 5 gals of makeup into the tank all at once? still, that water is not the same as what is in the tank. dosing pump gradually fills.

go price a wavemaker then go price a time delay/flip flop relay. relay is fraction of cost with higher MTBF.

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ok, you had good luck and thats good but did you have a failure that dumped 5 gals of makeup into the tank all at once? still, that water is not the same as what is in the tank. dosing pump gradually fills.

go price a wavemaker then go price a time delay/flip flop relay. relay is fraction of cost with higher MTBF.

yup, I used a TD FF relay to alternate the power heads to simulate wave surge

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