Posted Sun May 15, 2011, 8:54am Subject: LED light up when water is low, how to do it?
Hi I'm new to this site and if this thread is in the wrong section please feel free to move it to the right one.
I have a rancilio and it's tucked in under my kitchen cupboards, so every time I check the water level I have to pull it out. I would like an LED on the front of my rancilio that light up when the water level is low.
Has anybody done something like that and would like to share his/hers experiences?
calblacksmith Moderator Joined: 25 Nov 2007 Posts: 5,652 Location: Riverside, Ca, U.S.A. Expertise: I live coffee
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Posted Mon May 16, 2011, 7:26am Subject: Re: LED light up when water is low, how to do it?
I don't know of any "kit" to do this, perhaps you could add some sensors into the water tank with a relay. While the tank has water and the sensor reads it, the relay would hold the contacts open and when the water level drops then it would allow the contacts to close thus turning a light on.
This would strictly be a do it yourself project.
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You may want to have that the other way around - the light goes OFF when the water is low. That way if the water goes low OR something in your circuit fails you'll be alerted to immediately check.
If you depend on the light coming ON to tell you the water is low and your circuit fails preventing the light coming ON (bad LED, failed relay, wire problem, etc.) you won't know and would run the tank dry.
Posted Mon May 16, 2011, 2:37pm Subject: Re: LED light up when water is low, how to do it?
JeepinGeo Said:
You may want to have that the other way around - the light goes OFF when the water is low. That way if the water goes low OR something in your circuit fails you'll be alerted to immediately check.
You're right, that would be better to see the LED turn off when the water level is low. But like I said in my previous thread, I don't have the know how so I would like some assistans to do this mod.
Everman Senior Member Joined: 25 Nov 2004 Posts: 1,043 Location: Coffee Land Expertise: I love coffee
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Posted Sun Oct 9, 2011, 12:03pm Subject: Re: LED light up when water is low, how to do it?
You can use a pressure switch: when water is low then the tank weighs less and thus triggers the switch. Pretty simple, my Valentina does this with an audio alert.
BusinessMonkey Senior Member Joined: 4 Oct 2011 Posts: 18 Location: Lafayette Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Mon Oct 10, 2011, 5:08pm Subject: Re: LED light up when water is low, how to do it?
To have an LED light that will light up when the water gets below a certain level you'll need these parts:
Down type float switch like so: - Down type means normally open (open circuit when not exposed to water and in correct orientation) - up type is inverse Click Here (www.ebay.com) 12V Indicator light like so: Click Here (www.sportsmans-depot.com) And a 12V power supply - if you have ever purchased a piece of electronics... you'll have one. Otherwise any old one will do, but smaller is better in this case. If you want a challenge you can make one that will supply 12V off of your machine 120V lines.
Steps: 1) Drain the system and clean 2) Mount the indicator light wherever you want it 3) Mount the float switch to trigger (stop floating) at whatever tank depth you want the light to turn on 4) Wire the positive power supply output to the positive on the indicator light (be careful - LED's will burn out if wired incorrectly) 5) Wire the negative power supply output to one wire on the float switch 6) Wire the other wire on the float switch to the negative on the indicator light 7) A few methods to prevent wires from shorting - Coat them in marine epoxy, or secure them with no-metal wire nuts and stuff the nuts full of marine epoxy 8) Your done!
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