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alarm

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jonnydot

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Hi guy's I am hoping to have built a type of plug and play alarm. What I would like is an alarm that sounds ,flashes and could send a txt message that would alert me if an electrical appliance fails .Hopefully in due course I could have these manufactured so that it could be moved to any powerpoint to use on any sort of electrical device .Not having any electronic knowledge is a bit of a hinderence LOL so I thought that someone here may be able to help with a schematic .It would also be a benifit if it also had a mains power out alarm attached with it ....Many thanks for your time and best regards Jonnydot PS I am on a 240 volt system...thanks again
 
I am also hoping to have an alarm that sounds, flashes, send txt messages, feeds the baby, fills the bath, makes scrambled egg and pays all the bills. It should cost less than $10.00 and make me millions of dollars. I will also pay someone $8.00 to design it for me.
I am also on 240v system.
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ :) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

There are software / hardware packages out there on the market that will do everything you mention. Without a working electronics knowledge plus a working software knowledge building one would be just about impossible. If you just want to mess around with something that is very simple (a few channels) I can give you an idea of what you are after but large multi-channel monitoring systems are both complex and expensive.

Colin55 is easily pleased because I want my bath filled and maintained at a specific temperature and I want applewood smoked bacon with my eggs.

Ron
 
Colin 55 PLEASE excuse my mistake I had unfortunatly thought this was a site that one could get advice on ,I can see know that it is for people as yourself that have the mental poltritude of a microbe and have to resort to bullying and sarcastic behavour to try to prove your own self worth ,which unfortunatly for you is zero and as such further chastisment would not aid you in any way ,one day you may be in need of help and if that day comes I hope they treat you with as much respect and comtemt as you have shown me I am sorry you have such a miserable life.
........In total diregard and no respect for you at all ...jonnydot
 
Reloadron ,thank you for your reply where would I look to purchase these software/hard ware packages ,basically what I need is if part of the function stops an alarm would sound ,these would primarily be used in poultry incubation ,within them is a fan ,thermostat, heat source , a humidistat and an egg turner
 
OK, a rough overview goes like this. While not extremely complicated what you want to do is not quite simple either.

Something like this all begins with sensors. For example an airflow sensor would be used to monitor air flow. A sensor like this could, for example, be placed in front of a fan. There are hundreds of air flow sensors out there but as an example it can be as simple as a small paddle mounted on a switch. Moving air would hold the switch either open or closed. Another example would be measuring temperature where a sensor would drive a window comparator circuit. Long as the temperature is maintained between a high and low limit things are fine, if the temperature is below or exceeding a limit, it outputs a signal. So in a nutshell we have a collection of sensors monitoring things.

At this point a designer would evaluate how many channels of information they want to monitor and exactly what signals they would have. Then leave some overhead for additional channels.

The sensor signals get passed on to a piece of hardware connected to a computer with Internet Access. The hardware can be a simple DI (Digital Input) device with a few channels or more complex. Code is written to so when limits of the sensors are exceeded the system can send for example SMS Text messages, Emails or any number of things. Additionally local alarms can be sounded.

While I have no clue where you are located or exactly how you would want a system to phone home if your computer has a simple serial port (RS232 9 pin connector) I can give you a basic example. If you have a cell phone I can tell you how to get your computer to send you a text. Just basic simple stuff.

Ron
 
Thanks for that Ron I was hoping that I could utilise a drop in current drawn to provide an alarm activation,something along the lines of a plug in energy usage meter but in reverse (sort of),It was suggested to me today by an electrical wholesaler that I could use a "over current relay"with a battery powered alarm , I have not as yet researched what this relay is and how it works ,is this something you are familular with?
 
OK, let's look at an over current relay. Let's forget the "phone home" aspects. An over current relay is merely a device that can be used to monitor current in a line. For example if I am monitoring the current to a motor and the motors rotating shaft becomes locked or the rotation severely inhibited. The current draw of the motor will increase and when it increases over a pre determined set point a relay can be tripped. This would typically drive an alarm and remove power from the effected circuit. There can be a problem with this. For example if the motor fails in an open state the current would drop to zero. That would not trip an over current condition. However, the motor being a fan, pump or whatever would not be doing what it is intended to do.

This goes back to what I mentioned earlier. Deciding what parameters within a system need to be monitored, then selecting sensors designed for the application(s) and finally deciding what to do with the sensor output(s).

Ron
 
Excellant explanation and very clear thank you .It looks as if I have a lot of research to do!! and perhaps a basic electronics course ,many thanks for your valulable time and help and I shall keep you posted on further developments , best regards Jonnydot
 
Our pleasure and best of luck.

Ron
 
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