Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Automating water softener?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Automating water softener?

    Just wondering if anybody has automated there water softener sistem and what are the advantages if any?
    Hector
    ____________________________________
    Win.2003 OS, HS3
    BLDSC,BLstat,BLRadar,BLRamdom,BLOccupied
    BLups,BLrain8,HSTouch,Ultrajones Weatherbug,
    MyTrigger,ACRF2,W800,Zwave
    AP800,Honeywell Stat

    #2
    What part do you want to automate? I've seen reports where users automated the salt level monitoring but I'm not sure how much more there is to automated.
    💁‍♂️ Support & Customer Service 🙋‍♂️ Sales Questions 🛒 Shop HomeSeer Products

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Rupp View Post
      What part do you want to automate? I've seen reports where users automated the salt level monitoring but I'm not sure how much more there is to automated.
      I Basically wanted to know if there where any people doing anything with there softener.
      Hector
      ____________________________________
      Win.2003 OS, HS3
      BLDSC,BLstat,BLRadar,BLRamdom,BLOccupied
      BLups,BLrain8,HSTouch,Ultrajones Weatherbug,
      MyTrigger,ACRF2,W800,Zwave
      AP800,Honeywell Stat

      Comment


        #4
        I just added an ultrasonic sensor to the lid of my water softener a couple of weeks ago that tells me when the salt level gets low. So far it's working well.
        HS Pro 3.0 | Linux Ubuntu 16.04 x64 virtualized under Proxmox (KVM)
        Hardware: Z-NET - W800 Serial - Digi PortServer TS/8 and TS/16 serial to Ethernet - Insteon PLM - RFXCOM - X10 Wireless
        Plugins: HSTouch iOS and Android, RFXCOM, BlueIris, BLLock, BLDSC, BLRF, Insteon PLM (MNSandler), Device History, Ecobee, BLRing, Kodi, UltraWeatherWU3
        Second home: Zee S2 with Z-Wave, CT101 Z-Wave Thermostat, Aeotec Z-Wave microswitches, HSM200 occupancy sensor, Ecolink Z-Wave door sensors, STI Driveway Monitor interfaced to Zee S2 GPIO pins.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by reidfo View Post
          I just added an ultrasonic sensor to the lid of my water softener a couple of weeks ago that tells me when the salt level gets low. So far it's working well.
          Thks for posting, can u post the model you used?
          Hector
          ____________________________________
          Win.2003 OS, HS3
          BLDSC,BLstat,BLRadar,BLRamdom,BLOccupied
          BLups,BLrain8,HSTouch,Ultrajones Weatherbug,
          MyTrigger,ACRF2,W800,Zwave
          AP800,Honeywell Stat

          Comment


            #6
            I googled ultrasonic, there a lot of applications for the ping device is that what your using?
            Hector
            ____________________________________
            Win.2003 OS, HS3
            BLDSC,BLstat,BLRadar,BLRamdom,BLOccupied
            BLups,BLrain8,HSTouch,Ultrajones Weatherbug,
            MyTrigger,ACRF2,W800,Zwave
            AP800,Honeywell Stat

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by reidfo View Post
              I just added an ultrasonic sensor to the lid of my water softener a couple of weeks ago that tells me when the salt level gets low. So far it's working well.
              Hi,

              Is there a writeup someplace for the hardware and HS interface you are using for the ultrasonic salt level sensor and HS device?

              I found a post on cocoontech from around 2006 that described an ultrasonic sensor and example code for HS 1.7.

              I imagine this is a lot easier than that now. I'd be really interested in hearing about your setup.
              _______________________________________________

              HS3 : HSpro (3.0.0.460) on Win2012 (vm on ESXi)
              Plugins: HSTouch, UPBSpud, Kinect, Nest, IFTTT, DirecTV, EasyTrigger, Imperihome, Zwave, RFXcom, UltraMon3, UltraWeatherBug3, UltraGCIR3, UltraLog3, UltraPioneer, PHLocation, Pushover, Pushalot, MCSSPrinklers S, JowiHue
              Jon00 Plugins: Bluetooth Proximity, Performance Monitor, DB Chart, Links

              Comment


                #8
                Hey guys, sorry I missed your replies. I'm using the same sensor that was described in the Cocoontech post, with my own scripts. Overall it's working well, though I haven't been through a complete full to empty cycle yet. It started out reporting 80% (which by my eye was about right), and it's been toggling between 70 and 73% for about a month now. I haven't opened it up to look lately, but from past experience it seems somewhat close. I am not looking for great accuracy here, but rather an indication that it's time to buy more salt. When the level reaches I think 25% it sends me an email to remind me to buy salt and refill.

                Here's what I bought on Amazon:

                MB1010 LV-MaxSonar-EZ1 Range Finder
                Sold by MaxBotix Inc., (MaxBotix Inc)
                $24.95

                It has serial output, so I just ran a Cat5 cable outside to my water softener and wrote some custom scripts to monitor it, triggered by an event. I coated the entire board except for the sensor itself in hot glue to protect it was moist salty air. I also wired the sensor to a female RJ45 jack inside the lid so that I could easily remove it (and possibly replace it) as needed. The sensor needs power too, so I ran 5V DC on one of the Cat5 pairs from a power brick located inside by the HomeSeer system.

                This is the main script called periodically from an event.
                Code:
                Sub Main(parm as object)
                dim e as string
                e=hs.OpenComPortex(7,"9600,n,8,1",1,"sonic2.vb","sonic", chr(13), 1)
                if e<> "" then hs.WriteLog("Error","Error opening COM7 (Sonic Sensor): " & e)
                End Sub
                Here is the sonic2.vb script called from the first one. I did some trial and error testing to find out what the sensor reported when the reservoir was full and empty (see the full and empty variables in the code below).
                Code:
                sub sonic(data)
                dim sdigits as string
                
                dim full as integer = 2
                dim empty as integer = 32
                dim percent as integer
                dim relative as integer
                
                  if left(data,1) = "R" and len(data) = 4 then
                  sDigits = mid(data,2)
                  if isNumeric(sDigits) then
                  hs.WriteLog("Salt Level","Water softener reservoir depth =  " & cstr(cint(sdigits)) & " inches")
                
                  relative = empty - cint(sDigits) - full  
                  percent = (relative / (empty-full)) * 100
                
                  hs.setdevicestring ("z10", cstr(percent) & "%")
                  hs.setdevicevalue ("z10", clng(percent))
                
                  hs.WriteLog("Salt Level","Water softener salt level =  " & cstr(percent) & "%")
                  
                  end if
                    end if
                
                hs.closecomport(7)
                end sub
                EDIT: Here is a link to the original Cocoontech article.
                http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/4...ater-softener/
                HS Pro 3.0 | Linux Ubuntu 16.04 x64 virtualized under Proxmox (KVM)
                Hardware: Z-NET - W800 Serial - Digi PortServer TS/8 and TS/16 serial to Ethernet - Insteon PLM - RFXCOM - X10 Wireless
                Plugins: HSTouch iOS and Android, RFXCOM, BlueIris, BLLock, BLDSC, BLRF, Insteon PLM (MNSandler), Device History, Ecobee, BLRing, Kodi, UltraWeatherWU3
                Second home: Zee S2 with Z-Wave, CT101 Z-Wave Thermostat, Aeotec Z-Wave microswitches, HSM200 occupancy sensor, Ecolink Z-Wave door sensors, STI Driveway Monitor interfaced to Zee S2 GPIO pins.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Automating water softener?

                  Originally posted by reidfo View Post
                  Hey guys, sorry I missed your replies. I'm using the same sensor that was described in the Cocoontech post, with my own scripts. Overall it's working well, though I haven't been through a complete full to empty cycle yet. It started out reporting 80% (which by my eye was about right), and it's been toggling between 70 and 73% for about a month now. I haven't opened it up to look lately, but from past experience it seems somewhat close. I am not looking for great accuracy here, but rather an indication that it's time to buy more salt. When the level reaches I think 25% it sends me an email to remind me to buy salt and refill.

                  Here's what I bought on Amazon:

                  MB1010 LV-MaxSonar-EZ1 Range Finder
                  Sold by MaxBotix Inc., (MaxBotix Inc)
                  $24.95

                  It has serial output, so I just ran a Cat5 cable outside to my water softener and wrote some custom scripts to monitor it, triggered by an event. I coated the entire board except for the sensor itself in hot glue to protect it was moist salty air. I also wired the sensor to a female RJ45 jack inside the lid so that I could easily remove it (and possibly replace it) as needed. The sensor needs power too, so I ran 5V DC on one of the Cat5 pairs from a power brick located inside by the HomeSeer system.

                  This is the main script called periodically from an event.
                  Code:
                  Sub Main(parm as object)
                  dim e as string
                  e=hs.OpenComPortex(7,"9600,n,8,1",1,"sonic2.vb","sonic", chr(13), 1)
                  if e<> "" then hs.WriteLog("Error","Error opening COM7 (Sonic Sensor): " & e)
                  End Sub
                  Here is the sonic2.vb script called from the first one. I did some trial and error testing to find out what the sensor reported when the reservoir was full and empty (see the full and empty variables in the code below).
                  Code:
                  sub sonic(data)
                  dim sdigits as string
                  
                  dim full as integer = 2
                  dim empty as integer = 32
                  dim percent as integer
                  dim relative as integer
                  
                    if left(data,1) = "R" and len(data) = 4 then
                    sDigits = mid(data,2)
                    if isNumeric(sDigits) then
                    hs.WriteLog("Salt Level","Water softener reservoir depth =  " & cstr(cint(sdigits)) & " inches")
                  
                    relative = empty - cint(sDigits) - full  
                    percent = (relative / (empty-full)) * 100
                  
                    hs.setdevicestring ("z10", cstr(percent) & "%")
                    hs.setdevicevalue ("z10", clng(percent))
                  
                    hs.WriteLog("Salt Level","Water softener salt level =  " & cstr(percent) & "%")
                    
                    end if
                      end if
                  
                  hs.closecomport(7)
                  end sub
                  EDIT: Here is a link to the original Cocoontech article.
                  http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/4...ater-softener/
                  If you get a chance can you post some pictures? What did you use to interface the serial input with homeseer, just a serial cable? I got a little confused by the cat5 cable use but was that just for DC power? Thanks.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Thanks for the nice write-up. I'm assuming you run your script once a day or so? Can't imagine salt levels will change that rapidly.



                    Originally posted by reidfo View Post
                    Hey guys, sorry I missed your replies. I'm using the same sensor that was described in the Cocoontech post, with my own scripts. Overall it's working well, though I haven't been through a complete full to empty cycle yet. It started out reporting 80% (which by my eye was about right), and it's been toggling between 70 and 73% for about a month now. I haven't opened it up to look lately, but from past experience it seems somewhat close. I am not looking for great accuracy here, but rather an indication that it's time to buy more salt. When the level reaches I think 25% it sends me an email to remind me to buy salt and refill.

                    Here's what I bought on Amazon:
                    MB1010 LV-MaxSonar-EZ1 Range Finder
                    Sold by MaxBotix Inc., (MaxBotix Inc)
                    $24.95

                    It has serial output, so I just ran a Cat5 cable outside to my water softener and wrote some custom scripts to monitor it, triggered by an event. I coated the entire board except for the sensor itself in hot glue to protect it was moist salty air. I also wired the sensor to a female RJ45 jack inside the lid so that I could easily remove it (and possibly replace it) as needed. The sensor needs power too, so I ran 5V DC on one of the Cat5 pairs from a power brick located inside by the HomeSeer system.

                    This is the main script called periodically from an event.
                    Code:
                    Sub Main(parm as object)
                    dim e as string
                    e=hs.OpenComPortex(7,"9600,n,8,1",1,"sonic2.vb","sonic", chr(13), 1)
                    if e<> "" then hs.WriteLog("Error","Error opening COM7 (Sonic Sensor): " & e)
                    End Sub
                    Here is the sonic2.vb script called from the first one. I did some trial and error testing to find out what the sensor reported when the reservoir was full and empty (see the full and empty variables in the code below).
                    Code:
                    sub sonic(data)
                    dim sdigits as string
                     
                    dim full as integer = 2
                    dim empty as integer = 32
                    dim percent as integer
                    dim relative as integer
                     
                      if left(data,1) = "R" and len(data) = 4 then
                      sDigits = mid(data,2)
                      if isNumeric(sDigits) then
                      hs.WriteLog("Salt Level","Water softener reservoir depth =  " & cstr(cint(sdigits)) & " inches")
                     
                      relative = empty - cint(sDigits) - full  
                      percent = (relative / (empty-full)) * 100
                     
                      hs.setdevicestring ("z10", cstr(percent) & "%")
                      hs.setdevicevalue ("z10", clng(percent))
                     
                      hs.WriteLog("Salt Level","Water softener salt level =  " & cstr(percent) & "%")
                     
                      end if
                        end if
                     
                    hs.closecomport(7)
                    end sub
                    EDIT: Here is a link to the original Cocoontech article.
                    http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/4...ater-softener/
                    _______________________________________________

                    HS3 : HSpro (3.0.0.460) on Win2012 (vm on ESXi)
                    Plugins: HSTouch, UPBSpud, Kinect, Nest, IFTTT, DirecTV, EasyTrigger, Imperihome, Zwave, RFXcom, UltraMon3, UltraWeatherBug3, UltraGCIR3, UltraLog3, UltraPioneer, PHLocation, Pushover, Pushalot, MCSSPrinklers S, JowiHue
                    Jon00 Plugins: Bluetooth Proximity, Performance Monitor, DB Chart, Links

                    Comment


                      #11
                      I am using Whirlpool Water Softener and it eliminates mineral stains. My water softener came with a simple to program electronics.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Yes you can find it here at amazing price.

                        Comment

                        Working...
                        X