OU student seeks opinions for course research

sez83

Hello all, I'm doing T307 and we have to design and make something with sustainable aims. I've thought for a while that I would dry my washing outside more if I had some sort of rain alarm, so I thought I would build one, but I have to do some research on whether other people, besides me, would find it useful and buy such a thing if it existed.
What do you think?
Best, Sarah

EricMears

Not quite an answer to your question, but click here to have a look at this kit available from Maplins

For £5 plus ten mins soldering it will sound a buzzer when the area between two terminals gets wet. Normally used as a high level alarm for water tanks but should work just as well to tell you it's been raining (quite heavily I'm afraid). A bit of recalculation of resistor values might make it more sensitive.

Afraid I don't think it would make any difference to our use of the washing line though. An occasional glance out of window should be enough to tell you that sun has gone in and a nasty black cloud is fast approaching.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

EricMears wrote: »

Afraid I don't think it would make any difference to our use of the washing line though.

But it could let you leave home with a clear conscience, knowing that the switch would trigger the closure of the mechanical roof over your garden, powered by a large bank of batteries that you charged from your Solar PV setup. You do have a mechanical roof over your garden, don't you?

Ben84

Rainwater isn't very electrically conductive as it contains few dissolved ions, so I'm unsure how well sensors relying on conduction would work?

EricMears

Ben84 wrote: »

Rainwater isn't very electrically conductive as it contains few dissolved ions, so I'm unsure how well sensors relying on conduction would work?

I can assure you the Maplin level alarm kit works extremely well on rainwater. It's what I use to tell me when to switch off my pump. I also use another sensor to tell me when a storage tank has overflowed and I test that by spitting on my fingers (another allegedly low conductivity solution) and holding the contacts.

aggypanthus

I cant see it being useful, I would rather invest in a covered area to protect the washing, as many people have, ie a sort of carport or canopy.

Valli

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Soaked-washing-fails-dampen-student-s-product-design-spark/story-12577967-detail/story.html#axzz2UijPHkwt

Someone else has invented a cover for a rotary drier so that his colleagues could leave their washing out while they're at work.

What about a diverter to store bath/shower water in a separate tank from the cold water tank for toilet flushing?

OffGridLiving

I'd be more likely to hear heavy rain hitting the windows than a rain alarm ringing in the garden. If I were designing something I'd look at linking it to WIFI so that it can alert someone in the house via their smart phone.