Completing a circuit with battery switch

Food for thought ....

I don't understand how this would control the pump. This would report on the pump's status but not control it.

That is a sensor, not a switch.

OK, sorry I should have said magnetic power connector. It's not an important part of this, just a way to connect the wires outside without squirrels, raccoons, children or anyone else accidentally ripping a wire from the side of my house. Forget about the magnetic contacts, it's nothing to do with how the whole thing works.

He needed to break a circuit and reconnect it. That what the relay does.

Oh....ok. Well, I would assume that since this is a pump that it could be buried pretty easily to prevent that.

To help visualise here is a pic ..

If you can generate a 3.3 or 5V signal. A simple MOSFET could replace the rely consuming virtually nano amps when turned "on". This would be be easy to interface with the Zigbee device I mentioned above (which already has a battery option). If you want to consider this path I could sketch up a schematic for the MOSFET (basically a trivial circuit.

John

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It would be very interesting to see how well @iharyadi's Environment Sensor + rechargeable battery + solar panel/charger + your mosfet relay would work. All of the building blocks are there for a very interesting, self-contained, device.

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Sounds like a possible solution,, @iharyadi what are your thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance!

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I was hoping Iman would see his name referenced and jump in. Conceptionally I think it would be a very good solution. My only unknown is how long Iman's battery implementation lasts. As I said above, the MOSFET instead of the relay is trivial. The only caveat is the Zigbee battery and the AA batteries powering the pump would have to have their common (i.e. negative, ground) connected together. This is a limitation of the MOSFET, however I would think that is not an issue here.

Just throwing this out there - the orbit water hose timer is a remote zigbee relay powered by a couple of AA batteries. You could try taking one apart. And there is a built in driver for it to boot.

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The idea should work. You can use the battery as reservoir. However, I think I have to make potentially the following change to give it a chance to be successful project.

Most of my modules that I have shipped, I set it up with very low charging current. I can easily change that to allow charging battery faster with higher current. You will need a larger battery to make sure that it can store the charge during the day and run the module overnight. This is an easy change. It is not an issue.

Second, I suppose that I can make a version of my sensor that is not as repeater. This will allow the modules to sleep when it is not used. Therefore, it can conserve battery. In this mode, we are talking about months/years of use with battery. I have never tried this because I have seen no demand to fit my module in this mode. This is only a software change. However, I am concern that it may take sometime to test it.

I am sorry. I may not have something that it may work for you in short notice. If I have known that you are looking for something like this a couple years ago. I did work on another Zigbee project with my son a while back. It use Xbee and mbed to control a valve. Instead of a valve, this could be a switch. This system can run for 2 years (perhaps more) on 2 AA battery. I have a couple of them running in my house as we speak. I have to resurrect the project if there is any demand on this.

Here is some video that we made for my son school project. You can see the module and battery on the stool next to the alexa.

This is another video.

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Doesn't seem to be available anymore. How about this one? Anybody have this working direct, without their WiFi adapter?

[Edit] Never mind. It's another bluetooth device.

I'd be very interested if you have more details. I was trying to use MicroPython and the xbee to control the GPIO pins but I'm not quite savy enough in python to get it to work. I'd be interested in what you have.

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Xbee which has been used by many as repeaters implement lower level Zigbee Protocol. There are a lot of Zigbee jargon.

In order to be compatible with Zigbee HA profile, you have to take xbee and implement the Zigbee Cluster Library on an MCU. Some Xbee may have this MCU in the XBee chip. I have never use one like this. I take a cheap MCU and connect it to Xbee. I use the MCU implement the ZCL so that it can be paired and used with general Zigbee compatible hub.

Implementing ZCL is labor intensive but not very difficult task. It is just a c++ code parsing ZCL frame and send ZCL frame.

LOL Why is this like pulling teeth? Clearly people want this. Manufacturers build the capability into main water shut-offs and garden hoses, but no one wants to make a purpose-built battery powered zigbee relay? I makes no sense to me.

Maybe it's just not enough to make it profitable yet. Now that Amazon built Zigbee into the echo you'll start seeing a lot more devices use it, I'm willing to bet. So, fingers crossed!!

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I'd love to see an innovative company make a modular product. Power it with mains voltage and it's your standard smart plug. Pop the module out an it's a battery powered Zibee relay. Leave the module inserted and pop off the outlet portion and it's a mains powered dry contact.

Well, you'll just have to go out and get some VC money and get to work mister!!! :wink:

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Hardware?! Hell no! Way too difficult to make money.

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