I'm looking for a water sensor that integrates with hubitat, can be submerged and has no local alarm. Here's what I'm trying to do: i have a smart coffee maker, but you can turn it on remotely no matter if it has water or not, so i want to put a water sensor in coffee maker and use a rule that says if there's water then turn it on when i run my good morning routine. Does anyone know of a sensor like this?
You want to submerge the sensor in the water you’ll be drinking as coffee, right?
Maybe one with a wired probe you can submerge in the water...
Yeah, i was thinking of opening up really whatever sensor and extending the sensor leads by soldering some wire to them. My main thing is either no local alarm or one that is able to be disabled entirely. I only need it for the conditional alert.
Have you thought about a contact closure using a float level sensor. Keurig older models use a reed switch and a float in their water reservoir . This site has some great information on how they work in theory and with some ingenuity I am sure you can use a door sensor in conjunction with this approach:
Continuous Float Level Sensors | Single and Multipoint | Sino-Inst (drurylandetheatre.com)
I have a couple of the Xiaomi water sensors and I believe they would meet your requirements.
*They are IP67 so they might survive in the water for a while, though as I understand it, IP67 requires a 30 minute test...
*You can connect a cable to them (any small cable will do - ex.: 2 leads from an Ethernet or telephone cable) and have this cable go to the bottom. When they are in water, they will report “wet”.
*The sensor does not make any noise
*The sensor connects to Hubitat via Zigbee
1 Like
This is a little too complex for my $50 coffee maker, but thanks for the suggestion.
Well it's a Xiaomi coffee maker. How do you attach to the hubitat with bluetooth?
Xiaomi Aqara water sensors come in Zigbee versions. The sensor screws on the bottom can be loosened and you can attach a probe to that.
I would suggest that you look for a food save sensor and attach it. I doubt they considered your use case for the sensor, so submerged in water it could be harmful to your health in the long term.
3 Likes
I swear it said it connects with bluetooth lol. Thanks for pointing out my stupidity. Lol
This! A million times over. Water is not inert. Over time, metal ions will leach from your probe (wires) that are immersed in water. And while small doses of copper and zinc (and probably aluminum) are ok, cumulative large doses are definitely not.
1 Like
Yup, that’s kinda what I was getting at.
Agree that it makes the most sense to start with devices that are intended to be immersed in water that one will be ingesting.
Then, if possible, backtrack and make it a smart solution.
Safety first 
.
2 Likes
Lol. Yea, that was me typing without thinking - I thought I corrected it fast enough, but you were faster! 
I ordered the Xiaomi sensor. The entire device doesn't need to go in the water. I'll extend the sensor contacts with copper into the water. I'm not worried about small amounts of copper. If i was, i wouldn't have copper pipes, and the wire won't be in water all the time. Thanks for your help and input!
1 Like
Oh thank God i thought i was going nuts! I even researched adding bluetooth to the hubitat before replying.
2 Likes
Make sure it isn't tinned copper. Plain copper is fine.
2 Likes
But that's my favorite kind of copper!
Wire cutters on the alarm leads? Or, unsolder the alarm?
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=15270
this also has external sensors you can use. team that up with some stainless steel probes and you should be good.
alternatively since you'll just be using the contact portion, you could use a ZEN16 and connect the stainless steel probes to one of the inputs. then if that switch is on, that means there's water. you can then use the other 2 relays for other applications if needed
Or connect water-sensing probes to a contact sensor like the Aeotec Door/Window Sensor 7, which has external contact connections. You don‘t need the Pro version, which is the same but also with a tilt sensor. The non-Pro version is being replaced by the Pro, but you can still find the non-Pro at close out prices.
1 Like
