3rd CQC Google+ Hangout - Tuesday Sept 24th 10pm (EDT)

[sic0048]

I'd love to get other people involved. I guess I've turned into the defacto leader of these hangouts, but I never intended to lead these.

If you have any ideas on what you want to discuss or can share, I'm certainly open to ideas.

[SomeWhatLost]

I have a somewhat silly question since this is the CQC forum and all, but why even have CQC control the sump?
why not just a cheap float that cuts off the pump when there is no water?
something like REPL TETHERED FLOAT SWITCH

does CQC really add any value to a sump? seems like a pretty simple thing that may not really benefit from automation? or is this a simple case of automation overload?

[ellisr63]

I have a somewhat silly question since this is the CQC forum and all, but why even have CQC control the sump?
why not just a cheap float that cuts off the pump when there is no water?
something like REPL TETHERED FLOAT SWITCH

does CQC really add any value to a sump? seems like a pretty simple thing that may not really benefit from automation? or is this a simple case of automation overload?

The reason I had asked was... I am using a sump pump for when my pond overflows (it has a float) but my water goes into some 255 gallon holding tanks for water irrigation. These have a pump on them to pump to a 55 gallon irrigation tank that waters our plants. I have float monitors but I also would like to monitor them. Currently they are turned on and off with my irrigation module (no driver for CQC yet).

[IVB]

I'd love to get other people involved. I guess I've turned into the defacto leader of these hangouts, but I never intended to lead these.

Neither did K, Brian, neither did K.

[sic0048]

I have a somewhat silly question since this is the CQC forum and all, but why even have CQC control the sump?

There is actually a nice sump pump that has a float that has a leaky seal and trips the breaker when it floods so quickly that it overwhelms the pump and gets submerged. I thought I had fixed it, but it still can trip the breaker.

I had a inexpensive "always on" sump pump (ie no float) and used it to pump down the water. I realized that I could use CQC to "control" it via a Centralite lamp module so that I didn't burn the motor out continuously running the pump. It is strictly meant to be a temporary measure until I can figure out the long term solution for the other pump.

Actually I think it is a pretty clever solution and one that would be impossible without CQC. But it isn't meant to be a permanent way to control my sump pump needs.

I do think I may keep the set up and use a water detection sensor to automate the "backup" pump. That way should the main pump ever fail again, the spare pump should automatically cut on and off via the water detection sensor. That would be an even better solution than only fixing the main pump and one that I will likely implement. All I have to do is put the sensor at a level that is above the float on the normal sump pump.

[jkmonroe]

Are there any plans for another 'hangout'?