[TriEmbed] Question: On/Off Sensor for Hot Water Heater

[Dwight Morgan]

I actually looked for this but didn’t find it. It looks like some additional circuitry is needed but this might be a clean solution since you don’t have to break the wire for connections. I found the brick on Amazon but it didn’t have much on specs. But that’s just one source. Thanks for giving me another option. 

 

Dwight

 

From: Glen Smith [mailto:mrglenasmith at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2015 3:13 PM
To: Dwight Morgan
Cc: Triangle Embedded Computing Discussion
Subject: Re: [TriEmbed] Question: On/Off Sensor for Hot Water Heater

 

You can also use either a clamp on (split) or pass through (disconnect, pass wire through sensor and reconnect) transformer to measure. Sparkfun has a 30A clamp on here: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11005

I also have a bookmark for an ElecFreaks Octopus version (pass through) but the link 
http://www.elecfreaks.com/store/octopus-noninvasive-ac-current-sensor-ta1703-brick-p-648.html
appears to be broken. I found info in their wiki about it here:

http://www.elecfreaks.com/wiki/index.php?title=Octopus_Non-invasive_AC_current_sensor_%28TA12-100%29_Brick

 

These get placed around one AC hot wire and depending on the current draw, a voltage is induced that can be measured by a micro controller.

Glen

 

On Wed, Jan 14, 2015 at 2:15 PM, Dwight Morgan <dwight.w.morgan at gmail.com> wrote:

Hello All:

 

I want to monitor when my hot water heater is on and off using my Arduino UNO. I have done research on sensors and it looks like the best choice is the ACS712 Hall Effect Current Sensor. 

 

My water heater has two 4500 Watt elements at 240 Volts. So the calculated current draw is 18.75 amps since only one element is on at a time.

My question(s): First, is the Hall Effect sensor a good choice and second, if so, will the 20 amp rated one work okay? 

 

Also, if this is viable, I think I will try to use Cat5 cable to pick up the signal which will be about 100 feet away. I’m not sure exactly about the connectors yet.

 

All advice is appreciated. 

 

Thanks!

 

Dwight

 

 


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