SparkFun Forums

[mhixson]

I'm not entirely sure if this is the proper forum for this question, but thought someone here might be able to help. I have a rainwater collection system that I am using to fill our toilet. Right now I have PEX tubing coming from both our utility water and the rain barrels. These lines each have a ball valve on them before intersecting at a T. The other side of the T goes to the toilet. This setup allows me to switch both ball valves and make use of either water source (handy during dry times of the year when we drain the barrels). By opening them both I can also fill the rain barrels which has come in handy while debugging this system and checking for leaks and whatnot. The unsavory part of this setup is that I have to crawl underneath my house in order to make the switch. I would love to be able to press a button in the house and have the ball valves electronically toggled for me. It seems like an Arduino could be used to control this pretty easily. Eventually it would be cool to have a water level switch of some kind on the rain barrels so that when they get low enough the Arduino would just switch the ball valves to the utility water without me even having to think about it.
Has anyone done anything like this before and know of a good source for electronically controlled ball valves? I do have easy access to utility power (110v) underneath the house so there wouldn't be any need for a battery powered solution. The lines in question are 1/2" PEX tubing.
Thanks for any help you can provide.

[anhingus]

go to rainbird or other irrigation supply sites for reasonable prices along these lines.

you could - if you a more hands-on project - pick up an automotive windshield wiper motor, attach to a brass ball valve handle, use limit switches to kill power at full-open, full-close, and rig a double-pole, double throw reversing switch for household control [model railroading sites should have the wiring if needed].

12 volt power supply? battery charger would work.

barrel full? use a float switch wired to a blinky led, battery powered.

industrial strength stuff for ball valves looks [for me] too expensive to consider.

microcontroller? nah.

[anhingus]

part ii - getting senile, i'm afraid

for auto on, you can use a mercury float switch which is normally open when floating, closes when no longer floating. the open-close levels are determined by a plastic rope tied mid-level to the inside of the container or wherever.

this is basically what they do in a sewer works, use a hi-level float to start pimps, lo-level float to shut them off.

you could also use a sump pump [works the same way] mounted at whatever level to transfer water without valving - available farm stores or good hardware stores.