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Using the Flood Sensor external sensor connections for a flow valve


gigaboy

Question

Background:

I have a FGFS-101 ZW5 Flood Sensor, which will be paired with an Abode Alarm System.  I'm forced to using this flood sensor because Abode supports next to no devices when it comes to dry contacts. 

 

For testing purposes only, I have temporarily paired this device with a Hubitat system, and it works great.

 

Issue:

1) We have a wet whole home fire suppression system with a 500 gallon water storage tank.
 

2) There is a Potter waterflow alarm sensor placed in line.

In order to have insurance cover instances of water damage from a fire suppression system, I have to have a sensor from the Potter waterflow alarm routed directly to the Abode alarm system, where it is monitored by an outside firm.  The insurance companies I spoke with will not cover an intermediary device routing, such as from the Fibaro, to Hubitat, to cloud based IFTTT, then back to Abode (too many hops).

 

Specs can be found here:  https://www.pottersignal.com/product/datasheet/5401206_VSR-S.pdf
Wiring Diagram here (connections highlighted in pink):

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No bell is installed, so don’t need 120v for a bell.  Two wires for the Normally Open contact would be attached to the Fibaro external sensor.  Can this be done?


Also, since the normal Fibaro external water sensor closes the connection using water (probably a high level of resistance), would I need to add a resistor between the Potter waterflow connections?  If so, what would be specified.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Mark

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Interesting use case! I think it would work. You'd have to experiment, good thinking about the resistor but may not be needed. Let us know what you come up with!

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@gigaboy

I would be interested in the result of your efforts.
Very often, flood detectors measure not the resistance, but the capacity or conductivity of water (liquids).
Therefore, instead of BELL, I would connect the Smart Implant input to the file rather than the FGFS-101 probe input.

But let's break it down a bit.
It is basically the inverted resistance value.
G=1/R
Pure water has a conductivity of around 40 mS/m (mil Siemens per meter). R=1/0.04 = 25 Ohm/m.
At a considered distance of 1 cm from the probe, it does:
25 Ohms/100 = 0.25 Ohms
If the distance between the FGFS sensor legs is considered to be approx. 5 cm, it is approx. 1.25 ohms. This is an approximate calculation for the water conductivity between the two sensor legs. I don't know the internal wiring, so it can be twice as big or smaller.

It also follows from this that the most reasonable thing will be not to insert any resistance, because the latter in the ohm board will secure its own connected conductors from the contact.

So... just a hypothetical consideration about the size of the measured water resistance, or as they say "it's all on the water".

If you have already done your own experiments, please share with the community.

eM.

 

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