open closed contact (soldering to tag )

[Chris b]

Recently I soldered 2 wires to the water moisture sensor and ran them to a float switch to have the ability to monitor a holding tank.

Worked fine however noticed drastic drop in battery power .

Anyone modify a tag to monitor a open closed contact?


might have had something to do with resistance on the line ,   going to solder a large 3v power source to the unit and see how it goes.

Any suggestions or feedback?

Also anyone have any insight on soldering a external temperature probe to the water detector or moving the temperature probe  off the board.

[bills...@gmail.com]

How long were the wires?  I'm very interested in this...  My system is on our boat.  What a great way to monitor water and holding tanks, as well as the bilge. 

Bill Streep

[Chris b]

they were over 20 feet.

I did notice a few things.

the moisture level went up to 100% however I just calibrated it to 10%  and set the range to 0 -100.

Using three of the pads on the unit you can get 2 different alerts.

When you short 2 you will get a moisture level infinity - meaning over 100%  (closed contact one)  and another that is simply a water detected alert. 

You can use very cheap float switches:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=float+switch&_sop=15

I also removed the original battery as it died quickly - not sure if it was because of setting of reporting or if this effected the battery life. I removed the battery and installed this which it is now powered off 2 double a battery s 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-2-AA-Battery-Holder-Box-Case-With-Switch-EE4069-/261835686945?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item3cf69f8421

I have not noticed a change in battery level in my week of testing.

[Chris b]

Did you try this method?

On Tuesday, July 21, 2015 at 7:58:17 PM UTC-5, bills...@gmail.com wrote: