Auto skylight closing when rain detected

Hello all,

In my new flat, I have a skylight directly over my computer desk. As I have found out, leaving my place with it open risks a torrential rainstorm destroying my digital life.

I would like to build a system which can detect rainfall (even as simple as a small amount of water closing a circuit). If any is detected, then a motor will close the window until a photo gate it tripped... Not sure where to turn for parts and design. Would appreciate any help.

Best

Moving the window could perhaps be done with a junk automotive windshield wiper motor or power window mechanism.

Detecting water could be done with two probes in a small container open to the sky that will conduct current when immersed in water. A CMOS digital circuit input is sensitive enough for that. But you'd need some method to empty the container when the rain stopped. Perhaps the container could be tilted when the window closes to empty it. Opening the window would return it to the upright position for the next rain.

And you need some logic circuitry to control the unit. A microprocessor would be the simplest to implement, but requires some programming knowledge. The required logic should be reasonably simple, so discrete logic circuits could also be used.

Of course there are many details to work out, which requires effort beyond what I have time for. But this gives you a start.

Hi Apollo, welcome to the forum.

There's one project here:
Make an acoustic rain gauge (disdrometer)
The hardware can be wired to your computer via the microphone and a real-time surveillance can be done. You can do a simple programming to detect the rainfalls when it gets to a certain rate using acoustic analysis, and activate shutdown externally or via the software.

Cheers,
Viz

Microswitches can be used to detect the moment to turn the motor off, whether opening or closing.

You could make a simple transistorized circuit that runs a relay or something when water makes a connection between two points in the circuit.

Ok, don't blame me, I'm going to make an extremely boring comment: If your digital life is on risk, better if you move the equipment or cover it when not in use. A power outage minutes before a storm, a design failure, a system malfunction, a foreign object jamming the mechanism => open lid during rainstorm => bye bye computer

I know, it's a very boring comment and is against my D.I.Y spirit. But some situations don't have space for experimentation or allow mistakes.