Our building has two 480V 3 phase motors to pump water into the building.
They both have a manual knob (turned 45 degrees) to force them on as the automatic controller is dead (looks like no 5VDC on the board). So we have ran many year on one pump and keep the other for a backup.
Well, we had a breaker/contactor trip and lost pressure a couple weeks ago and the chilling tower on the roof was not getting water but we caught it in time.
At $10,000US for a new panel, we came up with the idea to monitor the pumps and message when there is a problem.
I wanted to share my ideas and get some input.
Vibration is out and as well as noise levels. However, a coil around the power lines to monitor the power came to mind (like the old tachs for cars).
I would not have to hack into the system that way.
I would have a PIC monitor the current on both pumps. If I see not power for 20 minutes or so, sound an alarm.
I have thought about an old PC for the RTC and TCP/IP stack. I would have less false alarms at night when the building is closed and one the weekends as well I could SMS a couple phones.
Or maybe use an X-bee pro to send a signal to my computer in my office to SMS me. I have had really good luck with the maxstream parts and distance.
There is a presure sensor going into the controller and probably works, but it did not look easy to access. But that would probably be a better way to do it?
Any better ideas (besides spending $10K)