Re: Re: Automatic reminder

[kimble <kim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Patrick Lidstone wrote:

> A bit of a tanget to your original question, but have you thought
> about using a vibration detector (as would normally be used for an
> alarm system)? No vibration = wash cycle complete.

Maplin do a "mercury free tilt switch" (ball bearing in a can
type)
which would probably do the job (I have one attached to my back door
with blu-tac which does a reasonable job of detecting people who are too
stupid to use a doorbell[1]).  Simply connect it via a 555 timer or
microcontroller of your choice, and trigger your flashing
light/buzzer/pager/whatever when it hasn't seen any vibration for a
minute or two.


kim.
xxx

[1] The Sheffield tradition of using the back door by default seems to
come with an additional clause requiring delivery people to knock
loudly, even when there's a perfectly good bell push.  Combined with the
proximity of the houses, you spend half your life wondering if that's
your door they're banging on.