Re: Sat on a Toilet Sensor ?

["Tim Hawes" <timsyahoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I was actually thinking of mounting the gauge under the seat, but your
wireless doorbell button/bottom(!) sounds much cheaper.

Thinking about the beam break some more, there was a link posted a
while ago about a guy who controlled his LED stair lights with a
modified laser pointer for the beam break. Maybe if you could get a
decent shine-path (maybe diagonally from floor to ceiling) that could
be a solution. I'll try & dig out the stairway link.

Cheers,

Tim.

On 7/11/07, Marcus Warrington <marcus.warrington@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> Tim,
>
>
>
> Yes, strain gauges where what I was thinking off. But no idea what
type
> or specification I would need. The Toilet is bolted to a metal support
> frame behind the panel so I guess this would be where I mounted the
> strain gauge.
>
>
>
> The PIR beam is a non starter because there is no wall or convenient
> mounting position on either side of the toilet...
>
>
>
> Marcus
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf
> Of Tim Hawes
> Sent: 11 July 2007 12:05
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ukha_d] Sat on a Toilet Sensor ?
>
>
>
> I think what you need is a "strain" gauge... (snigger) ;-)
> Seriously though, perhaps a better term would be "load
cell".
>
> As an alternative, Ian modified a Maplin beam break sensor to indicate
> traffic through a doorway (IIRC), maybe you could mount one firing
> across the toilet seat and include a timer so it only activates the
> fan if the beam is blocked for 10seconds say, to avoid false triggers
> due to the seat being lifted etc.
> Also IIRC, there's some details on his site at: www.mollyology.com
>
> There's a lot of this beam-break stuff used on industrial machinery as
> interlocks instead of physical guard rails/barriers. RS
> (http://rswww.com
<http://rswww.com> )
has a selection, but at
> industrial prices :-(
>
> One final off-the-wall suggestion, put an electrode on each side of
> the toilet seat, when the person sits down they make the circuit and
> you can use that signal to start the fan (a bit like the battery
> testers that were fitted to the sides of some duracell batteries).
>
> HTH,
>
> Tim.
>
> On 7/11/07, Marcus Warrington <marcus.warrington@xxxxxxx
> <mailto:marcus.warrington%40mis-es.com>
> wrote:
> > OK.. I need some ideas for a little problem I have.
> >
> > I am currently refitting our bathroom and I need a way of
activating a
> > fan but ONLY when some is SAT on the toilet. The fan is a
"pan fan"
> that
> > extracts air from the toilet bowel to prevent.. err.. smells..
> pervading
> > the room. I did a mini bulk buy of these a few years ago.. which
> reminds
> > me, Kevin.. I still have yours in a box somewhere.. let me know
your
> > address and I'll get them sent to you!
> >
> > My first thought was a PIR but that would be difficult to
restrict to
> > only "sitting" on the toilet i.e. it would detect if
someone reached
> > down and lifted up the seat , or maybe even some one standing
there to
> > pee etc.
> >
> > Next thought was use an ultrasonic sensor mounted on the wall
behind
> the
> > toilet bowel (the cistern is concealed in the wall) and adjusted
to
> > point down at a 45 degree angle so that it covered the rear half
of
> the
> > toilet. Problem is I'm not too sure how "focused" the
beam can be made
> > on these devices.
> >
> > Another thought was to use a stress sensor (or weight sensor ?)
on the
> > toilet bowel. In some ways this would be the ideal since it would
not
> > rely on proximity to trigger. Problem is I have no idea what I'm
> looking
> > for, how much they are, how easy they are to integrate with a
relay
> etc
> >
> > Anyone got any ideas ?
> >
> > Marcus
>
>
>
>
>
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