Sump Pump Monitor Project

This is my first attempt at monitoring my sump pump activity

I had an Arduino Mega and a TFT display so I thought I would give it a try

I wanted to record activity on SD card with correct date/time and duration

Version 1

I used a current sense transformer rather than a shunt resistor (Triad Magnetics #CSE187L)

A full wave bridge rectifier was used to convert AC to DC for an Arduino analog input

Schottky diodes were used to reduce voltage loss in bridge rectifier

This setup was a little pricey to be tied up in a dedicated application like this

Tried to run on an Arduino UNO but ran into what I thought were problems due to memory limitations 

The SD library uses a lot of memory and thought I would need a larger processor

Also had problems with screen getting garbled after a time and sometimes would hang

Decided to make the following changes for version 2

• Switch to on a ATMega1284p processor for additional memory (that proved not necessary later)
• Nokia 5110 LCD, a lot cheeper and adequate room for output
• DS1307 Real Time Clock kit from Adafruit rather than more expensive Chronodot
• Get ISP programmer to be able to load programs with Arduino IDE
• Switched to a SD card library that recorded the date/time stamp on the file

After reviewing the 1284P Arduino support, I went with maniacbug/mighty-1284 because I liked the pin mapping better

Version 2

This setup worked well but still had problems with garbled screen and system hangs

Thought I would try one more time to get it to work on the ATMega368 on Arduino UNO

Changes with Version 3

• Change to 20x4 LCD display to improve readability, hopefully get rid of garbled text and eliminate need for level shifter needed for 5110 display
• Added 3 buttons to be able to change date and time when needed
• Switched to a simpler SD card library

Version 3

 During testing I found some programming techniques I was using were causing the problem with garbled text and occasional system hangs
I used a technique to put date in file name so date/time stamp wasn't needed on file
This version was the first reliable version so far

Version 4 - will try to get every thing in a closed up box...