Simple Tell Tale Device

What are you monintoring - is it an electrical/mechanical/other state ? Is the question purely about the telemetry ? Not enough info, Yuri.

Er, semaphore and a pair of binoculars?

I was thinking along the lines of a webcam and feedback alerts from members . Of course, it depends how intersting the subject is - I'm not going to monitor Del's catflap or when the carrot crop is ready to pick. If the pay is good, I'll go stand beside the <whatever> and make a phonecall .

A xenon beacon mounted on top of a scaffold pole worked well for me for 20 years.

Even if I didn't spot it, the neighbours would soon be on the phone to tell me!

Stack or tower light.

Lights are modular and others can be added to the stack to indicate other warnings. some flash to better get your attention. A horn can be added for failures that need immediate attention.

My fridge has something that does this. Yuri, more info is needed, it could be anything. At the risk of being risque, I have the same problem with Mrs K. I'm sure people would like to help, but the question is too open.

You said "fridge" for fun. But, let's say there is an additional thermostat inside a fridge. If - for some reason - temperature dropped below some undesirable level and soon returned to a norm the stat will have given an impulse to a device and that device now bears a visible sign that the stat had tripped. Sign not necessarily related to electricity (lamp) - but something that may turn colour, for instance.

Wow a useless reply with no added information. Most near zero information questions never get a follow on reply from the OP.

OK, so if you wish to see if a freezer stops but then re-freezes, support a piece of metal (brass washer, copper wire, Ford Focus) with a piece of ice. If the ice melts the metal will fall.

If you want a color indicator, put one drop of red food color in a cup of water and into another cup of water put a single drop of blue food color. Make red and blue ice cubes. Put a red ice cube and a blue ice cube in a white ceramic bowl in your freezer with a piece of white paper separating the ice cubes. If violet ice is found in the bowl the the ice cubes melted.

You're quite right, but I'm stilling guessing as to the intent of what you're doing. Mnay fridges do indeed have more than one stat (and also 'make -on rise/make on fall'), but you seem to want visible indication (?).

A year or so back there was a some thread on CR4 about electrical cable that changes colour according to whether or not current is flowing. It was one of those things that I thought 'neatorama' at the time, but couldn't see any direct use for other than it might make for a cool computer mod. Is such stuff going in the direction of what you need ? I don't, alas, recall any of the keywords, but somebody was pushing the stuff on CR4.

Frozen milk in the bottles inside it might be just the thing...

How could you ever think such a thing! What a dastardly deed that would be!

As I post this, 32 out of the 34 posts in this forum have been marked with at least 1 or more "off topic". Doesn't that see like a normal proportion to you? It could have been 35 34 out of 34!

And to think some posters blast me when I state my distain for posters who reference others as being idiots, SOB's, extremely low IQ, full of sh_t for brains and many others I prefer not to repeat.

To do a mass OT'ing would be below anyone's morals that would read this forum.

Also noticed that there isn't even one vote for a GA (almost GA) on all the postings!

Yes, this is sarcastic because I agree with you. Enlightenment is good, unfair and ruthless competition should not have any place here.

To paraphrase that wise philosopher Dirty Harry- "Go ahead make my day, OT this post!"

Good Luck, Old Salt

Rig something like this↑

to be held in place until the switch is activated (turned on).

Not sure I like the idea of a safety switch being resettable without some action being taken to solve the problem.

activated (turned on)

Those little bits of extra info make all the difference

Not all minds are as acute scientifically and technically as ours.

The extra info is needed by those who post homework/interview/do-my-work-for-me/ and downright stupid questions here, in the hope of instant enlightenment.

Oh, and tcmtech and Del.

I'd reply sensibly, but need to scrub the walls and carpet before Mrs K catches me. She seems to have some sort of remote sensor for such event. Hang on...I think that's what Yuri was after !

We have so little useful information here that I'm stunned that nobody has provided an accurate, absurd answer. Allow me...

Beneath your safety device you must clear an area for a Zen rock garden. Make sure that a sea or river section and not a rock is directly beneath your safety actuator. Locate and cut to length a long, thin bamboo reed that will contact both the safety actuator and the clear (water) area of the garden. Attach the bamboo reed from the lever of your actuator and make sure the other end is between 1 and 10 mm into the surface of the garden. Test and verify that a manipulation of this actuator will leave a visible marking in the clear area.

Calmly groom your garden over the next hour. You should notice that as you groom the garden, the turbulence in your soul slowly matches the tranquility of your garden. Leave the garden with your spirit at peace for the next day.

When you return on the next day for your hour of tranquility, start at the site of your actuator marker. Notice if a mark has occurred before you groom your garden. If required, record the data of your observation and proceed accordingly. Don't forget to complete grooming your garden. You need every moment of peace and tranquility you can get.

I had one of these on my desk, for awhile.

Sand everywhere.

After awhile my mouse quit working. Then my phone. Then my printer. Then me.

Cats like those.

I'm mortified that you fail to provide info as to where we can all buy one . Iv'e got some rocks and enough wood to do some of that, but it looks like more than a pinch of salt - please rush me some instruction. Mrs K seems rather unhappy about me boiling seawater in the kettle.

Sorry,

I've since taken up golf.

Much more soothing to the soul.

I think the OP is just bored and has no real problem.

This is indecent- must I google 'desktop zen garden' or some such ?

What's google?

As much as I'm reluctant to celebrate my own genious, goooble managed to come up with some answers. Alas poor Gopher :(

If it's a serious question (?) you may like to consider it like this.

What type of sensuous "signal" do you need? Visual, audible, contact, smell, taste ?

e.g. Light, flag. Sound, whistle. Remote pin, vibrator. Gas release. Tooth cavity pill?

Then, how you would like to create it? e.g. by electrical, mechanical, etc.. means.

Decide on the most practical for your task, then give up, and come to CR4.

How can we suggest anything practical not knowing at least some of the details?

jt.

A wife says to her husband "you're always pushing me around and talking behind my back."

He says what do you expect? You're in a wheelchair.

Binoculars.

Get one of those "bubble gum machine" style lights like used to be used by police cars and wire it in your circuit (available in 12 volts). They are currently available in amber for road side construction warning, blue, at least in my state, for firefighters during responses or red for fire chiefs. All are available in 12 volt with magnetic bases to hold them onto steel.

If you are going to do the light why not do an auditory alarm also. Years ago I got a hold of a train locomotive air horn and mounted it in my Triumph TR-6, under the hood. Fortunately it was a small one off a 30 ton GE locomotive. I put an air compressor in the trunk which took up all the space and a small air tank behind the passenger seat. In order to use it I had to put on ear plugs. Whenever I pushed the little button it got everyone's attention for sure. I'm sure you could adapt something like this for your needs. Horns are available now on E-bay!

They are now popular for pick-up trucks.

With this arrangement of the light and air horn everyone is sure to be alerted.

Wife made me remove it when we got married! She wanted more trunk space for her shopping!

Good Luck, Old Salt

Real answer

Use a off delay relay to turn on the stack light. If the switch even trips for a very short time the light will stay on for the set amount of time

lets keep it real stop going off topic

"lets keep it real stop going off topic"

Sure, no problem.

Thanks for straightening us up.

I recently observed a similar problem. The safety device did stop the machine as designed. Unfortunately, the operator didn't see any problem and restarted the machine, compounding the damage. "Procedures" were ignored, as usual.

So, now we are going to latch the fault until a supervisor checks out the problem. This will be done with an electrical latch circuit (using a relay) and software that requires a supervisor log-in.

As for being able to see your alarm light from ten meters, there are lots of devices that will meet that requirement.

What is a safety device that is not very critical? If it's safety related, it's critical.

If a PLC (programmable logic controller) is do the control, adding a few rungs and lamp is best cost effective solution. But if not, a capacitor and a LED is the most cost effective. When the alarm signal is switched on it quickly charges capacitor, which lights LED for a time until low voltage bright LED drains capacitor. If you want a manual reset secondary alarm, instead of the auto-reset capacitor one, use a relay and reset button instead of capacitor.

Thank you for your answers ! I was thinking about controlling a number of units. Each unit would have rather not "safety" but a "pre-alarm" device (thermostat). All connected to one GSM module sending a pre-alarm warning sms. But as the module has only one input the device in qwestion installed on each unit would help to pinpoint the unit on which the pre-alarm had tripped.

I was thinking that for the control of just 2-5 units, the instalation of the devices in qwestion would be cheaper than buying a multy-input gsm module which is much more expensive than a one-input one.