I think just measuring the current drawn by the pump will be more than sufficient to allow appropriate control of the pump. Since the software is being custom written might I suggest an accusable DIP switch to allow you to modify the time between test runs of the pump.
I'm sure you will find quite a difference in current draw when there is water versus when there is no water in the bilge. Make your "test" pump only one of two pumps, install check valves in the lines of the "test pump". Turn on both pumps when you detect water, turn off the second pump after some tine (maybe another DIP switch?) and run the "test pump" for an additional 2 minutes to produce a "dry" bilge. That should prevent continual "false run" situations. No charge for the consult. ;-) Eric Thompson S/V Procrastinator South San Francisco [email protected] _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
