Originally I got the idea for this from the TV show, Alley McBeal. For the longest time it remained just that, an idea.
Recently, however, I was consolidating my surplus of servo motors, was thinking more about home automation again, started dreaming up
some crazy novelty things I could control, and then it just dawned on me; I could remotely flush my toilette!
Construction:
The most complex portion of this project was actually getting a geared motor to mimic the movements
necessary to conduct a flush. After several designs, I managed to develop a circuit using 1 dpdt 12v relay,
a diode, and 2 dpst lever switches. I was then able to get all of this installed into one tight little package;
the housing of a car’s air mix servo motor. The real beauty, however, would be the cost! Equivalent devices already on
the market start at $75, this device could easly be sold for $20.
Interfacing:
The single cable leading from the module has 4 conductors, 2 for ground / power, and 2 to trigger.
A brief momentary short of the 2 trigger wires starts the movement. The trigger conductors can be wired to anything you want,
a foot pedal for handy capped people, a button, or in my case, an x-10 relay contactor module so I can flush the toilette
with my existing wireless home automation system.
Installation:
With the 2 metal hooks on the back, it easly mounts to the tank of the toilette. The only inconvenient part about the whole thing
is getting the cable discretely out of the tank and towards an outlet. Then you can connect it to a wall transformer (wall-wart) and switch.
Here my switch is an X-10 relay module for wireless activation.
Related Videos:
Here is a video showing the lever arm movement and a short
demonstarion of it's control via my home automation system, STRMS.
Viewer Comments
Name:
Chris
Time:
10:22 AM
Date:
May 19, 2011
Comment:
Now if you forget to flush in the morning you can flush from work!! Haha
Name:
Pyae
Time:
08:15 PM
Date:
May 19, 2011
Comment:
lol Niiiice!
Name:
Hannah
Time:
12:13 PM
Date:
June 07, 2011
Comment:
Lol love it! I think you should totally sell some of these at my job. Some of the ladies think they are too busy to do a courtesy flush round here.
Name:
Chris G
Time:
01:20 PM
Date:
February 22, 2012
Comment:
Integrate that into a mobile app and you will be a billionaire.
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