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Thread Starter

alaska19682

Joined Jan 20, 2013
6
Hello,
I need ome advice on how to create a circuit with two optic sensors. I have two garage door optic sensors pointed to each other and when i break the path between them I would like it to turn on a 120v ac appliance. how would I approch this?
 

Thread Starter

alaska19682

Joined Jan 20, 2013
6
I was needing the 120 volt to stay on untill the optic sensors see each other again. What i am trying to do is when Ice orms betwen the two optic sensors that breaks the path then a 120 volt heat tape comes on till it melts the ice intill the path is restored. then the system will return to a ready state.
 

tubeguy

Joined Nov 3, 2012
1,157
I was needing the 120 volt to stay on untill the optic sensors see each other again. What i am trying to do is when Ice orms betwen the two optic sensors that breaks the path then a 120 volt heat tape comes on till it melts the ice intill the path is restored. then the system will return to a ready state.
Could/would you provide a little more detail on the ice and sensor location/situation?
 

Thread Starter

alaska19682

Joined Jan 20, 2013
6
Well I am setting two garage door optic sensors outside and waiting untill ice fomes between them. then I would like to turn on an ac circuit with heat tape to melt the ice thus restoring the path between the two sensors. It is for a project I am working on. I just need to know how to design a circuit to control this application.
 

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
Alaska,
I like your idea of optical sensor. For those that have never lived in the great north, the ice dams form on the in the last 3 feet near the edge of the roof (were heat escaping from the house doesnt melt the snow but water from higher up the roof does get melted from house heat). Hthe eves need to b melted. It is expensive to leave the heaters on but damage can happen if they are not turned on as water flows backward into the lapped shingles and into the house.

The two garage door sensors are actually a transmitter receiver pair (one is an infrared LED and one is a phototransistor that can sense the LED. It is a good place to start but it may be a small project just to figure out which is which and which is the anode and cathode of each part so you can start your design.

Something like this circuit should work
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pb2Cqu8-p...E/8YroDapf_zI/s1600/wireless-light-switch.gif
 

Thread Starter

alaska19682

Joined Jan 20, 2013
6
Thanks Bill,
my vent pipes freeze every year due to whore frost in the top of septic vent pipe freezing. I want to have a way to hardwire something into my home that will defrost the pipes automatically whenever there is frost forming. the only think on the market now is a pipe with heat tape wrapped around it with an extension cord hanging off your roof and when you smell the septic in your home you walk outside and plug in the cord to dethaw the pipe. seems like a lot more trouble than it needs to be to me so i am going to come up with something automated.
 
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