Keurig water auto-fill project

[syrinxtech]

Having a Keurig coffee maker that requires you to keep a water bucket filled, my brother-in-law began work on a project to create an auto-fill add-on using a Moteino as the brains of the operation.  He has a mock-up of the hardware required, including the tubing, pump and related hardware to measure the water level and refill as necessary.  I was able to contribute the to project by enabling two icons to show up next to the RSSI indicator on the web interface.  We added a black circle to indicate that power to the Keurig is "off" and a green circle to indicate power to the Keurig is "on".  He also configured messages that indicate "filling", "full" and "water ok".

Attached are the two screen captures showing the "off" and "on" icons.

More details to come as he finishes the h/w mockup and we move into testing.

[Felix]

Great, another cool node with innovated features , keep it up, looking forward to details.

[syrinxtech]

Well, we're installing V2 of the Keurig auto-fill project today.  The first version used 3 stainless steel rods for the various measurement levels.  V2 now uses two floats, one for the top level and one for the bottom level.  An external Moteino controls the solenoid which connects to the water pipe under the sink.  We added several layers of security to prevent an accidental overflow.

If the cable isn't connected from the Keurig to the control unit, the solenoids are disabled.  There are separate timers for each float when filling in the event that either one or both floats somehow stick open or closed.  In the event any timers expire the solenoid is immediately disabled and an LED blinks.  I have also tied the unit into my overall house control box so I get SMS messages when it boots and if it goes into an emergency shutdown mode.

[Felix]

Interesting, would love more details on this 

[syrinxtech]

Attached is a picture of the control box that houses the Moteino and the solenoid to pump the water.

I will take some pictures of the floats and submit them.  There are some 3D-printed parts that mount the floats inside the water bucket, along with the shaft and nuts to hold the floats in place.

We put in a "T" in the water inlet under the sink and attached the hose to one side of the solenoid.  The other side runs up to the top of the Keurig for water input.  Once the bottom float triggers an "empty" condition, it takes about 15-20 seconds for the bucket to fill.

[syrinxtech]

Here are some additional pictures showing the water connections and the control cable plugged into the control box that contains the Moteino and the solenoid.  The p/s is 12v, 1.5A.  Unless the control cable is plugged in the solenoid is disabled.  The third picture shows the two floats connected by the 3d printed shaft.  Each float has an independent timer to prevent water overflow.  If either float doesn't close within the allotted time, the solenoid is disabled, the LED on top of the control box blinks forever and a SMS message is sent to the home unit causing an email to go out.  The device also sends an SMS message upon startup.

We also 3d printed the small bushing that fits into the top of the counter to hold the water inlet tube in place.