How can I design a circuit for my project?

[Nabin kalauni]

I am a first year high school student designing a project. I want to build a circuitry that enables wet clothes to enter the house once it starts to rain. For this I decided to use a simple water sensor and a motor to move the rope with clothes. But after that I have not found a satisfactory way to make the clothes return to the open once it stops raining or once the sun emerges. Your help would be much appreciated. Also keep in mind that the motor has to be turned off once the clothes enter the house and rrmain turned off until it stops raining.Thank you.

 

[Drakkith]

Have you already designed and built the circuit to bring the clothes in?

 

[Nabin kalauni]

Have you already designed and built the circuit to bring the clothes in?

Yes I have. It uses a simple water sensor and a motor powered by a 9V battery.

 

[Nabin kalauni]

Yes I have. It uses a simple water sensor and a motor powered by a 9V battery.

I also want to clarify that its just a small model.

 

[Drakkith]

Forgive me, I was going to try to offer some advice, but after thinking it over I think I'll leave that to others whose are far more knowledgeable in this area than I am. I've only completed a basic course in electronic circuits and have little practical experience.

 

[Averagesupernova]

Do you know about limit switches? Do you know about timer basics and moisture sensors? What have you found through Google?

 

[Nabin kalauni]

Do you know about limit switches? Do you know about timer basics and moisture sensors? What have you found through Google?

Not yet. But if you tell me its going to help, I'll diving into them right away

 

[Rive]

Sigh... Those were the good times when we made such things with just switches and logic gates alone: occasionally mixing it with an 555 or such...

These days many people just buys a cheap microcontroller and googles up all the necessary circuitry from the internet... Sigh... Don't get old... Sigh...

...
Anyway, I think you should start that way too. You need two sensors for sensing the position of the rope: one sensor for checking the rain, and one bidirectional DC motor drive circuit. The rest is software. Nice, clean.

 

[jim hardy]

A salvaged garage door opener would be an interesting way to get started.

But after that I have not found a satisfactory way to make the clothes return to the open once it stops raining or once the sun emerges. Your help would be much appreciated. Also keep in mind that the motor has to be turned off once the clothes enter the house and rrmain turned off until it stops raining.Thank you.

A question well stated is half answered...

You have to mix "Logic thinking" with "measurement thinking". That's a folly some programmers fall into, they forget the computer program must base its decision on some real world condition.
That condition might be a logical state like "System is waiting for it to stop raining" , which needs no measurement from outside world
or a logical state that does require a measurement like "My moisture sensor reports It's not raining ".

Draw yourself a flowchart of the thought process that'll finish your clothes dryng task
then start working on a circuit for each block in the flowchart.

I would suggest you do it first time with 555 timers , they can be wired to do logic elements like memory , time delay, invert, and, or,,,
and if you tie TRIG to RESET and connect an analog signal there you have a dandy comparator for logic decision based on that analog voltage.

That'll teach you a LOT of basics.

Then move on to tiny microcontrollers . Learning your first one will be difficult but after that you have a real powerful tool in your 'bag of tricks' .
Leaping into them too soon might overwhelm and discourage you. Myself I don't use them because the field changes so fast i can't keep up.

Take apart an old garage door opener and see how it measures position... and how it checks for small children standing underneath the door.
Robots are without remorse so build some foresight into yours.

Above all, Have Fun !

 

[Nabin kalauni]

Thank you everyone for your help. I appreciate it a lot and I have a lot more faith that I can do this now. Thanks again. ☺

 

[Averagesupernova]

Keep us posted on your progress.