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Cheap Cellphone Controlled Water Pump Circuit for Farmers

Last Updated on by 91 Comments

The post presents a cheap cellphone remote controlled water pump circuit which allows farmers (user) to switch ON their field water pump without practically visiting the spot, thus saving precious time and energy for the individual. The idea was requested by one of the dedicated members of this blog.



 The Request

Dear Swagatam,

This is with reference to the comment of Mr. Raj
Mukherji, January 16, 2013. He explained it very well. In addition,
farmer suffered from infrequent power cut (6 hrs power supply in aprox.
10 irregular blocks) so it is very irritating for a person.
I want
to apply this type of circuit for three phase induction motor in my
village and it will be made for my village also. I humbly request you to
develop the circuit for the welfare of our poor villagers. They are not
able to purchase it from market.
I will be grateful to you.

The Design

To make this simple cell phone controlled water pump starter circuit for the farmers, you will require the following ingredients:

1) A cheap cell phone (such as a NOKIA1280) which has an "assign tone" facility, meaning a cellphone which can save a specific ringtone for a selected number and enable muting the remaining numbers, in simple words the cellphone will "ring" only to the selected (preferred) number and stay silent for other numbers regardless whether or not its from the phonebook or a wrong number.

The above unit will be used as the modem and will remain permanently attached with the control circuit.

2) A sound activated circuit such as a typical clap switch circuit

and a 3) monostable 555 timer circuit.

Let's learn how this interesting cellphone controlled water pump circuit can be implemented for the farmers, as described below:

In a few of my earlier posts I have comprehensively explained regarding how any load across any part of the world can be actuated using a cheap cellphone remote control circuit, you can learn more about these from the following links:

Cellphone Display Light Triggered Remote Control Circuit
Vibrating Cell Phone Remote Control Circuit
Controlling Motor with a Cell Phone - Circuit Diagram Explained
Making a Cell Phone Controlled Remote Bell Circuit
Cell Phone Controlled Door Lock Circuit
Build a Homemade GSM Car Security System

 

 In the above designs the relay is seen to be activated using the attached modem cell phone's ringtone through its headphone socket.
In the present pump controller design we implement the same but through a mic sensor which is utilized to sense the ringtone of the modem without making any physical contact with the modem cell phone.
The idea can be understood from the following diagram and the explanations:

The lower section of the circuit incorporating the IC 741 and the IC 4017 forms a simple sound activated relay circuit, which toggles the connected relay alternately ON and OFF in response to the sound signals received on the MIC. Basically this circuit is used in clap switch circuits for toggling the relay with clap sounds.

For the proposed application the sound is produced from the cellphone when the user calls the shown attached cellphone from his home or some distant location for operating the relay and the water pump.

The idea looks pretty simple until here, however the mic could be triggered even with a false sound trigger generated externally in the filed, for example by an airplane sound flying close by or a vehicle such as a tractor engine sound etc.

To eliminate this issue and make the circuit foolproof, a IC 555 monostable is additionally used with the lower section.

The monostable is designed to trigger from the display light of the cellphone whenever a call is received.

Therefore now it becomes a double edged sensing device which will not trigger unless the light from the modem, as well as the ringtone sound are produced together.

Whenever a call is made on the modem. The display lights up first and hits the LDR, the LDR resistance goes low triggering the BC547. The BC547 conducts and pulls the pin#2 of the 555 IC low which in turn enables its pin#3 to go high.

The pin#3 output from the IC 555 powers the lower section, which now becomes ready for the subsequent sound detection.

Following the display illumination, the ringtone from the modem sounds, and triggers the relay and switches ON the connected water pump.

The monostable timer remains switched ON for a stipulated length of time, determined by the IC 555's R and C component values, after which its pin#3 goes low deactivating the entire circuit and the pump motor.

However in the meantime if the user wants to switch OFF the pump he can do so by calling the modem for the second time within the time frame of the monostable activation.

Although the discussed cellphone operated water pump circuit for aiding poor farmers looks very simple, foolproof and cheap, it has its own drawbacks.

The farmer is never able to know whether the pump was actually started or not, because there's no reverse acknowledgement from the modem to the user regarding this.

The above issue can be though rectified by adding a momentarily activated siren, which will produce a loud ear piercing sound as soon as the pump is initiated or the water flow is detected.

The siren sound should be loud enough to be heard over a radial distance of approximately a kilometer. This acknowledgement method will work only if the farmer's home is within the above mentioned distance from the pump motor.

The advantages of the above design are:

The above circuit will not consume your modem's talk time unlike the DTMF based systems which eats-up the cell phone talktime while it's in use for the required function.

The circuit does not utilize complex parts or obsolete parts rather works with ordinary parts such as IC 741, IC 555, IC 4017.

The circuit does not interfrere with the modem in any manner rather works without making any physical contact with the associated modem.

The circuit is cheap and well suited for the proposed application and for the poor farmers.

Reader Interactions

Comments



  14. hello sir ,i connected the circuit but the LED connected to CD4017 does not respond what may be the problem?, and about the connection of resistor is it possible to connect in any direction?

    Reply

    • Hello yohana, you must test and confirm the stages step wise. Disconnect and isolate the IC 741, IC 4017 and the IC 555 stages from each other and test them separately.

      Begin with the IC 741 stage, Power it 5V and by connecting an LED in series with R4.

      This LED should light and shut off in response to MIC activation with external sound. Only electre MIC will work, not sure about any other form

      Reply

    • it can be used for powering the circuit also…but the relay should also be 5V rated in that case….the circuit operating range is within 15V

      Reply

  22. hello sir how you doing,i try to connect the ckt and i use a transformer that step down 220Vaac to 12Vac x2 and then i connect the rectifier and it gives 16 output and the circuit (ckt) does not respond.i need your help

    Reply

  28. Hello sir how you doing?,i want to know what type of wire i can use to to circuit in case a component is somehow far from another? and is 60w soldering gun is possible to use for soldering the component.

    Reply

    • Hello yohana, the components should not be too far away from each other….I guess you are using a breadboard which is fine, and any type of wire will work OK as long they make good connections.

      Reply

  36. hello sir what kind of sensor should i use for circuit above at the time when water is enough in the soil it will automatically switch off? and how about its connections if possible

    Reply

    • connect the pole of the relay, the N/O contact of the relay, motor wires and the DC supply, connect all these in series

      (+)_________motor______/o________(-)

      Reply

    • Yohana, I am not sure about the TCA785 functioning…it looks different to 4017.

      you can try 4013 as an effective flip flop stage in the above circuit

      Reply

    • thanks Yohana it's not difficult, just remove the IC555 section completely along with the LDR.

      after this connect the supply rail (pin14) of the IC 4017 with the supply input (+)…which can be seen connected with the relay coil and the 7805 IC

      Reply

  74. hello sir what if i will insert the probe into the soil so as to sitch off the pump motor after the water is enough into the soil or there is another alternative method so as switch it off after the soil get it enough water

    Reply

  86. sir swagatam !!!
    I am about to make this circuit for my final year Project but there is one problem which i have to solve …
    Electric tube-well runs on 220v AC
    If Voltages of Tube-well motor are low then motor might burn out. Can we make a circuit that will will fulfill the deficiency of voltages (like step up transformer).
    I thought of "stablizer circuit" but i was told that tube-well motor is of almost 25 Horse powers which can't be run by this circuit…means i can't make up deficiency of voltages at Tube-well Motor …
    Please suggest me a solution…..Thankx

    Reply

    • Hi Asif,
      for a tubewell motor you might need a stabilizer with a huge transformer, in the order of around 10000 watts or even more, but it's feasible…

      there are a few stabilizer circuits posted in this blog, you can use the search box at the top for searching the suitable one for your application.

      Reply

  88. Dear Swagatam,
    One important thing is that whether it is suitable for three phase motors, if yes then how could we know that in all three pahses supply is coming and whenever supply comes it will call to cell phone?

    Reply

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