Tired of the constant trickle of your cat’s water fountain? Set up motion detection and put your cat in control.
Cats are fickle
My cat, Jimmy, loves drinking from running water. Or from the sink. Or from whatever glass I am currently using. Basically, my cat loves drinking out of anything that isn’t his water bowl…because like all cats, he’s fickle and lives to cause his humans as much aggravation as possible.
Here’s a photo of my gorgeous boy, because what cat owner doesn’t like showing off their cat at the slightest opportunity?
Jimmy’s getting better now, thanks to the introduction of a pet water fountain in the kitchen, and we’ve somehow tricked him into using it — but what I don’t like is how the constant trickle of water makes me want to pee all the time.
Thankfully, this motion-controlled water foundation from Hackster.io maker vladimirm is here to save the day by only turning on the fountain when his cat approached it.
Motion-controlled pet water foundation
So how does it work? Vladimir explains:
When the PIR sensor detects movement, it sends a message to the radio dongle plugged to the Raspberry Pi, which sends the message to the MQTT server. On the other side, the MQTT message is processed by the Home Assistant, which then, using the automation, triggers the smart plug and starts the configured countdown.
The build uses an old Raspberry Pi 1 Model B, and a BigClown Motion Detector Kit, alongside a TP-Link smart plug and an open-source Home Assistant. The Home Assistant smartphone app documents when the smart plug is activated, and for how long, which also means you can track when your pet is drinking and check they’re getting enough water.
Vladimir goes into far more detail in the project tutorial. Now go help your cat stay hydrated!
Website: LINK
