Water Detecting Cable

What is this?

This orange cable detects the presence of water. Connect one end of the cable to a monitoring system, and then you can run the cable for thousands of feet. The cable can be laid wherever you want to detect the presence of water - around window sills, along pipes, at the base of equipment, etc. If any part of the cable comes in contact with water (or another fluid that conducts electricity) an alarm will sound and notify you exactly where along the cable the water has been detected. The orange core of the cable is made of a non-conductive plastic. There are two grooves that run the length of this plastic, spiraling around the outside; inside each of these grooves is a wire. The two wires never touch each other along the whole length of the cable, but if the cable comes into contact with water, the water completes the circuit between the two wires and sounds the alarm. The system knows exactly how far down the cable the water has been detected by checking the resistance of the completed circuit. Inside the orange plastic core are two more wires that work in exactly the opposite way - they are always connected, and raise another alarm if the cable is ever cut. This way you know if the cable has stopped monitoring for water because it has been severed somewhere along its length. The cable ranges from $2 to $11.50 per foot depending on quantities and type of setup. DesignAid samples were provided by RLE Technologies.

Applications

Step: Run this plastic cable around the perimeter of a factory, or along a pipe, to detect water leaks.

Stretch: Run this cable throughout your yard so the sprinklers only turn on where the grass is dry.

Leap: Make a very tiny version of this cable and weave into clothing to detect and respond to sweat.