DIY Water Leak Detector [Resources]

Recently, I was awakened by a crash-my blinds had fallen off my apartment's bedroom windows. Then, later, I saw that water was dripping from the holes left behind in the frame. I replaced the blinds with curtains, and the drip continued, on an annoyingly intermittent schedule, over the days that followed. While I waited for the landlord to track down and repair the problem in the apartment upstairs, I needed something that would alert me when I was home and the dripping started. And for the times I wasn't home, I needed something that would automatically move the curtain as well in order to avoid water damage. Given that the situation was both urgent and temporary, I needed something I could throw together as a quick fix. Fortunately, I had just the thing to aid me in my time of need: the Nanospark. Nanospark is a US $140 system for controlling electronics with your iPhone or iPad. A cable (owners of newer iOS devices will need an adapter) connects the phone to an interface board that has eight digital inputs and outputs, six analog inputs, and two analog outputs. A touch to an iOS app lets you read inputs or send commands to the board. Most interesting of all is that you can use an iPhone's sensors and messaging systems to control electronics.