Laphroaig Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 nice job 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slag121 Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Impressive detail. I feel like I could make this a nice winter project. adding to my Favs. haveing tried the off the shelf speed controls & finding they make my Vortex whine & chatter on startup I had given up. Well done. SLag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laphroaig Posted December 12, 2012 Author Share Posted December 12, 2012 Thank you! I have another cunning plan or two hatching in my peanut at the moment so be prepared for another DIY project coming soon. Currently vying for position in my noggin are a flood and drain system for young plants from old 5 litre Canna containers and a dosing system for my IWS flood and drain system. I really can't sing the praises of this unit enough, it has perfected my environment and absolutely no issues with reliability unlike the bodge job it replaced. I haven't had growth this fast or lush before, no discolouration, no necrosis even where light isn't getting through the canopy. What's more is that my 24 are on their second week of 12/12 and drinking 100 litres a day which is the most I've ever seen them get through, every morning I'm refilling the 100 litre top up tank from empty. EC drops from 2.0 to 1.5-1.6 as a result so I'm also adding 100-140ml of Canna Aqua Vega A + B to the 200 litre main tank each day too. The control is set at 22c with a 1 degree differential so the fan switches to full power at 23c and the heater comes on below 21c and they love it. I plan to strip this weekend which should reduce the volume used each day significantly, still a week away is utterly out of the question, as it stands two possibly three days away is my absolute limit. My first priority therefore with Christmas holiday looming is to plumb in my top-up tank to the mains water using a float valve to maintain the level. Now the tricky bit, I need to find a PLC and a pH sensor that I can program to control a solenoid valve which will dose the top-up water with phosphoric acid to maintain a specified pH. Eventually I'd like to use the knowledge gained from the first one to build something that will dose the main tank with nutrients and additives to maintain the optimum levels at all times. You can buy something for around £1,500 off the shelf that does the job, I'd like to try and diy it for considerably less. The way things are its highly unlikely I'll be able to find time to research, resource and build a control in time. I'll just have to settle for a hosepipe and a float valve to keep it from running dry and accept that after a day or two the system will be running at the same pH as the tap-water. Meanwhile I'm getting tired of hand watering my babies for the month after they leave the propagator, before they go into the 10 litre IWS pots. I've accumulated several empty 5 litre Canna containers which I think would make a very suitable outer pot for a flood and drain system. Just need a 25mm holesaw to make a hole in the screw top that will take an IP65 gland so I can use the standard IWS fittings and pipe to connect everything up. Then I need a 100-150mm holesaw to make a hole in the bottom of the container to fit the pots I decide to use. Ideally I want this to be just the right size so it catches the rim of the pots and keeps them suspended so they are prevented from touching the bottom of the Canna containers. The 5 litre containers will be used upside down so that the screw top is at the bottom and suspended around a meter above the floor on baton with a plastic dustbin as the reservoir below. As with the IWS system there will be a brain bucket with a sensor at the max fill level that switches the pump off when the containers are full. With the system elevated I can do away with a drain pump and use instead a solenoid valve to close the other end of the delivery pipe whilst the pump floods the system. When the flood cycle is complete the solenoid valve opens and gravity drains the nutrient back into the reservoir for the next feed. Peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loftman Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Very nice project Laph, thinking of making this my next area to resolve, one thing though, are your girls drinking 100 litres a day or is that running to waste? obviously not knowing how many girls at the trough makes me think this is a lot of water, but fair play mate, it looks very nicely done, good luck... Lofty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laphroaig Posted December 12, 2012 Author Share Posted December 12, 2012 Very nice project Laph, thinking of making this my next area to resolve, one thing though, are your girls drinking 100 litres a day or is that running to waste? obviously not knowing how many girls at the trough makes me think this is a lot of water, but fair play mate, it looks very nicely done, good luck... Lofty It's a recirculating 24 pot IWS flood and drain system with the old style inner pots. Each time the system floods the main nutrient tank empties, I put a float switch down at the bottom of the nutrient tank which operates a pump in the top up tank. If the level in the nutrient tank drops too low, it triggers the float switch and plain water is pumped in from the top up tank to raise it up again. Peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willbur Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Laph, Fantastic guide. It's been of great help. I have the same relay as posted on page 2. A question is why does the E terminal, the 270v output go into the relay in the normally closed terminal. Electrics is electrickery to me! Just wishing to check that I won't be sending 270v to the fan instead of 240v! Thanks and again wonderful guide, im in the process of building one atm! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laphroaig Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 Laph, Fantastic guide. It's been of great help. I have the same relay as posted on page 2. A question is why does the E terminal, the 270v output go into the relay in the normally closed terminal. Electrics is electrickery to me! Just wishing to check that I won't be sending 270v to the fan instead of 240v! Thanks and again wonderful guide, im in the process of building one atm! Hi, I have to admit that the diagram I think you are referring to makes no sense to me. There is a terminal on the variac that you can use which will give you a range of voltages up to 270v but I haven't used it because I only use the variacs to set the intermediate or idling fan speed between off and the full supply voltage. So having it able to go all the way to 270v isn't of any benefit in this instance (I've no doubt the fan could take it but I've no desire to test it, if you find yourself longing for the 20-30v of extra power buying a bigger fan is much better.) All you are doing with the variac is selecting the fan speed for when the lights are off, just enough fan speed to maintain negative pressure with the minimum cooling so the heater doesn't need to work so hard when the lights are off to maintain the set temperature. Peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willbur Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 (edited) Thanks Laph, as I read from another thread the E terminal allows a step upto 270v for labs to test equipment etc so am I right in thinking that the fan idling speed is controlled by the normally closed circuit from the relay I.e. if I were to dial the variac knob to 100% that would send the Vmax in this case the modified voltage of 270v to the fan? not that ill be using the dial other than to set the idle speed anyway just good knowledge knowing that dial could over volt the fan... although my understanding of the circuit could be wrong, it's all guesswork on my part! I'm putting it together in the next couple of days and will test it with the voltmeter in all various configs to help me understand it better! Edited June 2, 2013 by willbur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joint hogger Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 willbur your making a mistake with connections, connection E outputs up to 240v, its connection D that outputs 270v, connection A is the Neutral & connection C is the Live in to the variac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laphroaig Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 (edited) Thanks Laph, as I read from another thread the E terminal allows a step upto 270v for labs to test equipment etc so am I right in thinking that the fan idling speed is controlled by the normally closed circuit from the relay I.e. if I were to dial the variac knob to 100% that would send the Vmax in this case the modified voltage of 270v to the fan? not that ill be using the dial other than to set the idle speed anyway just good knowledge knowing that dial could over volt the fan... although my understanding of the circuit could be wrong, it's all guesswork on my part! I'm putting it together in the next couple of days and will test it with the voltmeter in all various configs to help me understand it better! Yes, the Normaly Closed terminal is to have the fan idling, the Normally Open connects directly to the live coming from the mains at 240v. The reason being if you turn off the thermostat controller it just disables the heating and full power override. It defaults to being just a hum-free fan speed control. What's really cool with the ATC-800 and probably others is because it's permanently connected to the supply, when it's switched off it goes in a kind of standby mode and keeps showing the room temperature. Turn the knob and the fan will go faster or slower, the temperature readout is a bonus. If you did it the other way it would default to running the fans at full power and ignoring the variac with the thermostat switched off. Either option has its merits. Only benefit I can see of wiring it to 270v is in this situation you could manually crank up your fan to the absolute maximum, otherwise you'd just experience (probably not that noticeable either) contraction in scale on the dial where you'd be fitting 0-270 as opposed to 0-240. Peace Eta: Not that I would recommend you run your fan at 270v for any length of time unless it's rated for it, and even then. This thing could potentially be running 24/7 for months or years on end, best not to stress it, if it goes down in the middle of a grow, it's a catastrophe. Edited June 2, 2013 by Laphroaig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willbur Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 (edited) Thanks guys! It makes sense if its D that provides the higher voltage and since this isn't to be used then it resolves my misunderstanding! Thanks again Laph for the guide and your additional help! I was trying to ensure the fan wouldn't get 270v I got confused that terminal E on the variac was the carrier terminal for the 270v but this isn't the case, it's terminal D! Edited June 2, 2013 by willbur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DarkStuff Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 Very interesting read, will this work like a dual fan, temp controller? Would like to build something myself but lack the confidence to go out and do it, a handy guide on the other hand.. ATB SW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joint hogger Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 yes, it'll work with a dual set up, tho the fans will run in tandem, i've also replied to the PM SW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WORMwald Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 what a brilliant well laid out guide Laphroaig well done mucker.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drops boms Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 @@Laphroaig Fantastic just what I need I am ordering parts and the 5A DPDT does it come with a base or do you have to order it seperately? All parts wont be here til the middle of next week Thanx in advance ....Drops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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