On delay switch

[9D280]

Originally Posted by IBWET

I would say it's no more than a good healthy horse pi**

And presumably not a horse that's just finished half a dozen pints of beer......

As another tangentical thought - if you are convcerned with the reliability of a float switch, are there not circuits on the net for "bath alarms" (Maplin £5 project kit kind of thing) which use the change in resistance when 2 bare wire ends are "shorted" by water. - Could modify the kit with a small relay instead of the buzzer. Only possible problem I could see there would be the well is pretty much salty damp all the time & your pump might not switch off.

[Observer]

Originally Posted by IBWET

It's a rule 1100 gph manual ..So.....are you suggesting the pump will run slowly?..or not work at all. I'm no expert so your wee thoughts are gratefully recieved Mr W..

According to this, the 1100 manual will lift 720gph over 3.35' at 12v and 860gph at 13.6v. So, extrapolating backwards (not sure if that's valid), 545gph at 10.0v.

Could try the automatic series and forget about the timer?

[IBWET]

Originally Posted by 9D280

And presumably not a horse that's just finished half a dozen pints of beer......

As another tangentical thought - if you are convcerned with the reliability of a float switch, are there not circuits on the net for "bath alarms" (Maplin £5 project kit kind of thing) which use the change in resistance when 2 bare wire ends are "shorted" by water. - Could modify the kit with a small relay instead of the buzzer. Only possible problem I could see there would be the well is pretty much salty damp all the time & your pump might not switch off.

Ralph,

It's not only the reliability of the float switch, it's the breaks in the line back there to fit it. the bath float idea is theoretically possible as it's been used by other marine systems so the idea is sound, however I want to control the power to the pump from the consol; If I forget to switch it off, it's obvious, Automatic pumps float switches etc have the built in 'option' of flattening batteries.....

Nope the RS (Why so dear?) option is the one I'll go for..

Thanks anyway.

IB.

If your down, you can tell me what you think of the final job.

Are you floating yet

[IBWET]

Originally Posted by Observer

According to this, the 1100 manual will lift 720gph over 3.35' at 12v and 860gph at 13.6v. So, extrapolating backwards (not sure if that's valid), 545gph at 10.0v.

Could try the automatic series and forget about the timer?

I have found them to be unreliable (just my experience).... I'm taking second fitted auto 1100 out.

[9D280]

I've just had a blinding flash of something......

This is a reminder, right?

So why not just wire up a console mounted light / mini strobe beacon (Flashing super-bright LED or two?) in an obvious place wired in parallel with the pump?

Then you see it's on which will remind you to switch it off.

[al40]

Bit blue sky thinking here but here are 2 electronics options for you:

(1) Feed the pump through something that monitors the current in the pump supply (could be in the console). This can then trigger the buzzer when current is less than certain amount. I'm sure I could think of something here..... This would not result in any noticeable voltage drop.


(2) Monitor the voltage accross the pump (ie solder into the pump wires where ribcraft have already made the solder joint). Piezo is OFF wben voltage is below a threshold. This could be set to desired level so piezo was either sounding or not when engine was not running. There will be enough voltage drop in the cable from console to pump for this to work I think.

What you need is a microprocessor to measure the voltage, no wait, I'm not at work.....


email (rather than pm) me at usual address if you want me to think seriously about these options. Am sure I could come up with something that would work. I have already got a battery warning alarm which triggers when above 14.4V (battery suplhanation point) so the voltage comparator is already in there and I can easily reverse the logic to set the buzzer when voltage is below a certain point - Assuming I can remember how I built it!