Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Pioneering, going where no other APer has every trodden (or actuated), is always hard tiring work... leave the poor soul alone...

P.S. Les let me know when you've finished will you, I like to incorporate into my design... preferably by the end of the month.... this month that is.... next week would be good.... lol

Les, what ya gotta do now is hook up the "clicker", you know so you can fill and drain the bed from a distance. maybe hook up a car horn for fun, so oyou get the beep-beep and then the bed drains

Every ones a comedian

Valve project – Costing

One off items or items bought that covered a minimum of 3 GB fittings
Power supply 12v 8.5amp
Aluminium 1m * 50mm * 3mm (for mounting actuators on - enough for 3 GBs)
Stainless steel screws, screw terminal strips, assorted wiring etc
Total $120


2 door power lock kit – one kit/GB
Water trap container
50mm laundry flaps
Rods and connectors (flap to actuator)
Total $50

Extra pvc fittings above what would normally be used ~$25/GB

If you compare that to a smart relay plus solenoid/ball & actuator valves that will work at zero water pressure - plus the fun in actually succeeding (running for 3 hours now - the Wright bros flight was not as long) )

Oh! and did I mention the fun

I'll do a separate thread and detail the wiring layout, connections etc if anyone is interested

Edit:
This is the equivalent of 4 ball valves with actuators (items priced previously @ ~$500 plus)

...And one of those industrial flashing lights,
...and a loud speaker with a pre-recorded msg "CAUTION: employees clear the area the beds are about to drain",
then followed by steves car horn of course

What a way to be popular with the neighbors!

hehehe - laying in bed last night (listening), on doors opening

whock! - whoosh! - then the lovely sound of running water.
1st thing this morning I inserted a delay to increase the time between WHOCKS
2nd thing this morning I decreased the GB outlet orifice size and now only a little whoosh

On the topic of running water and sleep... I now leave my computer on to drown out the noise of running water and air pumps, in the aquarium on the other side of the wall from my bedroom. The combination of he sump and the air pumps makes it sound like there is a dishwasher going, I manage to sleep OK. Except of course the computer case has a clear case and CCFL lights... room is bright blue and UV.

Got 3 systems and don't hear a thing hehehe.

Bit of exaggeration on my part (Les exaggerate!) - only notice the noise when in the green house - serious!

Are these technical terms, searched the net but could not find any data?

As - obviouxly you didn't check your AP dictionery

Whock - used in chinese cooking (also the sound when wife connects with husbands head with said whock)

Whoosh - clean miss by wife when hubby ducks (not a good idea to duck as penalty is doubled)

Lovely running water - sound the nurse (female only) makes when she squeezes the face washer in preparation to washing the patient (hubby)

I always thought whock connecting with ones head made tongs.

Whoosh is a samoan word. Whoosh is dis car inna driveway?

AA - love them , my reference was the AP bible

Here's what you have all been waiting for....Water Level Sensor Mk III.

The device will be mounted on the inside of the 150mm standpipe in each GB, there are 2 plates:
the top one is rigid and held in place by an angle bracket (90 degrees) with a wire connected to the front bolt. (could have cut off the excess )

The bottom plate is mounted on a hinge with a bottle and another bolt and wire connection, the gap between each bolt wire can be adjusted, in the side shot there is a bolt that is pushing up on the bottom plate and adjusts the gap difference (it is about 4-5mm in pic).

There is a large washer on the bottom of the bottle to add weight, as the water rises and lifts the bottle, connection is made between both wired bolts, giving an earth to the door actuators, the water level falls and the bottle and washer lower, breaking the connection.

None of the parts (except the bottle) will go under water, the overflow pipe on each GB is cut so that the water will only rise another 10mm.

Please note the precision scaling on the mounting piece, this is to judge the depth of water in the GB before draining - increments of one millimetre

Cool Idea
Hope it goes well