Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have had a lot of success with bilge pumps. 12 vdc 600gph $20US. Problem was my flood and drain cycle had to be run by an AC timer controlling my 12vdc car battery charger. That is not efficient enough to be off the grid.
When I priced DC timers they were out of my league and I do not have the know how to build one despite finding the schematic.
So, with the "of the grid" people, and the rest of us cheering you on, will one of you RSG's figure this out. A totally solar setup that is completely off the grid is just a DC timer away from reality in my book, minus the cover pages and author.

good luck and Godspeed to you innovators.

PS...I have always been fortunate to have found myself in the company of people way smarter than myself. Finding this forum is proof that my good fortune continues to this day. (5.5decades)

controlling a 12 volt motor with the PICAXE was the first experiment I did, so it will be easy enough. But it will have to wait until the feeder project is over. If I don't restrict myself to one thing at a time It'll kill me.

My company is introducing a timer that will run on DC in the next week or so. PM your email address so I can have the announcement send for you or like the facebook page at www.facebook.com/bigelowbrook.

That was easy

Now that I'm awake and thinking about it, it's already posted on the web site...we just haven't sent out the "official" announcements yet. www.BigelowBrook.com/timer

Bullwinkle:
I am old school and pickaxe has a "k" in it to me. Reading some of your stuff it is clear you are talking Waaaaaaaaaaayyyyy over my head. Thanks for the interest though. Also, I am a minimalist so to add a computer and controls is out of the question. I am setting up to go off the grid and let all you tech people keep my share of the computers and gizmos in exchange for some of your wood and gears and knails and chains and pulleys and......

I do enjoy reading about the solutions. It amazes me that I can survive at all when there are so many people out there with so much more talent.

Oh and Web,

I will take a look and see. I am not big on spending money on things I can build myself. I actually slept on a design last night and will try it out....not to worry, I will not be any competition for your enterprise...yet!

Hi W-Ky-Rob, from your post I couldn’t figure out if you are off the grid and you have an inverter
or you are on the grid and running your small sys. from a solar panel.

If it’s only that small sys. you want to run on DC for safety reason then it’s only that timer you have to worry about,
but if you plan to expand, AC would be a much better proposition.
There’s much wider selection of el. hardware to choose from and most of them cheaper and readily available.

Not much help, sorry, but something to consider.

Cheers, Steve S

What are you actually trying to do? There might be some other way to get it done.

Are you running the timer to save power, control flood and drain, or are you using timers to sequence grow beds and divert flow to each in turn? If it's the latter, you could try this DIY sequencer

Hey, Thanks for the video.
I want a timer so that I may do a one hour on/off cycle. I guess a sequencer will allow me to do the same thing and flood/drain more beds once an hour....never thought of it that way. Like I have said for years, I am glad to speak to people smarter than me, myself and I put together. I want to stay with
DC so that I can go solar with battery. Also, if my inventions pan out you will be hearing from me and we will be talking about pulleys and spring tension next time.

Yes, everything is about saving dc electric power that is why I do not want to use an inverter. I believe the sequencer will work for my needs. These little pumps can get it done in no time flat and I will have to compute/ reconfigure my drawings to accomodate more grow beds...yeah more gravel washing!!! But they are not continuous duty pumps so they need a lot of rest.

The larger educational setup will be AC with the usual power sucking devices on someone else's dime and my effort there will be towards presentation, education and aesthetics.

Steve, I hope you are wrong, I thought I read somewhere in the forum that the dc motors were more efficient pumps, and some new technologies were improving on the durability. Time to find the RSG that wrote that and get myself unconfused.

there are a few other ways to sequence beds, do a search for "flout" and I think "spider valve" (talk to rupertofoz) and I think it was web4deb that had youtube video.

I like my way because it moves and has more "Steam punk" attitude