Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I want to experiment with butterfly valves rather than the hinge valves you use. I have to gear the workings because the travel of the door actuator is only 1.8 cm. I will do a miniature rack and pinion type design. Plus it gives me that little bit more power.

Wish me luck....

Good luck Tim

looking great Les, I havent had much time to read thru the threads/ posts......what is your next project?

on the seventh day, ......................

Actually working on putting one of Janet's RSG filters in a GB

Modifications to the Water Level Sensor System:

How it works

Water rises in the GB and touches the 2 S/S screws mounted on the side of the outer cover pipe (150mm diameter) - this is the Water Level Sensor (WLS)

A closed circuit is provided to the relevant circuit board mounted in the jiffy box...I have 2 rows of 3 GBs, each row has one jiffy box with 3 cct boards inside, one for each GB and WLS

The relay contacts then provide a circuit for the power relay, which then activates the door actuators and the water flow is then diverted to the next GB and opens the flap to empty the full GB.

Advantages
All moving parts have been removed from the previous model and the flaps now operate at the same water level each time +/- 1mm

Made it possible to have the system operating off 12v dc battery supply in he event of a power failure using a 12v bilge pump as a backup

It works efficiently...for me anyhow

Les, Let me get this straight.
You are using the conductivity of the water right?
Next...
You are switching this using standard light activated relay kits available from DSE, except you are using your two screws instead of an LDR .

Am I right?
Looks very neat. It's good to use "devices made for idiots who like their cars to look garish" for practical purposes.
Jaycar and DSE both need to release a list of what their kits can easily be adapted to do.
They don't even state that PWM motor controllers are great for dimming low voltage lighting! Rant over.

Yes to both KP - the beauty of the screws being used in this fashion is that they are not in water for an extended period (the one shots in the power relay activate for 20mSecs)...then don't touch water for another hour.

Tim recommended the DSE kits and I like the idea of buying stuff off the shelf as it is easier to repair/replace if a fault occurs. (don't think the sales ppl know how some of the kits work, let alone recommend other uses for them )

Looking good. As for me doing a summary - I assume you are joking. Mine is on the first page of my thread - has been there for 7 months .

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... ?p=211#211

That was back in Aug 07 vb

i must have missed the conductivity modification to your setup, les!

Think it might have been on another thread Steve (or I didn't post anything on it ) - did a few tests with the S/S screws set at different distances apart (up to ~300mm) and the 12v relay on the circuit board kept closing so set them far enough apart so that water couldn't remain shorting the screws after the level dropped...been running the 6 of them since September last year and no hiccups with them