Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I think what Ivansng so brilliantly suggested is running an extension cord to the pump from another circuit. That will definitely tell you if the pump is at fault! (why in heck didn't I think of that? DOH!)

Good luck!

And a 60watt pump should not bother you computer in any way...

Well CH, it is a temporary extension cord to find out if it is really your 60W pump tripping the circuit...

I would put it in the same circuit as the plasma (I assume this is a TV), stereo and media center... I do not believe that these
would draw too much current... and if you come home one day and cannot turn on the TV, well circuit has tripped... and if you do work away (and your house is not shared), you can totally turn off the entertainment equipment.

And if after a week or so, the circuit still have not tripped, then it is not the 60W pump... It is probably something else in that original circuit. Then get the sparkie mate, to install another breaker and put the high current equipment on its own breaker...

hi guys,

yea its funny, I have had all the gear going off the one circuit for 24 hours now and it does not trip.
(AC unit, pool pump, AP pump and air pump) I really am beginning to believe that it is not the AP pump.

Hmmm, the only thing that has changed is the timer for the AP system. I removed it so i could run the pump continuously (load testing) I wonder if the timer turning the AP pump on and off is "spiking" the circuit. but it only seems to happen at night.

Still waiting on the sparky, maybe i can borrow the "Spiffy Clamp Thing" and test it myself...........

Hi Guys,

Ok the sparky lent me his "spiffy clampy thing" and i have measured everything with surprising results.

AC = 5.1 amps
Pool = 1amp
AP Pump = 1amp
AP air pump = 0.05amp

So that does not come anywhere near the 16amp breaker that is in the circuit.

I am going to let it run for a couple of days as is to see if it trips and then introduce the timer and see it faults again.
It allways seems to fail over night. Also i am going to investigate what other circuits are here and run a big long lead for one of them.

CH

What are the startup readings? Ie. See what the amperage peak at as each device is first powered on.

well, well.

I now see the problem,

It seems there is only two power circuits for the house, (plus one for the stove, one for the water heating and one for the Aircon)

Power 1
all outside points + bedroom 1 & 2 (bedroom 2 has the server in it)

Power 2
Kitchen and family room

And a "spare".

Not sure what the spare is. As this is a company house i need to get approval for any extra work and it costs me.
So the load on that one circuit would be definatly up around the 12 amps with everything running. I guess a spike/surge from the timer or air con swithcing on at the same time could push it over the edge.

So short term I might be able to run a long lead from the kitchen/lounge but i would say with the TV (plasma), foxtel, media center and phone laptop charges plus anything in the kitchen all runniong off it it would be close as well.

I might get one of the work housing electricians to quote bringing the "spare" fuse online and connecting it to the outside power point about 1m below the main fuse box. Cost should be negligable, might even be able to get it done for "mates" rates, after all its just sitting there.

CH
PS
Mr orange, the startup values for everything bar the AC were stuff all and the AC only spiked up to 6.8. so that combined with something else would probably trip teh circuit. but the funny thing is that you run the AP pump continus and everything is fine.......

I think what MrOrange is talking about is the Inrush Current... as I have pointed out earlier...

Check out the website below... gives you are better idea...
[url]
http://www.aemc.com/techinfo/appnotes/c ... urrent.pdf[/url]

I doubt the Aircon spike only to 6.8A... probably more considering the continuous is already 5.1A...
Your current clamp may not be sensitive enough to measure it...

So which circuit is the AP system connected to now... Hopefully not the Aircon breaker... since for that size aircon,
it will need its own breaker and nothing else on the same circuit...

Fodder, how old is the circuits in the house? Circuit breakers have been known to go bad. Usually its a it works or it doesn't. But I have have a CB just slowly degrade below its rated capacity.

Hi Every one,

Yea the circuits are old along with the rest of the house.
There is no practical way to get the power off another circuit in the house and not use extension cords. At least and keep my marrage!!!

So i need to get a bit of load off that circuit. But i think i have a cunning plan!!
1) I think i will be able to move server to another part of the house (its pritty quite)
2) I will buy some more timers and turn off the Caravan Aircon from about 9pm till 6am
3) Then i can run the pool pump from 9pm to 6am
I this way i wont overload the circuit during the day.

Also i have got my hands on some heavy duty bateries and i will run those as a backup. The pump and the air pump dont draw that much, in fact the air pump has the battery backup feature, so I should be able to just wire that up. I have read that is hot climates more air is better, so i might just grab another of those and run two. The current they draw is stuff all, so i would be able to run these for a long time.

So if leave the Pool Pump off during the day i should be ok with the power.........

Now the big questions
1) the water in the tank is VERY VERY green. Should I empty and clean the tank and start again or just run the system.....
2) I guess i have time two fishless cycle before the broome tafe spaun goes ahead. but should i just get some goldfish and use them to cycle the tank before i get the barra fingerlings? i doubt that the barra will play nice with the goldfish, so i could remove or seperate them.... But would the gold fish kickstart the cycling process or should just do the pee-ponics to start?

Most folks try to shade the water and find that the algae quickly disappears. Too much algae is supposed to cause swings in PH and O2, especially when the water is warm. My pool has about 15cm visibility, but seems OK since it is around 10degC. The O2 is 100% even first thing in the morning, but I would expect problems when it warms.


I've heard you can fishless-cycle faster than with fish since you can have ammonia levels at about 5ppm, a level that is quickly toxic for fish but optimum for getting nitrosomonas bacteria to reproduce fast.

OK,

the wife and i cleaned out the system over the weekend and re filled it with clean water.
Also we found out early last week that Broom Tafe spawn of barra failed, and another wont be ready untill April.
Looks like i am going to have an AP system with goldfish.

Hi Everyone.

I have been working on reducing the load on the circuit that runs the AP system and i mamanged to get it down to just the AP system.

But it seems that it was not the load on the circuit after all. It is the timer supplier with the BYAP kit. I have had the unit tested via the electrician and he says that is good. Dunno what he did, but he can not get it to fault. So it seems that the power circuit does not like the unit.

I am going to go and see if i can find a replacement of some kind. I found a arclec unit that is a 24hour 7day timer (PC697) but i need a 24hr timer as this has only has 20 on/off programs.

cheers

If the sparkie tested the timer, and said it was "good"... then what makes you think it's the timer...

Alternatively... buy another HPM timer... I've had one flake out... probably due to manually flicking through the timer cycles too fast... other than that... all my systems on timers have worked flawlessly...

Hi Rup.

I probably was not clear but over the past 4 months (I think) i have been having problems.

But i finally figured it out. The house only has 2 power circuits that i can use. (the others are for the hot water, stove and and aircon)
and i was having trouble with the AP system tripping the circuit it was on. the whole system will run no problem but as soon as i introduce the timer it trips the cirtuit. Its repeatable.

so that why i thinks its the timer, even though its been "tested". so its of the following, the unit is faulty in some way, or the circuit is to sensative to that timer for some unexplainable reason.

Well, i guess we will see why i find another timer.....

Well for a digital timer, I think 20 on/off programs are the best you can get... you can try playing around with extending your on and off times so that you can get them within 20 on/off program for 24hours... although do note that too long off times aren't good for the fishes since the aeration may not be sufficient from the air pump...

Alternatively you can try buying another "mechanical" type timer and try it.

Although I am not so sure that it is really the timer, but it is worth a try...