Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

i belive they run off batteries KP

B2
Yep, you are right. But I have this picaxe thing to play with !

The 12V pump will be connected to the normally closed contact of a relay.
The relay will be held open be the microcontoller, so if anything fails the pump will come on.
Advantage is, I can turn on the airpump via software at any time I like during my pump cycle.

Early days yet, I' ll post some details when it works.
(I checked out your pixaxe code, much more elegant than mine!)

Well that sux, at least we know they're low voltage DC... but that would have to be fixed onto mains.

doesnt suck really.....is called a power supply

yeah just needs some modifcation

Yeah sorry that's what I meant by 'fixed onto mains' excuse my flippancy. Power supplies we covered in basic robotics anyhow, the interface without pulling the motor apart will suck, because batter terminals, especiall c or d cell battery terminals are mongrels to affix to nicely... would have to remove all the housing and then waterproof the lot... unless you could find somewhere under cover to operate it, even so, it's looking very science fairish atm...

This stuff is way out of my league, but look forward to you all getting it down pat so I can benefit from your work - gotta love the community spirit

im sure if the battery "compartment" has a decent IP rating it wont be hard....maybe look outside the robot square and into the industrial world.....it dont take much to up the IP rating of anything electrical...as for the terminals being a bugger to connect to ...i canny see why u cant take the wires off them and THEN connect them to you power supply

roof and gutter silicone

Now you are talking

Actually the best stuff I've ever seen for increasing the IP is a product that used to be called 'redskin' out of business now, but you can find simmilar products around. It's a waterproof insulating plastic coating. you can paint it on or dip it, and your gear ends up like plier handles.

Silicone is however great for filling up the gaps for a permanently submersed device, especially if pressure is an issue. Air pockets and pressure are pure evil.

If this is really the approach you want to take, why not move the batteries out of the wet area and run a wire from them to wherever you need the power. You could hang the batteries in a zip lock bag off your roof....

imho, they go flat. This is the only reason I'd want to build a PSU

Why don't you just use toilet cisterns hung on the ends of the gb's?
Sort of flood and flush.

I don't quite know what you mean Sleepe...