<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9023665#post9023665 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kmiec123
That seems very reasonable..What additional cost are there? probes, connectors, etc..All hooked up on a laptop? Looks cool.
That piece I linked to is just the brain of the system.
Lemme give a general idea of what you can do with it, and I'll throw up some more links to get an idea for pricing. Most aquarium controllers, you're kind of stuck as far as expandability and even adaptability. The drawback is that this is DIY, or you would need to get someone involved who does homeautomation for a living.
First, you need the brain, which I linked above, I didn't really search around alot for pricing, but it was about $165.
Next, you have to decide what you want to do with the system.
I'm going to just make some stuff up.
Scenario:
Call my cell phone in case of critical failure.
Turn on and off the lights on all of the tanks in the system.
Monitor air pressure from primary air pump, and turn on secondary air pump in case of primary failure.
Monitor temp in the broodstock tanks (all connected together).
Monitor temp in the growout tanks. (all connected together).
Monitor temp in the room.
Monitor Broodstock system for water pump failure.
Monitor Growout system for water pump failure.
Alrighty.. easy stuff first.
Temperature - I'll need 3 of these:
http://www.smarthomeusa.com/Shop/PC-Home/Adicon-Automation/Item/TEM-BOBCAT/
They are $60 each - so that's $180 total.
Modem - to be able to call me, it also offers the ability to dial into the system. It's kind of pricey at $169.
http://www.homeautomationnet.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=899
I'm going to need two of these:
http://www.smarthomeusa.com/Shop/PC-Home/Adicon-Automation/Item/SECU-16/
They each give 8 ports that can be used for input and 8 for output. For a total of 16 inputs and 16 outputs. They are low voltage, low amperage. They each cost $100 so $200 total.
Let's assume that I have 3 sets of lights I want to be able to turn on and off independantly- Broodstock, Larval, Growout. I'll just plug the lights into a powerstrip, and plug the powerstrip into an outlet connected to a relay. The relay allows me to use the low voltage from the controller to turn on and off high voltage devices.
So the lights are going to take 3 of the 16 outputs.
I'm not to worried about whether the lights actually come on or not, because if they fail it's not really critical. If you are concerned though, they offer this light sensor:
http://www.smarthomeusa.com/Shop/PC-Home/Adicon-Automation/Item/LIT-BOBCAT/
To monitor for a water pump failure, I'm just going to use a couple of float switches in the sump of each system. If the pump cuts off, the water drains, and the switch closes. So that's 2 inputs used. I'll connect my water pumps, 2 on each system with completely seperate plumbing. (if I use check valves, the water would never drain and the float switch would never get triggered.) Seperate plumbing is kind of a hassle, but the redundancy is worth it to me. All 4 pumps will be connected to the system via relays, so that's 4 more outputs.
Last, but not least. A pressure switch tied into the air manifold. They run about $20, for an adjustable one that you can set your desired pressure on. It's probably worth noting that this will allow me to not only monitor for a pump failure, but also for a leak in the system, or even if the pump is starting to fail. Kinda cool, anything that causes a drop in the air pressure. It will take up 1 input. Then my two air pumps will be connected via relay to 2 of the outputs.
Alrighty, so we're looking at a total of 9 outputs, and 3 inputs. I dunno, since I'm only using 3 inputs, maybe I'll double up on pressure switches and foat switches, to get some redundancy there, for a total of 6 inputs.
Sum total, for the automation part of things:
Controller: $165
Secu-16 (2): $200
Modem: $169
Temp Monitors (3): $180
Total Cost: $714 plus a bunch of little bits, like float switches, pressure switches, wiring, etc.
I could save $100 by eliminating 1 output, which gets me down to a single SECU-16 instead of two, maybe tie the broodstock and growout lights all together. On the other hand, I'm sure I would eventually use those 7 extra outputs for something. (hmm autofeeder, audible alarm in the facility, phyto lighting, heaters, maybe a button that turns off the pumps for 10 mins at feeding time..)
Then it's a matter of programming it. To give an idea, you can make it do stuff like:
If it senses a pressure drop (pressure switch opens), cut off primary pump, turn on secondary pump, wait 5 mins, if pressure still low, call for help.
or
If temp too high, turn off that tanks heater, wait 5 mins, if temp still increasing, turn off lighting, if temp still increasing, call for help.
I'm no pro on this thing, I got the info from the DIY section on these boards, and I went and did a bunch of research into home automation. There are plenty of aquarium controllers that get up into the price range that I talked about for this setup, but they don't even get close to being able to do everything I talked about on here. When I found that out, I did even more research.
I know $700 is a bit steep for most of us, but for the peeps with bigger operations it's probably a very worthwhile investment.
I've seen other sorts of things that these can be used for - they have optical switches, motion sensors, and even voice activation modules out there.
Hope you guys enjoy!
