I need Switch Wiring Step by Step Instructions for Dummies

[Cathy8424]

I have some 9 volt water sensors that I would like to wire to my switches so that I can set my controller up to page me with an alarm in case of high water.

I thought I would be able to use my old serial cable I had with my ACII for this?

Would some one who is using their switches please post VERY DETAILED Step by Step Instructions for Dummies on how to do this?

Thank you,

Cathy

 

[clp]

I assume that you are trying to hook this up to your AC3 or AC3Pro. If so then you'll connect the float switches to the I/O connector (see the owner's manual for pin diagram). The old serial cable will not work as it does not have the required wires internally (usually has only 4 or 5 wires so not all the pins of the minidin 8 are connected).
The easiest way to hook up the float switch is to get our I/O cable (MINDIN8CABLE). One wire of the float switch would connect to Pin 1 (INPUT #1/ Brown wire of I/O cable), and the other wire of the float switch connects to Pin 8 (Ground/White wire of I/O cable). The float switch is in the AquaController's program as:

If Switch1 Closed Then PMP ON
If Switch1 Open Then PMP OFF

If a second float switch was used then one wire of the float switch would connect to Pin 1 (INPUT #2/ black wire of I/O cable), and the other wire of the float switch connects to Pin 8 (Ground/White wire of I/O cable).

Curt

 

[Cathy8424]

Thank you Curt.

What about voltage? This float swithch is 9 volts, but I am planning to others that will be 120 volts.

Curt where on your site is the I/O cable (MINDIN8CABLE)?

 

[Chrisrush]

Cathy,
I found the cable on the 'probes' portion of the order page

Curt,
Will this only work for the AC3 or AC3Pro? What about the AC Pro?

Sorry to hijack your thread Cathy, but I'm interested in this as well.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[clp]

There is no external voltage required. The float switch just needs a dry contact (mechnical open/closed contact).
Yes, the I/O cable will work with the ACPRO.

Curt

 

[Cathy8424]

Chrisrush, no hijack here! This post was for discussion and that is what is happening. And thanks for the link to the I/O cable.

I am sure there are others out there already using this feature that could give up some good tips and tricks? And discuss different applications they are using it for.

I think this feature worked on the ACII through the contacts on the alarm modules too? I hope Curt will correct this if I am wrong.

Curt, I didn't mean I thought the switch needed voltage; I just wanted to be sure no voltage from the power going to or coming from the float caused problems for the AC. It seems like I read something about 5 volts being the maximum or something

 

[clp]

You should apply no power to the switch inputs of the AquaController. Applying power to the inputs may damage the AquaController. There are internal pullup resistors in the AquaController that are used to keep the input in the OPEN state until it is ground by the external switch. The float switch you use with the controller should just have two wires on it. The float switch wires connect to the input pin and ground pin of the AquaController's I/O connector.

Curt

 

[DrBDC]

These would probably make excellent ones for these applications:

http://www.floatswitches.net/floatswitch.html

 

[Cathy8424]

Curt,

What do you call, and where do you find that type of float?

The ones I am familiar with and am using have two sets of wires coming out of them. One has a plug on it that you plug into the wall for power and the other is a female that I plug a peristaltic pump into. I dose kalk with it. My controller shuts of the pump if the pH is to high; and the valve shuts off the pump if the water level is to high. I would like to get an alarm if that water level was to high. I thought I could splice into one of those wires? I guess this will not work this way and I will have to get a separate float. I did mention that I needed Switches 101 for Dummies!

What other ways have reefers found to use their switches besides for overflow alarms?

 

[hotrod122]

maybe we could hook up a rat shack relay to the screemer...
then hook the ac3 up to the relay?
that way when the screamer goes off.. it closes the contacts on the relay, and boom.. we have an alarm????
curt?.. think this would work?

 

[Cathy8424]

DrBDC,

Thanks for the link, you beat me to my next question!!!

Hotrod, I think maybe you are onto something there! The screamer has no power until it is wet. If the relay closes the AC circuit when it is energized (gets wet), may be that will work? If so, there would be no need for a float swithch for that application.

 

[DrBDC]

Those little 2 wire wet alarms would work. Just cut the sensor off the part that yells at you. Then set up the AC to alarm if switch X closed.

I use a salt bucket for my skimmer collection and have thought about a float switch in there that shuts off my skimmer pump if it fills up to stop skimmer freak outs and major water loss. The problem with using kalk as a top off by float switch is that if the skimmer overflows too much or if there would be a leak it will continue to pump kalk. I ended up going with a litermeter that I set a fixed amount to dose each day and will probably go with a float switch to turn on/off a selenoid for my ro/di that way it could only push the 3 gallon resevoir and would then trickle at 4 gph which gives me more time to discover the problem. Maybe even set it to only turn the selenoid on for a certain period of time per day. Just by initial setting I have my litermeter set pretty close to evap and I probably manually add 1/2 gallon per day to go with my 2 gpd of limewater. I'm sure that will change according to the season though.

 

[Cathy8424]

I use the pH probe to turn my kalk on only when the pH is below a set point. I have a RODI float set low, so that it will kick on if the pH stays high enough that not much kalk is pumped at night. My kalk float is to keep the sump from filling so high that I my salt level drops or my sump gets to full it would overflow if there was a power outage.

I thought about using a float to sense a low water level, but I really like idea of using it for the skimmer! I hadn't thought of that one yet.