Solar Water Heating Pump Controller with Maximum Pump Run Time

Posted on January 26, 2015 by neil

Our 2014 Solar Water Heating Pump Controller with LCD is one of our best selling products. We recently receive an original request for a modified version of this controller for use with a solar heated swimming pool in France. This particular system has a 12V powered submersible pump which has a maximum duty cycle of 15 minutes – i.e. if the pump is run for longer than 15 minutes continuously it could be damaged.

In general the pump in such a system will not run for that long, but it is likely to happen from time to time – particularly in the spring when the pool is cool, but the panel is getting well heated in the middle of the day. Therefore something needs to be added to the controller to protect it from this eventuality. Also, this controller has a manual override to force the pump to run, and this could be forgotten and left on for hours burning out a vulnerable pump if there is no protection.

Pictured above is controller board we made – this time with a relay to switch the current to the pump rather than the standard MOSFET 2A 12V output. We also added waterproof temperature sensors to make the device suitable for pool use.

To the standard user programming options we added the ability to set the maximum number of minutes the pump may run continuously, and the number of minutes the pump must then be left off before it can be turned on again. These values can be set to anything from 1-60 minutes each to give flexibility should the pump need to be changed in the future. The user of this controller intends to set a 12 minute maximum run time and a 3 minute forced off time. (As the 2014 controller is Arduino based, we used the millis() function to keep track of time while the pump is running).

If you need any kind of solar water heating pump controller, please email details of your exact requirements to neil@reuk.co.uk.

Mains Powered Fan Controller for Art Project

Posted on January 22, 2015 by neil

We are often requested to make timers and other electronic controllers for use within art projects and art installations. In general these are sold to people who have no electronics knowledge, and so we have to make them as simple to use as possible with pre-wiring of any mains powered devices etc.

Pictured below is one such timer we recently made designed to control a fan which in turn moves fabric as part of an art installation.

This device is designed to run a mains powered fan – 15 seconds ON 15 seconds OFF in a repeating cycle. This fan (a bathroom extractor fan) had already been wired for the artist with a standard plug by an electrician.

So the the electrician was not required further, we pre-wired this controller with a standard plug on the input side and a standard socket on the output side to which the fan could be plugged in. All other wiring is located on the circuit board which is all sealed away in a black box for safety. The whole things is powered by an external 12VDC plug in power supply.

Every 15 seconds the on board relay is opened or closed which in turn either connects or disconnects the power from the socket turning the fan off or on as required.

If you need any type of timer or other controller for an art project, please contact neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your exact requirements.

Poultry House Door Controller with Digital Timer

Posted on January 14, 2015 by neil

One of our most popular products is this Dawn Dusk Automatic Hen House Door Controller. This device automatically detects dawn and dusk using a light detector calibrated by the user and runs a motor one way in the morning to open a hen house door, and the other way in the evening to close the door. Roller limit switches act to ensure that the door fully opens and closes without over or under running.

Pictured below is a alternative but similar device which uses a programmable digital timer to set the times of day that the door is to open and close.

When the timer turns on, the motor runs to open the door until the upper roller switch closes. Then when the timer turns off, the motor runs to close the door until the lower roller switch closes.

The advantage of using a timer is that the door can be set to open later on weekends for example to reduce noise from the birds, and the exact times the door is to be opened and closed can be set independently of the level of daylight (and therefore of the weather). The disadvantage is that the timings have to be changed every few weeks as the seasons change and the days get longer and shorter.

If you need any type of automatic poultry house door controller, please email neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your exact requirements.

Poultry Lighting Controller with LVD and Display

Posted on January 8, 2015 by neil

We have been selling a selection of poultry lighting controllers for many years now – devices designed to stimulate egg production in the winter months using artificial light at dusk and/or before dawn to trick the birds.

Pictured below is a bespoke lighting controller we recently made for a more advanced poultry lighting controller including a double voltage regulator so that more LED bulbs can be used in a large poultry house, an automatic low voltage disconnect, and an LCD display to show system status and for use in setting up the system.

This device will automatically detect dusk and turn on the lights in the poultry house for a user-programmable number of hours (including zero). The lights then turn off (if they had been on) and remain off for 9 hours to give the birds a 9 hour sleep and a 15 hour day for maximum egg production. The lights then turn on in the early morning and remain on until dawn when natural light is bright enough to take over.

Dawn and dusk are detected using a light dependent resistor, and the user can calibrate the exact light level which they consider to be at the threshold between day and dusk, and between night and dawn.

To protect the battery from being run too low of charge and being damaged, the user can programme into the device three trigger voltages: a voltage below which the on board red LED will turn on as an early warning, a voltage below which the output (to the lights if on) will be turned off, and a voltage above which the low voltage disconnect will be cancelled restoring the outputs automatically when the battery is recharged.

There is also a manual override option which enables the lights to be turned on manually at any time (low voltage disconnect permitting) when the poultry house needs to be cleaned or the eggs to be collected etc.

At all times the backlit LCD display shows the status of the system including the currently measured battery voltage, whether the LVD is engaged, whether the outputs are on or off, the current position in the cycle DAY, DUSK, SLEEP, PREDAWN, DAWN (or MANUAL when the override is active), and the currently measured light level relative to the user set threshold.

If you need any kind of poultry lighting solution, please email neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your exact requirements and we should be able to put something suitable together for you.

Rainwater Toilet Flush Pump Controller with Overrun Protection

Posted on January 2, 2015 by neil

We make a wide selection of rainwater toilet flush pump controllers for domestic use, and pictured below is another of these.

This particular controller is designed to be used where there is a very large amount of rainwater storage and a relatively small header tank. In this scenario, if the float switch which detects whether the header tank is full were ever to fail or get jammed with debris etc, 1000’s of litres of stored rainwater could be pumped out through the header tank overflow and lost.

In this controller, the user can programme in a maximum pump running time. If the pump ever runs for longer than that time, it will automatically be turned off, and will not turn on again until there has been manual intervention from the user (checking over everything and resetting the controller).

In standard operation, the controller simply checks the status of the header tank float switch located just below the tank overflow outlet, and shows this status with an LED indicator. Once every four hours, the controller tops up the header tank by turning on the pump and running it until the header tank is detected to to be full.

If you need any kind of pump controller, please contact neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your exact requirements.

Solar Pool Pump Controller with Overheat Diversion

Posted on December 9, 2014 by neil

Pictured below is a controller we recently made based around our standard 2014 Solar Pump Controller. The modifications and additions have been made so that this device can be used to safely control the pump for a small solar heated pool located in sunny Egypt, ensuring that neither the pool nor the solar panel will overheat in the extreme weather conditions found there.

With our standard controller, the pool temperature could become unpleasantly or dangerously hot in very sunny climates. We have made many controllers which automatically turn off the pump if the pool temperature exceeds a user set threshold (such as this simple solar hot tub pump controller). However, just turning off the pump in the middle of summer in Egypt could easily result in the the contents of the solar collector boiling which could also be dangerous and damaging.

Therefore this particular controller can be set up by the user (via the on board buttons and provided LCD display) with a maximum pool temperature. If the pump is running (because the solar collector is hot) and the pool reaches the maximum temperature, a relay closes which turn energises a solenoid valve. This valve will divert the solar heated water away from the pool and through a copper coil into a vented tank or barrel where it can boil/evaporate off safely. A float valve at the top of this container will top it up with cool water to replace evaporative losses. When the pool temperature falls by two degrees, the solenoid valve will be de-energised and the solar heating of the pool will start again.

If you need any kind of solar water heating pump controller, have a look at our range of off the shelf products here: Solar Water Heating, and if you cannot find something suitable, email neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your exact requirements so that we can design and build you something.

Real Time Clock Timebase for Lazy Clock

Posted on November 25, 2014 by neil

Pictured below is a timer we recently designed and built to act as an accurate timebase for a Lazy Clock (see here for details: Lazy Clock – PDF plans for this wood gear clock driven by a solenoid)

The device we made has a real time clock module based around the Dallas DS1307 Real Time Clock (RTC) – top left of the board pictured above. This can be set up (via the Arduino Pro Mini at the bottom left of the board) to output a 1Hz square wave – i.e. outputting a high signal for exactly 0.5 seconds followed by a low signal for exactly 0.5 seconds, repeating.

The device can be programmed by the user to close the on board relay for 0.25, 0.50, or 0.75 seconds, every 1, 2, 3, 4, 5..etc seconds using this 1Hz square wave as a trigger. The relay switches the solenoid which in turn keeps the Lazy Clock accurate to within a few seconds per day.

If you need any kind of relay timer, please email neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your exact requirements.

PIR Motion Sending Relay Controller for Security

Posted on November 24, 2014 by neil

Pictured below is a PIR sensor based security system relay controller we recently made.

We make a lot of devices to interact with and monitor motion sensors – for example our user programmable PIR Relay Timer designed for use with standard domestic PIR motion sensors such as the popular Honeywell IS-215T.

This controller pictured has a few added features specific to the requirements of the customer. A switch has been fitted so that the system can be armed easily when required. When the switch is closed, the user has 10 seconds to get out of the range of the motion sensor. While motion is being detected, the red LED is on, and after motion is first detected the yellow LED turns on and stays on. 10 seconds after motion is first detected the connected siren and strobe light are activated. Therefore the user has 10 seconds upon entering the protected area to disarm the system by turning off the switch (the location of which is of course unknown to intruders).

The user can programme in the duration that the siren and strobe lights will be on after motion is detected.

If you require any kind of system to interact with one or more PIR motion sensors, email neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your exact requirements.

New Raspberry Pi Model A+

Posted on November 15, 2014 by neil

Pictured below is the latest Raspberry Pi – the Raspberry Pi Model A+ which replaces the old Model A.

As with the Raspberry Pi Model B+ released back in July 2014 (see here: New Raspberry Pi Model B+), the Model A+ has the 40 GPIO pins, reduced power consumption, modified composite video, and a micro SD slot, but the Model A+ still only have 256MB of RAM compared to 512MB for the B+.

The Raspberry Pi Model A+ is smaller than all previous credit card sized Raspberry Pi’s being a whole 2cm shorter in length.

With just the one USB port and no ethernet port, if the Model A+ is to be accessible over your network, you will need a USB WiFi adapter as pictured below installed in the A+.

It is likely that the Model A+ will primarily be used as a headless device, but initial set up of Wi-Fi still requires a keyboard and display to be connected – a USB hub is useful at this time. With everything configured, the Model A+ is ready for embedding in your projects.

The following is a very useful guide from How-To Geek which shows how to set up Wi-Fi from the command line: How to Setup Wi-FI on Your Raspberry Pi from the Command Line.

The Raspberry Pi Model A+ is available in the UK for around £17, considerably cheaper than the £27 Model B+. (Both best priced from cpc.farnell.com)

Modified Solar Pump Controller for Solar Air Heating

Posted on November 7, 2014 by neil

Pictured below is a custom controller we recently made based around our 2014 Solar Water Heating Pump Controller with LCD.

This device is designed to be used with a solar air heating system. There is one waterproof temperature sensor to detect the temperature within the solar air heating panel, with the second sensor mounted directly to the circuit board to measure ambient internal temperature.

Instead of the usual 1 Amp rated output for connection to a relay, this board has a relay fitted directly to it to directly switch the power to a 250 cfm fan which drives hot air from the solar collector into the house.

As with the standard 2014 solar pump controller, this device has an LCD display to show the temperature of the solar collector and (in this case) the ambient air temperature and system status information, as well as enabling temperature differentials to be set at which the fan will be turned on and then turned off and to control a manual override.

If you need a controller similar to this, please email neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your exact requirements.

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