Controller for Simple Rainwater Toilet Flush System

Posted on February 16, 2020 by neil

We continue to make a wide range of controllers for rainwater toilet flush systems. Pictured below is one of the simpler units for use in systems with just one float switch located near the top of a toilet cistern, with the supply coming from a water butt that has a pump with run dry protection or a well with a 100% consistent supply of water.

As the inside of a toilet cistern can have very turbulent water, this controller is built with automatic time delays. The float switch has to be detected to be down (after toilet flushing) continuously for two seconds before the pump will be turned on, and then the float switch has to be detected to be up continuously for two seconds before the pump will be turned off again (cistern refilled above the height of the float switch).

We also make controllers for systems with header tanks feeding multiple toilets, up to three float switches, with displays to show system status, and/or dataloggers to keep track of number of flushes and/or the volume of rainwater used etc. Some of these are detailed in our rainwater category.

If you require any kind of rainwater toilet flush pump controller, please email neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your planned system and requirements.

Solar Water Heating Pump Controller with Timer Override

Posted on August 16, 2018 by neil

Pictured above is a solar water heating pump controller we recently made for a customer. This device is based around our popular 2016 solar water heating pump controller with display and datalogger, but has some added features.

The first added feature is a maximum temperature override. As this device will be used for solar heating of a swimming pool, we added user programmable maximum pool temperature override. If the pool starts to get too hot, the pump bringing hot water from the solar panel will not be run again until the pool temperature has fallen by at least two degrees Celcius.

The second added feature which we have not been asked for before is a timer override. The user of this device only wants the pump to be allowed to run between 10am and 4pm, so we have added a 12V programmable digital timer so that the user can set the times of operation of the heating system.

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

Water Tank Thermostat Controller

Posted on April 17, 2018 by neil

We were recently commissioned to design and build a thermostatic controller for a large tank of water (5m3) which has to be maintained within a narrow temperature window for the testing of ultra-sonic scanning equipment.

Pictured above is the device we came up with. The user can set a target temperature threshold of 15 and 30 °C in 0.5°C steps using the UP and DOWN buttons. If the temperature of the water falls to 0.25°C or more below the threshold, then a relay closes which turns on a heater. When the temperature of the water has reached 0.25°C or more above the threshold, the relay opens again and the heater turns off. This keeps the water within +/- 0.25°C of the target temperature.

Since the temperature of such a large volume of water is slow to change, the update time of the thermometer in this device does not need to be very fast. We could therefore set the resolution of the DS18B20 temperature sensor to 12-bit (0.0625°C) by accepting an almost 0.75 seconds temperature reading update time.

The display shows the current measured temperature (top left), heater status (top right), and the temperature threshold which has been set by the user.

If you need any kind of thermostatic controller, please email neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your requirements.

Controller for Multi-Pump Irrigation System Water Distribution

Posted on April 9, 2018 by neil

Pictured below is a diagram of an irrigation system comprising three water tanks located on three terraces. The lowest tank contains a bilge pump which will pump water up to the next terrace, and the tank on that terrace has a pump to send water up to the top tank.

The bilge pump has its own float switches and will, when powered, start pumping when its upper float switch detects water (full tank) and will stop when its lower float switch does not detect water (empty tank).

The two higher tanks have float switches so that their water level status can be monitored. Pictured below is the controller we built to manage the two pumps in order to best distribute the stored water across the three tanks while minimising overflow wastage. Ideally no tank should ever be completely empty, and no tank should be full and overflowing if the next higher tank is not full.

This controller, built around an Arduino Pro Mini monitors the status of the float switches of the two upper tanks to decide when power should be supplied to a pump or pumps. If for example the middle tank is full, and the top tank is not, the Tank 2 pump will be run until either the middle tank is empty or the top tank is full. If the bottom tank is full, and Tank 2 is not, then the bilge pump will fill up Tank 2.

In order to prevent multi-switching (a pump being turned on and off rapidly and repeatedly) timers are built into this controller so that a pump will always overrun by 10 seconds when it is to be turned off. This will ensure that the state of the float switch which called for the pump to be turned off will be stable and unaffected by turbulence in tank.

If you need any type of pump controller, please email neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your requirements.

Irrigation Pump Timer with Low Voltage Disconnect

Posted on October 2, 2016 by neil

Pictured below is a device we made to control the pump of an automatic and often unattended irrigation system which is solar powered.

A programmable digital timer is set with the times that the pump is to be run – typically very early in the morning and in the evening. The pump for this particular irrigation system is relatively high powered, so could not be switched directly by the timer. Therefore a 10A rated relay is built into the controller.

As this system is solar powered and also often left unattended, it was essential to include a low voltage disconnect which will automatically prevent the pump from running whenever the measured battery voltage is found to be <11.9V. It then waits until the battery has been charged back up to over 12.5V before allowing the pump to run again.

LED indicators are included to show when the programmable timer is ON, the status of the low voltage disconnect, and also the status of the pump switching relay.

If you need any kind of irrigation pump timer or controller please email neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your requirements.

Automatic Irrigation System Timer Controller

Posted on July 16, 2016 by neil

Pictured below is a timer controller we recently made for a commercial irrigation system. This set up currently has four solenoid valves which when opened, water different regions in a large greenhouse. The number of solenoid valves will soon be increased to eight, so we had to make this controller work now with four valves, but be ready to control eight in the future. The controller is based around an Arduino Pro Mini.

The main controller board above drives four or eight of the 10 Amp rated relays on the relay board pictured below.

The small button at the top left of the main controller board can be used to toggle between four valve or eight valve operation as per the user’s requirements.

The valves are to be opened on a four hour cycle. With four valves, each valve is opened for 15 minutes in turn with a 15 minute delay between. Then after a two hour delay, the cycle repeats. With eight valves, each valve is opened in turn for 15 minutes with a 15 minute delay between each. The cycle then immediately repeats.

If you need an automatic timer controller for an irrigation system, please email neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your exact requirements.

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.

Automatic Pump Timeout Circuit

Posted on October 2, 2014 by neil

Picture below is an automatic timeout circuit we recently made for a rainwater collection system.

This is for use within a rainwater toilet flushing system with 3000 litres of rainwater storage capacity and a standard header tank in the loft with a ballcock. The pump is a 12V pressure activated pump of the type common in motorhomes and boats. As the toilets are flushed, the ballcock drops in the loft tank and the pump automatically switches on to refill the tank with water from storage butts in the garden.

If the rainwater supply runs out then the pump will run dry okay, but if it is left running dry for too long it will burn out. Therefore a device was required which would automatically cut the power to the pump if it was detected as having run for too long – more than five minutes. (It was not possible to use float switches to detect low water levels in the water storage vessels due to their location).

Handily the chosen pump outputs a 12V signal while it is running, so this can be used to monitor the status of the pump without the need to detect the increased current draw through the cables when the pump is running or the sudden dip in battery voltage when the pump switches on etc.

The device we made is fitted with a 10A rated relay with NC and COM connections – therefore when the relay is not energised, NC and COM are shorted out inside the relay and the pump receives power. When the relay is energised, NC and COM are open and so the pump receives no power.

When the pump is detected to have started running, a timer starts. If this timer gets to five minutes then the relay is energised cutting the power to the pump to save it from burning out. An LED is used to let the user know that this has happened and they system has to be powered off and then on again to reset it after the pump has been checked and the water stores replenished.

As the rainwater storage is also sometimes used to water gardens from a connected tap, the device also has a manual override. Pressing and holding the button for one second triggers the override and then the pump can be run for as long as the user wants until the override is cancelled with the button.

If you require any kind of rainwater pump and/or monitoring system, email neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your requirements.

Header Tank Filling Pump Controller

Posted on September 3, 2014 by neil

Pictured below is a controller we have just finished for a customer. We make a lot of rainwater toilet flush pump controllers, but this one is a little different from the norm.

This controller is for a pump with its own integrated run-dry float switch protection. A second float switch is located in the header tank. When the header tank float switch goes low (as the water level drops), a user programmable (1 to 99 minutes) timer starts a countdown. When the timer has elapsed, the pump is switched on with the on board relay, and is run until the float switch goes high on the increasing water level.

This version will work well for situations in which water is taken regularly from the header tank, and in particular in situations in which water will be taken from the header tank a few times typically during the timer countdown after the water level first used – e.g. multiple people coming home at the same time and all using the toilet.

The advantage of this system is that only one float switch is needed in the header tank (and there is no need to estimate the time taken to fill the tank by the pump etc).

The disadvantage of this system is that sometimes when the header tank is not being used, the water level will drop because of evaporative losses or leaks in the pipework etc. To mitigate against this, we set up the controller to run the pump for a minimum of 30 seconds each time it is turned on, and also to require one continuous second of changed float switch condition before any action is taken so that turbulence is ignored and to avoid multi-switching (which could rapidly damage the pump).

If you need a pump controller for your well, sump, rainwater toilet flushing, etc, then please email neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your exact requirements.

Rainwater Toilet Flush Pump Controllers with LCD

Posted on July 18, 2014 by neil

We have been making a bespoke range of controllers for people who would like to use rainwater for their toilet flushes for around 6-7 years now. Here is an example of one of our early Rainwater Toilet Flush System Controllers with details of how such a system works.

Pictured above is one of our more advanced systems which includes an LCD display to keep the user up to date with the status of the system and water levels in the water butt and header tank (which gravity feeds to the toilet cisterns in the home).

In this particular case, if the two float switches in the header tank are not in water, the tank is empty, and so the pump turns on to fill the tank. If there is sufficient water in the water butt to fill the tank, then the pump will stop when the tank is detected to be full. If however the water butt is empty (or becomes empty during pumping), then then controller sleeps for four hours to allow a rain shower to collect a good amount of rainwater (if it rains in the meantime) so that pumping later will fill the tank.

The display constantly shows the status of the water butt (WB) – either OK or LOW (empty), and the status of the header tank (HT) – either EMPTY, OK, or FULL. The bottom line of the display shows whether the pump is running, the controller is sleeping, or everything is just ticking along as it should.

The controller pictured above is a little more advanced. If the header tank is detected to be empty, then the pump will start as normal unless the water butt is also empty. If during pumping, the water butt becomes empty (or if it is already empty when the header tank is detected to be empty), a solenoid valve will close which will allow the flow of water up the rising main to enter the header tank to ensure that the toilets can always be flushed without any manual intervention.

The display for this particular controller also shows the user when the solenoid valve is open so they know that you are using mains water due to a lack of stored rainwater in the water butt. There is no need for a four hour delay with this unit since every time the header tank empties and the water butt is either empty or becomes empty during pumping, the mains water supply will top up the header tank.

This controller is based around an Arduino Pro Mini microcontroller development board and uses standard horizontal float switches in the water butt and header tank to detect water levels.

If you need a rainwater toilet pump controller of any type, please email neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your specific requirements.

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