Fan controller?

[Hurk]

I don't need no fancy store bought fan controller. I'll just repurpose a thermostat and some contractors and relays from other hvac equipment

I'm also running my lighting off of it. The thermostat brings on the "heat" aka light and higher fan speed for 12 hours a day. The rest of the time it runs the fan at a lower speed. I've had 2 timers screw up on me in the past 6 months. This way the timer is just a 24 volt thermostat. I think it should be more reliable. I also wired in some high temp shutoffs to the ballast and cool tube.

 

[burns1n209]

Sweet

 

[Hurk]

Thanks man. Hey I was just thinking, I could probably use this as a flip-flop for a light. The way its set up when one contactor opens, the other one closes at the same time. What do you think?

 

[burns1n209]

Sounds like it would work hopefully rives will stop In and comment I know enough abou5 electricity to get by but not enough of the technical aspect like him.

 

[rives]

I can't really tell what you've got going on there, it looks like a few ty-raps and a wire-nut on that bare red wire on the upper left might be in order.....

Building a flip should be no problem, but I don't understand how you are using a tstat in place of a timer - one is temperature-based control and the other is time-based. Are you talking about a programmable tstat so that it has a timer built into it?

Most thermostats don't have a c-form contact arrangement (common;normally open;normally closed) which would be the simplest way to drive a flip, but you could drive a pilot relay with the tstat to get the contacts that you need, and in turn drive the lighting contactors.

Are you talking about a true flip (one ballast feeding two lamps) or selecting between two ballasts? My concern would be that you are getting a hell of a lot of different voltage levels in there with no barriers between them.

 

[Hurk]

Thanks for your input. Yes its a programmable thermostat with a timer built in. Basically the way I'm using the thermostat is like this: I have the fan switch on, which sends 24v through the relay and closes one of the contactors, and for 12 hours a day I have it programmed to bring the "heat" on, so when the thermostat sends signals both for fan and "heat" the relay switches the 24 volts to the other contactor. I do hvac so I guess I'm just more comfortable with a low voltage control circuit, also I already had most of the stuff in my van. The only things I had to go out and buy were the box and the gfi outlet. One more thing I've been meaning to do is put a 5 amp automotive fuse on the low voltage side. Oh and what looks like an exposed red wire is actuality an unused ground that I cut off. I'm only using one conductor in that wire for high speed fan.