Krypto's Ultimate Controler

[Guest]

Hopefully Tomorrow, we'll get to this part.

BTW, your gonna need either 20 or so female connectors or a soldering iron and solder to connect everything to the relays.
I can't recall what size they are "try to find that out tomorrow", but the openings on them are large enough to secure two or three ends of wire.
If used spareingly, you may be able to get away with using the extra length of wire that came attached to your float switches.

Any Questions on where we are so far ?

 

[Bonzo]

hey krypto im eagerly awaiting the next step. have you found a good place to get buckets? i am calling a company on monday about black 3.5 gallon ones, looks promising, ill let you know what i find out

 

[Guest]

I found black 3.5 gallon buckets at BestContainers.com.

I ordered a bunch last week when this thread was started.

Thanks Krypto for you your excellent info, you saved all who are interested hundreds of dollars. I too am eagerly awaiting the wiring diagram and the final instructions.

 

[Guest]

Fill all of the holes that have been drilled with a grommet and it's time to mount the switches.

 

[Guest]

Mounting the Float Switches.

Mounting the Float Switches.

Take a REAL Good look at this switch.

Do you see the C-clip at the end of the switch.
That C-clip is there to hold the float on the stem of the switch.

Do you see the magnet inside of the switch?

Inside of the switch there is a small reed, when the magnet passes over the reed it pulls the reed against the other contact point. Now the switch is in the closed position and allows current to ass through it operating whatever device is on the other end of the switch.

This float can be removed, reversed and replaced to allow you to change the contact point.

The switches I ordered came in the opposite position than how I needed them to be.
Simple fix.
Remove the C-clip, reverse the float and replace so that your magnet is in this position, with the magnet towards the end of the switch with the C-clip..

 

[Guest]

Mount those switches by pushing your 90 through the grommet from the inside of the bucket just until the first ridge of the 90 shows on the outside of the bucket.

shoudl look like this:

The two bottom switches should be mounted with the C-clip end pointing towards the bottom of the bucket.

The two top switches should be mounted with the C-clip end pointing upwards towards the top of the bucket.

Should look like this:

 

[Guest]

phototropic.
Please Post a pic or detailed description of the buckets when they arrive. I am very curious and HOPING they are what i have been looking for.
Thank You!


Bonzo,, :tup:

I prefer Black Buckets but they are not as necessary IMO as the type of rim on the top of the bucket.
The ideal bucket would be able to fit together leaving an inch to an inch and a half between the two buckets. This way the flood reaches maximum height inside the buckets.

One easy fix for the tall rimmed buckets would be to cut inches off the top of the buckets. An example would be taking a rim or two off of the top of the style of bucket I am using here as the controler bucket.

Thw White bucket I am using here is a Full Beam and is the closest to ideal as i could find, and BELIEVE ME,, I have found , contacted and asked for samples of product to be sent to me from every distributor mentioned here.
I would be shocked to hear of a supplier I haven't contacted.
I have yet to recieve a single sample and most of the salespeople I have contacted are extremely lame. It's hard for me to imagine how they keep their jobs .

If you order a Basco catalog online they WILL have a salesperson contact you the next day. :tup:
Calling them is on the to do list but for this mucked up version of my tutorial were gonna fly with what we have on hand.

Ideally and one reason I haven't gotten to this sooner is that all parts must be readily and easily available to most individuals.
Also I would liketo re-write this at a later time using components for our friends across the pond. I would imagine there are converters that are used to adapt the current which would make use of this system not a problem in European Countries.

I was actually considering marketing my larger version of this system, of course I would have to make a change in how the switches work, and that, I haven't been able to do.
I also have idea's for a different bucket system but that would require me to have a specialty bucket made. To do that cost Money. Lot's of Money for design and limited maufacturing.

I'll do my best to get back to this tomorrow. There are a few other things I need to do and gather. Just a few hours ago, while screwing up some wallboard my old POS ladder finally gave way taking me down with it.
That didn't hurt.
I am having extreme pain in the top of my ankle at the moment so it's limiting my ability to move around pretty much.
Hopefully after a good soak and nights sleep we'll be back in action tomorrow.
Saty Safe, Free and High . :tup:

 

[chuckyoufarley]

WOW

WOW

holy fu--ing mcgyver BUDMAN that is some cool shit very nice post
kryotonite
peace chucky

 

[Guest]

I received my order from BestContainers.com today, exactly 1 week from the date I ordered them. I had them shipped ground to California, 12 of them came to $5.50 each with shipping.

I measured the height from the lip of the bucket to the rim and it was approximately 2.5 inches. Judging from the looks of your photo of your white bucket they are identical except for the color.

Got my relays, timer, pumps, fittings, tubing, gromets, drill bit, cord, and buckets. I have a friend that works with sheet metal and he is working on the housing. The only thing I am missing are the float valves and the timer, hopefully they will get here soon as well.

Ill be catching up over the next few days and once my controller is finished I will post up some pics.

Your tutorial is not going unused, Krypto, thanks again for your time.

If anyone reading along is on the fence about making one of these, I urge you to give it a try. Its a much better system than the one available commercially, especially when you consider the potential to use any size buckets. Make one! You will be glad you did come harvest time.

 

[Guest]

phototropic..
THANK You Sir!!

I made my metal version of the box out of sheet metal, aluminum flashing would probably work really wel and be easy to work with.
I measured and cut the metal to size and then cut two 2 X 4's to the length I wanted the box to be, screwed the two 2 X 4's together, clamped the metal to them and molded the metal round the pieces of 2 X.

The original box is made of plastic.

For this tutorial I will be using a tupperware type container which is much easier to cut out.

 

[Guest]

Where were we?

OK, take ONE lead from each of the two top switches and join them together with a female connector. should look like this:

Repeat this step for the bottom two switches .

 

[Guest]

Now take the lead from the upper left switch, "the one that is not attached to the upper right switch" and attach two jumper wires to it using three of the female connectors.

Should look like this when finished:

 

[Guest]

Take the unused lead from the upper right switch and attach ONE female connector .

Should look like this when finished .

 

[Guest]

Take the unattached lead from the bottom left switch and attach it to ONE female connector.
Should look like this when finished .

 

[Guest]

Take the unattached lead from the lower right switch and add two jumper wires to it and three female connectors .

Should look like this when finished:

Same connections on top and bottom BUT on opposite switches.

 

[Guest]

You can mount all the electrical in anything you want, screw it all to a wall if you wish. I prefer to have it housed to prevent water from getting on it as much as possible AND to prevent electrical shock.
I was hit once fooling around with my punkin controler over summer. It'll really get the old heart a beating.

This is what I will be using for a housing as most people should be able to find something similar fairly easy .
Mom dropped me off some grub in it but she ain't gettin it back.
Sorry Mom! and Thank you!

What have done here is trace out holes to be cut so that the timer and AC outlets will fit in there nice and snug.
The AC outlets have small retaining clips on them so if you cut it right they will snap right into place. You can cut the holes out using a utility knife or whatever you have handy. A Heated utility knife works well or you can use a spade bit and trim the corners out. For the timer a hole saw works excellent, I believe it is a 2.25 inch hole saw but don't quote me on that .

 

[Guest]

Now take your two Relays, tape them togther with some electrical tape and mark ONE with an A and the other with a B

Like this:

 

[Guest]

Everyone with me so far???

Don't start building until I make sure any possible bugs in this build are worked out.
I doubt we'll have any, but it has been a while since I built one .

 

[Guest]

Here we go again .

Cut out the openings for your Timer, outlets and cords.
In this pic there is only one hole for the cord but we will be needing three, one for the power supply cord and one for each set of switch wires.

I used a 2.25 inch hole saw for the timer hole, which is the perfect size. I used a 13/16ths of an inch spade bit for the switch holes and then a hack saw blade to cut the corners out, then a file to clean it up for a nice fit.
A drill bit for the power supply and switch holes.

A Tip: drill holes from teh inside against a flat surface to avoid cracking the plastic of the container, "like I did".

 

[Guest]

Running the power supply cord.

Attach a jumper and two female connects to your positive lead on the cord.