Jump to content

Control Panel For My Reef Tank

Tommo

By Tommo,
in DIY Forum

 Share

Recommended Posts

Tommo Newbie

Tommo

Posted
Posted

Hi Everyone

It's A Automated Control System With Either A Touch Of A Button, Or A Flick Of A Switch . Or Just Let It All Do It's Business By It's Self.

Ok Here We Go .

I Have A PLC "Programmable Logic Controller" That Has 12 Inputs And 6 Outputs .

This Means I Can Use For Example 12 Switches/Buttons " It Can Be Much More Complex Than This But We Will Keep It Very Simple " No Disrespect To Anyone Here .

With These 12 Inputs I Can Program The Out Puts To Do Anything That I Wanted."Mind You Though You Don’t Have To Use All Inputs I Only Used 8"

From The Pic You Can See I Have 3 Lights At The Top.

The First Light Is A Red LED ,That Is An Alarm For The Temp Controller Which Is Not Associated With The PLC. The Temp Controller Controls My Heating And Cooling Via A Thermocouple That Senses A Voltage ,Via A Difference In Temp 0-10 Volts Then Switches Either A Heating Relay Or Cooling Relay ."That It For The Temp Controller, I Wanted to Do More With It But The Control Box Physical Size Would Not Allow Me ,And My Wife Would Have Killed Me If I Had A Bigger Panel"

The Second LED Is Blue , This Is Telling Me That The Auto Top up Is At The Correct Level.

The Pump To Come ON Only For 3 Min Every 12 Hours Subject To The Float Switch . "If The Sump Is Full Them There Is No Water Needed To Be Pumped Into The Sump."But From This Pic, The Bottom Right Hand Selector Switch Allows Me To Turn This Top Up Pump On And Off At Will,But I Must Hold The Switch In The On Position As It Is A Spring Return "So I Can Not Walk Away And Forget About It And Over Fill!

Now To The Second Row Of Switches

The First Button “Illuminated As All Buttons Areâ€

1)Red ,This Is The Return/ Calcium Reactor Button.

It Is Controlled Via The Switch And Also Other Buttons, But We Will Get To That If I Have Not Bored The Crap Out Of You Just Yet !

2)Blue, This Is The 2x250w Metal Halides These Turned On Via The Timer Through The PLC Also The Button And Also Controlled Via Another Switch .

3)White, This Control’s The Sump Light

The Third Row Of Buttons

1) Red This Is For My Power Heads They Can Be Switched On Or Off But Once Again Programmed To Be Off Via Another Switch.

2)Blue This Is For My Center Light A 1x250w Metal Halide Only On For 3 Hours A Day Via The Timer In The PLC But Once Again Can Be Turned On Or Off Via The Button.

3)LED Blue Lights These Come On After All My Metal Halides Go Off “Only For One Hour Though, Just To Stop Light Shock. Once Again Controlled Via A Timer And The Button.

The Fourth Row Of Buttons

1) Green Button This Is My Feeding Time Button . It Will Turn Off All Power Heads And Return Pump And Calcium Reactor For 10 Min , It Stops Blowing The Food All Over The Tank , It Automatically Turns All Pumps Back On After 10 Min.

2) Yellow Button This Turns “Everything OFF†Once Pressed For 8 Seconds .â€I Forgot To Mention The Metal Halides Have The Same Feature, They Need to Be Pressed For 3 Seconds To Activate “

The Selector Switches “The Bottom Of The Control Panel

Switch 1) Skimmer Either On Or Off

2)Chiller Pump On/Off

3) As Mentioned Above The Auto To Up Switch

Well This Is As Simple As I Can Make It I Hope That Everyone Likes My Design.

Cost Unknown As The Parts Were VERY Cheap Through Friends In The Trade.

Cheers Andrew

post-14455-1225782792.jpg

post-14455-1225782809.jpg

post-14455-1225782824.jpg

post-14455-1225782837.jpg

post-14455-1225782850.jpg

Pic.jpg
Link to comment
Share on other sites
sherman Enthusiast

sherman

Posted
Posted

That PLC look familar.

Is it telemecanique?

6.5 * 2 * 2 + 3.75 * 1.5 *1.5,(Decomn on 14/9/08)
4*2*2 + 2.5*1.25*1.25 (Decomn on 1/8/09)
5*2*2 (Fully LED light system, 140 3 watt SSC leds with 60 degree lens)(Decomm)
2.5*2*2(Fully LED Light System,96 3 watt SSC leds with 60 degree lens)(Decomm)

5*2.5*2(LED only)

Eheim return 1 * pump

1 HP Daikin compressor with cooling coil
2 Jebao OW40, 1 ecotech MP40,
1X6085 Tunze wm,

1 CURVE 7 Skimmer

  1 DIY 80 led control by Bluefish mini 

1 radion XR30W G2, 2 Radion XR15G3

Sump area lite by 5 ft T5 , 6 * SSC 3 watt red LED for refugium

1 Full spectrum E27 led light

1 CR control by bubble count

Start No Water Change since 1st Dec 2016

Add new 2.5x2x 1.5 ft 

 nLekOfpYts.jpg
[/quote]


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tommo Newbie

Tommo

Posted
  • Author
Posted
would love to make one of these....

but are the wires easy to remove if i wanna take out a pump to clean?

Hi stash,yes all the devices are connected with extension leads , they are not hard wired , thats the best bit about it , say if a pumps stops working i just unplug it as i would out of a power point.

It is not all that hard to make if you know a fair bit about electrical wiring and ,also programming PLC's .

Its easy for me as i am an electrician :)

Cheers Andrew

Pic.jpg
Link to comment
Share on other sites
stash Newbie

stash

Posted
Posted
Hi stash,yes all the devices are connected with extension leads , they are not hard wired , thats the best bit about it , say if a pumps stops working i just unplug it as i would out of a power point.

It is not all that hard to make if you know a fair bit about electrical wiring and ,also programming PLC's .

Its easy for me as i am an electrician :)

Cheers Andrew

Dear Bro Andrew can i come for tuition... been trying to learn this stuff but i dont get it.....

can meet u for BF one weekend... will buy u prata and coffee... plus me hehehe.

anyway i stay in woodlands....

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tommo Newbie

Tommo

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Dear Bro Andrew can i come for tuition... been trying to learn this stuff but i dont get it.....

can meet u for BF one weekend... will buy u prata and coffee... plus me hehehe.

anyway i stay in woodlands....

Hi Stash, i live in Australia , it would take me 7 hours on a plane LOL, but next time i am in Singapore, ill send you a message so we can catch up :)

Cheers Andrew

Pic.jpg
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tommo Newbie

Tommo

Posted
  • Author
Posted
anyway anyone know how to do this or a step by step instruction!!!!!

To be honest stash there is no step by step instruction, i made it while having a few beers ,but if you had a PLC and some relays,push buttons ,some form of temp controller , you can design the panel to do anything that you want , because it is all in the programming of the PLC.

Cheers Andrew

Pic.jpg
Link to comment
Share on other sites
stash Newbie

stash

Posted
Posted
To be honest stash there is no step by step instruction, i made it while having a few beers ,but if you had a PLC and some relays,push buttons ,some form of temp controller , you can design the panel to do anything that you want , because it is all in the programming of the PLC.

Cheers Andrew

hi bro to be honest, my knowladge of electronocs is changing from 2 pin to 3 pin plug or installing new power points that all..

what is a PLC ?

very keen on this ... when im free either today or tmr. will post a pic of something similar that i have :eyebrow:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sherman Enthusiast

sherman

Posted
Posted
Hi Sherman, no it is a generic brand called Eaton , but they are similar to a Klockner-Moller PLC

Oh I see.

I have telemecnique and it look the same.

6.5 * 2 * 2 + 3.75 * 1.5 *1.5,(Decomn on 14/9/08)
4*2*2 + 2.5*1.25*1.25 (Decomn on 1/8/09)
5*2*2 (Fully LED light system, 140 3 watt SSC leds with 60 degree lens)(Decomm)
2.5*2*2(Fully LED Light System,96 3 watt SSC leds with 60 degree lens)(Decomm)

5*2.5*2(LED only)

Eheim return 1 * pump

1 HP Daikin compressor with cooling coil
2 Jebao OW40, 1 ecotech MP40,
1X6085 Tunze wm,

1 CURVE 7 Skimmer

  1 DIY 80 led control by Bluefish mini 

1 radion XR30W G2, 2 Radion XR15G3

Sump area lite by 5 ft T5 , 6 * SSC 3 watt red LED for refugium

1 Full spectrum E27 led light

1 CR control by bubble count

Start No Water Change since 1st Dec 2016

Add new 2.5x2x 1.5 ft 

 nLekOfpYts.jpg
[/quote]


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tommo Newbie

Tommo

Posted
  • Author
Posted
hi bro to be honest, my knowladge of electronocs is changing from 2 pin to 3 pin plug or installing new power points that all..

what is a PLC ?

very keen on this ... when im free either today or tmr. will post a pic of something similar that i have :eyebrow:

Hi stash a PLC is a programmable logic controller.

Cheers Andrew

Oh I see.

I have telemecnique and it look the same.

Hi sherman you are right, as i said the one i have is a generic model i guess lots of companies use this type "most likely due to the easy way to program them"

Cheers Andrew

anyone keen to show me the ropes???

I would stash if i lived in Singapore "sorry mate"

Cheers Andrew

Pic.jpg
Link to comment
Share on other sites
sherman Enthusiast

sherman

Posted
Posted
Hi stash a PLC is a programmable logic controller.

Cheers Andrew

Hi sherman you are right, as i said the one i have is a generic model i guess lots of companies use this type "most likely due to the easy way to program them"

Cheers Andrew

I would stash if i lived in Singapore "sorry mate"

Cheers Andrew

Bro stash,

If you are interested I can show you how to do it.

But must be on those day I no working

6.5 * 2 * 2 + 3.75 * 1.5 *1.5,(Decomn on 14/9/08)
4*2*2 + 2.5*1.25*1.25 (Decomn on 1/8/09)
5*2*2 (Fully LED light system, 140 3 watt SSC leds with 60 degree lens)(Decomm)
2.5*2*2(Fully LED Light System,96 3 watt SSC leds with 60 degree lens)(Decomm)

5*2.5*2(LED only)

Eheim return 1 * pump

1 HP Daikin compressor with cooling coil
2 Jebao OW40, 1 ecotech MP40,
1X6085 Tunze wm,

1 CURVE 7 Skimmer

  1 DIY 80 led control by Bluefish mini 

1 radion XR30W G2, 2 Radion XR15G3

Sump area lite by 5 ft T5 , 6 * SSC 3 watt red LED for refugium

1 Full spectrum E27 led light

1 CR control by bubble count

Start No Water Change since 1st Dec 2016

Add new 2.5x2x 1.5 ft 

 nLekOfpYts.jpg
[/quote]


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sherman Enthusiast

sherman

Posted
Posted
wow sounds intresting.... which days are u free??? and where do u stay?

i at woodlands,near admiralty MRT

This week I free after 2000 except Monday

I stay Bukit Panjang

6.5 * 2 * 2 + 3.75 * 1.5 *1.5,(Decomn on 14/9/08)
4*2*2 + 2.5*1.25*1.25 (Decomn on 1/8/09)
5*2*2 (Fully LED light system, 140 3 watt SSC leds with 60 degree lens)(Decomm)
2.5*2*2(Fully LED Light System,96 3 watt SSC leds with 60 degree lens)(Decomm)

5*2.5*2(LED only)

Eheim return 1 * pump

1 HP Daikin compressor with cooling coil
2 Jebao OW40, 1 ecotech MP40,
1X6085 Tunze wm,

1 CURVE 7 Skimmer

  1 DIY 80 led control by Bluefish mini 

1 radion XR30W G2, 2 Radion XR15G3

Sump area lite by 5 ft T5 , 6 * SSC 3 watt red LED for refugium

1 Full spectrum E27 led light

1 CR control by bubble count

Start No Water Change since 1st Dec 2016

Add new 2.5x2x 1.5 ft 

 nLekOfpYts.jpg
[/quote]


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...
  • SRC Member
Vlamingi_cont Newbie

Vlamingi_cont

Posted
  • SRC Member
Posted
He stays in Australia, Melbourne. You can treat him to pan cakes instead. :upsidedown:

Wow foreign talent... :eyebrow: Cool working stuffs...

1ft cube with IOS [the low tech tank]

1. JBJ C-breeze to keep temp hovering around 27-28'C

2. LED clip on - 120 bulbs

-skimmer-less-

My 3 humble equipments that keeps my tank running... [DRIED OUT]

1. The RSM itself of course 2.My NEW Deltec MCE-300 Skimmer 3. My trusty Arctica Chiller

Tank parameters:

Temperature maintained at 25.3'C to 24.7'C

No3: 10ppm(b4 the use of the deltec skimmer)

No3: 5ppm (after use of the skimmer)

Others? too lazy to measure...LOL

Camera- EOS 50D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


×
×
  • Create New...