Aqucontroller Switch Box

[dhoch]

There was a question in the other forum in a thread about the aquacontrollers about making a switch box so I thought I would post some pics of mine here for posterity.

 

All parts came from Radio Shack except for the float switch (not sure where I got that from), and the mini-din cable... I believe I got that at a mac store. (Note that one I got at one of the big box computer stores was NOT wired straight thru)

 

Parts needed:

• Hobby Box (1)
  
• Switches (I used 4)
  
• TS Sockets (I used 4)
  
• TS Jacks (I have 4, but only ever used 2)
  
• Wire
  
• Straight thru Mini-Din cable
  

1. I drilled 8 holes in the top of box and mounted the swtiches and the Sockets.
   
2. I stripped one end of the minidin cable down to the wires
   
3. Tested the cable to figure out that blue was ground, and which ones triggered switch 1 2 3 and 4 (you do this by setting up commands like this on your aquacontroller: If Swtich1 is Closed THEN ACT OFF and then touching cables together to turn of the actinic then your two cables are the switch1 cable, and the ground. Set up a similar statement for Switch2, again touch and reason out which is ground and which is switch 2 cable, etc.
   
4. Soldered the thing together See picture 2 below(excuse my poor soldering)... anyone who wants to come do this for me and has better soldering skills (and tools) I would gladly take them up on this.
   
5. Assuming you have it setup correctly test it...and then you are good to go
   

My pics below show the box, the box with the minidin cable, the wiring (dont' trust my colored wires, test for yourself!!!) and then a couple of pics of how I wired a float swtich that I can stick on and/or remove.

 

Questions?

 

Dave

 

[Guest webshout]

Ok, now I'm gonna have to go look at an Aquacontroller and see if this all makes sense.

 

Thanks for the post.

 

William

[YBeNormal]

Thanks Dave. That gives me ideas. If I understand the Neptune description for the ACIII correctly though, it only supports two TTL level external inputs so the other two switches you have on your box could not be used as additional independent switches wired into the ACIII. The ACIII Pro model support four external inputs.

[dhoch]

I have the PRO

 

That being said, I THINK if you get one the expansion boxes you can do up to 6....Hmmmm research

 

Dave

[dhoch]

Verified if you have a PX1000 you can have up to 6 of those little switches.... Hmmmm maybe time to add some more switches...

 

Who can do some soldering in a professional way?

 

Dave

[NRehman]

Dave, your ingenuity more than makes up for your soldering skills!

[YBeNormal]

I have the PRO

 

Uh, yes of course. I knew that...

 

I'm pretty sure I will need an expansion box in the future. That and some spare time to actually do the work!

[NRehman]

Bob,

Do I hear "expansion box GROUP BUY" coming up????

[dhoch]

Dave, your ingenuity more than makes up for your soldering skills!

I take no credit for this, or anything else that I have "come up with". I just read a lot and steal from others. In fact I've said a number of times (especially when you come to see my tank) that all the good ideas for my tank came from someone else.

 

Dave

[NRehman]

Ummn... I'd call that synergistic thinking.

Again, thanks for sharing.

[EBR]

Ok, now I'm gonna have to go look at an Aquacontroller and see if this all makes sense.

 

Thanks for the post.

 

William

 

I have to agree - I'm not sure how this fits in with controller. Probably because I don't have one (yet). Are these switches in line with sensor inputs?

Matt

[dhoch]

Well it gives you a couple of things:

 

1) If you want to swtich something on or off manually you can do it via the menu but that takes time, plus you would have to do each device individually. The switch can be programmed so that with the flick of the switch multiple devices can be turned off

 

For example my skimmer has 2 pumps: Feed, and circulation. I can turn both off with a flick of the switch.

 

2) You can wire in external devices like float swtiches, so that the state of your floatswtich can be seen by the aquacontroller, and in programming you can have it turn on/off something (like a ATO).

 

Dave

[lletellier]

is this the same thing dan does with the DC8's? If so I highly recommend doing this, I got my acjr from him with a control tower and 2 DC8's and wow does it make turning things on and off SOO much easier! picture of it is in my thread and he has one with I believe 4 DC8's hooked up to an ACIII on his new tank.

[dhoch]

No... Something completely different.... well not quite...ALMOST the same principal.

 

I'm not sure how you have it wired. Those 8 Channel Devices would be wired as follows:

 

Multiple Devices (up to 8 Lights, Pumps) -> 1 8 Channel Device -> 1 Socket (That one socket COULD be a DC8 socket but not necessarily).

 

There is no way to have a single or multiple devices there controlled by a single switch AND be controlled by the aquacontroller Jr. independent of other devices.

 

I.E. if something is plugged into that 8 channel device it's NOT controllable by the aquacontroller, and I'm guessing vice versa.

 

The switch box I have built allows the device to be simultaneous used.

 

Dave

 

That is unless dan spliced wires some how.

[lletellier]

if I understand what your saying dan must have done some wire splicing cause 8 switches are run my my ac jr and 8 are just regular outlets with switches. I was told that I could have up to 12 separate switches that are controlled by my ac jr. Once again Dan is the Man...