Hi Guys
Thought some might be interested in how my system has been working and some enhancements i have made to it....Also one thing i forgot to mention in my original post was that i incorporated an overflow pipe into my drain system in case the pump failed ...This consisted of 3 tee pieces and 1 elbow....This was easy to add as i had dug quite a large hole as i was initially going to install a pit....
Its been approx 6 weeks since it was fully operational and on the whole it has worked quite well....One issue i was having was that the Drain Float switch would occassionly stick and not operate the pump when required....During winter here thats not a problem as we get enough rain to fill my tank several times....I installed a Mimic Panel so i could see from my Sunroom when the pump was running....If it was raining and the pump indicator wasnt lit i would go out to the drain and shake the suction pipe (the float switch was cabled tied to this) and this
would usually activate the drain switch.....
We havent had rain here in Melbourne for about 3 weeks and i could see my tank water level was starting to drop ..then last week we had one day were it rained all day and when i got home my Tank level hadnt changed , checked the drain and sure enough the float switch had stuck again ...grrrrr..... so i decided that today i would remove the float switch and use my spare Water Board to monitor the drain level....
I remove the float switch wiring and installed a 2 pair cable for the drain sensors but i had to relocate the water board closer (on the valve stand) to the drain as it appears that cable length to the sensors must be reasonably short (less than 4 metres) for it to work properly...
This meant i had to run a multicore to power the Water board and also get feedback to the plc from the Waterboard....I used the 2 pair cable for the Gate valve Sensor (see below)
I modified the Plunger to incorporate the low level and high sensors ...see pic...This worked out quite well....but i had to put a plastic sleeve around the foot valve (check valve) on the suction hose as it was quite close to the low level jubilee clip...
Mimic Panel
I have added a small mimic panel to show me the status of the pump , Tank full level, Tank Low level ,system Fault/Fault Reset....System Fault is just some basic checking of the water level probes....Theres also a Button called Manual Mode...
Manual Mode
Currently theres no irrigation to our small vegie Patch so i decided to add a button which turns the pump on so we can water the vegie garden as well as wash the cars ...I installed a Gate valve which a garden hose could be connected to....When the Manual push button is pressed it starts the pump and energises one of the irrigation valves....I have incorporated a timer which stops manual mode after 10 minutes......This works quite well as it ensures that if for some reason the nozzle comes off the garden hose we wont loose a full tank of water if no one is around to shut it off.....
Gate Valve Sensor
Several times i have watered the vegie patch and forgot to turn off the gate valve when finished...and to date it hasnt been a problem as the garden hose has has a nozzle on at all times ,but if the nozzle had of been removed i would have lost a lot of water during normal irrigation as the Gate valve is connected to the manifold that goes to the irrigation system...
I had a couple of used industrial prox switches so i used one to monitor the status of the gate valve and works like this....
To now start Manual Mode the plc must not sense the Gate Valve closed sensor (meaning the gate valve must be open)....When the Gate valve is opened a 30 minute timer is started...if it times out( ie gate valve left opened) it flashes the system fault lamp...This lets me know to turn the gate valve off.....If the gate vale is closed before the 10 minute Manual timer expires it will automatically shut down the pump and irrigation valve....The gate valve must also be closed to allow Irrigation Mode to work.....
Hopefully these changes will make my system a little more bullet proof....
Heres a link to some pics of the changes...
http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z38/fra...ter%20Tank%202/
Frank
Thought some might be interested in how my system has been working and some enhancements i have made to it....Also one thing i forgot to mention in my original post was that i incorporated an overflow pipe into my drain system in case the pump failed ...This consisted of 3 tee pieces and 1 elbow....This was easy to add as i had dug quite a large hole as i was initially going to install a pit....
Its been approx 6 weeks since it was fully operational and on the whole it has worked quite well....One issue i was having was that the Drain Float switch would occassionly stick and not operate the pump when required....During winter here thats not a problem as we get enough rain to fill my tank several times....I installed a Mimic Panel so i could see from my Sunroom when the pump was running....If it was raining and the pump indicator wasnt lit i would go out to the drain and shake the suction pipe (the float switch was cabled tied to this) and this
would usually activate the drain switch.....
We havent had rain here in Melbourne for about 3 weeks and i could see my tank water level was starting to drop ..then last week we had one day were it rained all day and when i got home my Tank level hadnt changed , checked the drain and sure enough the float switch had stuck again ...grrrrr..... so i decided that today i would remove the float switch and use my spare Water Board to monitor the drain level....
I remove the float switch wiring and installed a 2 pair cable for the drain sensors but i had to relocate the water board closer (on the valve stand) to the drain as it appears that cable length to the sensors must be reasonably short (less than 4 metres) for it to work properly...
This meant i had to run a multicore to power the Water board and also get feedback to the plc from the Waterboard....I used the 2 pair cable for the Gate valve Sensor (see below)
I modified the Plunger to incorporate the low level and high sensors ...see pic...This worked out quite well....but i had to put a plastic sleeve around the foot valve (check valve) on the suction hose as it was quite close to the low level jubilee clip...
Mimic Panel
I have added a small mimic panel to show me the status of the pump , Tank full level, Tank Low level ,system Fault/Fault Reset....System Fault is just some basic checking of the water level probes....Theres also a Button called Manual Mode...
Manual Mode
Currently theres no irrigation to our small vegie Patch so i decided to add a button which turns the pump on so we can water the vegie garden as well as wash the cars ...I installed a Gate valve which a garden hose could be connected to....When the Manual push button is pressed it starts the pump and energises one of the irrigation valves....I have incorporated a timer which stops manual mode after 10 minutes......This works quite well as it ensures that if for some reason the nozzle comes off the garden hose we wont loose a full tank of water if no one is around to shut it off.....
Gate Valve Sensor
Several times i have watered the vegie patch and forgot to turn off the gate valve when finished...and to date it hasnt been a problem as the garden hose has has a nozzle on at all times ,but if the nozzle had of been removed i would have lost a lot of water during normal irrigation as the Gate valve is connected to the manifold that goes to the irrigation system...
I had a couple of used industrial prox switches so i used one to monitor the status of the gate valve and works like this....
To now start Manual Mode the plc must not sense the Gate Valve closed sensor (meaning the gate valve must be open)....When the Gate valve is opened a 30 minute timer is started...if it times out( ie gate valve left opened) it flashes the system fault lamp...This lets me know to turn the gate valve off.....If the gate vale is closed before the 10 minute Manual timer expires it will automatically shut down the pump and irrigation valve....The gate valve must also be closed to allow Irrigation Mode to work.....
Hopefully these changes will make my system a little more bullet proof....
Heres a link to some pics of the changes...
http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z38/fra...ter%20Tank%202/
Frank
