No its not manual, its auto!. I think the confusing part is "No ATO needed" when essentially what is going on is an ATO, just not your conventional one.
what i meant but no ATO needed, was literally no ATO meaning any mechanism other than a powersupply, solenoid, and swtiches. the method i use literally has not “ATO box”, no outlets, no pumps, nothing. its VERY simply. Ill try my best to explain. Taking pics wouldnt make it any clearer.
Buy a 12VDC solenoid($15-$20). By two float switches($5ea). The float switches will have two wires each. The solenoid will have two terminals on it for DC. Polarity does not matter so you cant hook it up wrong. Get a 12VDC wall transformer($5-$10) that as i mentioned most people will probably have laying around. These are the little ubiquitious black cubes that are used to power/charge various electronics. Just be sure that the voltages for the solenoid and transformer are the same. Cut the end of the transformer off that has the tiny female plug that would normally go into the device that it powers. The wire is always a two conductor wire that 99.99% of the time can be pulled apart with no tools. Now you should have two wires. Connect one to the solenoid. Take your other wire and connect it to one wire from one float switch(doesnt matter which). Take the other wire from the same float switch and connect it to either wire from your remaining float switch(again, doesnt matter which). Take your last remaining wire from your last float switch and connect it to your solenoid. Thats it. Very simple. Very cheap. Very reliable. Keep in mind, this only works if you have your RODI near your tank.
Take your output of your RODI and connect it to your solenoid on the input(does matter!). Take a seperate piece of 1/4" tubing and connect it from the output to your tank. Do not submerge the line because it can siphon if your RODI is T’d like mine ;D Put one switch(doesnt matter which) where you want your water level. Put the other anywhere above it. Plug in your transformer. When water evaporates below the first float you tank will fill until the water is back to original level. If the first float fails(i.e, snail or other obstruction) the second float will turn the solenoid off so no flood. The solenoids i use are rated for hundreds of thousands of cycles so these will outlast any pump. If they fail, they fail closed so you cant flood your tank that way. In other words it wont stay open unless both floats are stuck. If your really anal, and dont want to take ANY chances like me you can plug your transformer into a timer which comes for only a minute or so a day. This way even if both floats manage to get stuck you can only top off slightly more than you evaporate so that its almost impossible to have any accidents.[/quote]
now thats detailed. only question is , do u mean i have to have an ro/di unit? or it can be a bucket full of ro/di water?
There is a man that likes to live on the edge, lol. Are you serious Shawn? Only time I use suction cups any more is for heaters and even then they are annoying.
usually im not a fan. my switches downstairs are actually horizontals drilled through the glass and give me the most trouble(FN snails >:::). I built a “free floating” switch for downstairs that seems to be doing the trick. Upstairs i have 1 mount for each float with 4 suction cups and they’ve worked flawlessly since the solana has been up
now thats detailed. only question is , do u mean i have to have an ro/di unit? or it can be a bucket full of ro/di water?
yes. with a solenoid you need a direct feed from an RODI. the good thing about this method other than the ones mentioned is you dont need a bucket or resovoir. if you cant get an RO feed to your tank then you can use a resovoir but you will need a pump along with electronics to reduce the voltage going through your switches which is what an ATO is.
No its not manual, its auto!. I think the confusing part is "No ATO needed" when essentially what is going on is an ATO, just not your conventional one.
what i meant but no ATO needed, was literally no ATO meaning any mechanism other than a powersupply, solenoid, and swtiches. the method i use literally has not “ATO box”, no outlets, no pumps, nothing. its VERY simply. Ill try my best to explain. Taking pics wouldnt make it any clearer.
Buy a 12VDC solenoid($15-$20). By two float switches($5ea). The float switches will have two wires each. The solenoid will have two terminals on it for DC. Polarity does not matter so you cant hook it up wrong. Get a 12VDC wall transformer($5-$10) that as i mentioned most people will probably have laying around. These are the little ubiquitious black cubes that are used to power/charge various electronics. Just be sure that the voltages for the solenoid and transformer are the same. Cut the end of the transformer off that has the tiny female plug that would normally go into the device that it powers. The wire is always a two conductor wire that 99.99% of the time can be pulled apart with no tools. Now you should have two wires. Connect one to the solenoid. Take your other wire and connect it to one wire from one float switch(doesnt matter which). Take the other wire from the same float switch and connect it to either wire from your remaining float switch(again, doesnt matter which). Take your last remaining wire from your last float switch and connect it to your solenoid. Thats it. Very simple. Very cheap. Very reliable. Keep in mind, this only works if you have your RODI near your tank.
Take your output of your RODI and connect it to your solenoid on the input(does matter!). Take a seperate piece of 1/4" tubing and connect it from the output to your tank. Do not submerge the line because it can siphon if your RODI is T’d like mine ;D Put one switch(doesnt matter which) where you want your water level. Put the other anywhere above it. Plug in your transformer. When water evaporates below the first float you tank will fill until the water is back to original level. If the first float fails(i.e, snail or other obstruction) the second float will turn the solenoid off so no flood. The solenoids i use are rated for hundreds of thousands of cycles so these will outlast any pump. If they fail, they fail closed so you cant flood your tank that way. In other words it wont stay open unless both floats are stuck. If your really anal, and dont want to take ANY chances like me you can plug your transformer into a timer which comes for only a minute or so a day. This way even if both floats manage to get stuck you can only top off slightly more than you evaporate so that its almost impossible to have any accidents.[/quote]
now thats detailed. only question is , do u mean i have to have an ro/di unit? or it can be a bucket full of ro/di water?[/quote]
In the above scenario ATO (float switches and solenoid) you COULD use a bucket if you want, it would just need to be higher than the tank (or sump or wherever you are topping off). The solenoid would allow flow from the bucket to the tank. Basically you need something that will flow if left unchecked by the solenoid. It can be pressurized from an RO/DI line and come from any orientation or use gravity.
I take ATO to mean automatic top off. Doesn’t need to be a box or an outlet or w/e. If it does the topping off for you…automatically…ATO!
In the above scenario ATO (float switches and solenoid) you COULD use a bucket if you want, it would just need to be higher than the tank (or sump or wherever you are topping off). The solenoid would allow flow from the bucket to the tank.
Eh, not quite. Most(not all) solenoids want work in this application. First, you would need to get a direct action valve which, from what ive read, doesnt have the same shelf life as a diaphragm although these are the types of valves i personally use. Also, since he was asking about a nano he wont have a sump and would need the bucket above the tank. Who wants that? And, IMO, having to constantly fill a bucket isnt quite automatic.
One of the largest advantages of having an ATO is not having to fill buckets…why would you want an ATO and still have to fill a bucket? A bucket that will flood unless you watched it. Maybe its just me, but if your going to do a bucket above your tank then just go manual. Kind of silly to use floats and solenoids.
IMO solenoids should be used for one application and pumps for another. It doesnt make since to do it the other way around. Also, as far as i know, i cant think of one person that tops off the way i do…in our community or any other. If anyone has read about anyone else doing it this way, please point me that way. Im curious as to other ways of doing this.
In the above scenario ATO (float switches and solenoid) you COULD use a bucket if you want, it would just need to be higher than the tank (or sump or wherever you are topping off). The solenoid would allow flow from the bucket to the tank.
Eh, not quite. Most(not all) solenoids want work in this application. First, you would need to get a direct action valve which, from what ive read, doesnt have the same shelf life as a diaphragm. Then you need a bucket above your tank. Who wants that? And, IMO, having to constantly fill a bucket isnt quite automatic.
One of the largest advantages of having an ATO is not having to fill buckets…why would you want an ATO and still have to fill a bucket? A bucket that will flood unless you watched it.
Maybe its just me, but if your going to do a bucket above your tank then just go manual. Kind of silly to use floats and solenoids.[/quote]
Never said it was the best way Bub, but it can be done, which was the question.
Not sure what you mean about the solenoids, but you would just need to make sure you had a solenoid with a min operating psi pressure equal to or lower than the pressure caused by the height of the bucket from its destination.
but you would just need to make sure you had a solenoid with a min operating psi pressure equal to or lower than the pressure caused by the height of the bucket from its destination.
which BUB, with a 1/4" tube is almost 0 which is why i said you would need a direct acting valve. unless of course you want to put your bucket 100’ above your tank. a direct acting valve has a min psi of 0, most solenoids do not.
michaelangelo - maybe you should get Ian to help you build one. im sure he can slap some rubberbands together and come up with something pressurized, inverted and overly complex ;D all you will have to do is fill buckets every week ;D
[quote=“michaelangelo, post:32, topic:1939”]
3ft between where the water will be located… you think i could go with a 900 or less?[/quote]
Should still be fine with a 400…I’ll double check that mine can shoot up to 3 ft, you aren’t going to need a lot of flow just to offset the evap water.
^^^ i agree, its just most people i read do not have nanos, so its hard to judge for yourself, especuially when they say a 900 is weak, lol. i guess a 900 would be overkill lol for my 24
A MJ400 is rated for 29" max head. Chances are this is a critical height and you wont have any flow whatsoever beyond 29". If you truly need 36" then i would suggest going with a MJ600 which will cover you up to almost 4.5 feet. This is if you need to purchase. If you already have a utility pump laying around that your not using then use it.