Taborct1
Community Member
Part list:
12v generic 30 amp automotive relay with pigtail (the brain)
The power supply- the blood
The pump-the heart
The switches- nerve endings
All components are made for 12v. Here is the unit as a whole. Its not very pretty but it gets the job done. Most of it (minus the pump and switches) I had laying around. My favorite piece was the power supply.
The power supply has a switch inline so if I am aclimating something, or any other reason I would be pulling out SW with my filters and WM still going, I can easily flip a switch to shut the ATO off independently.
It may be hard to make out but the ground is going to the black cable (#85 of the relay) and the power is the blue (#30 on the relay).
The next image is in a bit closer so we can get a little more detailed for you visual learners like me
. Here you can see on the ground (black wire) a small white wire is spliced into it as well. This small white wire coming from the brown conduit is the constant ground to the pump. The other wire in the conduit is red and is connected to the positive on the pump on one end and the yellow lead (pin 87) from the relay at the other end. That completes the top half of that mess your looking at.
The bottom half of that is the power and coil/switching side of things. The red wire from this seperate length of brown conduit is spliced into the blue/power line and leads up to the input wire of switch #1. There are two switches to this setup. If you don't already know, this is a fail safe for if a switch gets stuck in the on position.
The white wire in the conduit is coming from the output of switch #2 and connected to the white wire (pin 86) on the relay.
The switches themselves are quite simple. You want to connect the switches in parallel with each other meaning the output of one to input of the other. And there you have it, a diy ATO.
I will continue going into why what we did works in a second but for those that don't want to know the technical side of it this should get you through.
Pin86 (white) and pin85 (black) are the coil wires. If you notice on the diagram they are connected. When the coil is powered through a closed circuit the power from pin30 (blue) is switched from pin87a (red) to pin87 (yellow). Basically closed coil = power to yellow. Open coil = power to red.
Our blueprint:
Pin86 (white)= switched power (or ground)
Pin85 (black)= constant ground (or power)
Pin30 (blue)= constant power (or ground)
*note- if you flip one of the above you flip all.
Pin87a (red)= powered when coil is not. (Not used)
Pin87 (yellow)= powered while coil is.
I have a future plan for pin87a which will be a low reservoir indicator which will consist of another low level sensor and a standard 12v light visible from the outside of the stand.
Before I do the final install all the wires will be wrapped with electrical tape and tidied up a bit. I left it this way for the I instructional and for testing to make sure everything worked.
12v generic 30 amp automotive relay with pigtail (the brain)
The power supply- the blood
The pump-the heart
The switches- nerve endings
All components are made for 12v. Here is the unit as a whole. Its not very pretty but it gets the job done. Most of it (minus the pump and switches) I had laying around. My favorite piece was the power supply.
The power supply has a switch inline so if I am aclimating something, or any other reason I would be pulling out SW with my filters and WM still going, I can easily flip a switch to shut the ATO off independently.
It may be hard to make out but the ground is going to the black cable (#85 of the relay) and the power is the blue (#30 on the relay).
The next image is in a bit closer so we can get a little more detailed for you visual learners like me
. Here you can see on the ground (black wire) a small white wire is spliced into it as well. This small white wire coming from the brown conduit is the constant ground to the pump. The other wire in the conduit is red and is connected to the positive on the pump on one end and the yellow lead (pin 87) from the relay at the other end. That completes the top half of that mess your looking at.The bottom half of that is the power and coil/switching side of things. The red wire from this seperate length of brown conduit is spliced into the blue/power line and leads up to the input wire of switch #1. There are two switches to this setup. If you don't already know, this is a fail safe for if a switch gets stuck in the on position.
The white wire in the conduit is coming from the output of switch #2 and connected to the white wire (pin 86) on the relay.
The switches themselves are quite simple. You want to connect the switches in parallel with each other meaning the output of one to input of the other. And there you have it, a diy ATO.
I will continue going into why what we did works in a second but for those that don't want to know the technical side of it this should get you through.
Pin86 (white) and pin85 (black) are the coil wires. If you notice on the diagram they are connected. When the coil is powered through a closed circuit the power from pin30 (blue) is switched from pin87a (red) to pin87 (yellow). Basically closed coil = power to yellow. Open coil = power to red.
Our blueprint:
Pin86 (white)= switched power (or ground)
Pin85 (black)= constant ground (or power)
Pin30 (blue)= constant power (or ground)
*note- if you flip one of the above you flip all.
Pin87a (red)= powered when coil is not. (Not used)
Pin87 (yellow)= powered while coil is.
I have a future plan for pin87a which will be a low reservoir indicator which will consist of another low level sensor and a standard 12v light visible from the outside of the stand.
Before I do the final install all the wires will be wrapped with electrical tape and tidied up a bit. I left it this way for the I instructional and for testing to make sure everything worked.
