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Salt water chlorinator ......... switching pump on and off???

Recently bought "Krystal Clear salt water system " Model 8110 with the Intex brand.

It's a salt water chlorinator.

Ok .....The unit consists of some electronics including a programmable timer that witches itself on and off as programmed. As far as I can figure, it switches on and off the 110 volt line current to a step down transformer,then to a rectifier then to titanium plates acting as cathode and anode in the water flow.

What I want to do, is to have the chlorinator control the on off switching of my

220 volt pump so that I do not have to turn the pump on and off manually or run a separate timer.

I have a suitable 110 volt relay to switch the 220 volt current to the 1.5 horse pump. I don't expect the coil in the relay would draw much more then 10 or 15 watts so there should be no problem drawing power for it from the chlorinator.

Does anyone know exactly how to do what I want to do. I myself have a terrible track record on these electronic things. I usually make them smoke and once the smoke comes out they never work again! (O:

Thanks in advance!

Reply to
Al
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If you let the smoke out it's your problem.

Identify the pair of wires that carry 110VAC to the step-down transformer, and connect your 110V relay coil to those wires. If you really have enough spare current to drive the relay then it's contacts will close when the transformer goes on.

If you suspect that the 10W to the relay coil is too much then get a smaller 110V relay and use it to turn on the larger one.

Make sure your 110V relay is rated to start your motor, and you _should_ be in business.

But if you let the smoke out, it's your problem....

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" gives you just what it says.
See details at http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html
Reply to
Tim Wescott

I thank you very much for your reply. I liked the "let the smoke out" comment the very first time I heard it. and it's held true ever since. (O:

Next obstacle to get over is the flow sensor. When the flow sensor detects "no flow" (as is the case before you start the pump) then it shuts down the chlorinator. Which in my case will keep the pump shut off. I can only hope that they programmed in some amount of delay to cater to minor interruptions in flow (IE a bubble passing the flow sensor.)

Thoughts??

Thanks again Al

Reply to
Al

What's this for? It may help you to get good answers if you lay out all of the problem at once (unless it's coming to you in pieces, of course).

How sophisticated is the flow sensor? If it's just a switch, you could fool the chlorinator with another 110V actuated relay that hot-wires it when the chlorinator is powered down then switches out when the pump starts up. You may need a delay relay to give the pump time to start up, though.

It would seem like this kind of sequencing would be in high demand -- are you sure that your chlorinator doesn't do this already, or have provisions for switching the pump?

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" gives you just what it says.
See details at http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html
Reply to
Tim Wescott

I've had a couple. They were wired in parallel with the pump so, when the timer turned on the pump, the chlorinator was also turned on. The flow sensor is only protection for the cell in case scale blocks the cell.

In general they're crap. High maintenance unless you have naturally soft water.

The one I just tossed in the trash can was simply a transformer, an SCR and a current-flow control loop.

Extraordinarily expensive for the performance.

...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Thanks for the insight Jim.

I didn't think I could go to far wrong with the unit costing only $199 while the pool places are charging around two grand.

I had just hoped I could tap into the 110 V to do my switching but it is possible that the power to the primary is on all the time and they do their switching on the secondary side.

Cheers Al

Reply to
Al

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