Help with Water Pump

K good thanks salty. I'm hard at work making you a layout and a full parts list will help a lot in making it visually accurate to the actual parts you have. Which should make assembly a lot easier for you.

Here is what I have so far. Just need to add a few more parts then I can start putting them on the board.

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Much of what you see there will likely change actually.

A picture of how this goes together will help immensely. Very generous of you-thanks.

()blivion said:

It will work but the solder Nazis's will prolly hang you.

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LOL. Over on the reef sites we have the tang police. Scary bad crowd.

A picture of how this goes together will help immensely. Very generous of you-thanks.

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Yeah, no problem. It helps even when your not new to electronics too. Really puts the parts, board, and project fully into perspective. On that note, here is what I have so far. Click on it and blow it up real big to see every thing and tell me what you think. I'm still working on where the best place to put all the parts to maximize space and minimize soldering and trace distance. I'll put in the actual solder tracks and wires after I settle on a particular arrangement. Sorry for all the posts, prolly should have just waited till I'm completely finished instead :/

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Note that when I use TO-220 parts I put them on backs down, then screw them to the board. This makes them cool better if you don't have heatsinks. Plus it makes them quite a bit more sturdy. You can save some space and a few machine screws by having them stand up right if you want. But it's hard to really make artist renditions of standing TO-220 parts and not have them just look like black blocks, LOL. You should see all the problems I had with the pot's.... UGH.

@()blivion
Nice work!

@Joe
A few further thoughts:

For safety the pumps should have individual manual 'off' switches.

As you're new to electronics construction may I offer a few suggestions?
1) Google for tutorials/demos on soldering techniques.
2) For point-to-point wiring on the circuit board you will need hook-up wire. Solid core is best (to avoid odd strands which might cause shorts), e.g. old telephone cable. The only wires carrying significant current are those from the FETs to the pumps, for which flex may be preferable.
3) Use fine flux-cored solder (not plumbers' solder!). 60/40 leaded solder is much easier to use than lead-free (but be aware of health concerns).
4) Practice soldering on a scavenged circuit board (old TV etc, which might also be a source of hook-up wire).
5) The circuit is modular, so build a one-pump module first to check its operation on the bench, using a mains filament light bulb as a dummy load in place of the pump.
6) Apart from the pots, C3 and C5 the components are polarity-sensitive. Make sure to identify correctly the polarities and pinouts (from datasheets as necessary). Remember that the underside view of the board is a mirror image of the top side; it's easy to get confused with pin numbering!
7) Take anti-static precautions when handling the IC and FETs.
8) Don't be surprised if the circuit doesn't do what it's designed to do when you first power it up. We've all been there, done that! Provided you have a multimeter we can sort out any problem. Common problems are a missed or wrong connection, or a solder blob shorting two copper tracks.

Good luck with the build. Keep us posted on progress.

Thanks for the pictures & the pointers. I will most definetly take my time after I set up my solder station and make every effort to get it right the first time. I'll be in the basement with a bare concrete floor, so if I touch the floor before handling any IC or FET, that should take care of static issues-do you agree? BTW, I thought only the ICs were static sensitive-I appreciate that info for the FET. Thanks guys-you're the best. In a couple weeks or so everything should arrive. This is really interesting stuff.

if I touch the floor before handling any IC or FET, that should take care of static issues-do you agree?

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Concrete isn't very conductive. A better option is just touch the metalwork of any plugged-in grounded appliance, or a (non-plastic) mains water supply pipe. I use a wrist-strap made from a couple of feet of copper braid (stripped from a TV aerial cable), attached via light-duty flex and a 1meg resistor to the earthing pin of a mains plug. I'm a cheapskate!
The FET probably isn't as sensitive as the IC to static; but I take no chances.

Edit: (Didn't see this compliment)

@()blivion
Nice work!

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Thanks. Yeah it's turning out way better than I was thinking it would. I was originally just guna slap something together that would work for Joe. But it started looking so nice it compelled me to work on it harder. I'm almost finished with it though. Should get him through his first time with little mistakes. If you would like to try to make a layout for him your self that's possibly better arranged drop me a PM and I'll send you the blank template BMP. I'm using M$ paint BTW, Nothing special.

As far as your newbie advice for Joe, I agree with most all of it, Salty Joe should definitely take it all into do consideration.

7) Take anti-static precautions when handling the IC and FETs.

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This is just an opinion and comment, But I've never really found static to be a serious issue my self. Then again I DO live in WA state where the humidity is over 9000 constantly, because it's STILL raining. Or should I say "doesn't ever stop raining"..... In any case if your not too worried about it you can use a humidifier and touch something big, metal, and grounded every so often. That should be fine. That works for me even if I do have four ground straps that I COULD be using. The only thing I have ever blown up with static was my naked Sega Genesis, and that was in another state and the "static" was from my TV screen directly to the board.

And now I know not to adjust digital things right in front of CRT's in an area that's technically listed as a desert /)

Does this controller need a grounded metal enclosure to prevent it fron interfering with other electronic devices?

Would an acrylic case wrapped in 1/4" grounded mesh work? It would look like a cage where you could see all the little creatures.

https://www.google.com/imgres?q=har...t=31&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:19,s:31&tx=40&ty=46

Thanks.

Can you post a picture of your tank(s). Haven't done salt water in years - kind of miss it.

The only tank we have right now is a ten gallon planted freshwater. I am in the middle of a build for saltwater. When I get it done, I'll certainly post some pics. The plan is to have the kinks worked out and some live rock sometime this spring.

@ Salty Joe: Post# 128

This device *SHOULD* be enclosed in some form of conductive shroud to protect it's self and other devices from RF emissions and what have you. But 9 to 10 odds says there would be no ill outcome if you didn't do this at all. Just note that if the neighbors start to complain about bad TV reception or pacemakers screwing up... you will prolly have to do something about it.

As for exactly how... If you can manage to do it, You can cover clear acrylic plastic in wire mesh and use that instead like you want. You just need to make sure and get all the edges closed up cleanly and that there are no big holes anywhere in the mesh. Aluminum foil and glue also works fine if your cheep like me and you just want it to work. Google "Faraday cage" for details on how in needs to be done and how it works. It's not something that's very hard or critical to do honestly.

An old biscuit tin would be simpler

I have a bunch of 16 AWG and 19 AWG wire. It is solid core insulated. Would the AWG 19 be good for this build, and maybe AWG 16 between the FET and the pumps?

Where intersections of wire need to be soldered, what is the best way to strip the insulation, a blade or flame or what? Does the soldered intersection need to be insulated?

BTW, the pumps arrived, waiting for the power supply and all the electronic parts.

Something like 26AWG would be better for the majority of the wiring. 19AWG would be too heavy, except for the FET-to-pump wiring.
A pair of wire-strippers is simplest for insulation removal.

OK thanks. I'll get some 26AWG.

I just checked out Radio Shack which is right down the street. They only have 22AWG and 30 AWG. Will the 22AWG be too heavy?

The 30AWG might be on the fragile side. Go with the 22AWG, unless you can source some phone wire. Only a few yards are needed.

Will do, thanks.

FYI, I'm am currently distracted with the process of refurbishing about 6+ Xbox 360's ATM and may be quite a bit late on your layout. Should still be done by the time you get all your parts and are ready to start building though. If I'm not done by then or something else even more important comes up I'll have to pass the baton to some one else. That or you'll have to wait till I'm done. I got to do my real job when the work is good after all.

When are you expecting all the parts? A week or so? I should be done with this work in a few days.

()blivion said:

FYI, . I got to do my real job when the work is good after all.


When are you expecting all the parts? A week or so? I should be done with this work in a few days.

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I know firsthand what you're talking about.

Yeah, probably a week or so. Thanks for the update.