Canadian
01-03-2010, 11:20 PM
Ok so being an idiot I just couldn't leave well enough alone.
A few months ago I wired a float switch into my skimmer cup lid so that if the skimmer was overflowing for some reason it would shut down the skimmer and avoid a repeat of a previous incident that occurred while I was on vacation.
Everything was working perfectly. But I couldn't leave well enough alone.
I decided that I wanted to raise the height of the float switch to allow the skimmer to collect more skimmate before shutting down the skimmer and to wire in some quick disconnects to make cleaning the collection cup lid easier. Previously I had wired the float switch so it was 2" off the bottom of the cup and had hard wired everything so there weren't any quick disconnects.
Yesterday I bought some male and female quick disconnects and some heat shrink tubing. Today I got down to business. I cut the reed of the float switch down and rewired it and then wired in the quick disconnects by crimping them and sealing everything with heat shrink tubing. I plugged everything back in as usual and low and behold the skimmer wouldn't turn on.
Thinking I might have some how inadvertently crossed up the wiring so that I had reversed the switch causing it to be on when the float is up as opposed to down I simply used my finger to lift the float but again nothing. I should note that I was really careful to tape and label the wires while re-wiring to ensure I didn't screw things up so I doubt this is the problem.
When that test didn't work I unplugged the skimmer and took the lid off so I could take a closer look at things on the kitchen counter. I grabbed my cell phone charger and cell phone and plugged them in to the float switch and manually flipped the float back and forth. What I found was that for some inexplicable reason the switch turns on and off right in the middle of the rise and fall of the float now rather than at the top or bottom. What on earth could cause this?
My original hypothesis when things weren't working at all was that there was a poor connection somewhere in all my meddling. The wires for the original Coralife float switch are braided and not solid copper. I probably should have soldered the connections but I didn't. But it still doesn't make sense to me that the float switch trips in the middle of its travel rather than the top or bottom of its travel.
Any ideas?
A few months ago I wired a float switch into my skimmer cup lid so that if the skimmer was overflowing for some reason it would shut down the skimmer and avoid a repeat of a previous incident that occurred while I was on vacation.
Everything was working perfectly. But I couldn't leave well enough alone.
I decided that I wanted to raise the height of the float switch to allow the skimmer to collect more skimmate before shutting down the skimmer and to wire in some quick disconnects to make cleaning the collection cup lid easier. Previously I had wired the float switch so it was 2" off the bottom of the cup and had hard wired everything so there weren't any quick disconnects.
Yesterday I bought some male and female quick disconnects and some heat shrink tubing. Today I got down to business. I cut the reed of the float switch down and rewired it and then wired in the quick disconnects by crimping them and sealing everything with heat shrink tubing. I plugged everything back in as usual and low and behold the skimmer wouldn't turn on.
Thinking I might have some how inadvertently crossed up the wiring so that I had reversed the switch causing it to be on when the float is up as opposed to down I simply used my finger to lift the float but again nothing. I should note that I was really careful to tape and label the wires while re-wiring to ensure I didn't screw things up so I doubt this is the problem.
When that test didn't work I unplugged the skimmer and took the lid off so I could take a closer look at things on the kitchen counter. I grabbed my cell phone charger and cell phone and plugged them in to the float switch and manually flipped the float back and forth. What I found was that for some inexplicable reason the switch turns on and off right in the middle of the rise and fall of the float now rather than at the top or bottom. What on earth could cause this?
My original hypothesis when things weren't working at all was that there was a poor connection somewhere in all my meddling. The wires for the original Coralife float switch are braided and not solid copper. I probably should have soldered the connections but I didn't. But it still doesn't make sense to me that the float switch trips in the middle of its travel rather than the top or bottom of its travel.
Any ideas?