Need the help of some electrical wizards

[Canadian]

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?

[Ya Dude]

could have a drain on skimmer cup with a hose to an overflow bucket.Have the shut off sensor in that.No need for wire disconnects just a small union for your hose to overflow

thats if you dont wanna deal with them wires anymore

[StirCrazy]

some float switches have an adjust ment for the range. a good picture of the switch would help.

Steve

[mike31154]

I rather doubt that where the float switch actuates has anything to do with your problem. Bottom line is, it does actuate so your pump should turn ON/OFF accordingly. Could be a bad crimp or connection as you suspect after having worked on the wiring. Get yourself a cheap multimeter and you should be able to troubleshoot the wiring to find out where the problem is. Pretty difficult to troubleshoot something like this online without seeing exactly how the thing is wired up.

And Ya Dude's advice about a drain and collection container is pretty good. That's what I use.

Also, not sure here, but if you're not using a relay and low voltage (12 VDC) switching to wire this up, you should. Switching 110 VAC through a float switch can be hazardous. I suspect you're ok, since you mentioned using a cell phone charger power supply to do some testing already.

[sphelps]

Did you take the actual float off the float switch? In which case you likely put it back on the wrong way. If not get a new float switch, they're like $2.

[Canadian]

Ok here's what I have:

When I said "cutting down the reed" I was referring to the black tube that extends the wires down to the float switch in the cup.

[banditpowdercoat]

Ya everything looks ok, like said earlier, make sure float os opn right and ya double check all connections.

[banditpowdercoat]

Originally Posted by Canadian

I cut the reed of the float switch down and rewired it

This is what I am wondering about. You cut the reed?? We really need a picture of what kind of float switch your using.

[Canadian]

I didn't do anything unusual to the float switch. I'll take some pictures some time after work this afternoon so it's clearer what I've done. I'm still leaning towards one of the spliced joints I made being a poor connection so I'm going to take all my joints apart and solder them and then reapply the heat shrink tubing tonight. But I'll post pics of where things are at now so I can get some feedback before I screw something else up.