PLC Fish Tank Controller Project

Dale · #1 12-11-2006, 04:30 AM

I don't know... don't see any black electrician tape in there...

Hah! just kidding. Looks awesome. I admire someone who can understand electronics like that. A skill I wish I had picked up (along with welding).
I utilize technology but I don't really understand it.

Delphinus · #2 12-11-2006, 05:35 AM

Looks great. To be honest I'm sort of surprised we don't see more of this ou there. If I could get my hands on a decent PLC one day I might try this as well (I work with PLC's as well).

Anyhow good on ya' for actually getting it done.

cinci · #3 12-11-2006, 02:25 PM

i have a plc 5/60 as well as a slc processor and rack. i planned to do this as well and have it connected to a panelview 550 for control and display. the one thing that was holding me back was the connection of the probes. if you get a circuit working please let me know. i would love to get mine going.
thanks.

Squiddy · #4 12-11-2006, 02:50 PM

Thanks guys. I love doing this kind of thing. It's going to be even more fun designing a controller from scratch I think.

If you look on ebay, there are a number of PLCs available at fairly reasonable prices... considering what they're worth. The one I used was an old one from work. Served its purpose controlling a water treatment plant for years, and now gets turned into a fish tank controller.

You don't even need anything that amazing to do this. It's not like you're running a paper mill or something that requires millisecond response time.

cinci: I would love to add a touch panel to the outside of my stand. One of the guys at work is working with a tiny 4-5" Magelis panel from Telemecanique. It would be PERFECT! The $2500 price tag is not so cool though... There are actually a few of those PanelView 550's on ebay right now... one that is at $9.99. Do you happen to have a surplus of these?

I'm going to try and get some plexi cut for the front of the box and then I can get it mounted up in the stand.

I'm going to use a couple of these to monitor level in my display and sump. The forks on these things vibrate, so when they are immersed in a liquid, the device senses a dampening in vibratation and turns a contact on. I can use this contact as a condition for the main pump in the logic. If the level in the display gets too high, shut off the main pump and sound alarm/flash light/do something.

cinci · #5 12-12-2006, 04:07 AM

sorry no extras. i know awhile back i was doing some work with rsview connected to a plc. it can do more than a panelview. if you used a usb touch screen (ebay) i think you could have some cool looking control panel. a problem with some of the old plc stuff is the comunication to the processor. we are starting to switch over to control logix its nice it uses ip for everything. are you planning on using a analog input card for you probes?

Midknight · #6 12-12-2006, 04:08 PM

And when are you coming over to Vancouver to run a DIY seminar on how to do all this?

I'd be there in a heart beat (or 2, getting slow in my old age)

Squiddy · #7 12-12-2006, 10:15 PM

cinci: Aww too bad about the displays. I'm sure I can find something. This PLC actually has a number of analog in's already so I'll just use those. Haven't got that part worked out yet though. I actually have a pressure transducer that I might use somewhere. The sensor I have is 0-5psi which is about 0-12ft. I think the analog in's are 12 bit which means 341 counts per foot. If I use one in my sump, 1 foot would be all that the level would change anyways so I would still have 341 points of resolution. I think it would be kinda fun to have a graph showing sump level. Then I could graph it next to humidity and temperature and get a good idea of where the water's going or the moisture is coming from

. I'll get the rest sorted out first though

. I could also stick a pressure transducer in my mixing bin to show how much water I have left. Too many ideas. I need my own house...

Midknight: Ha, yea right. Don't know about a seminar. If you're over this way you could come take a look. I'm sure if you wanted to do something like this I could point you in the right direction. I like doing this over buying a predesigned controller because I can make this one do whatever I want it to.

Here I am spending all this time on what controls the tank and what I really need to be doing is stocking the tank with more corals. My rocks are looking a little bare.