DIY Short Cycle Timer

Hi All,

I’ve been following for a while, but have been reluctant to participate. I hope this is safe!!!

A touch of background:
1. I am a DIY kind of guy whether it is gardening, home brewing, or woodworking. Regarding this forum, I am reluctant to buy ANYTHING that could be indicative of this hobby (which I will maintain is a hobby of which I am not a practitioner).
2. I am an electrical engineer.
3. I am a tightwad!

In looking for the things required to do hydroponics (homemade bubbleponics, in particular), the short cycle timer (C.A.P.) was the one thing that struck me as overly pricey and difficult for the average guy to fabricate. This is for pumps/fans, not lights.
I have built my own (again, just an experiment, it’s never been, nor never will be, used). It can be on for 1-63 seconds, 1-63 minutes, or 1-63 hours, followed by being off for the the same (independent, but the same choices). Mine will support 110VAC 5Amp continuous (10 Amp surge).


Here’s what it is:

• Functionality

• • Three modes
    • ON Mode – power is ON continually
    • OFF Mode – power is OFF continually
    • Timer Mode – Power is ON/OFF as determined by settings
  • Settings
    • ON HMS – On time is in Hours, Minutes or Seconds
    • OFF HMS – Off time is Hours, Minutes, or Seconds
    • ON TIME - 0-63 (engineers will understand) of units above
    • OF TIME – 0-63 of units above
  • Inputs
    • ON HMS Dip Switch (2 levers)
    • OFF HMS Dip Switch (2 levers)
    • ON TIME Dip Switch (6 levers)
    • OFF TIME Dip Switch (6 levers)
    • MODE Button (selects between the 3 modes (above))
  • Indicators
    • MODE LEDs – ON, OFF or TIMER are lit
    • ON HMS LEDs – Hour, Minute or Second LED indicates ON units
    • OFF HMS LEDs – Hour, Minute or Second LED indicates OFF units
    • ON COUNT - 2 seven segment displays indicate selected ON count
    • OFF COUNT - 2 seven segment displays indicate selected OFF count
    • CURRENT COUNT – 2 seven segment displays indicate what the current count is. You can watch this count down to zero (if the mode is HOURS you’re going to get really bored…I recommend you have a fatty handy )
    • CURRENT HMS – 3 LEDs indicate current counting mode (if it’s HOURS, got get the fatty I mentioned!)
    • CURRENT ON/OFF – indicates if the power is (should be) currently ON or OFF
    • SECONDS FLASHER – flashes on and off each second – to fascinate you after that fatty, and to confirm something’s happening – mostly just to fascinate me.
  • USE
    • Mounts into one double wide electrical box – the modern square hole type – the switches and LEDs are visible in one of the square holes, a duplex outlet (switched by this thing) is in the other.
    • One plug (mine is a cut off extension cord – electric lawnmower casualty) comes out of one of the holes in the side of the box, and is plugged into a regular outlet.
    • It is mounted to the wall, for stability and safety – don’t want it to fall into a nute bath (ouchy!)
  • Required to build
    • The assembled PCB (from ME)
    • Some basic understanding of wiring
    • One double wide electrical box
    • One matching duplex outlet
    • One matching double wide cover plate (as stated above) the fancy-ass square holed kind
    • One standard power cable (can be a cut-off extension cord, or purchased with flying leads)
    • One Multimeter (volts and ohms)
    • One soldering iron, and a little solder
    • A bit of electrical tape to cover the 120VAC wiring (only inside the box, it is not exposed, with or without the tape once the thing is put together).

So, here’s the question: Is this of interest to anybody? I figure if I need something, there’s probably somebody else that needs it. Mine is built on a breadboard (if you don’t know what that is, it doesn’t matter, you don’t need to know). I’ve checked, and I can get these built and assembled in a quantity of 100 and be able to sell them for about $40 bucks, with enough that if I sell all 100 I can cover the cost of the PCB layout. That said, if nobody’s interested in them, there’s no sense in doing it. I figure I’ll give the first five away to the first five folks that respond to a post asking for one, in EXCHANGE for the following promises:

• You promise to build it!
• You promise to try it and then give me email feedback on what you think…honest feedback…if you can think of a better way to do something or have constructive criticism, I’d need to hear it. Also, you could just say “It’s GREAT”. If you say “IT SUCKS”, you’ve gotta follow that up with constructive criticism.

Oh yeah, what I’d provide for the 40 bucks is:

• A built and tested circuit board
• Instructions (CD, or download, haven’t decided) on how to build it.

If you think this is stupid, say so NOW and save me the effort. If y’all have a source for an out-of-box unit that’s cheaper (or even close, ‘cause nobody’s gonna buy a kit if they can get one pre-made for a couple bucks more), or nobody uses this kind of timer (I’ve gotta think it’s REQUIRED for hydroponics, but what do I know, I already said I’ve never done this), or this is WAY TOO high-tech for stoners (although HYDRO doesn’t look that easy, so I doubt that) then PLEASE say post that.

BTW – this is just me figuring out if this is worthwhile. After I get the first PCBs done, I’ll re-post with the offer for the freebies.

TOO LONG will follow up next post

Another question – this whole thing of posting here scares the sh*t out of me. How do you know narcs aren’t tracking IP addresses? (you're not going to believe this, but I'm in Amsterdam, today...no fooling...reallly...business trip) If there’s a way to avoid that I’d like to know. Also, if you say “That’s a good idea”, do you have any suggestions about means of payment and shipping? I’d like to have as little idea about who I’m shipping to as possible. PAYPAL is good, because it shields me from any information about the buyer. On the other hand, PAYPAL is probably traceable by aforementioned narcs to the buyer? In the end, I’m gonna have to know the shipping address, so there’s that no matter what. I guess money orders, mailed, with a shipping address on paper would leave little trail. Anyway, I’d like to hear any thoughts on that.

If you read this whole thing, you deserve a medal, regardless.
I look forward to your thoughts on my ramblings.

BonBonKing

A do-it yourself project is always a good idea and i greatly respect anyone who has the knowledge and willingness to make any project more self-reliant! As a religious conviction i seek to find and relay any information that will enable people to accomplish their personal sacrament provisions with as little monetary involvement as possible. This can definitely be such a blessing. I don't see any such response on here but i for one am definitely interested! Let me know what kind of response you still need and i can sure help "spread the word". I know there are more than a hundred people out there ready to take up this kind of project.


-St. Cannabis
Ordained Minister of the Cannabis Sacrament.

Well, that post was a year ago, and apparently the OP never posted again.

wow that's kind of sad