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Small washer pump timer?

electrons.AJ

Nov 5, 2011
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Nov 5, 2011
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Hello everyone!
Glad to be here!

I would like to build a small timer for a washer pump.
I thought an Arduino board would be best, yet a member of the Arduino forums suggested that it would be simple to use a NE555.

I'm pasting here my original thread, and his replies.
I was wondering if you could give me some general direction as to how to hookup this NE555 to the relays, and the mechanical timer.

I have a small camera looking at the beach.
The wind + salty air gets the front glass of the housing all dirty.

I want to install a "windshield washer kit" from Pep Boys ($14 or so), that has a small tank, pump, tubing and nozzles.
Already did it to one camera, and it works awesome.

Yet my "timing" system is a mess/over-complication.

I want to turn on the washer system three times per day (morning, mid-day, afternoon).
At the moment, I have a digital timer, with a resolution down to 1 minute.
Ok, so I turn on the timer at 7:00am, and turn it off at 7:01am.

The 110vac of that timer, goes into a "delay timer relay" (I think its called).
This has an adjustment knob.
I adjusted this knob via trial-and-error to "send power out" about 58-59 seconds after it starts receiving 110vac.

Would there be a possibility to have this setup with an Arduino?
Have an output for 1, 2 or 3 seconds?

The PepBoys washer pump is for automotive, so it's 12volts.
At the moment, I'm running it with a AC-DC power plug (brick thingy) that I had laying around.
The output of it is 12vdc, at 1.5amps.
The pump runs awesome with that.

Any thoughts on what I can do?

Thank you very much for taking the time to help... very much appreciated!

-- AJ
/


And here's his reply:
What I had in mind was to rig up a circuit around the NE555 which produced a 'high' output when it was powered up, and went 'low' after a few seconds. The NE555 data sheet shows you how to wire it up to do that sort of thing. The output would then go through a transistor (with the obligatory flyback diode) to drive the relay. The relay would connect the 12V supply to the pump. The idea would be that the whole thing was powered by the 12V supply, the timer would switch the supply on, the NE555 would close the relay for a few seconds and then open it, it would then stay open until the timer cut the power off and the NE555 reset.

Any ideas?
Maybe there's an even better way?

Thank you very much for taking the time to help out!

-- AJ :)
/
 

duke37

Jan 9, 2011
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To summarise
1. You want to turn on your pump every 15000 sec or so, timing not critical.
2. The pump needs to be activated for ? seconds. Please define.
3. The pump should be activated when the power is first applied.
4. You have 110V AC 60Hz and 12V 1.5A power.

I would use CMOS which can run on 12V
1. Oscillator 4093 +resistor+capacitor running at about 1Hz.
2. Two 4024 128 dividers giving a dividing ratio of 16384.
3. Use a spare gate in the 4093 or use a 555 to give the correct on time.
4. Turn on a fet to drive the pump.

Reset counters when powered up or leave it on permanently.

This will need some development time.
 

electrons.AJ

Nov 5, 2011
7
Joined
Nov 5, 2011
Messages
7
Additional information....

Hello Duke!
Thank you for your reply and help =)

I would like to turn the pump on three times per day.
1. 7:00am, 12:00pm, and 5:00pm. Timing not critical.
2. Each session, I'd like to have the pump on for about 1-3 seconds.
3. Yes, or another way around... as longs as it's in the vicinity of the above times.
4. I have 110V AC 60Hz, and for DC I could get a different adapter if needed.

Expanding on #3:
I thought to use a cheap, $10 timer (with the 24hour rotary clock).
Those timers have a minimum "resolution" of 15 minutes ON or OFF.

So I thought:
#1 - Power comes ON, timer starts its 15.00 minute run.
#2 - pump turns ON for 1-3 seconds, then shuts OFF
#3 - timer finishes its 15 minutes, and shuts OFF
#4 - until next cycle

What do you think?
I'm googling now the parts and information you provided, to see what I can conjour up.
Thank you!!

Below an image of the timer I thought to use:
24hr-plugin-rotary-timer-TS200.jpg
 

electrons.AJ

Nov 5, 2011
7
Joined
Nov 5, 2011
Messages
7
Here is a pic of the front of the camera.

The washer pump is automotive-type.
I placed the nozzle in the front, and it squirts directly into the front glass plate.
washer3.jpg
 

duke37

Jan 9, 2011
5,364
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If you use your timer to initiate the action, then things become simple.
I would use a capacitor charged through a resistor so that the voltage rises slowly. The motor would be connected to the 12V through the normally closed contacts of a relay so that the motor would come on as soon as the power is applied.
When the voltage rises to a certain level the relay would be energised and the motor would be disconnected. A transistor or two would be needed to drive the relay. I will sketch a circuit and post it tomorrow.
 

electrons.AJ

Nov 5, 2011
7
Joined
Nov 5, 2011
Messages
7
Thank you!
I'm looking forward to figuring out how to do this! =)
Finally, a project that gets my foot in the door of electronics!

Thank you duke, and all the other members of this board.
Very glad to be here! :)

-- AJ
/
 

duke37

Jan 9, 2011
5,364
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Here is my idea of what you can do.
The first circuit is a simple current amplifier, use two transistors in a Darlington configuration or a Darlington transistor. This uses a relay to which switches when the voltage rises to a critical level
The second circuit uses a 555 as a comparator and switches a fet to control the motor directly. I am not familiar with the 555 but think it should work.

You will need to use your timer connected to the 12V supply to drive it.

Sorry for the delay but my scanner went into a sulk.
 

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duke37

Jan 9, 2011
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I'm back again! After a bit of thinking (hard work) I may have a simpler circuit.
There will be three unused gates in the 4093 which will need to be tied down. The diodes could be 1N400x.
The 4093 will of course need a ground and power (12V) connection.
 

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