Guest guest Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 OK, I know this sounds weird, but part of my Halloween setup in the past has been to periodically blast a puff of air at people. It really scares them, by the way. I have an air compressor in the garage and run a long air hose to my front steps. I use a sprinkler valve to control the blast of air. The sprinkler valve gets its power from a 24V AC adapter. In previous years, I used a computer controlled relay to activate this, but I am trying to use LOR for everything this year. I tried it out and it works, but I am wondering if anyone knows of any potential problems with plugging a "wall wart" transformer into a LOR output. I don't do any fades, flickering, or other effects with it. It just goes full on and off. It seems to work just fine in my experiments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 I could see some mis-fires or failure to turn-off. This happens because it is not a resistive load. To solve this, add a C-9 to the LOR circuit to help the LOR by creating a primarily resistive load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 JimSpr wrote: OK, I know this sounds weird, but part of my Halloween setup in the past has been to periodically blast a puff of air at people. It really scares them, by the way. I have an air compressor in the garage and run a long air hose to my front steps. I use a sprinkler valve to control the blast of air. The sprinkler valve gets its power from a 24V AC adapter. In previous years, I used a computer controlled relay to activate this, but I am trying to use LOR for everything this year. I tried it out and it works, but I am wondering if anyone knows of any potential problems with plugging a "wall wart" transformer into a LOR output. I don't do any fades, flickering, or other effects with it. It just goes full on and off. It seems to work just fine in my experiments.Sprinkler servo to gate off air??? Didnt know you could do that.. I've used servos designed for air before. Maybe use 110 volt accuated relays that gate off 24 volt power??? I think 110 volt accuated relays designed to gate off 110 volts will probably work with 24 volt too...As for on and offing the 24 volt transformer... bad bad bad idea... wear it out the transformer in just a night or two... but relay gate the 24 volt and it will work reliably for years. I know... I used Dasher to squirt a big column of water one year and burned up some transformers in the experimental stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Yep, like 12 bucks gives you like a 3/4" valve that is pretty quick operating.I have my 16 channel on the way and I plan to parallel 16 AC relays good for 12 amps onto each channel. This way I can run DC control voltages through any channel I choose. I may add a way to disable the relays if not used as I'm not sure how/what "shimmer" and partial brightness will do to the relay coil.What does everyone think??? Will partial on (chopped waveform) damage the relay coils? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 kb9nvh wrote: Yep, like 12 bucks gives you like a 3/4" valve that is pretty quick operating.I have my 16 channel on the way and I plan to parallel 16 AC relays good for 12 amps onto each channel. This way I can run DC control voltages through any channel I choose. I may add a way to disable the relays if not used as I'm not sure how/what "shimmer" and partial brightness will do to the relay coil.What does everyone think??? Will partial on (chopped waveform) damage the relay coils?Well 24 volt transformers for sprinkler systems do not provide 24 volt DC current... its 24 volt AC current! Considerably cheaper... there will be natural wear and tear problems with the servos getting on and offed but are you used mechanical relays? If you are putting shimmer and special effects on a solid state relay.... well what do you think is even producing the shimmer and flicker to begin with?? A triac is the same stuff a solid state relay is... it wont bother it... run flick and shimmer to the 110 volt AC supply to a transformer and you'll burn it out since most transformers are do what they do by using a bunch of diodes... these take on wear when first turned on... running shimmer puts that turn on wear out up to 20 to 50 times a second... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Here's a few other threads on the subject.http://planetchristmas.mywowbb.com/forum38/7058.htmlhttp://planetchristmas.mywowbb.com/forum38/4713-1.htmlhttp://planetchristmas.mywowbb.com/forum62/5668.html The DC D-Light board in your LOR network is probably the way to go. Saves having to build all of the relays up. Plus you can use it with DC LED floods. I was going to do the same thing you are talking about, but that would have been project number 501 on my list of things to do. I try to keep the project list below 500 before I add anything new Good Luck!Jim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Well, actually I bought mechanical relays that are actuated off 120VAC. I was just wondering what effect using reduced output and shimmer would have on the coils of those. The beauty of the mechanical relay is that I can swithc any DC or AC signal I want to. Most of what I need to operate (what these relays need to switch) is 24V DC right now but my sprinkler valve is AC so I can use these relays for that as well. I like the mechanical because they are cheap and versitile and can carry lots of current if needed.Joseph Ayo wrote:Well 24 volt transformers for sprinkler systems do not provide 24 volt DC current... its 24 volt AC current! Considerably cheaper... there will be natural wear and tear problems with the servos getting on and offed but are you used mechanical relays? If you are putting shimmer and special effects on a solid state relay.... well what do you think is even producing the shimmer and flicker to begin with?? A triac is the same stuff a solid state relay is... it wont bother it... run flick and shimmer to the 110 volt AC supply to a transformer and you'll burn it out since most transformers are do what they do by using a bunch of diodes... these take on wear when first turned on... running shimmer puts that turn on wear out up to 20 to 50 times a second... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 I have used a transformer to control sprinkler valves in a water display. But I just finish an air operated wire frame using a dishwasher solenoid. This has the advantage of a 120 volt relay and used ones are cheap/free. This is controlled directly from LOR, while limited testing produced no misfires the choice of a parallel C9 is probably a good idea.edit to correct the use of the word inline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 In line or parallel? In line would reduce the voltage to the solenoid bye the difference in resistance? I thought this idea was for LED's and the C7 was to be put in parallel?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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