Negril's Climate Controller

Hey Hydro any actual pictures your schematic is somewhat not very understandable......I am not going to try and build this for the fact that the schematic does not give specific pin numbers on relays and if in the USA black is hot white is neutral and green is ground I would not use speaker wire to wire this. cmon now thanks for your efforts but this tutorial is not geared towards the amature diy, any actual of the one you built. I know my spelling sucks oh well. Where you put TEMP is that the thermostat i am guessing it is. This seems to be slapped together do not try to build this or you may fry yourself..............good luck..............:o

• This is not for the beginner
• The 4 amp fuse is there to protect from shorts, and over current draws, since the relays can handle the 4 amps with no problem, I chose a safer value for the fuse, while still giving enough for 2 fans, and solenoid.
• Relays are symetrical looking down or from the bottom, so pin-out doesn't matter, based on the types chosen. (All relays follow this pattern)

I just got back in town, and switched to 12/12 yesterday, so I had a lot to do with being gone for a few days. I will have pics up today with more detail. Speaker wire is actually safer than using single strand wire due to the nature of electricity. Anyone who has any knowledge of it can tell you that the greater surface area there is, the more current you can put across the wire. Current does not flow through a solid wire in as much as on the surface of a wire.
I am not the best in drawing schematics, but do know how to draw them. And this was taken directly from the unit I HAVE BUILT, HAVE WORKING, and HAVE GROWING tomatoes.

I'm not an EE, but you don't have to be one to figure out how to build a simple design like this. And yes, temp is for the thermostat. As is CO2 for the telair 8001 (or similar)

More to come...

hydro - AWSOME job on this.. I am not an EE either but I do have an engineering background. I understand your schematic and it looks good. Im going to use some of your ideas here.

Hell yea!! I just got a brand new in box "TELAIRE VENTOSTAT 8001W CO2 MONITOR CONTROLLER" off the e/bay for $32.50.. How sick is that?? Im doin the victory dance!!

Can you feel it??? oooh yea... still dancin.. hahahahah

Its the one without the PPM readout.. does anybody have the PC software for it?? Its factory cal'ed to maintain 1000ppm.. a couple minutes of tweaking with the software and I can put that puppy up to 1500.. damn im good. :)

Youre schematic is good enough for govt work ;). This thread rocks I will DEFINITELY be building this...definitely cheaper than buying a commercial controller. Keep up the good work!

oh and for all who are wondering the telaire ventostat is meant for automated building ventilation controls, for instance, it is used in parking garages to control ventillation fans when CO2 levels get too high (initially set at 1000ppm but they can be adjusted). In their original use they would be basically wired to control a vent fan to keep ppms from building up over 1000 but not run the fans much below 1000 to save power since its within OSHA guidlines.

Anyways, we growers take the sensors and wire the output to a solenoid on a co2 tank.. so when the sensor detects CO2 levels are below 1000ppms (we reprogram it to 1500ppms but stick with me here) it sends a signal to turn OFF the fan (it thinks its hooked up to) but it actually opens the co2 valve flooding the room. When it senses the room CO2 level is back to its programmed maximum it sends the signal to turn on the fan it thinks its hooked up to (which shuts off the CO2).

It is made by GE and its quality control is somewhat regulated by OSHA saftey standards.. therefor I would give it a decent chance of staying accurate.

Keep an eye out for these because just like I found one sometimes they are just reguarded as another useless sensor.. but with a quick trip to radio shack its going to play a vital role in my atmospheric control system that would have cost over $500 if i bought an all-in-one c.a.p. system.