LurchLurkin
Active Member
Ok, so first off, my experience in electrical 'engineering' is limited to a basic high school course I took years ago. I'm looking for someone who can explain this to me in 'dummy' terms.
Ok so here's the deal:
I'm running pump1 through a flow switch and a backflow preventer. After the backflow preventer line two will tie in and it will have its own pump2 and backflow preventer.
The flow switch is rated at 0.1gpm NC. This will allow pump 2 to turn on in the event that pump 1 fails.
Everything is designed to run off of 12v DC. The problem is that the flow switch can only handle 0.4A at 12v DC. The pump runs off 8A so clearly I can not just interrupt the hot wire on pump 2 with the flow switch.
I also don't know of a solenoid I could use since the lowest amperage actuated continuous duty solenoid I could find actuates on 0.7A [(cheaply)Cole Hersee does make a solid state solenoid that can be actuated on 0.02A to the tune of ~$150].
I know I can use a 12V coil relay to actuate the solenoid e.g. Panasonic JS-1A. Except, you know..how do you do it? Wouldn't you need a PCB to mount it to? Do I need a diode across the relay and solenoid coil to minimize sparking e.g. 1N4004?
If someone either A) knows of a solenoid that can be actuated on less than .4A for under $50 or B) can explain how to wire up the relay to solenoid and diodes onto a PCB and into some (preferably ready made) enclosure I would really appreciate it.
Ok so here's the deal:
I'm running pump1 through a flow switch and a backflow preventer. After the backflow preventer line two will tie in and it will have its own pump2 and backflow preventer.
The flow switch is rated at 0.1gpm NC. This will allow pump 2 to turn on in the event that pump 1 fails.
Everything is designed to run off of 12v DC. The problem is that the flow switch can only handle 0.4A at 12v DC. The pump runs off 8A so clearly I can not just interrupt the hot wire on pump 2 with the flow switch.
I also don't know of a solenoid I could use since the lowest amperage actuated continuous duty solenoid I could find actuates on 0.7A [(cheaply)Cole Hersee does make a solid state solenoid that can be actuated on 0.02A to the tune of ~$150].
I know I can use a 12V coil relay to actuate the solenoid e.g. Panasonic JS-1A. Except, you know..how do you do it? Wouldn't you need a PCB to mount it to? Do I need a diode across the relay and solenoid coil to minimize sparking e.g. 1N4004?
If someone either A) knows of a solenoid that can be actuated on less than .4A for under $50 or B) can explain how to wire up the relay to solenoid and diodes onto a PCB and into some (preferably ready made) enclosure I would really appreciate it.