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KayDee
03-08-2004, 12:30 PM
As a newbie here on the forum perhaps someone can throw some light on a situation I have had for some time. Firstly some specs:-
I am running Minder 3.02 which has been installed for some years and generally performs very well. For simple tasks in a central area of the house I have C-Touch installed on one of the original small screen (painful and dull) but generally run all my scenarios through minder for things such as light control at sunset and garden watering etc etc.
Now the problem:-
Sometimes when certian solenoids are set to power off for the watering system it creates a conflict which sets the Fire alarm off and subsequently starts everything beeping and the phone calls me (not the fire brigade) and then returns to normal when I intervene via the computer which is by the way left on permanently running Minder.
I have tried different time settings so its not the same as other instructions and "pulse" to off instead of "set" to off in Minder.
I just can"t track down the problem which will go away for a week and the out of the blue do it again. The fact that it sets certain banks of switches flashing seems to me to be a conflict problem perhaps in the relays or some such area.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
Kim

Frank Mc Alinden
03-08-2004, 04:31 PM
Hi Kim
From what you describe it sounds like the solenoids need some suppression diodes/varistors....When the solenoids de energise there is a high back emf voltage and this could be causing glitches .....What voltage solenoids are you using and are they fed from their own power supply ???

Frank

KayDee
04-08-2004, 06:20 AM
Thanks for the clue Frank I will check it as its been sometime since they were installed and the specs elude me at present. Are there any generic type solenoids that I should look for that have suppression diodes built in or is it an add on thing. Sorry i am not too technical.
Regards

Frank Mc Alinden
04-08-2004, 07:33 PM
Havent come across any solenoids with built in supression....If they are 12v dc i can send you some varistors that i use for relays etc....They maybe 24v ac and therefore would need to have a browse thr the RS Components catalogue to find something suitable.....Check out the voltage + ac/dc of the valves first and then post your results and we will take it from there
HTH
Frank