# Timer for misting system?



## Guest (Mar 16, 2006)

I could use some help finding the right kind of timer for my DIY misting system. Anyone know of a timer that can be programmed to come on for only a few seconds rather than minutes?
Thanks.


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## summitwynds (Jan 22, 2006)

I got mine at Worms Way. I think they have a website, but I bought it at one of their stores. They sell gardening stuff.


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## Guest (Mar 16, 2006)

Thanks for that. Unfortunately, I can only find timers with 30 seconds being the shortest duration. I was hoping to find one that would do 5 second intervals and set it to activate once every hour or so.
I'm still looking.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

...Green air cyclestat:
http://www.herpsupplies.com/product.cfm?id=CYCLESTAT-IV


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## Guest (Mar 16, 2006)

That's just the ticket! I never would have found that on my own. I actually found the earlier model, the cyclostat 2, for only $95. I think that will meet the vivarium needs nicely.
Thank you very much!!!


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

No problem...been there!
Haven't forked over the cash for one yet though...


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

Ugh, that's painfully expensive. How does 80 bucks sound? http://www.wormsway.com/detail.asp?sku=RCT600

If you read Mist King's RAQ, Marty tells you the knid of timer you need. http://www.mistking.com/faq.html It's the second question. 



> The best timer to use is a repeat cycle timer (RCT). RCTs work on basis of "on cycle" and "off cycle". For example, you can set it to: "turn on for 20sec every 3 hrs".




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## Guest (Mar 16, 2006)

Thank you Defaced! You just saved me $25! Here it is for $70!
http://www.77hydrostore.com/recyti.html


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

Hey, no problem. I'm a poor college student so I know about needing the lowest price. If there's anything else I can help you with just ask.



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## Guest (Mar 21, 2006)

I was going to post that 77hydrostore had it for about $10.00 less than worm, however it was back order and I wanted to see the unit first as well.

It came today. Simple and works well. One feature that would have been a nice touch would be an on and off switch on the unit. I'll be plugging it into a digial timer (Intermatic), which will interrupt this unit during the night (after lights off), thus the switch isn't needed. This combination will be used for the Mist King misting unit in my 180 gal. tank with about 20 orchids.


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

I need to find schematics for one of these and build one. If parts cost more than 10 bucks I'd be suprised.



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## Guest (Mar 21, 2006)

if you don't mind putting together a circuit, do a search for "555 timer plans", you can build one (not easily adjustable once set though) for about 15 bucks, they're popular for diy aeroponics...


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

Actually, I right after I posted that I found a generic schematic that will work for this, based off of a 555. I'm going to build it in Multisim and see what valuse I'll need for the caps and pots, then build it up. If it works I'll see about selling them because 60 bucks is outrageous for this.



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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

defaced said:


> Actually, I right after I posted that I found a generic schematic that will work for this, based off of a 555. I'm going to build it in Multisim and see what valuse I'll need for the caps and pots, then build it up. If it works I'll see about selling them because 60 bucks is outrageous for this.


If you have luck with it, I'd definatly be interested...you wouldn't think just a minute on a misting system would deliver that much water, but I think like 10-15 seconds would be plenty in most cases.


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## DaSlackMan (Feb 3, 2006)

I wish I was 'electronically' inclined to build and modify stuff (lights, fans, timers, etc.).... Electricity freaks me out.....


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

I'll keep you guys posted. By this weekend I should have a better idea of what's going on, and hopefully a working prototype. From what I'm reading about the design paramaters, I should be able to build one that has an on time from 1milisecond to minutes, and an off time of 1milisecond to hours, but that's just from preliminary research, I'll have to run the math to see exactly what will work.



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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

> If you have luck with it, I'd definatly be interested...you wouldn't think just a minute on a misting system would deliver that much water, but I think like 10-15 seconds would be plenty in most cases.


That's what alot of people say, but I mist for 2-5 minutes daily. Maybe it's that I'm facinated with my misting system and like watching it work. 

How does this sound?:
On time 6 sec to 10 minutes
Off time 6 sec to 24 hours

It would be alot easier to build if the off time were shorter, like 6 sec to 12 hours. I guess I should look at the misting sticky in the other forum and see what everybody uses and design from there.



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## Guest (Mar 25, 2006)

*defaced wrote:*



> If it works I'll see about selling them because 60 bucks is outrageous for this.


I hear you Mike and to a degree I felt the same way, thus looked to shave the price as much as possile. $69 plus change was the best I could do. I am actually pleased with the unit and not sorry I bought it. This is coming from a person who just finished building his own check valve for a 1/2 " CPVC line because I didn't relish the idea of spending between $28 to $38 dollars for a ball check valve. Didn't find any others. Mine is a flapper and is only 1"dia.x 2" long. Took me about 1 hour or so to make. turning the dies to cut the valve was the longest part.

Anyway. When you figure your cost. Figure the timer, the buttons, female plug and cord, male plug and cord, housing that is capable of holding up in a humid green house environment, liability from people that burn their house down (of course they will swear before hand not to hold you liable) and the average hourly rate of $13.37 (this is the average value for "free" time in the U.S. right know) and see what your final cost works out to.  

BTW.....the check valve works fine. I expect to be in production in a couple of weeks. Patent pending!

I already have plans under way on inproving the Encore...which I haven't seen a patent on. Even if it did I could work around it, I'm sure. You better kick into gear or I'll beat you to market.


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

No way man, is saw it first  You've got one clear advantage right now on me, and that's the one you bought to look at for refference. 69 bucks, really? I'm going to get mine made and look at different configurations, and see how and at what price I can offer them. I'm looking to do about three or four different models, but first I need to get my prototype working. A trip to the electronics store tomorrow will fix that. I'm not sure if this is unorthadox or naive for "competitors" to do, but if you'd like to compare notes through pm let me know. 



> BTW.....the check valve works fine. I expect to be in production in a couple of weeks. Patent pending!


Are you serious? That's great. What's your store front going to be? I've got some things in the pipe that you may want to be a part of. I'm looking at a 4-6 week timeline to get this off the ground. Again, get with me via pm. 

Actually, I'm looking into a patent for my for my manifold design. Are you familar with patents? I've looked at the patent website and it's really confusing. What's the cost to apply for a patent? I'm pretty sure I don't have to do a patent search, like what one would usually do before starting development of a product to see if it had been done as I already have the product developed and ready for production.



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## Guest (Mar 25, 2006)

Mike,

Will give you a pm soon.

http://www.mdlsource.com/pages/1/index.htm



> You've got one clear advantage right now on me,


Check the link out....I have more than one...I assure you! 

Mike, pm sent.


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

I meant in terms of circuitry. Yes, with regards to that, you've got me, but to be quite smug, I'm as not concerned about packaging or the way the product looks as I am about the way the product works. Right now I need a working circuit on a breadboard before I can start thinking about what to make it look like.



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## Guest (Mar 26, 2006)

We call that product development.

*defaced wrote:*



> I meant in terms of circuitry.


Yeah, I knew what you meant. I just couldn't help myself being that by chance I make a living in the world of comsumer products.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

defaced said:


> How does this sound?:
> On time 6 sec to 10 minutes
> Off time 6 sec to 24 hours
> 
> It would be alot easier to build if the off time were shorter, like 6 sec to 12 hours. I guess I should look at the misting sticky in the other forum and see what everybody uses and design from there.


12 hours for an off time would be fine...you would have to have it connected to another timer anyway...right? Like the green air unit, or vivaria's seconds timer?
I would imagine in most cases, if you can adjust down to 10 seconds of mist, people would want it more often...that's what I had in mind when I got the system...several times a day, but at 1 min intervals, even twice a day, and I'd have to drain a vert ten at least twice a week...no fun there!


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

That depends. The timer would work fine on it's own, but you wouldn't be able to set what time it came on directly. If you plugged it in at 3:30pm for the first time, and set it to come on for 30 sec every 6 hours, then it'd come on at 9:30pm, 3:30am, 9:30am... So you couldn't set it directly to come on at those time, but by controling when it pulgged the unit in, you could control the on times. Make sence?

Now with a regular timer, you could have it turn this timer on whenever you like. So with the dial or digital timer you could set the on time directly, then the RCT would take care of the off time. 

Actually.... That's a good idea. Better get to work. (Me thinking out loud)



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## Guest (Mar 26, 2006)

*defaced wrote:*



> Actually.... That's a good idea. Better get to work. (Me thinking out loud)


Yes, I guess you better. I have those 3 features, plus one other over two weeks know. 

I'll give you a little time before I go public. If I do. Still thinking about that one.


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

No way your's is better dude. Mine makes fly cultures and feeds the frogs. Not to mention it'll come in Uber-Purp (TM), the Uber Purple color that makes your whites whiter and your brights bright, all the while complementing your sofa. Beat that 



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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

But does it brown the food????


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## Guest (Mar 26, 2006)

Go ahead and joke!  You guys are closer then you know! Right idea, wrong subjects however!

Hint: Feature #4. It isn't needed per se, however it is easy to do, gives a nice marketing "hook" and can impress your friends and/or company. A feature value more for the display tank, esp. large and/or custom cabinet units.

The tank I'm working with is a 180 gallons and MUST (and is so far) be able to cater to a varity of orchids as well as other plants, meeting each needs.

We are dealing here with just one small element of the whole as I look at my objectives.


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## Guest (Mar 28, 2006)

quote: (not easily adjustable once set though) \
defaced: pm me if you actually want to do this... this is what we do. i have a diagram. i am not about profit, as i said this is what we do.
robert.
edit:actually, guess i didn't say what it is that i do... i have spent the last 5 years as a distributor for C.A.P. and green air in the hydroponics industry, among other cycle timers... they're a ripoff... and i do have schematics...(i'm an honest distributor, believe it or not, i'd rather if all y'all didn't spend 100.00 a pop, DIY is the way to be, personally, i'd really rather you all just get a bread board and figure it out yourself, it'd make me feel better about posting plans.... it isn't hard.
robert(again)


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## Guest (Mar 28, 2006)

...and, much like the a$$ that i am, the site i'm refering to no longer exists... i still have a couple sets that'll work...but i'm sorry for my bold words...
robert.
ps.
do the following google/blingo:

"555 plant cycle timer" to get some working schemes...[/url]


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

You've got a PM. And THANKS!!!



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## Guest (Mar 30, 2006)

so i also looked down here at the shop, i had a giant binder of DIY material for folks to get copies of, it must have gone the way of the dinosaur in one of our rearrangings. found some ozone generator plans stuck in a crack :roll: ... i'm sorry about that.
robert.


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## Marty (Feb 27, 2004)

Thanks for the link. I'll add that one to mistking



sonofgaladriel said:


> Thank you Defaced! You just saved me $25! Here it is for $70!
> http://www.77hydrostore.com/recyti.html


btw, I went throug the timing issues about 2 years ago. I had a friend of mine do a repeat timer for me. parts retail were just a few bucks. The most costly item was the box and the relay

For control it had one potentiometer which would select only the on-time. It was touchy, 1/16 movement meant increase of something like 10 minutes, so it took a while to get it set right (we used the wrong potentiometer  Once power was applied it would run for the set time and then go off. The relay was running off a 9V battery. If the battery would get 1/2 drained it would no longer set the relay, which was no good. I later changed it to AC Adapter power and it worked much better.

I ran off of the thing for quite a bit and then found the RCT that worms way sells. I really like the commercial one, but I use it the same way as the home made version and have it connected to the intermatic timer. It really works great, gives me the power to control what time it goes on and for how long and it also gives me a piece of mind knowing that if the intermatic fails to turn my pump off, then the repeat cycle timer will turn it off. I purposely have my off cycle set to something like 8 hrs - for when the intermatic fails.

... and don't kid yourself, your Intermatic timer will fail eventually, that's why I now have thermal protection in my pumps, not because it's cool, but because it's necessary. I'd urge all the DIY to make sure you implement some type of a thermal protector. The intermatic, when the battery is drained enough, will fail to turn your pump off. 

An improved intermatic should rely on the AC to power it's clock when it's plugged in and on DC (battery) power when the power fails. 

Marty


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

I thought of another use for a timer like that...
When things get hot, anyone who's been around a while knows you can't just have a fan blowing through the viv to cool things down (you'd dry the tank out).
If you were to rig a cooling thermostat for a fan to blow air through the viv when temps reach a certain point, you could also plug the cycle timer into that (thermostatic) outlet, so when the fan comes on, you could set the misting system to run, maybee 10 seconds every hour or so (while the fans are on) to keep things humid and cool...

Just thought I'd add that!


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