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Home > Archive > Alternative Power sources > August 2005 > remote clicker for off grid inverter in search mode
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remote clicker for off grid inverter in search mode
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| sparky 2005-08-17, 10:21 pm |
| I need to turn on a receptacle by remote(25 feet) and the reptacle can
NOT be used as a source of power for the relay. A battery powered relay
and a battery powered remote. Seen one anywhere ?
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| Scott Willing 2005-08-19, 3:21 pm |
| On 17 Aug 2005 17:52:28 -0700, "sparky" <astraea41@aol.com> wrote:
>I need to turn on a receptacle by remote(25 feet) and the reptacle can
>NOT be used as a source of power for the relay. A battery powered relay
>and a battery powered remote. Seen one anywhere ?
Yes and no.
How handy are you?
I recently bought a couple of 12V remote-controlled relays intended
for turning on car lights (mainly to avoid the necessity of running
wires through the firewall and mounting a switch, but they have a
range of 250 feet).
Litelink, by Cooper Automotive, bought at Princess Auto.
One of these could be hooked up without internal modifications to a
small 12V gel cel (tricklecharged whenever the outlet was live, e.g.),
and its relay closure (rated 40A at 14VDC, BTW) used to engage an
external relay with specs suitable for switching the AC.
The quiescent power requirements of the receiver are minimal, and the
remote is the size of a matchbook.
Or if you have the skills and time on your hands... the internal
receiver circuit is actually powered from a TL05 5V regulator, so you
could replace the on-board relay with a 5V coil / 120VAC 15A unit to
control the outlet and probably run the thing from 4 AA's. (Again,
perhaps trickle-charged whenever the outlet was powered.)
If you're really ambitious you could try an arrangement that could
store enough energy (in a good-sized capacitor, e.g.) when the outlet
is powered - perhaps even topped up by stealing a bit from the search
mode pulses - to keep the remote receiver powered up and operate the
relay without the need for batteries at all. Trickier, admittedly,
dependent on duty cycle, dependent on whether the inverter is often
powered down completely... and whether the tinkerer has enough time to
do more than idly suggest such madness on a lunch break. :-)
-=s
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| Scott Willing 2005-08-19, 3:21 pm |
| On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 12:52:53 -0500, Scott Willing
<NOTwilling2BSPAMMED@mts.net> wrote:
>On 17 Aug 2005 17:52:28 -0700, "sparky" <astraea41@aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>Yes and no.
>
>How handy are you?
>
>I recently bought a couple of 12V remote-controlled relays intended
>for turning on car lights (mainly to avoid the necessity of running
>wires through the firewall and mounting a switch, but they have a
>range of 250 feet).
>
>Litelink, by Cooper Automotive, bought at Princess Auto.
[snip blah blah blah]
Say, if you're off-grid, perhaps you'd have the option of running this
thing directly off your primary battery? Don't suppose you're at 12V
primary? Don't suppose you could either (a) put the receiver and relay
in the power room and control the feed to the outlet from there
(probably a bunch of other stuff on that circuit, right?) or (b) get
12V from the power room to some convenient location near the outlet?
If you have 12V in the right place already, all you'd need to do is
replace the relay in this thing with a suitably-rated one (a
pin-compatible part could probably be found with 120VAC contacts ) and
then isolate the contacts from the 12V circuit and connect them to the
outlet.
Truth is the contacts in a 40A 14VDC relay would probably be more than
fine for 15A @ 120VAC... but officially I'm not suggesting that you
try that, nudge nudge, wink, wink.
In all seriousness, unless you know enough to get in there and safely
isolate the contacts from the 12V circuit completely, all nudging
aside: don't do it.
-=s
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| sparky 2005-08-19, 10:21 pm |
| Thanks Scott ! Just want to get the inverter out of sense to open the
garage door opener. Wife really epected that inverters should be
designed for this in the first place. I have little time as I started a
new job building the most expensive Barometer in the world and ......
Anyway since I only want to switch a 11 watt ac light on I was hoping
for off the shelf / turnkey. How about a post with light switch by the
garage door..............
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"Scott Willing" <NOTwilling2BSPAMMED@mts.net> wrote in message
news:lp7cg158g0n5fvei40u2mkdqdieiahi4bv@4ax.com...[color=darkred]
> On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 12:52:53 -0500, Scott Willing
> <NOTwilling2BSPAMMED@mts.net> wrote:
>
I tried looking at the Princess Auto web site and they did not list any
electrical items
Could you please provide more information on the 12v relay.
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| Steve Spence 2005-08-21, 9:21 pm |
| radio shack has a set of infrared led's ideal for remote control. they
also have low voltage relays. this is a semi-complicated project.
Steve Spence
Dir., Green Trust, http://www.green-trust.org
Contributing Editor, http://www.off-grid.net
http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html
sparky wrote:
> I need to turn on a receptacle by remote(25 feet) and the reptacle can
> NOT be used as a source of power for the relay. A battery powered relay
> and a battery powered remote. Seen one anywhere ?
>
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| http://www.radioshack.com/category....02%5F000&Page=1
"sparky" <astraea41@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1124326347.981355.80730@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>I need to turn on a receptacle by remote(25 feet) and the reptacle can
> NOT be used as a source of power for the relay. A battery powered relay
> and a battery powered remote. Seen one anywhere ?
>
Radio Shack used to sell a little gizmo , a small control box that plugged
into the house circuit , it had replacement 110v receptacles that were
individually coded so you could control them via the control box .
Just did a quick Google , try the link on top.
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| Scott Willing 2005-08-22, 1:21 pm |
| On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 11:52:03 -0700, "SQLit" <sqlit@qwest.net> wrote:
>
>"Scott Willing" <NOTwilling2BSPAMMED@mts.net> wrote in message
>news:lp7cg158g0n5fvei40u2mkdqdieiahi4bv@4ax.com...
>
>
>I tried looking at the Princess Auto web site and they did not list any
>electrical items
PA's website drives me crazy when it comes to locating stuff that's in
their regular catalogue, vs on sale. (They crank out a sale brochure
every coupla weeks.) Even the sale items can be hard to pull up
sometimes without *just* the right search term or the part number.
Trust me, they have LOTS of electrical items.
I didn't find this on a search either, but their part number was
804922, bought on sale for CDN$20. You might try the toll-free number.
Be aware, though, that PA started out as a surplus dealer and much of
their stuff still is surplus. Therefore many items come and go, never
to be seen again. (That's why I bought 2 more of those remote relays
after I had a look at the first one.)
>Could you please provide more information on the 12v relay.
From the box:
Litelink
BlazerTech3000 (the instruction sheet says "The Ignitor")
Blazer International (a division of Cooper Automotive)
3333 Charles St.
Franklin Pk, Il.
60131
That's all I gots.
I think that more recently PA had a three-channel unit on sale.
-=s
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| Dave Hinz 2005-08-22, 1:21 pm |
| On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 07:35:10 -0400, Steve Spence <sspence@green-trust.org> wrote:
> That's called X-10
>
> Available from a lot of sources including www.smarthome.com and www.x10.com
Of the two, I strongly perfer smarthome.com - remember those wonderful
pop-under ads that x10.com brought to us? I wouldn't buy from them if
they were the only vendor around. Also, before their pop-under scheme,
I did buy from them, and immediately after that my credit card number
was stolen for the first (and only) time in my life. I don't know if
those two are connected, but it's worth noting.
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| Vaughn 2005-08-22, 3:21 pm |
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"sparky" <astraea41@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1124500315.185484.213960@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Thanks Scott ! Just want to get the inverter out of sense to open the
> garage door opener. Wife really epected that inverters should be
> designed for this in the first place. I have little time as I started a
> new job building the most expensive Barometer in the world and ......
>
> Anyway since I only want to switch a 11 watt ac light on I was hoping
> for off the shelf / turnkey. How about a post with light switch by the
> garage door..............
Odd that you mention garage door opener...that is exactly what I was
thinking about. You can buy the clickers and receivers at any Home Depot and
there is no law that says you must use them on your garage door. The receivers
are usually fed with a wall wart, but I would be surprised if you could not make
one run on 12VDC. All you would need is a dedicated gell cell battery to run
the receiver when the inverter was in search and some sort of charger.
Vaughn
>
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| Solar Flare 2005-08-22, 9:21 pm |
| I told X10 I would never purchase from them again because of their popups a
few years ago.
The trouble is Plug and Power and Smart Home modules are manufactured by X10
anyway.
Now remeber you have me on ignore and it would be real embarrassing to you
to answer.
"Dave Hinz" <DaveHinz@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:3muc01F18mh5kU2@individual.net...
> On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 07:35:10 -0400, Steve Spence <sspence@green-trust.org>
wrote:
www.x10.com[color=darkred]
>
> Of the two, I strongly perfer smarthome.com - remember those wonderful
> pop-under ads that x10.com brought to us? I wouldn't buy from them if
> they were the only vendor around. Also, before their pop-under scheme,
> I did buy from them, and immediately after that my credit card number
> was stolen for the first (and only) time in my life. I don't know if
> those two are connected, but it's worth noting.
>
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| sparky 2005-08-23, 1:21 am |
| Yes it is looking like I will go to Depot and modify a unit. Thanks to
all for the help. Someday Xantrex and Outback will actually live with
the systems they design.
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