Aqua Plus to limit SWG run time ?

[NeedMoreSun]

I'm still playing with getting my new SWG adjusted and set, and no need for the below "yet", but while working on getting it dialed in it hit me that it would really be a pain once solar or a heater are added and be generating unknown amounts based on the weather each day. Or, I guess even right now when I get requests from company or the grandkid to turn the little cheap pressure waterfall on so pumps running in addition to the usual controlled window.

I searched and found other questions on it, but most ended with either saying it can't be done, or can be done with no details, or "use another relay" and no specifics.

So, correct me if I'm wrong here. Could I not cut the wire to the flow switch and run one leg of it through the Lights relay, then set the lights timer to only close the relay during normal pump runtime? The relay would otherwise show an open on the flow switch and prevent the SWG from running outside the normal window?

 

[jblizzle]

The flow switch is meant to be a back up. The power should be cut off to the SWG to control when it turns on and off.
So, hooking the power to the SWG to the light relay could allow you to turn the SWG on and off on a schedule and the flow switch would still be a back up if the pump was not running for some reason.

EDIT: oh wait, you have the ProLogic like I do, so you do not have a power supply to an external SWG controller to do that. Yeah there is no way to correctly set the SWG to only run at a scheduled time.

 

[NeedMoreSun]

Hmmm, true, it's a backup to protect the cell but the circuit would be closed and function normally to protect it when in use and still shut it down due to no/low flow conditions wouldn't it? Effectively preventing it from running only at times by making it think there is no flow, even if there really is but still protect it fine otherwise?

Yes on your edit. I went outside scratching my head thinking cutting into that molded cable doesn't sound like anything I want to do.

 

[jblizzle]

Hmmm indeed ...
If you ran only one of the wires from the flow switch through the light relay, you are right that would allow you to control the on-off time of the SWG and when the light timer was on, the flow switch would still be a backup if the pump stopped working for some reason.

As long as the light timer was encompassed by the pump timer, that should work.

 

[NeedMoreSun]

Thanks I had to ask and talk myself through it even. It "seemed" like it would work but I was second guessing. You'd never know I was once an avionics tech for 13 years and taught transistor theory, yet now after years of working as a systems analyst I can barely even read a schematic anymore