Ocean's Motions users

[Anonymous]

Are you happy with the product? I'm considering buying a Squirt, but I need it for a fairly specific purpose.

I want to create a left to right then right to left flow in my tank that alternates every 6 hours.

I'm not sure this is doable with an OM Squirt and a timer. If I place it on a timer that turns on the unit for, say, 1 minute, every 6 hours, does the drum alternate direction once?

 

[Len]

I'm happy with mine. You can do what you're designing, but it will take a some experimenting to get the timing right. Your timing would also probably have to be adjustable by the seconds. An actuated ball valve probably would work better, but they cost more.

 

[Anonymous]

I used a Squirt for about a year and a half and was very happy with it

 

[Anonymous]

I'm happy with mine. You can do what you're designing, but it will take a some experimenting to get the timing right. Your timing would also probably have to be adjustable by the seconds. An actuated ball valve probably would work better, but they cost more.

Yeah, I was hoping to avoid that costly route. I can't think of a way to get that precise of a timing control cheaply.

There are other options (run 2 pumps, both on timers) but they're ones I'd rather avoid as well.

:?

 

[bleedingthought]

Matt, e-mail or call (better to call but they're in Canada) Paul at Oceans Motions and he can help you out! Incredibly nice and helpful guy!!!

 

[bleedingthought]

Toll-free, actually: 1-877-812-4108 between 10:00am and 9:00pm EST.

 

[Anonymous]

I love mine. it's a bit noisier than I thought, but not loud at all.

The stepper motor on the OM I have is 1 RPM. So you would need to set your timer to 30 secs. If you did one minute every six hours, you'd have opposite flow for 30 secs then it would go back to where it was.

If you can get a .5 rpm motor, it would work great. I'd use a digital timer though.

B

 

[Anonymous]

I love mine. it's a bit noisier than I thought, but not loud at all.

The stepper motor on the OM I have is 1 RPM. So you would need to set your timer to 30 secs. If you did one minute every six hours, you'd have opposite flow for 30 secs then it would go back to where it was.

If you can get a .5 rpm motor, it would work great. I'd use a digital timer though.

B

Yeah, it'd have to be digital. Only problem is the ones I have used in the past are minute increments at the smallest. :?

 

[Anonymous]

Toll-free, actually: 1-877-812-4108 between 10:00am and 9:00pm EST.

Thanks Thiago!

 

[Anonymous]

I had one for a year and it was great. I think for what you are wanting to do what Len suggested would be better.

 

[hotrodder]

I've been running mine for two months and love it. I had a little water hammering at first, but did the fix and runs just fine. They do run hot and is normal for the device.

 

[Anonymous]

Matt, let me know what Paul says! I talked to him about it about a year ago, and they weren't doing anything with custom motors or controllers. Times change quick at OM though!

 

[Anonymous]

You could do what you want with two solinoid valves. Check the sprinkler section at you local hardware store to see if they have any. If you get a prewired 120 volt type you can plug both into cheep timers and get what you want. The motor on the OM is DC. IIRC you can put a resistor in the line to slow it down. You may need to play with it to get the spin you want. Or you could get a vairiable resistor from a hobby RC store and try that.

 

[Anonymous]

Love my squirt.

You want to do it every 6 hours... hmm the motor turns once every minute, so so during any 15 second interval you'll have 2 ports open, most of one and part of another. Problem is if you put a timer on it with a 1 minute interval as the smallest adjustment, you'll simply stop it at the same place you left off. However if you get a faster motor, say 3RPM (which is easily acquired via ebay, unsure how easy a change it would be they're not terribly difficult parts to remove though) then you could potentially do it, with some intermediate swishing around later..

Personally, I would go for another route, you have a small tank so a tunze on a controller would probably be a little large for your tank, maybe the nano versoin? Eitherway, I would not suggest using ah OM for your project.

 

[Anonymous]

Matt, let me know what Paul says! I talked to him about it about a year ago, and they weren't doing anything with custom motors or controllers. Times change quick at OM though!

I got my hands on a timer that can be set down to the millisecond (viva my job!), so that part is set.

However, it's more complicated than I thought it'd be. If the timer isn't synced exactly with the motor, then the drum will not turn exactly 180 degrees each time. Maybe 179, or 178, or 181 degrees, etc. The effect will be additive, so I'll get a mix of both outlets half the time. Paul suggested I rig up something similar to what Mark suggested. I'll need to do some reading re electronics to figure it all out. OTOH it would produce some randomness on a longer cycle that might be interesting.

Paul had concerns about the water sitting in the pipes stagnant for 6 hours, which I am thinking is probably a non-issue.

 

[Anonymous]

You could do what you want with two solinoid valves. Check the sprinkler section at you local hardware store to see if they have any. If you get a prewired 120 volt type you can plug both into cheep timers and get what you want. The motor on the OM is DC. IIRC you can put a resistor in the line to slow it down. You may need to play with it to get the spin you want. Or you could get a vairiable resistor from a hobby RC store and try that.

Can you describe exactly how I would plumb the solenoids in and how they would shut the flow off? I have no experience building sprinkler systems. My biggest concern here is that at a certain point I'm going to get closer in price to an actuated ball valve.

 

[Anonymous]

I find the stagnant water to be a non issue. My big closed loop is 1.5 inch pipe, is under the house so has about 8 feet of pipe, and has stagnant water in it for four hours twice a day.

If you figure out how to do what you are trying to do for less than an actuated ball valve let me know!

 

[Anonymous]

Love my squirt.

You want to do it every 6 hours... hmm the motor turns once every minute, so so during any 15 second interval you'll have 2 ports open, most of one and part of another. Problem is if you put a timer on it with a 1 minute interval as the smallest adjustment, you'll simply stop it at the same place you left off. However if you get a faster motor, say 3RPM (which is easily acquired via ebay, unsure how easy a change it would be they're not terribly difficult parts to remove though) then you could potentially do it, with some intermediate swishing around later..

Personally, I would go for another route, you have a small tank so a tunze on a controller would probably be a little large for your tank, maybe the nano versoin? Eitherway, I would not suggest using ah OM for your project.

If it was a larger or different tank I'd just stick one of those nifty Vortech pumps in. However, the tank is equipment free. I'd like it to mimic what we're trying to accomplish with the exhibits.

 

[Anonymous]

You could do what you want with two solinoid valves. Check the sprinkler section at you local hardware store to see if they have any. If you get a prewired 120 volt type you can plug both into cheep timers and get what you want. The motor on the OM is DC. IIRC you can put a resistor in the line to slow it down. You may need to play with it to get the spin you want. Or you could get a vairiable resistor from a hobby RC store and try that.

Can you describe exactly how I would plumb the solenoids in and how they would shut the flow off? I have no experience building sprinkler systems. My biggest concern here is that at a certain point I'm going to get closer in price to an actuated ball valve.

Sure. Come from your pump to a tee. On each branch of the tee put one of the solenoid valves. Then go to the tank from each. The valves I found are normally closed. All that means if you have to apply voltage to get them to open. Remove the voltage and they close. Also the once I saw are wired for 120 so all you would have to do is plud them into a timer.

I did not to an extensive search, but here you go.

http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/mist3.shtml

 

[Anonymous]

If you are willing to do the conversion from 120vac to 24vdc you can get some solenoid falves for much less. Will take a little DIY on your part and a transformer for each. Probably less in the long run.

http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/prod ... =IR%2D1040