Good morning,
We are trying to set up a procedure to use a common pump paired with 3 separate actuators on 2 separate controllers. The valves A, B are to move effluent from 2 separate tanks to a drain while valve C is a flush program to clean the pipes. The pump must be on for fluids to move through the system. If the pump is not on, nothing is moving through and the programs will stall.
The setup is a follows:
Controller 1 (C3):
Valve A - paired with pump on Relay A - when VA open, RA on, when VA closes, RA off
Valve B - paired with Pump on Relay A - when VB open, RA on, when VB closes, RA off
Controllers 2 (C4):
Valve C - paired with Pump on Relay A - when VC open, RA on, when VC closes, RA off.
The above is how I have everything paired together.
However, what happens during programming is that VA and VB will turn on, one after the other as they are running similar but separate programs (ie. one program does not affect the other). This will turn the RA pump on; however, when VA turns off, it will turn the pump off while VB is still open - the pump isnt running when the valve is open. Similarly, a short program on VC will turn on and off the RA pump, even when VA or VB are still open.
How can I program the units to have RA pump on if VA, VB, or VC are open, but to turn off only if VA, VB, and VC are closed?
I have attached a picture for clarification:
VA opens and RA turn on, reducing water level.
VB opens and some fluid starts filling back up through VA (3, connected lines)
VA closes and RA turns off.
RA stays off even when VB is open, the program finishes then continues to the next step (separate valve opens to drop water level further).
Hi Gregory, thank you for that explanation and that chart to visualize the issue. There are two main issues going on here, and I’d like to address them individually.
First, you have two Microclimates installations (controllers) for controlling a single pump. Ultimately only ONE integration card on one of those controllers can be used for control. If multiple cards on one or many controllers are connected to the same pump, they will stomp over each other. Nothing you can do to resolve that.
That said, let’s choose Controller 1 (C3) as the pump controller. That means you’ll need to get Valve C represented on Controller 1. This can be done by adding a Valve C card to Controller 1, and publishing the valve on/off state from C4 to that “proxy card” on C3.
Now that all 3 valve state cards on on one controller, the second issue is getting 3 inputs (valves) to control a single output (the pump). If you connect them all to the pump without doing anything else, the “last one” wins. That’s what you’re seeing.
What you want is a logical OR. If Valve A OR Valve B OR Valve C is on, then turn on the pump. Otherwise turn it off.
There is a logical OR card available to do just this thing. Two inputs, one output. The issue here is that you have three inputs. In order to get 3 ORs together, use one logical OR card for Valve A and Valve B. Take the output of that OR card as one of the inputs to another OR card, with Valve C as the other input. Output from that second OR card then connects to the pump input and bobsuruncle.
Hi Loren,
The logic cards work well. I now have it set up with:
Valve A OR B triggering Decant on logic 1 card
Decant OR Valve C triggering Pump on logic 2 card
Thanks!
G