Sick and tired of level switches failing!

[scherzo]

I have mine switches wired to a breakout box on my Apex controller. I also put a dab of silicone where the wires entered the body of the switch. 3 years later. No problem.

[Seth81]

I ended up buying that ultrasonic level transmittter, if this works well I may end up replacing a few more of my switches with transmitters

[mkj]

looks promising. Lots of work to set up though and not waterproof only water resistant. In the right setup will work great though.

I like the idea of using it in a stand pipe to reduce water turbulence. That's the issue I have with my sump right now.

[The Guy]

Originally Posted by dino

not a answer to you question but I use a float that requires no power just gravity and its never failed me

+1 to this, this is what I'm going to do on my new 120g

[Seth81]

Thats what baffles are for I move 1200 GPH through my sump with no issues , my water line looks nice and solid. The switches never seemed to be effected by the flow through the sump. Then again I am using an old 90G tank as a sump (with baffleds I built)

Originally Posted by mkj

looks promising. Lots of work to set up though and not waterproof only water resistant. In the right setup will work great though.

I like the idea of using it in a stand pipe to reduce water turbulence. That's the issue I have with my sump right now.

[mkj]

I have baffles, it has nothing to do with that for me.

It's because I have a small sump return section and my return pump is pulling lots of water which makes small turbulence in last return chamber. In hindsight, I would have make my return section slightly larger but I was trying to max space. My next sump will have an adjustment for this problem. There is a point where return section is too small for how much water is being pulled through, just don't ask me where that point is.

[brizzo]

What is better than 1 cheap float switch? 2 cheap float switches! You can get 5 float switches off ebay for under $10 shipped

[Seth81]

LoL... Yeah I was waiting for someone to say that! In industrial controls we frequently vote between three instruments for a safety critical loop. Only problem is that I need to then have three level switches mounted at the same level, and three discrete inputs into the controller instead of just one. And then also should have some way of warning me that one of three switches has failed.

Yes I could wire them in series, and use a single input, but then that means I'm 3 times as likely to have a failure! IME the switches fail in the closed position so wiring them in parallel would result in a non-fail safe system (i.e. a failure would cause the automatic water change sequence to continually drain)

This transmitter should be Cadillac! Now I just need to find a cheap conductivity transmitter! Ooops...wrong thread

Originally Posted by brizzo

What is better than 1 cheap float switch? 2 cheap float switches! You can get 5 float switches off ebay for under $10 shipped