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After seeing a few farmers lose their crops to malfunctioning AC's I decided to post this simple DIY high temp shut-off that works for light controllers from 1-50 lights. NOTE: Be sure to size the contactor appropriately for the number of running amps. Ex. if it is rate at 30 Amps then you can only run 6 lights on the contactor and remember that ballasts pull an additional 20% at start-up so size appropriately. Here are the directions:
Parts:
A. 2 wire Electric baseboard thermostat from Home Depot - 20$
B. A length of 16 gauge wire long enough to go from your controller to your room.
C. female disconnects from HD - 3$ this is what they look like:
http://www.google.com/products/cata...a=X&ei=fT8eT9HLIeOmiQKviOzfCw&ved=0CDMQ8wIwAw
D. 3 pole definite purpose contactor - here is a link for one but any 3 pole with 120V coil will do:
All you have to do is interrupt the power from the supply to the controller with the contactor. So look at the picture from the link you will see 6 screws.
1. Turn off your power. Attach the wires from your power supply (white(common), black, red) to T1, T2 and T3.
2. Now attach the wires that go to your controller on L1, L2, L3. The order is not important but what IS important is that the wires on both sides match up, i.e., black with black, etc.
Ok see those buttons in the middle? They are what activate the coil. Basically this thing has a little magnet on the inside that when it is energized it makes the connections between t1,t2,t3 and l1,l2,l3. When it is not energized no power can get across. The idea is that you set your thermostat to say, 90F and so long as the temp in your room is less then 90F the thermostat will send a signal to the contactor to energize. This is how you wire the thermostat:
3. You can't see them in the picture, but there will be little metal tabs sticking out (not the ones attached to the screws) lower on the contactor that activate the coil. You need to first run a wire (this is important) from either the black or red wire (a power wire) on the T side, to thermostat.
3a. Attach a female disconnect to a piece of wire that is connected to your thermostat and push in on one of the metal tabs (black or red) THAT IS PART OF THE SCREW on the contactor, not one of the metal tabs that is lower down.
4. Attach the other wire from the thermostat to one of the metal tabs that is NOT part of any of the screws using a female disconnect.
4a. You should now have one wire coming from the contactor going to the thermo and one wire leaving the thermo going to the contactor.
5. Attach a small length of from one side of the tab that powers the coil (the tab you used in part 4) to the WHITE wire tab on T1, again use female disconnects.
You have now completed the whole circuit. So long as the temp in your room is below whatever you set your thermostat to, the thermostat will activate which will complete the circuit from the power that goes into the thermostat to the tab that activates the coil. The small piece of wire from the coil to the white wire power screw completes the entire circuit.
Good luck. If this seems difficult, it is not. If you are not at all familiar with electricity show a buddy who has some electrical knowledge this email and he should get it no problem.
Parts:
A. 2 wire Electric baseboard thermostat from Home Depot - 20$
B. A length of 16 gauge wire long enough to go from your controller to your room.
C. female disconnects from HD - 3$ this is what they look like:
http://www.google.com/products/cata...a=X&ei=fT8eT9HLIeOmiQKviOzfCw&ved=0CDMQ8wIwAw
D. 3 pole definite purpose contactor - here is a link for one but any 3 pole with 120V coil will do:
All you have to do is interrupt the power from the supply to the controller with the contactor. So look at the picture from the link you will see 6 screws.
1. Turn off your power. Attach the wires from your power supply (white(common), black, red) to T1, T2 and T3.
2. Now attach the wires that go to your controller on L1, L2, L3. The order is not important but what IS important is that the wires on both sides match up, i.e., black with black, etc.
Ok see those buttons in the middle? They are what activate the coil. Basically this thing has a little magnet on the inside that when it is energized it makes the connections between t1,t2,t3 and l1,l2,l3. When it is not energized no power can get across. The idea is that you set your thermostat to say, 90F and so long as the temp in your room is less then 90F the thermostat will send a signal to the contactor to energize. This is how you wire the thermostat:
3. You can't see them in the picture, but there will be little metal tabs sticking out (not the ones attached to the screws) lower on the contactor that activate the coil. You need to first run a wire (this is important) from either the black or red wire (a power wire) on the T side, to thermostat.
3a. Attach a female disconnect to a piece of wire that is connected to your thermostat and push in on one of the metal tabs (black or red) THAT IS PART OF THE SCREW on the contactor, not one of the metal tabs that is lower down.
4. Attach the other wire from the thermostat to one of the metal tabs that is NOT part of any of the screws using a female disconnect.
4a. You should now have one wire coming from the contactor going to the thermo and one wire leaving the thermo going to the contactor.
5. Attach a small length of from one side of the tab that powers the coil (the tab you used in part 4) to the WHITE wire tab on T1, again use female disconnects.
You have now completed the whole circuit. So long as the temp in your room is below whatever you set your thermostat to, the thermostat will activate which will complete the circuit from the power that goes into the thermostat to the tab that activates the coil. The small piece of wire from the coil to the white wire power screw completes the entire circuit.
Good luck. If this seems difficult, it is not. If you are not at all familiar with electricity show a buddy who has some electrical knowledge this email and he should get it no problem.
