MyExperiments@Home and other stuff

December 13, 2010

Wildlife at home

This is the aviary I built last October 2010. It is 9ft. x 7ft. x 9ft. in dimension. Initially 8 numbers of parakeets (budgies) were purchased from the pet shop in a day. After a week, 2 birds were added.
Then 4 African lovebirds joined the group after 2 weeks.

Weeks after, I just saw one dead bright green parakeet on the ground. There were no signs of sickness the day before its death. Maybe it was due to a rat or cat attack while clinging at the wire net during night sleep.
Then, last December 10, one of these yellow colored Fischer died, it already showed gradual signs of discomfort days before its death. The mixture of Gatorade, honey, baking soda, and water was not effective.
Things such as this happen anytime. Anyway, good things also come...
One pair of these Fischer has been bringing add-ons (strips from plywood) for their nest beddings
I'm hoping the pair will breed as soon as possible.

November 26, 2010

Auto-repeat timer relay circuit I built

My Auto-Pump Timer Relay Circuit for Aquaponic System

Below is the original PCB layout of the automatic timer I designed. But unfortunately I ended up into a messy version due to several revisions and parts/design adjustments, simply because the bits of information I got from googling were not really provided as exact which had really disappointed me while I was in the first stage of construction. This timer circuit is intended for the18-watt submersible pump I purchased for my backyard aquaponic system. I was not able to make use of this particular pcb. However, a functional circuit was finalized anyway! I designed this circuit to wake-up the water pump every 15 minutes and powering the pump for only 2 minutes.

PCB Component side

PCB Solder side

The actual soldered components

The big red LED continuously blinks-indicating the timing in process.

The big green LED lights up every 15 minutes waking up the system.

The small green LED lights up when the circuit wakes up, sending a signal to be amplified enough for the system to trigger the 2 minutes "On" time.

The small red LED lights up for only 2 minutes as the basis of the relay to turn-on the 220V line for the pump. Extra care was taken on this dangerous part of the board.

The circuit is powered by 12Vdc adaptor. This entire system must be sealed-off for safety reasons.

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The 35-Minute Timer for Home Appliances

(to be built soon...)