Solid State Auto-Top off

JBendel

Well-Known Member
BRS Member
I have used the standard relay based scheme (https://www.melevsreef.com/plumbing/auto_topoff.html) for auto-top off, and it works fine, but my sump has a lot of flow, so there was always a lot of "clicking" before the pump would shut off, and the relay would wear out every few years, so last year designed out the relay with a Triac. The circuit below is mounted on a PCB (3 for ~$8 at OSHPark). The RC on input knocks out the "chatter", so hopefully the Triac will last longer than the relay. If anyone wants the eagle files for the PCB, just PM me your email and will send them to you.

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Having caused enough "mini floods" over the years, I also use a timer that still limits amount of time the pump can run just to give a little more time to catch a disaster in the making.

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It's doable. The PCB is from when I was messing around with waveboxes, but on the next spin was thinking of adding a one shot to the input, but adding a more flexible "long timer" is worth adding too.
 
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