3/4" Liquid Solenoid Valve

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mustang65
 
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3/4" Liquid Solenoid Valve

Post by mustang65 »

I am looking for a 3/4" version to the ID-996 1/2" Liquid Solenoid Valve that is listed in the sensors section (ID-996). I thought about getting (2) 1/2" valves, but I do not want to increase the possibility of another thing going wrong. Has anyone run across a site that has 3/4" valves? The only ones I have found that will not empty your pocket book are located in China.
Thanks
Don

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: 3/4" Liquid Solenoid Valve

Post by Franklin97355 »

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10456 There are some on ebay too. Just what are the specs you need to meet?

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lyndon
 
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Re: 3/4" Liquid Solenoid Valve

Post by lyndon »

I bought some 1/2" & 1/4" ones from Valves4Projects on eBay. I'm positive they also had 3/4" ones. Prices around $15 or so, shipping included.

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mustang65
 
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Re: 3/4" Liquid Solenoid Valve

Post by mustang65 »

The requirements for the valve are
3/4" Brass
Normally open (NO)100Psi

Sorry about not mentioning the NORMALLY OPEN requirement, the ones that I have located have all been NORMALLY CLOSED. This is going to be used on the main water supply into the house, and I only want to supply voltage to the valve when the house sensors determine that there is a leak or when we go away for any length of time. Trying to keep this as GREEN as possible. I thought about going SOLAR with a small battery backup system, but I would still like to keep phase 1 of the project as simple as possible. So far I have the Xbee and Arduino circuit set up, just need to set up the sensors and FLOW Valve. If I can not locate Normally open valves I wonder if the Normally Closed valve can be modified to be a normally open valve

Thanks
Don
I saw some Normally Closed valves on Amazon, but no Normally open. May have to redesign the project?????

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: 3/4" Liquid Solenoid Valve

Post by Franklin97355 »

There were some ball valves in the Google search which would be only powered when you were moving them. If you have a power outage you might have a problem with a normally open valve AND a leak. (burst pipes in winter with power down....)

SlowSteve
 
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Re: 3/4" Liquid Solenoid Valve

Post by SlowSteve »

To follow on from the post above:

If you want to do it then it's an interesting project, but I've very strongly recommend keeping your existing manual water stop value in the circuit, and cutting this in as a second valve. That way, if your circuit ever has an issue, you have a fall back that will always work.

Another option, if you are struggling to find a 3/4" NO valve is to cut in perhaps a 1/2 meter section of 1/2inch pipe to the circuit and use a 1/2inch valve. Remember though that in a section of pipe where you go from 3/4inch to 1/2 inch, the pressure will be higher, so, depending on the mains water pressure coming into the house, you may either need a more powerful valve, or to pull more current with the existing valve.

Lastly, I would consider running this off a largish lead-acid battery with a solar trickle charger setup. It may be months/years before you need to invoke the circuit, and LiPo's aren't the best for leaving on hand for very long term trickle charging.

STeve

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mustang65
 
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Re: 3/4" Liquid Solenoid Valve

Post by mustang65 »

I contacted 3 companies today and they suggested using a motorized ball valve. These valves do not require a constant 12VDC power source to keep them open or closed. They only need power to change from one position to another. The valve uses about 4 watts when the motor is activated for about 5 seconds per position change, so that will not have much of an impact on the batteries (I have 2 Sealed batteries 12volt/12Ah, that will be connected to a small 12 volt solar panel from am old yard light system). The Xbee and flow sensor will not be much of a drain on the battery either. So I ordered a 3/4" Ball Valve today. I will keep you updated with the status of the project. Need to start digging up 50' of old water pipe so I can replace it and install the valve and flow sensor. There is a manual shut off on the city water meter if something should go wrong.

Thanks for the suggestions,
Don

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mustang65
 
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Re: 3/4" Liquid Solenoid Valve

Post by mustang65 »

Sorry, I forgot to post the valve that I purchased on Amazon.
Don

http://www.amazon.com/MISOL-motorized-e ... ball+valve

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