started my ballast project

scott_fx · Criminal Joined: 07 Dec 2008 Posts: 96 City: Los Angeles

Started my '98 Sunsetter vlx ballast install today; what i truly thought i could do in one day has quickly proved me wrong!

after a slow start and some relatively easy fixes I have the bags set up, two fill pumps installed and some of the wiring started.

the system consists of:
fly high v-drive sacs. (400 lbs each)
fly high ski locker sac from a supra (~300 lbs limited by the ski locker size)
tsunami 1200 gph fill pumps
tsunami 800 gph drain - directly connected the bags
quick release vent and fill fittings
relay board to avoid having to install manual switches.

I don't have many pics yet but here are are few:
here is the tsunami 1200 gph pump modified with a 3/4" inlet:

first pump installed:

second pump installed (still have to route the wires):

relay board :Whistling: :

I'll update this more as I go along.

turbohoje · Outlaw Joined: 14 Aug 2008 Posts: 117 City: thornton

is there some way you could install a pulse sensor to count how many gallons of water has gone through the pump. does such a thing exist?

scott_fx · Criminal Joined: 07 Dec 2008 Posts: 96 City: Los Angeles

blaydeman · Outlaw Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Posts: 119

would you mind putting the cost so my lazy a$$ doesnt have to look it up? and if you got it online from where?. Smile

drknute3 · Criminal Joined: 15 Aug 2008 Posts: 50

What kind of thru hull is that you have? Is it threaded for pipe thread or is it straight thread? I have yet to find a thru hull that is true pipe thread or have yet to find a ball valve that is straight thread. I had a guy in CA make an adapter that had female straight thread on the thru hull side and male pipe thread on the ball valve side.

the_dude · Outlaw Joined: 09 Jul 2008 Posts: 201 City: Long Beach

Pics aren't showing up...

scott_fx · Criminal Joined: 07 Dec 2008 Posts: 96 City: Los Angeles

polkaking27 · Outlaw Joined: 31 Jul 2004 Posts: 142 City: Vancouver

so are you saying that you will be able to control your ballast with an ipod touch??? Thats awesome! Unless, you forget your ipod, then your screwed. But otherwise I think thats amazing

turbohoje · Outlaw Joined: 14 Aug 2008 Posts: 117 City: thornton

just a follow up on my hair brained idea

something like this http://www.omega.com/ppt/pptsc.asp?ref=FPR301_302_303_304&Nav=gref02 would give you a square wave that could go into your adrino/PLC counter port.

unfortunately they can get pretty expensive and will slow the fluid flow. you'd have to be pretty serious about a project to get down like this.

i dont know if the big boys do this, but i'd love to just push a button with "wakeboarding" on it and it would auto-fill the ballasts to what was set.
i'm prbly over complicating things and a pressure transducer or ammeter on pump draw would be far less expensive and accurate.

scott_fx · Criminal Joined: 07 Dec 2008 Posts: 96 City: Los Angeles

Thanks, if I forget my ipod I should be able to control it from my blackberry. I plan on also making a cheap break out board with some cheap toggles and quick release molex connectors. If I forget the wifi devices I can just quicly connect that to the board and manually control the relays. Smile

scott_fx · Criminal Joined: 07 Dec 2008 Posts: 96 City: Los Angeles

turbohoje · Outlaw Joined: 14 Aug 2008 Posts: 117 City: thornton

give me a holler, ive got something started in the perfect pass department running on a rabbit.com PLC.

a pretty easy way to do that sack thing would be to put an ammeter on the supply. it would somehow need to be an analog-input friendly output but it shouldnt be that hard to figure out. it could work the same way a car-window works. when the motor starts to pull more juice than its expected operating current, you know the window has rolled all the way up/down. the pump would pull less when its not pulling water (empty) and more when the sack is full.

turbohoje@hotmail.com

scott_fx · Criminal Joined: 07 Dec 2008 Posts: 96 City: Los Angeles

turbohoje · Outlaw Joined: 14 Aug 2008 Posts: 117 City: thornton

yeah any old relay should work since the pump runs off 12v.

a side question. since the hurricane pump only goes 1 direction, i gather this is why you use two pumps (one always fill, one always empty). do the pumps bleed and thats the purpose of the ball valves?

scott_fx · Criminal Joined: 07 Dec 2008 Posts: 96 City: Los Angeles

well, the pumps really don't restrict flow, but the fill pumps enter the top of the bag...so it won't leak out because it would have to travel above the bag's waterline to (i'll be installing a bit of a loop in the system to help raise the high point of the hose) discharge through the pump. There are also going to be vent lines installed to avoid siphoning. The ball valves are for safety. if something happens to the pump or hose i'll be able to shut off the flow of water.

blaydeman · Outlaw Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Posts: 119

turbohoje · Outlaw Joined: 14 Aug 2008 Posts: 117 City: thornton

i got it, you might be just fine without a vent line if both fill and empty are under water

scott_fx · Criminal Joined: 07 Dec 2008 Posts: 96 City: Los Angeles

blaydeman · Outlaw Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Posts: 119

scott_fx · Criminal Joined: 07 Dec 2008 Posts: 96 City: Los Angeles

here is a small update. i have everything mocked up with temp wiring. initial tests proved unsuccessful with my blackberry but my buddy's iphone connected w/o any problems. Which if fine since i'm going to be using an ipod touch to control it anyways.

i have a buddy that is currently creating a web app for a clean user interface. 6 buttons (large touchscreen friendlly) one for each pump. initial testing on the iphone allowed me to toggle each realy from the supplied website when connected directly to the relay board via the wifi router (no internet service provider needed)

here is the mock up... my boat is now wifi!

each pump is fused with a 5 amp fuse for safety.

i am taking the boat out tomorrow for testing, if everything works well then i'll spend an afternoon cleaning up the wiring and making a cover for the unit

Halborr · Newbie Joined: 22 Nov 2008 Posts: 10

Dude that is insane- I'm totally g33king out over your project... Should be epic.

Is that a WRT54GL (the one with the old stats before they found out the firmware was open-source based)?

Get that wired board working too, you wouldn't want to be out on the lake and then your router craps out on you! (I've had a Linksys wireless router fail on me before)

scott_fx · Criminal Joined: 07 Dec 2008 Posts: 96 City: Los Angeles

that's the one hacked with dd-wrt running in ad-hoc mode.

i was just on the boat (with my laptop... the ipod touch is en route since i was working today my buddy went to the apple store to get it for me) and it was so cool to be sitting on the back bench and turning on the pumps wirelessly... everything worked great. i did come up with some small issues i have to figure out. one is power consumption. i'll have to figure out a way to economize the amount of power the unit draws. a simple toggle switch could be the answer (though; i may use a q-prox capacitance sensing ic to make a hidden toggle switch to turn everything on when i wave my hand in front of it Laughing

) second is the size it takes up. it's really hidden but i am a bit anal and may try to consolidate everything in one water tight package. other then that it was freakin cool!

Brit Rider · Posted: May 17, 2009 3:51 am Post subject:

Nothing is going to be pimper than standing at the ramp next to your boat draining the tanks via iPod touch... that is awesome.

Could you feasibly work a way to stream music from your iPod touch to the stereo too?

Seems like the Router could be used for a myriad of things!

Damon · Posted: May 17, 2009 12:24 pm Post subject:

What kind of range would that setup have? Be interesting to see if you could be standing on the porch of your house and click a button to have the ballasts filling while you're getting ready.

blaydeman · Outlaw Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Posts: 119

just dont drop your phone in the drink

watchmego4it · Criminal Joined: 27 Nov 2008 Posts: 51 City: Darlington

I'd like to know how you modded the 1200gph pump to 3/4. My thru-hull scoop is 1 1/4 and the tsunami pump is 1 1/8th. I've been told that such an adapter is impossible so I'm guessing 3/4 is the way to go. This is killing me. Thanks in advance

Christobull · Addict Joined: 29 Jun 2009 Posts: 898 City: Tulsa

The "IPod Mod" is pretty trick. A keyless entry style remote would be awesome as well. Many things run through my head on that... Imagine being behind the boat wakeboarding and remotely correcting a washy wake. Gotta love it.

scott_fx, you mentioned a ski locker sac... can you provide the dimensions? I'm wondering if one would work for us? We're running an old ski boat and would like to adapt the wasted space.