Custom made controller...
Here's a controller i built. I'll try and break down how it's designed and how it works. I wanted a controller that would control both my lights, 2 1000 watt hps in air cooled hoods. I run my lights on 240V, and got tired of looking for a timer that could handle the load without fusing, and one that could easily handle a LOT of lights if i wanted to expand it. It's really simple. You could run 20,000 watts off of a cheap plug in appliance time. Well, you could "trigger" that much power. I bought two surface mount timers, both identical. They're 120V timers. What i did was run the signal from one timer to 2 relays, so i could have a 120V timer but run my lights on 240V. The timer is just a trigger, it controls 2 super beefy industrial relays, one relay for each light. The other timer controls the air cooling fan. I wanted to have the fan run a little while after the lights turned out, to cool the bulbs. A lot of hoods nowadays have aluminum inserts, and if overheated they'll warp and throw out a fucked up light pattern. That's why a lot of air cooled hoods shouldn't be ran if you're not air cooling them. So my fan starts before the lights come on, a little bit of safe redundancy. And it stays on after the lights turn off for a little while. I wired a selector switch to each relay, so i could turn each light on and off individually and manually. I also mounted an e-stop or "emergency shut down" button, right by my door when you enter the room. It turns off the lights and the air cooling fan, all the noisiest and most noticable items...Kinda like an "oh shit button!" Had a buddy hook up some custom engravings. Be sure to get a close look at the e-stop button. Around here people call good shit "kill" so i always said mine was a lil better, so i called it "death" jokingly. Hence "death production system shut down." I was ripped when i thought of it and still kinda laugh when i see it. I also mounted a speed pot for the air cooling fan, a speed controller. I use a 1000 cfm CanFan MAX, so sometimes i need all that power, and in the cooler months i slow it down to an almost crawl. Having a fan that's way bigger than you need is good because with a fan speed controller you can turn it down to where you need it. Slower rpms equal a quieter operating fan. Anyways, i'm ripped and rambling and bouncing around from thought to thought...so i'll shut up and get up the pics. Hope you enjoy!
