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Pressure Switch and Dead End Calibration Issue!

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Edward Baskerville

Well-known member
Messages
95
Location
Chesterfield
Hi guys,

Basically been using analogue controller from window cleaning warehouse for while now along side a shurflo pump. I always set my calibration up on fresh battery charge and I would be set for the week. No issues at all.

Just upgraded my hose reel and changed the hose on the reel.

So i set it up as per usual. Now I am experiencing PS switch light as well as DE light when i pull my univalve on. I knock the calibration up little higher to try and achieve just DE. So then i go round the back of a house and start cleaning the windows and the flow rate seems to dip and pulse then fire up again, then after couple windows it seems ok. 

Just don't understand why I'm experiencing the PS light now when i never use to get it coming on. Any suggestions on how to get just DE and constant flow.

 
Edward Baskerville said:
Hi guys,

Basically been using analogue controller from window cleaning warehouse for while now along side a shurflo pump. I always set my calibration up on fresh battery charge and I would be set for the week. No issues at all.

Just upgraded my hose reel and changed the hose on the reel.

So i set it up as per usual. Now I am experiencing PS switch light as well as DE light when i pull my univalve on. I knock the calibration up little higher to try and achieve just DE. So then i go round the back of a house and start cleaning the windows and the flow rate seems to dip and pulse then fire up again, then after couple windows it seems ok. 

Just don't understand why I'm experiencing the PS light now when i never use to get it coming on. Any suggestions on how to get just DE and constant flow.
Click to expand...
You need to turn your calibration DOWN NOT UP!!!your pressure switch has been activated because theres too much pressure in your system....dial it back mate.....?

 
Being that you've changed your hose. My gut feeling is it's likely to be a problem of air in the system. This can sometimes but not always, be indicated by a gunning sound and vibration from the pump. I'd disconnect the hose going into the reel, turn on the system and try to give it a real good flush through on a high flow setting to see if you can get a nice, constant flow. Then turn the flow down to a trickle and reconnect while still running. If this solves it, I'd then set the flow to your normal setting or leave it slightly higher until you know for sure that it's settled.

Please let us know when you get it sorted so we can all learn from it.

 
I was thinking about setting the flow rate higher I.e. 

If you worked with pressure at 4. Then set the calibration at 5. Then just turn the dial down to 4 after its calibrated maybe?

 
Edward Baskerville said:
I was thinking about setting the flow rate higher I.e. 

If you worked with pressure at 4. Then set the calibration at 5. Then just turn the dial down to 4 after its calibrated maybe?
Click to expand...
You mean flow rate. Calibration translates into pressure. Otherwise the rest makes perfect sense.

If you have changed your hose from minibore to microbore you will find a flow rate difference.

Others mention an airlock. I would find an unused car park this weekend and completely unreel my hose. This will help expell any airlocks and also uncover a hose kink. The water in my tank has got much colder these past couple of weeks so the water isn't flowing through the hose like it was in summer.

The other issue that caught me many years ago was a Hozelok end stop. It worked fine for 6 months and then just partially opened.

We also went through a time when flavour of the month was the use of simple pwm controllers and readjustment of the pressure switch. I might be tempted the pull the cables off the pressure switch and join them together to see if there is a difference.

 
What's your opinion on having fully charged battery? I normally calibrate my system on full battery charge and it's set for the week. I seem to calibrate it every time I've charged my battery again. But lot I've noticed says it doesnt make difference.

 
Edward Baskerville said:
What's your opinion on having fully charged battery? I normally calibrate my system on full battery charge and it's set for the week. I seem to calibrate it every time I've charged my battery again. But lot I've noticed says it doesnt make difference.
Click to expand...
If you're bench charging only I'd think you'll only have a fully charged battery for the first hour or two of work. I don't think battery state makes any difference to the settings, unless perhaps it's very low. If it does, I'd think it would be better to set your settings when your battery is in a good, but not full state of charge as that's likely to be the more used level.

We very rarely alter our settings : we're at around 35 on calibration at the moment, I think and 55 on flow. Using 100 meters of 6mm and two 100 degree fans each (two operators).

We use two heavy duty Numax leisure batteries in parallel, (never been bench charged since fitted) charged entirely by a Durite SCR.

 
If it's an airlock the fastest and easiest thing to to is shut off your water with the univalve then crank the flow up to 99 or whatever the highest setting translates to on your controller for about 10 seconds then turn the flow down until your controller reads de then open the univalve and any air will push through in seconds it will splutter as the air pushes through for a few seconds or more then all should be good, 

As the weather gets colder and so does the water you will need to increase the de setting but not by too much to hit the sweet spot you will also need to increase the flow to maintain a flow rate that you are used to working with.

 
Edward Baskerville said:
Could a faulty univalve be a possible problem with the pressure switch or de?
Click to expand...
Start at the tank and slowly work your way through the system. Test each component. It might mean removing hoses to investigate.

My first port of call would be to isolate the pressure switch on the pump and see if that makes a difference.

 
So I tried flushing the pump with the reel disconnected and it flushed through fine on maximum flow rate. Reconnected the reel and you cant flush the reel through on maximum flow rate the pressure switch just turns on. So I tried calibrating it on the flow rate I use for the windows and the DE came on and it seemed calibrated. But now some times when I turn the univalve on the DE lights up. Or sometimes it's the PS lights up. Its calibrated between 1oclock and 2oclock on the calibration. I find the less you go on the calibration the less PS lights up BUT.. you get that pulsing out the end of the brush when you clean the windows as it its struggling to pull the water through. Cant understand why you can flush the reel through on maximum flow rate?? I dont know if the PS light is concern for the pump? Anyone got any suggestions? 

 
That's a nuisance. I don't know what to suggest. Nearly all of our problems were with air or calibration settings.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge will have the answer.

 
Davy G said:
That's a nuisance. I don't know what to suggest. Nearly all of our problems were with air or calibration settings.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge will have the answer.
Click to expand...
No idea now. Battery seems to be dying quicker too. I wondered if having this electric reel with the added clips onto the battery is draining the battery more and messing with the calibration? Dont know what road to go down now 

 
Ahh, I hadn't realised that you now have an electric reel. That's sure to be quite heavy on battery power, though I have no direct personal experience of electric reels to draw from.

I modified my manual reels and my technique to be almost effortless to wind in, and super fast. I don't feel the need for me to have electric reels and the problems with battery power, charging and mechanical/electrical niggles it would invite, not to mention the expense.

What I probably would suggest is that you fit a second heavy duty leisure battery, wired in tandem to the present one. Wired in parallel as per jump leads. Numax xv35mf is my recommendation.

Good luck. ?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Edward Baskerville said:
No idea now. Battery seems to be dying quicker too. I wondered if having this electric reel with the added clips onto the battery is draining the battery more and messing with the calibration? Dont know what road to go down now 
Click to expand...
What make of reel do you have? Are your battery terminals tight and secure with no lose or poor connections 

 
Hi Edward.

Reading through the string the issue began once you had changed the Hose and Reel. The controller behaves as before with the reel disconnected and plays up when its reconnected so this does point to the hose.  If you changed to a smaller ID hose this will have an impact on how much water the hose can carry and you may find that the flow rate will need to be turned down slightly.

I agree with the suggestion of pulling all the hose off the reel and checking there are no twists or kinks, These would cause higher pressure in the system and activate the Pump Pressure. The controller reports the pressure switch has activated due to the pressure so turning the flow rate down should help reduce pressure.

Changing the calibration makes the controller more or less sensitive depending on the flow rate. As a general rule the higher the flow rate the higher Cal would be. What we are doing with Calibration is looking at how hard the pump is working. The harder it works the more current it draws so the higher cal would need to be to make the controller less sensitive.

The two things that create pressure are the pump and the hose. So changing to a smaller bore would change how much water the hose carries and how fast pressure builds and a high flow rate could cause the pressure switch to activate before the controller can DE the pump. In this case turning cal up with the same flow rate makes the controller less sensitive meaning that the pump pressure switch stops the pump rather than the controller dead ending it.. Turning Cal down with the same flow rate makes the controller more sensitive and more likely to DE the pump, But if flow is to high for the cal setting then the pump will be cycled in/out of DE but the controller is stopping the pump rather than the pressure switch.

The answer may be turning the flow rate down, But I would check the hose first to ensure its not twisted 

Once your know the hose is Ok and has no air in it. Pull at least half the reel with the controller off and open all the valves. then follow these steps

1. Turn cal to maximum. 2. Turn the controller on with a low flow rate. 3. slowly increase flow to the point where the PS light comes on. 4. Turn flow back down so the PS light goes off. 5. Turn the calibration down until the DE light comes on. 6 Turn cal back up slight so the DE light goes off.

Doing it this way you will find the maximum flow rate the hose can carry and the best point for Cal

Running a power reel will drain the battery faster due to the extra current draw, A 110AH may be the minimum to run the reel and pump over a week. Although the battery does not seem to be an issue at the moment it may become one and It may be the battery should be bench charged a couple of times a week.

 
Ian Sheppard said:
Hi Edward.

Reading through the string the issue began once you had changed the Hose and Reel. The controller behaves as before with the reel disconnected and plays up when its reconnected so this does point to the hose.  If you changed to a smaller ID hose this will have an impact on how much water the hose can carry and you may find that the flow rate will need to be turned down slightly.

I agree with the suggestion of pulling all the hose off the reel and checking there are no twists or kinks, These would cause higher pressure in the system and activate the Pump Pressure. The controller reports the pressure switch has activated due to the pressure so turning the flow rate down should help reduce pressure.

Changing the calibration makes the controller more or less sensitive depending on the flow rate. As a general rule the higher the flow rate the higher Cal would be. What we are doing with Calibration is looking at how hard the pump is working. The harder it works the more current it draws so the higher cal would need to be to make the controller less sensitive.

The two things that create pressure are the pump and the hose. So changing to a smaller bore would change how much water the hose carries and how fast pressure builds and a high flow rate could cause the pressure switch to activate before the controller can DE the pump. In this case turning cal up with the same flow rate makes the controller less sensitive meaning that the pump pressure switch stops the pump rather than the controller dead ending it.. Turning Cal down with the same flow rate makes the controller more sensitive and more likely to DE the pump, But if flow is to high for the cal setting then the pump will be cycled in/out of DE but the controller is stopping the pump rather than the pressure switch.

The answer may be turning the flow rate down, But I would check the hose first to ensure its not twisted 

Once your know the hose is Ok and has no air in it. Pull at least half the reel with the controller off and open all the valves. then follow these steps

1. Turn cal to maximum. 2. Turn the controller on with a low flow rate. 3. slowly increase flow to the point where the PS light comes on. 4. Turn flow back down so the PS light goes off. 5. Turn the calibration down until the DE light comes on. 6 Turn cal back up slight so the DE light goes off.

Doing it this way you will find the maximum flow rate the hose can carry and the best point for Cal

Running a power reel will drain the battery faster due to the extra current draw, A 110AH may be the minimum to run the reel and pump over a week. Although the battery does not seem to be an issue at the moment it may become one and It may be the battery should be bench charged a couple of times a week.
Click to expand...
Thankyou very much Ian for this useful information.  my controller flow rate ranges between 0-10. Even if you have it on 10 and battery at max it wont flush it through fully(the PS light comes on). To be fair though I wouldn't use between 7-10 as it would use much more water. I find the 10 is useful just to flush your pump through of air when the reel is disconnected. One thing I have noticed which I think I may have figured the problem. My section 1 on my gardiner pole has ground down that much I have the clamp on really tight and I feel like its constricting  the hose inside the pole which could be affecting the PS light. I need to replace it asap really as it's been like this while. I loosened it off and it seemed to do the trick with my controller but I couldn't work with it as it was too loose. I wonder if this is the actual problem?

 

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