der_wille_zur_macht
07/08/2009, 02:18 PM
I'm toying with the idea of a level 1 RK Lite for the nano I'm putting together right now, considering $99 is about what it would cost for a handful of timers and a good ranco controller for the tank's heater.
That said, I've got some really loopy ideas for how I want to handle things on this tank, and I'm going to need to be able to turn several circuits on/off on the same schedule. I realize that the default answer might be to get enough PC4's and just turn on/off multiple circuits at the same time, but I have plans that this wouldn't work for.
That said, I'm wondering if it would be possible to wire an appropriate relay to a standard 120VAC plug, and plug that in to the RKL. Then, have the RKL turn the relay on and off, which would in turn do the actual switching. I suppose this might sound like a silly question, but I know different types of controlled power outlets don't play well with certain types of loads, and I don't know if that is the case here. I've never heard of someone doing this so I don't know if there is a precedent.
(If anyone is keen to know - the reason why I don't want to just directly control everything from the controller is that several of the things I want to turn on/off are downstream of a single 24V DC power supply, so I have no way to "plug them in" individually to a 120VAC power strip. Hence my thought of using the controller to switch a relay, then having the relay turn the 24V DC circuits on and off.)
That said, I've got some really loopy ideas for how I want to handle things on this tank, and I'm going to need to be able to turn several circuits on/off on the same schedule. I realize that the default answer might be to get enough PC4's and just turn on/off multiple circuits at the same time, but I have plans that this wouldn't work for.
That said, I'm wondering if it would be possible to wire an appropriate relay to a standard 120VAC plug, and plug that in to the RKL. Then, have the RKL turn the relay on and off, which would in turn do the actual switching. I suppose this might sound like a silly question, but I know different types of controlled power outlets don't play well with certain types of loads, and I don't know if that is the case here. I've never heard of someone doing this so I don't know if there is a precedent.
(If anyone is keen to know - the reason why I don't want to just directly control everything from the controller is that several of the things I want to turn on/off are downstream of a single 24V DC power supply, so I have no way to "plug them in" individually to a 120VAC power strip. Hence my thought of using the controller to switch a relay, then having the relay turn the 24V DC circuits on and off.)