advice programming float switch

[schatzi]

I installed a high level float switch in my sump that when activated will shut off all the pumps and skimmer and send me an alert that something is wrong. Works great, except when I do tank maintenance or activate a feed routine. The problem is the water siphons back from the DT into the sump a bit and rises above the float switch thus preventing anything from turning back on because the switch is now in the opposite position of where it should be. The obvious answer could be to raise the switch higher but this almost defeats the purpose of it, there has to be a better way.

So the question is, how could I program this switch so that it's not active when I intentionally flood the sump thus allowing the pumps etc... to turn back on?
Thanks.

[aquamanic]

Well, you could turn it OFF based on:

If FeedD 000 Then OFF
If Outlet [return pump] = OFF Then OFF

That sort of thing.

[schatzi]

Where would you do that at? A virtual outlet? I haven't tried using those yet for anything.

[aquamanic]

It depends. When you do maintenance, what do you set on your controller? Do you manually turn off outlets? Do you enter a special long feed mode (and that in turn, turns off outlets)?

You could create a virtual outlet, call it 'maint' and trigger that either manually by setting it to ON or if you had a breakout box and a spare switch, you could do it that way. Then regardless of how set, you add this code in whatever outlet you want to recognize that you're in maintenance mode:

If Outlet maint = ON then OFF

For Feed modes it's easy, just depending on the feed mode you use add a similar line to the outlets you want to remain OFF

If Feedx 000 then OFF

So you have a couple of choices depending on how you do maintenance and feed modes.

[schatzi]

Ok thank you. I could also put a toggle switch in the control line for that float but that would require remembering to reset it. I'll experiment with the virtual outlets.

[dcforester1]

Ok thank you. I could also put a toggle switch in the control line for that float but that would require remembering to reset it. I'll experiment with the virtual outlets.

DONT DO THAT!!!! you will forget to turn it on and defat the purpose of having a controller. Take the time to learn about the controller, and like someone said you can set a command to bypass it. I have a similar situation and what I do is defer it. So my switch has to stay in that state for longer than 30seconds before it shuts it down. I dont know enough about the programming, but alot of people on here can help you set it up.

Good Luck Derek