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Which water valve? Gravity fed - no pressure

Hello!

I'm well on my way into building out my system, but I've noticed the 12v valve I have requires a 'minimum' pressure to operate. Looking around on the web, most of them do have an operating 'mpa' - which I don't know the math on... what I do know is my system will be gravity fed.

Does anyone else here run a system with water that is not pressurized? If so, which valve/solenoid are you using?

My next option is to power an air lift, but I'd rather find a valve I can use for now..

Thanks!

7 comments

7 Comments

beauebay

Mar 11, 2021

Nice. I've obtained and connected the ball valve and it is working as I would expect.

Thanks for the help.

hydrosys4

Jan 06, 2021

Hi There,

Just made a video testing the motorized valve. You can check it here:ù

Cheers,

Angelo

kimoincali

Jun 15, 2021

Replying to

@hydrosys4 thanks for sharing the video. Do you have a diagram on how you wired the valve to the relays?

hydrosys4

Jun 15, 2021

Replying to

@kimoincali The wiring is quite simple, this is a 3 wires valve. One wire goes to GND and the other two wires go to a relay. The wire that triggers the valve open, goes to the NO (normally open) of the relay, they wire that triggers the valve close goes to the NC (normally closed) connector, the common of the relay goes to the 12v (if the valve is 12 volts).

Alternatively you can also use two relays, one which open and one which closes, but this is a specific case which might be used for security valve not for irrigation.

kimoincali

Jun 15, 2021

Replying to

@hydrosys4 Ok, I think I get it. I have the same 3 wire DC Valve. From my limited understanding there shouldn't be any harm in burning out the motor/valve if each relay is accidentally closed? I am looking into using a software and/or hardware "interlock". There's a higher risk of the software interlock potentially not working and have been trying research a hardware interlock using relays.

beauebay

Dec 28, 2020

Hmmmm. So I got the solenoid valve, but as you suspected, the flow is still substantially too low. 200 seconds of open valve didn't even trickle enough water to navigate the 2 foot of pipe I have.. :(

I think the performance I was looking for is that from a motorized ball valve, but I wasn't expecting the price tag.

.... I'm going to have to rethink this.

hydrosys4

Dec 24, 2020

Hello,

One option is to use solenoid valves can work at zero initial pressure like the one in the link:

€10.06 |Válvula Solenoide de Gas y agua de latón, 1/2

But if the pressure is very low, the flow will be also quite low as these valves have a small hole (should have a more technical name than valve hole).

Other option that can be investigated is the motorized valves like the one below,

It is like a normal manual valve where they added a motor.

€11.22 30% de DESCUENTO|DN15/DN20/DN25 válvula de bola de rosca motorizada eléctrica de latón AC 220V de 2 vías de 3 hilos 1.6Mpa con actuador para agua, gas, aceite|Válvula| - AliExpress

I ordered one of this some weeks ago, not arrived yet. When arrive I'll test it and maybe make a short video.

Regards,

Angelo