Eheim Autofeeder with Apex almost Complete

[djbetterly]

Not sure who is interested, but I'm almost finished with my Eheim mod that will allow the Apex to trigger the feeder. Not sure if this is the place to post the mod or if I should post it in DIY.

[aquamanic]

post it here. What did you do?

[djbetterly]

I have made my eheim so it powered by a wall adaptor and can still use batteries if need be. In addition I wired in a relay that plugs into the E8 energy bar so the feeder can be programmed. Works really well!! The trial works perfectly, I just need to refine the wires and plugs and then I'll post pics and guide. If you know to solder and read a basic circuit schematic it's very easy.

[jrpark22000]

tagging along for a write up or photos

[enygma]

Very much looking forward to learning more. I use a Hydor auto feeder, but I would happily switch if that one couldn't be made controllable.

[aquamanic]

I wired in a relay that plugs into the E8 energy bar so the feeder can be programmed.

Interested to see how you did this. I get the part about using the wall wart instead of the AA batteries but I'm curious how you trigger the drum to rotate.

[scherzo]

I've thought of this as well. I was going to try and use a 110V Relay hooked up to the switch on the feeder. Pretty simple.

Just make sure that there are no feed times set on the feeder's internal clock.

Is this how you are doing it?

[mal7887]

Tagging along... I'm interested in this also

[john1979]

I'm interested in this as well. Please post your mod here!

[djbetterly]

Having a busy week, should be able to finish the mod by tomorrow evening.

[titmouse]

Really slick idea. Following!

[superray2002]

I did something like that using a camera that I had with a relay contact built into the camera (IQEye Camera). I just soldered a wire to the feed push button contacts on the Ehiem feeder and to the relay then you could feed the fish with the pre-built web page icon. It was neat because you can set the amount of times you could press the button in a certain time, etc (for public feeding! lol) but I didn't like the wire running over to the camera in the area I had the camera. I alway like though when someone says the Apex is 'just and expensive light timer' and then you start telling them all the neat stuff you can do when you start thinking out of the box. On my new cabinet I am going to pre build in door contacts so that the APEX will turn on the interior cabinet light when the doors open. Love this controller!

[djbetterly]

Here is the new mod. I have found ways to make this cosmetically better, but because my feeder was already getting chopped up a bit, my version may look a bit sloppy.

Feel free to post any comments, questions or recommendations.

Due to this forum having a VERY small size limit on PDF file I have posted it through my amazon S3 account. Here is the link.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/File_Share2...Feeder+Mod.pdf

[enygma]

I'm impressed! It is a much more involved process than I realized.

[Ripperj]

So big flick- you powered the feeder from 110v vice battery and have a relay operated by the Apex that replaces the push button?

[aquamanic]

Yea, I'm a bit confused on the 12v relay as well. There's a 12v transformer someplace that plugs into 110v on the EBx. It converts 110vac to 12vdc to the relay. From the relay, two wires go to the feed switch. But why the relay, why not have the 12vdc go straight to the feed switch?

[djbetterly]

First off ripperj, no one has asked you to chime in if you don't think its worthy. Why the need for negative comments? I don't see anyone else attempting this.

aquamanic, I'm a bit confused by your statement. Can you elaborate please? If your asking why I added a relay, its because you don't need any current going to the feed button, you just need to make the connection to trigger the feeder.

[aquamanic]

So, does the feed button take 12vdc? That's the part I'm not understanding. What comes out the other side of the relay? 12vdc on the one side from the transformer but what's on the other side?


Alan

[djbetterly]

no, no power goes to the feed button, it simply completes the circuit for the feed button. If you take a small piece of wire, strip both ends (basically making a jumper wire) and touch one end to each side of the feed button it will trigger the feeder, provided of course the feeder has power. I attached a photo of where to touch the wires.

[john1979]

This is awesome! Thanks djbetterly!

So, you don't really even need to have a plug for the power. Couldn't you still power the feeder on batteries and just have the plug/relay setup for the trigger? It's nice not to have to worry about batteries, but that part isn't really necessary. Am I correct in my thinking?

[djbetterly]

You correct. You could trigger with apex and run the unit on batteries.

[Ripperj]

Don't have to get rude, I was not trying to be sarcastic, I was trying to figure the big picture as I don't have the eheim, and was unsure as what actually was getting automated. I will take my ball and go

[djbetterly]

Apologies Ripperj. I worked pretty hard on the project as simple as it seems.

[Ripperj]

Accepted , I should have worded it better-so I guess my question concerns the button, I assume that the feeder would dispense food on a certain time period and when you push a manual button?? The apex closes the button circuit?

[Preston7]

Nice work!