Liquid Level Control, Solenoids, and marine batteries, oh my!

[DIYer]

Hi all! So i know little about electronics, and i want to ask before i fry something...

First off, I'm in need of hooking this Liquid Level Control to a 12v deep cycle marine battery. But it's specs are:
Power Supply 12 v dc / 60mA
Maximum Load 5A
So i'm wondering if it can in fact be hooked directly to a 12v car battery, or will that fry it? If that WILL fry it, how would i go about powering it with the marine battery? I guess the max load figure scares me, since i know a car battery has more amp then that, but maybe thats the load the controller can handle to power devices, devices like below i hope?..

And Secondly, when powered, could such a device as that Liquid Level Controller pop open this noid?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270883162717#ht_2564wt_836

I think so,.. but thought someone more familiar with electronics could be more sure before i click buy

 

[davenn]

hi there
welcome to the forums

you commented on using a marine battery... was your intention to use this to control a bilge pump ?

The unit can be hooked directly to a car/boat battery, it only draws ~ 60mA so uses very little power. And as long as the bilge pump was 5A or less current drain then the relay contacts would handle that

That second link to the solenoid valve is 12 V and the relay contacts will handle 12V... but the www site doesnt give the current drawn by the solenoid valve.. maybe ~ 1 Amp

cheers
Dave

 

[DIYer]

hi there
welcome to the forums

you commented on using a marine battery... was your intention to use this to control a bilge pump ?

The unit can be hooked directly to a car/boat battery, it only draws ~ 60mA so uses very little power. And as long as the bilge pump was 5A or less current drain then the relay contacts would handle that

That second link to the solenoid valve is 12 V and the relay contacts will handle 12V... but the www site doesnt give the current drawn by the solenoid valve.. maybe ~ 1 Amp

cheers
Dave

Wow so it can be hooked right to a battery? That's good news! I thought after i worried about this that the 5A might be all it can power.

No pumps for me, actually my intent was to have that Liquid Level Controller pop open 4 solenoids at once. For other uses, i run a similar specced and sized 24v noide, it says it uses .3 amp. So hopefully i'll be good opening 4or5 of them with this controller. Hope the controller works, it's got one bad review only

 

[davenn]

5Amps is the maximum that the relay on the board can switch
so you need to find out what the current requirements of your solenoid valves are
if they require 1A each then the relay will handle that no probs for 4 valves, it prob would be ok for 5 valves
but if the solenoid valves took 1.5 amps each, then the relay contacts may be struggling a bit and start wearing out quickly with the arcing.

It probably wouldnt be too difficult to find another relay to replace the one on that board that had say 10Amp rated contacts

Dave