Only other thing I want to throw into the discussion by way of caution is that you need to completely understand WHAT you are doing, and WHY you are doing it. In my experience theres plenty of people with no formal qualification who I would say are much more capable of building a control panel like these than some of the A grade sparkys Ive worked with in the past!
In my view (and this is only my opinion) I really dont like the way Kal on the Elec Brewery site has drawn up his wiring diagrams. Noth that any of his diagrams are wrong, just for my mind and the way it works and the way Ive always done things (Im an electronics/comms engineer-turned project manager), I want to see a complete circuit diagram. In the case of my build (which is progressing VERY slowly), I followed a similar path to Gava, in that I used Kal's as a base, read them, re-read them until I understood them, changed them to suit, then drew my own complete diagram from scratch. I then checked and reviewed it myself over and over until I was sure, and then got someone else who I trust to peer review it - its AMAZING how many times a fresh set of eyes will find a rookie mistake that someone absoluetly qualified and competant has made when they become almost too involved and engrosed in a project. As an aside, this is how the companies Ive worked for all operated, ego-free peer review of every design and document before it's signed off on.
While there were no mistakes as such with my circuit diagram when I had it checked, there were plenty of "why are you doing this", "why is that switching that" kind of questions, and you need to know your circuit well enough to be able to answer those sort of questions.
What I actualy found surprising, is that my panel has been condensed and simplified to a degree from Kal's design; yet there are still 53 separate wiring hookups!! And I thought it was a fairly simple control circuit!
I would never try to discourage anyone from doing anyone themselves (pot-kettle-VERY black here!), but I always want to understand why Im doing something before I do it, not learn why while Im doing it.
If I can use an example of this SJP770...
sjp770 said:
The most annoying part is the correct way to mount the Relays is upside down to this pic. At least that going on the text printed on the plastic cover
Im not sure you fully understand how the relay is working; asuming you're using the same relay as the pic you are simply switching 2 x NO contacts (not change over contacts with Commons). It doesnt matter which way up you mount or wire the relay; so long as you wire the coil correctly, and dont wire ACCROSS the 2 separate NO contacts, the IN & OUT of the contacts doesnt matter.......
Just take your time and dont rush!
(Geez, now Ive just re-read my post I feel old & grumpy too!! maybe the missus is onto something!!!!)
