There has been much talk about the Tekmar 156 differential control. Has anyone actually bought and installed one? Can we get some pro's and con's of this controller.
Tekmar 156
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Chuck
I am building something like one out of an Arduino USB board, some DS18S20 sensors, and a solid state relay. When I get it working I will devote a page of my website with detailed plans and supply the code if others want to build one. I have $65 in it for parts and waiting for them to arrive.
Eventually I will add more sensors and possibly more relays to control and get data from my system, but my first priority is to get better and more controlled charges for my tank.
The tekmar looks like a great product though. I just like projects and I have no money!
I am building something like one out of an Arduino USB board, some DS18S20 sensors, and a solid state relay. When I get it working I will devote a page of my website with detailed plans and supply the code if others want to build one. I have $65 in it for parts and waiting for them to arrive.
Eventually I will add more sensors and possibly more relays to control and get data from my system, but my first priority is to get better and more controlled charges for my tank.
The tekmar looks like a great product though. I just like projects and I have no money!
BRL said:
The 1-wire thermometers are a great technology. It allows you nearly limitless sensors and does not occupy many inputs, so you can use smaller less expensive boards like the Arduino. I am very excited about the project. I would like to find someone willing to help make some cool software to monitor what the system is doing on my Linux PC. PM if anyone is interested in helping with that.
I installed the 156 on my boiler it was about $160. I'd love to be able to have a custom homebrewed controller but I have no experience with all the software and controllers needed, or the time to figure it out.
from my short experiance so far the 156:
*is great for shutting off my tarm pump when tank is satisfied instead of continuing circulation to my boiler when it's cold 60 feet away (aquastat did a poor job)
*also great with protecting my epdm tank from hi temps
*I do have to reconfigure the way my dump zone works as the tekmar won't allow tarm circulator pumping when the tank is satisfied. I do have an Idea for this but haven't undertaken that task yet. Right now I'm keeping my loadings small enough that the storage can absorb all the boiler puts out without risk of overheating the boiler.
thats about all I have right now as i haven't played around with it too much. I think it works much better than the old style aquastat originally on the tarm.
The dump zone issue should be resolved right after the upcoming winter celebration that people have this time of year.
from my short experiance so far the 156:
*is great for shutting off my tarm pump when tank is satisfied instead of continuing circulation to my boiler when it's cold 60 feet away (aquastat did a poor job)
*also great with protecting my epdm tank from hi temps
*I do have to reconfigure the way my dump zone works as the tekmar won't allow tarm circulator pumping when the tank is satisfied. I do have an Idea for this but haven't undertaken that task yet. Right now I'm keeping my loadings small enough that the storage can absorb all the boiler puts out without risk of overheating the boiler.
thats about all I have right now as i haven't played around with it too much. I think it works much better than the old style aquastat originally on the tarm.
The dump zone issue should be resolved right after the upcoming winter celebration that people have this time of year.
I have pressurized storage. Maximum temperature is not really an issue for me. What I'm interested in is only charging the storage tank when the boiler temp. is greater than the tank temp. When the boiler temp dies down, and the tank temp. is higher then the boiler temp, pump should be shut off. But I still need the boiler pump to feed the heating zones until the Tarm drops below 140* or so.
Chuck - If you are asking how to do this, a diagram of your piping and controls would be helpful.
chuck172 said:
I wish tank temp wasn't an issue for me.
I don't know how your setup works exactly, could you use the tekmar to control a zone vale on your storage and not the pump?
Basically I need to know if the Tekmar is capable to compare both boiler and tank temps. Using a relay, will it shut down the boiler pump to the storage tank if the tank temp is higher than the boiler temp. I think that is what it can do and I'd like to know if anyone successfully uses it as such.
chuck172 said:
that is how it works.
You need to supply it with low voltage to power it, I forget the exact range the give you(around 24 volts). you can even use a battery to power it. you input what you want it to do at what temps, put a sensor on the boiler, put a sensor on the tank, and it has a set of contacts in it to control your pump.
Here's Tekmar's brochure describing ways the 156 can be used:
Change the same URL to "d156.pdf" and you'll get a very detailed account of all the settings and wiring you can do.
Change the same URL to "d156.pdf" and you'll get a very detailed account of all the settings and wiring you can do.
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