I am working on a project where I have ~14 peristaltic pumps & 12 solenoid valves.
When connecting things via jumper cables, everything gets very messy and i am scared about long term feasibility. Jumper cables have the tendency to disconnect from each other and if i have 50 of these cables I cannot risk something disconnecting.
For example, I need 50cm - 1 meter of cable between my electronics and my pumps but I can only achieve this by connecting many jumpers to each other. This is not ideal and I am looking for alternate solution. Should I make my own bus ? Make some kind of sleeve? Use non jumper cables that are longer ?
rkubin:
I am working on a project where I have ~14 peristaltic pumps & 12 solenoid valves.
When connecting things via jumper cables, everything gets very messy and i am scared about long term feasibility. Jumper cables have the tendency to disconnect from each other and if i have 50 of these cables I cannot risk something disconnecting.
For example, I need 50cm - 1 meter of cable between my electronics and my pumps but I can only achieve this by connecting many jumpers to each other. This is not ideal and I am looking for alternate solution. Should I make my own bus ? Make some kind of sleeve? Use non jumper cables that are longer ?
Any advice is appreciated.
Welcome to the Arduino forum. Please describe what you are calling jumper cables! To me jumper cables are what I use when I need to get my car started and the battery is dead.
You need permanent wiring. But before you do anything you must identify the voltages and current needed to operate you equipment and size the wiring to fit. Also if there are any data wires, they need to be separate from the power wiring.
Make a schematic/wiring diagram so we can see what and how you are connecting all the pieces.
Paul_KD7HB:
Welcome to the Arduino forum. Please describe what you are calling jumper cables! To me jumper cables are what I use when I need to get my car started and the battery is dead.
You need permanent wiring. But before you do anything you must identify the voltages and current needed to operate you equipment and size the wiring to fit. Also if there are any data wires, they need to be separate from the power wiring.
Make a schematic/wiring diagram so we can see what and how you are connecting all the pieces.
Paul
Hi Paul,
I am attaching a picture of my current setup. It is hooked up with what I called "jumper cables". I am also attaching my circuit diagram.
The circuit in the picture is just my early bread board construct.
Here are my components:
1x Arduino Mega 2560
14 x 12V 200-300mA pumps (only 2 of these will work at a time maximum & will be powered via the Vin port)
1 x 1A 12 V power supply
6 x pH meters 5V -> Analog I/O
12 x 12 V solenoid valves -160mA (only one of these will be on at a time)
I am looking to basically make a sturdy well-built construction with the arduino/wiring well-concealed and far away (50cm-1m) from the pumps & valves.
Thank you for responding quickly.
rkubin:
Hi Paul,
I am attaching a picture of my current setup. It is hooked up with what I called "jumper cables". I am also attaching my circuit diagram. Imgur: The magic of the Internet
The circuit in the picture is just my early bread board construct.
Here are my components:
1x Arduino Mega 2560
14 x 12V 200-300mA pumps (only 2 of these will work at a time maximum & will be powered via the Vin port)
1 x 1A 12 V power supply
6 x pH meters 5V -> Analog I/O
12 x 12 V solenoid valves -160mA (only one of these will be on at a time)
I am looking to basically make a sturdy well-built construction with the arduino/wiring well-concealed and far away (50cm-1m) from the pumps & valves.
Thank you for responding quickly.
I was afraid that was what you were referring to!
I can't see your schematic, so I don't know how you have the pump motors and the solenoids connected, but I hope you are CONTROLLING them through MOSFETS and they have kick-back diodes across the connections at the devices.
Look for hookup wire kits on Ebay. You will need a different color for each device's control line. Use red for + voltage and black or green for the - power. Looks like 8 colors are the general offering on Ebay. #24 or #22 stranded will be right for your project.
Paul_KD7HB:
I was afraid that was what you were referring to!
I can't see your schematic, so I don't know how you have the pump motors and the solenoids connected, but I hope you are CONTROLLING them through MOSFETS and they have kick-back diodes across the connections at the devices.
Look for hookup wire kits on Ebay. You will need a different color for each device's control line. Use red for + voltage and black or green for the - power. Looks like 8 colors are the general offering on Ebay. #24 or #22 stranded will be right for your project.
Paul
Yep ive got diodes and transistors for both motors and solenoids. Thank you for the advice, I think i will also look into stripboards and ribbon cables, I think these will do the trick!
rkubin:
Yep ive got diodes and transistors for both motors and solenoids. Thank you for the advice, I think i will also look into stripboards and ribbon cables, I think these will do the trick!
Visualize ribbon cables as linear capacitors! A signal on one wire will be induced in the adjacent wire on either side. So, control signals should not be next to any power wire that has pulsing power. Some designs use a ground wire between each active wire.
