Show Me Your Electrical Control Panels

jsbzmcdaniel · #1 09/12/2005, 07:48 PM

I have run accross some amazing electrical control panels on RC but just cant seem to find them. I would like to create a clean electrical panel that will house all my outlets, x10 modules, controllers etc...

Can someone post some pics of theirs so I can get an idea?

Thanks

jsbzmcdaniel · #2 09/13/2005, 06:45 AM

Come on guys! Lets see them

countertopguy · #3 09/13/2005, 11:06 AM

Mine is simply a set of switched outlets. I am not sure how they could be used for X10 controlers but here ya go...

Steve

jsbzmcdaniel · #4 09/13/2005, 11:16 AM

Steve,

Looks good! The X-10's just plug into a regular outlet so nothing special is needed. I am just looking for ways people have been able to keep everything clean and proffesional looking.

Thanks

Keep them coming guys!

sidewinder770 · #5 09/13/2005, 04:34 PM

Something else you may want to consider- I went with x-10 wall outlets. Instead of buying an outlety and having an x-10 hanging out of it just buy the x-10 outlet- fit's the same size box and the upper outlet is x-10 controlled while the lower outlet is always on. I have about 8 of these on my system contolled with and Aquacontroller III PRo and they work great. i think they are a little more heavy duty than the regular modules as well. You can kind of see them in a few of the pictures in my thread but then again- I like not seeing them at all

. I also have a seperate control panel for it that is a dedicated 60amp subpanel which supplies 6 seperate circuits- 1 for the chiller, 1 for the sump room AC, 1 for the lights on the display tank, 1 for all the control equipment in the sump room and 1 for all the pumps and lights in the sump room.

morgan1965 · #6 09/14/2005, 11:24 AM

jsbzmcdaniel: I'm in a similar situation. I'm setting up a 390 in-wall with a dedicated equipment room (inspired by Steve Weast's and Sidewinder770's set-ups) and I want the electrical stuff to be as clean and well-planned-out as the rest of the system. I've decided to go with what electrical people call "electrical enclosures". They're basically boxes with hinged or removable doors that mount on a wall and are made of plastic, fiberglass, or metal. They're made in several sizes. They can be a little expensive since they're made for industrial, harsh environment applications. Check out www.fiboxusa.com. They're closing out some enclosures that are rated for indoor use and they're a lot cheaper than the survive-a-nuclear-war models. I just bought two 22"HX15"Wx7"D plastic enclosures for $59 each. (I'd been seeing similar models for about twice that amount before I stumbled onto Fibox. My plan is to have 4 20 amp supply lines come down into the box through conduit from the ceiling and cut holes in the hinged door to mount outlets and switches. When the door is closed, all the wiring will obviously be hidden. I'll mount the controller on the external face of the door.

I second your request for pictures. I'm sure there are ideas out there that would improve upon my plan.

Dan

Gallandro · #7 09/15/2005, 04:02 PM

NexDog · #8 09/15/2005, 11:01 PM

I need some inspiration here too...

Black71gp · #9 09/16/2005, 10:31 AM

nice looking i am about to do the same thing... i like the switches on front..plugs on back.. i might do that......hum... so many choices...

reefboy1 · #10 09/16/2005, 10:47 AM

Here's mine under the tank. The top six on the left are X10:

Art

areze · #11 09/16/2005, 11:00 AM

can someone explain "x-10" I found the product on marine depot, but no pictures and weak description. what is it? besides rather expensive.

you dont even have anything plugged into it? or is that just for that photo.

mike89t · #12 09/16/2005, 04:00 PM

I went the easy route.

American DJ Power control center:

Coralife Dual Lighting control:

Pinkskunk · #13 09/16/2005, 10:11 PM

You guys make me sick............

meemmoo · #14 09/17/2005, 03:14 PM

some good ideas here...

kim lathrop · #15 09/18/2005, 10:20 PM

I am setting up a 250 gal.

Just got my ReefKeeper set up! This thing is great!

http://www.digitalaquatics.com/

TXLewis · #16 09/20/2005, 09:21 AM

Watch out for the Coralife Dual timers. I have two and both of the timers have stuck - in one case causing my lights to run for almost 72 hours straight while I was out of town. Bleached a 'shroom and caused some algae but nothing anywhere near as bad as I would have thought.

Called Coralife - they claim the first model had this problem and offered to replace it. I'm waiting for the new one while doing it the hard way. There will probably be a way to tell if you have an "old" or "new" one but I don't know what it is.

pclausen · #17 09/20/2005, 10:47 AM

I used in-line X-10 relays and housed them all in one of those grey weather proof boxes. You see 8 15A relays in this shot. I have since added 2 more and you also see my 2 20A X-10 relays (MH lights and chiller) in the separate box above. Everything is controlled from a AquaController II that is permanently connected to a computer. I mostly control the system via a web browser.

rwrussom · #18 09/20/2005, 11:32 AM

pclausen,
How does the ACII with the aquanotes and web browser work? Was at an easy setup? How do you connect remotely? Thanks

hans1976 · #19 09/20/2005, 11:41 AM

countertopguy,
What are the timers you are using? I have heard nothing good about Intermatic so I am trying to figure out what other makers are out there?

pclausen · #20 09/20/2005, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by rwrussom
pclausen,
How does the ACII with the aquanotes and web browser work? Was at an easy setup? How do you connect remotely? Thanks

It works quite well. I loaded aquanotes on the machine that the ACII was physically connected to. I can then remove desktop to this machine from any other on my LAN if I need to do stuff from within aquanotes (like change the program).

If all I want is to check the status, feed, or turn on CL pump on or off or something, I just point any web browser the the port I assigned in aquanotes.

I can also access my system from outside my own LAN over the internet. When doing so, I remote desktop directly to the server most of the time although I can also access the web interface if I want using the port I assigned (100.100.100.100:8080/aquanotes) for example. I have a static IP btw.

dgasmd · #21 09/20/2005, 12:36 PM

Before with previously used Blueline ballasts

Now with the PFO HQI in place.

TXLewis · #22 09/20/2005, 01:48 PM

FWIW, if you are using analog timers (saw several pics here), you are potentially asking for trouble. The moving parts are wear-out or jam mechanisms and the not-quite-pristine environment under most of our tanks is not ideal for mechanical things.

Spend the extra $$$ on digital timers. I think they're about $20 at Home Depot.

Of course I'm hypocritical here - I have the Coralife dual timer (mechanical) but as I mentioned above, in less than a month I have already had problems with two different units. Lesson learned.

H20ENG · #23 09/20/2005, 10:15 PM

Countertop,
I love your clean install there!

Art,
Cant wait to see your new setup in person!

Built this for a friend. Does everything but change the water and scrape coralline

Inside:

Another control panel for a huge pneumatic surge setup:

areze · #24 09/20/2005, 10:59 PM

jeez; what does all of that do? lot of wires!

lakersfan0014 · #25 09/21/2005, 01:08 AM

Man I need to get an updated pic with the last timer in the middle, but here's mine, works really good, and I must say that we have had some nice lightning storms here and the power surge protectors actually worked like they should! Here you go: