DIY Wiring for Telaire Co2 Monitor

Wow! Has anyone made one of these yet?

Because I think I'll try...

Oh I figured it out.

Alright, I bought 3 of these (at $50/ea.) I hope this works! 2 questions come to mind, DLA:

1. If you add the screen, can you adjust the relay setpoint to 1500ppm w/o the use of a computer?

2. What's the the cheapest/most convenient way to power these? What about a cheap regulator/solenoid combo?

3. Also, I'll add that the UIP8000 software is available on the Telaire website, just google "UIP8000 Software".

1. Yes.
2. 24 volt transformer used for door bells. Regs and solenoids are just available everywhere fine grow equipment is sold...
3. Hm interesting but as I mentioned they freely gave me the setup software...so ya I can see it being their.

Hello thanks for the DIY, a quick ? though. Can I use this with a green air co2 gen, also when making the mod with the telaire where I use an extension cord and length of wire and connect the wires to the white of the ext cord.... do i cut the ground wire and wire it with the new wire to or only the white wire gets cut.

thanks in advance

bignugget

Another ? :]

I want to make sure I understand what you mean.

My male plug from my ext cord goes into my 120v outlet like normal, the female gets plugged into my green air co2 gen like normal, and the monitor is working because the white wire is spliced and running through it.

Correct?

I dont want to burn anything down or fry anything :]

Thanks again

Hi...This will work with anything that a CAP monitor will work with. I don't know green air but believe they are from the same company. If memory serves me right they were partners and got a divorce.

I know it works with whatever CAP product controller that is designed to work with their monitors.
Or as a stand alone monitor with computer tracking. Or to simply add a LCD monitor to a blank model.

It's done!

FIRST - DLA, Mad, I mean MAD, props to you bro. I should go through and thank you for every post in this thread. Your instructions are flawless, but the idea is ingenious.

SECOND - It's Easy!!! If anyone wants to build one these, here's mine! I didn't take any step by step pictures (I should have) but here's what I ended up with:


HOW-TO: I'll expand DLA's instructions to include the entire CO2 emitter setup (I hope you don't mind, DLA, I just want to give something back.) After you build your ppm-3, you'll need:

• CO2 Tank - available for around $50 used
• CO2 Regulator - available used or where cheap tools are sold, I paid $34, new.
• Fittings - You'll probably need 1/8" to 1/8" between the regulator and solenoid, and an 1/8" barb for the solenoid output. These should be tapered "pipe" thread fittings. Seal with teflon tape.
• Solenoid Valve - Lots to choose from, the SMC's are cheap and work fine. Paid $10 shipped on Ebay.
• Transformer + Plug - Found with the doorbells as a loose transformer. $20.
• Tubing - I like the stiff polyethylene, it doesn't kink or pinch. 10' in my setup.
• Shrink Tube - just for looks really.
• Connectors - I used 4 conductor XLR. You'll need 1 male and 1 female. You could get away without these.
• Switch - To turn off CO2 when the cab/room is open.

Total cost will be around $130, on top of the $60 or so spent on the ppm-3. NOT BAD CONSIDERING A TURN-KEY SYSTEM NEW WOULD COST YOU $600+!

ASSEMBLY: You'll have four wires coming out of the ppm-3: relay common, relay nc, +, and -. Solder these into the connector, assemble, and shrink tube them all together into a pretty looking pig tail cable.
Now build the other side of the connector. One pin goes to 120v neutral (white,) one to neutral on the solenoid, and two to the 24v DC (doorbell) power supply. Make sure these line up with their corresponding connection in the other connector! Inside the connector jacket/housing you can connect the 120v hot wire (black) to the hot wire in the pair that will run to the solenoid valve, this keeps everything pretty. Assemble and shrink tube.
Next solder the 120v switched neutral and hot wire pair to the solenoid, putting the switch up by the solenoid, in line with the neutral again. My solenoid was not labeled for hot/neutral, so I winged it, and it seems to work fine. The switch allows you to defeat CO2 supplementation without digging for the plug, and makes it easy to tell when the solenoid is powered up, since it will "click" when you cycle power. Good for fine tuning.
I used a 24v wall tranformer that I had laying around, but if you go the doorbell transformer route, you'll need to put the transformer in a case, and wire a plug to the input. Pretty self explainatory.

FINALLY - TEST IT! Hopefully if you're doing all of this you have a multimeter. Test for continuity between all of your wires - there should be none. This is to make sure you didn't short anything out inside the connector (easy to do with those tiny pins.) Next test the connections (on the DC voltage setting) at the Telaire 8001 to make sure you've got 24v and the polarity is not reversed - this simple mistake will fry your 8001. That's it!

Left is the tank, regulator and solenoid mounted to the outside of my cabinet. Right is the DIY PPM-3, a datalogger for temp and RH, and a remote temp sensor whose receiver sits on my desk.

Thanks! Now if there was just a DIY for hobo dataloggers so I didn't have to spend $100 on the cable + software...