Pellet time counter system

[hyfire]

Hi found this on ebay I will connect to my feed auger with a relay and 12 volt power source, this should tell me how many hours the feed auger ran per bag then I will know how long a bag lasts. Once you have the time you will know how soon you will be to empty..Good or bad idea?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-LED-Dig...l-/251248898156?ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123

 

[bcarton]

All I can think of is "McGiver."

 

[Arti]

Why not get a meter that uses ac no need for relay and dc power supply...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-LCD-Wat...384?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d5171228

 

[TimfromMA]

if you dump a bag in today at 8AM and you have to dump another bag tomorrow at 8AM, you know a bag lasts you 24 hours. No electronics needed.

 

[Johnny_Fiv3]

if you dump a bag in today at 8AM and you have to dump another bag tomorrow at 8AM, you know a bag lasts you 24 hours. No electronics needed.

Shhhh, that's common sense. No place for that here!

 

[TimfromMA]

Shhhh, that's common sense. No place for that here!

Oops. My bad.

 

[Ranger72]

if you dump a bag in today at 8AM and you have to dump another bag tomorrow at 8AM, you know a bag lasts you 24 hours. No electronics needed.

But you might be off by 3 pellets. Then the math is all wrong.

 

[Arti]

I've always though that an hour meter would be nice to remind me to do a good cleaning of the stove, Sort of like a change filter reminder on a regular thermostat hadn't though about using it for pellet usage.

 

[tiger]

An hour meter might eventually lead to knowing how long the motor lasts before needing replacement.

Now, if it sent a signal to your PC and software allowed graphing feed rate to inside and outside temps...

 

[hyfire]

Why not get a meter that uses ac no need for relay and dc power supply...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-LCD-Wat...384?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d5171228

That counter you showed, does not have a large lcd display I won;t be able to read remotely with my stove camera, so I am stuck with a relay and a dc power supply.

 

[hyfire]

if you dump a bag in today at 8AM and you have to dump another bag tomorrow at 8AM, you know a bag lasts you 24 hours. No electronics needed.

The whole idea is to track usage so I know its time to fill the stove with my stove camera., instead of looking in the hopper all the time or waiting till it runs out. For the $12.00 its a good investment.

 

[Ranger72]

How would different brand pellets effect rate though? Especially pellets that are uniformly short, wouldn't they tend to feed faster regardless of the amount of turns the auger made?

 

[TimfromMA]

The whole idea is to track usage so I know its time to fill the stove with my stove camera., instead of looking in the hopper all the time or waiting till it runs out. For the $12.00 its a good investment.

Fill it in the morning when you wake up and again at night before bed and you should be fine.

 

[TonyVideo]

Keep a log for a week or more when you dump a bag with outside temps and soon you will have what you will need now and by looking at the forecast what you will need in the future. I did this and look at the 2-3 day forecast then bring in from my garage X number of bags for the next couple days. If the weather is going to be bad then I know how many to bring in to last the snowstorm. I don't like bringing them in when it is slippery and knee deeps snow before I get everything cleared out.