Electronics question for Godzilla and LEDDWCRigger

[teetee]

Hi Guys, hope you're all doin' good!

I had to do this as a post rather than a PM, because I wanted to enclose some photos....

Basically, as you know, I bought a portable A/C unit to keep the temps under control. The problem I have is that the power button is more of a 'standby' button. You press it on and off as usual but there is also a timer and sleep function. When these are activated, the A/C unit switches on or off after a set time in hours. When the unit is off at the mains, when you switch the mains on again, you still need to press the power button on the dash. This means that using a Grasslin timer is no good, as it will always be on standby, never switching on.

Front dash view

Now I've been running this thing every now and then, on full blast would kill my electric bill and wake up the neighbourhood. I will probably need it more once the Helios is on at full 6 later in the grow, rather than on 3 at the moment. Setting the A/C to go every 10 mins or so, every hour would be great, but not possible with this unit. I basically switch it on and off manually, or leave it on for an hour on sleep setting, and then go back and switch it back on again later ad infinitum.

I thought maybe bypassing the power switch on the front dash would do the trick, then it's 'on' all the time. No need for sleep or timer functions as I would plug it into a Grasslin timer.

So, full of bravado, I undid the case and took out the dashboard switch panel. After I tidied up any potential rattlers inside the unit, I turned my attentions to the dashboard panel again. That's where I got a bit stuck...

front view of circuit board

close up of front showing black push buttons

rear view of circuit board

close up of rear showing what I think is the rear of the power switch

red circle is where the power switch is, blue line is where I reckon I should solder a wire to connect.

What do you think Guys, I bet I got it wrong and blew it up!!!
If this is barking up the wrong tree, any off the wall suggestions? (if anyone can, you two can!)
Cheers!

[LEDDWCRigger]

What you're going to want to do is set an automatic cool temp and leave it on an always-on outlet, set to auto. Since you wanted to run CO2, what you will want to do is set the AC unit somewhat high. Have the desired temp set to cool down to roughly midway where you need the CO2 temps to be (mid 80s for us imperials.) This will leave the fan running (which is okay you want air circulation to prevent stratification of the growing room atmosphere) and the cooling compressor will only kick on when the temps get too high, and it will cut off when it senses the temps are essentially within the optimal temp range for CO2.

Sadly, pretty much every AC unit is timer incompatible. Mostly because of the insane initial power draw, but also because of energy-saving features that are standard (like not cutting on the second it gets power.)

Thankfully at higher temps, the AC won't need to work as hard, so it won't kill your power bill TOO much.

[godzilla]

yo teetee, sorry, while before I caught up with this.
Looked over the pcb, looks like the connection you identified is the right one to hardwire the switch to ON.
Not sure if the thing will operate like you want with that button jammed ON though, sometimes these things are programmed to see pulses esp with a momentary switch which is what it looks like. maybe worth a test if u can jam it on physically somehow and see that the unit operates like you need or not.. ie does it come out of "standby" when power is applied and you are holding down the power button already? or does it come out of stby when you release the button?
If its the former, jumping that connection like you pointed out should have the right effect.

[LEDDWCRigger]

yo teetee, sorry, while before I caught up with this.
Looked over the pcb, looks like the connection you identified is the right one to hardwire the switch to ON.
Not sure if the thing will operate like you want with that button jammed ON though, sometimes these things are programmed to see pulses esp with a momentary switch which is what it looks like. maybe worth a test if u can jam it on physically somehow and see that the unit operates like you need or not.. ie does it come out of "standby" when power is applied and you are holding down the power button already? or does it come out of stby when you release the button?
If its the former, jumping that connection like you pointed out should have the right effect.

My thought is it might be like any other typical softswitch like on a computer. If you leave the connections shorted (or in the case of some switches not shorted) you'll probably get it to come on and then shut down after a few seconds, and then it won't respond again until you physically cut power and restore power.

[godzilla]

Yes dwcrigger, quite likely, why i say to jam it on then try power up and see what happens, might get lucky.
Otherwise it would need something bit more complicated to replicate the button being pressed a few seconds after power up, can be rigged also but bit more effort, prbly 555 timer circuit will do it, one time delayed pulse on power up.

[LEDDWCRigger]

Is there anything a 555 can't do? :D You find these things in everything from LED panel to vibrators!

[teetee]

I gave you a 'like' there 'cos you managed to get the word 'vibrator' into this thread, and for that, Sir, I salute you.
I will give the A/C a test and see, but it makes sense that it would immediately cut out. Wont be till the weekend, jobs queuing up...

[LEDDWCRigger]

If it does the behavior I suspect it would do, then let us hope the auto setting works!