NerdKits - electronics education for a digital generation

You are not logged in. [log in]

NEW: Learning electronics? Ask your questions on the new Electronics Questions & Answers site hosted by CircuitLab.

Support Forum » Piston Water Pump

November 16, 2011
by Heed
Heed's Avatar

My water pump has a spot that looks like i should connect 2 batteries 2 it

in the servo squirter page i could not notice a battery connect to the pump and i really couldnt see the connections...

November 16, 2011
by Heed
Heed's Avatar

Alt Text

November 16, 2011
by Ralphxyz
Ralphxyz's Avatar

What does the spec sheet for the pump call for?

That definitely looks like two 9 volt batteries are needed.

Hard to tell from your photo but your pump might use 18 volts or it needs the higher amperage of two 9 volt batteries combined.

I think it goes two batteries in series would double the voltage, two batteries in parallel would double the amperage at the same voltage (9 volt in this case).

So what exactly is your question?

Ralph

November 17, 2011
by Heed
Heed's Avatar

My question is...is this pump the same pump you all used in your project and if not will it still work the same

or should i cut off the tips of the wires and connect them 2 my board

November 17, 2011
by Heed
Heed's Avatar

Alt Text

Alt Text

November 17, 2011
by Heed
Heed's Avatar

Sorry 4 posting so many pictures and there a link on the servo squirter page 4 a water pump and this is that pump but i cannot find a spec sheet

alt image text

November 17, 2011
by Ralphxyz
Ralphxyz's Avatar

Well the Nerdkit servo squirter is from Electronics Surplus.

It is a 3 - 6 volt dc pump.

Did you get your pump from Electronics Surplus?

It certainly looks like the same pump except for the battery (presumed voltage).

Can you make the pump work?

The 2N7000 should work with either 9 or 18 volts so you should be good to go, just make sure to use a common ground between your Nerdkit and the pump.

Ralph

November 18, 2011
by hevans
(NerdKits Staff)

hevans's Avatar

Hi Heed,

I cannot possibly tell you if it is exactly the same pump that we used, but it does look similar. My suggestion to you is to experiment, you will learn so much more (and have way more fun doing it). Go through the servo squirter project and learn about how we applied power to the pump that we had. Then experiment with your pump and try to adapt the concepts. I'm positive you can get it to work, and if you have questions, ask!

Humberto

November 24, 2011
by Heed
Heed's Avatar

My problem is with that pump lookin like that I have no idea how 2 connect it 2 my board

Any suggestions

November 24, 2011
by Rick_S
Rick_S's Avatar

That looks like a cap for a AA battery holder on the wires. Depending on how it is wired, it could be driving the pump at different voltages, but my guess is 6V. Easiest way to connect it would be to remove all the wires from the extraneous parts leaving just one wire on each motor terminal. Apply power to these wires. You may see a small plus sign molded in the plastic of the motor back. If so, make that your positive wire. If not, it probably won't matter. These are simple DC motors and usually will run either way. The pump may or may not care about motor direction. If you hook it up and it doesn't pump or the motor jams, try reversing the polarity and see if that fixes it.

Rick

November 24, 2011
by Ralphxyz
Ralphxyz's Avatar

Well the pump does not connect directly to your board, assuming "my board" is the Nerdkit breadboard.

Can you power your pump using two nine volt batteries which is what it seems to require looking at your pictures.

Are the battery connectors wired parallel or in series? If in series then they are nine volt if in parallel it is eighteen volts.

Looking at the connectors are the - (negative) connectors on the same end if so that would (might) suggest parallel.

Did you ever say where you got the pump from?

Actually I'd try to power the pump with 3 - 6 volts just to see if it is the same pump and those 9 volt connectors are for something else.

You "connect" the pump to your board by way of a transistor but to just power the pump for testing you do not need anything besides power so supply some power to your pump and lets see what happens!

Like Humberto said experiment.

Why is it such a problem to type "to"? It really looks childish to use 2. Are you trying to to be cool?

Just my opinion of course you may disregard.

Ralph

November 24, 2011
by treymd
treymd's Avatar

Get used to the 2 Ralph. It is solidified in modern communication due to texting. In fact many things are shortened out of convenience for the texting generation. If you think about it, they've forged a primitive sort of compression! There is hope for them thar whippersnappers.

November 25, 2011
by Rick_S
Rick_S's Avatar

Ralph, look at those "connectors" again. I think they are springs not 9V battery connectors. That was why I said it looked like the end of a 4 cell AA holder where the batteries are in series thus giving 6V. It's hard to say for sure though without seeing the back side and other end. My guess is 3 or 6 volts.

treymd, as for the shortened textese, I'm hoping with phones getting smarter and smarter that the use of those "compressions" will fade like a bad dream. They were convenient when all texting was done by a 10 digit phone pad but now that full keyboards are common or speech commands are being done, I'm hoping it will get better. Also, while I can understand the argument for space savings in text messages, the use of it on a computer based forum seems unneccesary.

NOTHING AGAINST YOU HEED BigGrin_Green I just like to throw in my 2ยข worth.

November 25, 2011
by Heed
Heed's Avatar

Its alright Rick and I understand about the texts but the reason 4 shortening the words wasn't to be cool but rather I do text a lot and now I'm on this forum using my phone so it was more of a force of habbit so sorry if I inconvenienced anyone. But I can assure you I don't want to be cool all I want is to finish my project.

I did order the pump from electronic surplus

The two 9-volt batteries didn't cause any effect.

On that last picture I posted, connected to the white and blue wires there are small metal flat leads I tried placing four AA batteries on top of the spring but only the lead on the white wire is long enough 2 reach the top of the batteries

If I need to put up a better picture let me know please cuz with everyone tryin to help me I want to help you help me.

Rick you said a "4 cell AA Holder" I'm sorry if this is a dumb question but is there a 4 cell AA battery..??

November 25, 2011
by Rick_S
Rick_S's Avatar

No, I was referring to a battery holder for 4 AA batteries. Those are springs on the black square plastic piece and not 9v battey clips, right? Or am I seeing that wrong?

November 27, 2011
by Heed
Heed's Avatar

They are springs and the AA batteries worked

Is there a wire on the wire water pump that I should that I should connect 2 the breadboard

November 28, 2011
by Heed
Heed's Avatar

Correction

Is there a specific wire on the water pump that I should connect to the breadboard

November 29, 2011
by Heed
Heed's Avatar

Water pump is now working

Thanks 4 all the help

January 10, 2012
by mcoday
mcoday's Avatar

Heed, I just received an identical piston pump. What was your final solution? Did you remove all the "extra" wiring and just use the two wires directly off of the pump motor?

Thanks,

Post a Reply

Please log in to post a reply.

Did you know that a flyback diode is important when driving a motor or any inductive load? Learn more...