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Advice needed! Need to re-wire an air pump with special features...

ellbobeee

Hi there,

 

I have a technical 'problem' which a Farnell employee thought might be worth posing to the community on here.

 

I am an artist and I am looking to make a 'breathing' sculpture.

 

I have started by buying a battery operated air pump (designed for mattresses etc.) which has a power supply input bit so that the batteries (7.5V DC 300mA) can be re-charged when the pump is not in use.

 

What I had hoped to be able to do was re-wire the pump to include a) a dial which allows me to lessen the speed of the fan (or can this be done by using lower voltage batteries?) and b) to solder in a sort of intermittent timer so that the fan comes on and off every 5 seconds or so, giving the impression of breathing.

 

If anyone can help with this I would be very grateful! I don't have much of a budget... :-)

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  • The simplest preassembled timer would be an industrial timer relay, for example these or these. You want one with a "repeat cycle" function, where you can separately set the on and off times, and it will endlessly repeat that cycle. The relay itself will require a power source greater than your pump will (the simplest thing is to just use 120 VAC from the wall), but it can switch any other voltage you need to power your pump. I would use an adjustable DC power supply to power the pump, so that you can fine-tune the speed.

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  • The simplest preassembled timer would be an industrial timer relay, for example these or these. You want one with a "repeat cycle" function, where you can separately set the on and off times, and it will endlessly repeat that cycle. The relay itself will require a power source greater than your pump will (the simplest thing is to just use 120 VAC from the wall), but it can switch any other voltage you need to power your pump. I would use an adjustable DC power supply to power the pump, so that you can fine-tune the speed.

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