Tonic Control System Project Finished!

Last weekend the Luxcity event went down in Christchurch, NZ. The Tonic control system was brought down and the whole system was set up on Saturday. Unfortunately, some problems were encountered during the set-up, namely the sagging of the tensioned structure (the dimensions weren’t quite right, and when the crane pulled the structure up, it didn’t come together correctly). The manifold system also started leaking from every possible connection (and with 58 sets of couplings, reducers, splitters, and solenoids, there were 100’s of leaks :-0).

This meant that we were working well into the night (even after it opened to the public) to try and get the whole thing functioning. We managed to get tonic into a few of the tubes and pumped around the structure (see pic below), but sadly we had to give up about half an hour before we then had to go and pack everything up again.

More information can be found on the project page at Electronics->Projects->Luxcity UV Tonic Control System.

The previous post about starting the project can be found here.

The LCD screen working. This part was a breeze, it was an Arduino capable LCD shield, and there was a pre-written library for the firmware. It literally took less than 5 minutes to get working.

Testing the system in my living room the night before it’s to be used.

The central structure and the tonic-filled pipes glowing under UV light.