Footbath Controller – User Guide
Setup, wiring, and the parameter reference for the AutoVent Footbath Controller. Version 8.
Overview
Thank you for purchasing the footbath controller. It is designed for easy installation and operation. The system is designed to control pumps and valves.
Main features
- Controls 2 footbaths
- Battery-backed internal time-of-day clock
- Automatically fill up to 4 times per day
- Easy to change chemical and water settings
- 10 relay outputs
- Touch screen display
- Manual overrides
Using the pushbuttons
There are 2 pushbuttons on the side of the enclosure. Press them to start or stop a footbath fill cycle.
If it is filling or draining, pressing the button stops the cycle.
Installing the controller
Consider the following before installing the Footbath controller:
- Protect the enclosure from moisture-mount it in a secure and dry place.
- Important: only drill holes in the bottom of the enclosures.
- Condensation runs downhill. Drilling holes into the top or upper sides of the enclosure voids the warranty.
Wiring the controller
The controller needs 120v input power.
The 120v pumps need to be field wired. All the 24vac solenoids and valves need to be field wired as well.
Connector bus bars
The Footbath controller comes with bus bars on the terminal strip to make it easy to run 24vac for the first 8 relays. If you wish to utilize any of the 1–6 relays for non-24vac, remove the bus bar and snip it at the terminal you wish.
Overview of the controller screen
The screen shows you what is happening. You can see how many hours since the last footbath fill for each.
Press on the hours since the last refill to get to the menu.
Press the bottom row of buttons to manually override any of the outputs.
Overrides
Select the relay status you want. In Auto, it will operate automatically. Selecting Off or Forced allows you to avoid the control system. To exit, press the blank space on the sides.
Pressing on the top description will take you to the setpoint for it.
Autofill
A foot bath can be set to autofill up to 4 times per day. You can turn off that time by using the override screen.
If a time is not green, it will not use that time of day.
If you do not use auto-refill, make sure none of the times are enabled.
Autofill days and their recipe
You have 3 options per day for Autofill: Off, Normal, or recipe 2 per day. This allows you to select a separate amount of water & chemicals per day.
Set the active recipe per day of the week with P161 to P167.
Top off
Top off function allows you to add more water and chemicals every so often until the footbath is drained.
You need to set the drain time carefully. If you have a 1-hour top off interval, and it takes 5 hours to milk, set the drain time to 4.9 hours. It might top off and then soon drain if the times match.
You can enable the top off function with P140.
Drains
Drains are intended to be the bladder style that takes time to inflate. Water and chemical pumps wait to run until the inflate time has elapsed. You enable or disable the drain function in the Config menu, P0 & P1.
If drains are disabled, the override buttons disappear from the screen.
The precleaning function turns on the water before inflating the bladders. The drain function must be enabled to do precleaning.
After a footbath fills, it will wait until P58 elapses and drain because it assumes the bath is dirty. If it is scheduled for a refill, it will drain the bath and wait for P98 Refill Drain Minutes to give the dirty water time to run out.
Parameters
There are parameters that you can change. The parameters are labeled P1, P2, and so on. These parameters are the temperature setpoints and values you can adjust.
| ID | Description | Default | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P50 | #1 water fill minutes | 1.0 | 0.0 | 25.5 |
| P51 | #1 chemical pump fill minutes | 1.0 | 0.0 | P50 |
| P52 | #1 aux fill minutes | 1.0 | 0.0 | P50 |
| P53 | #1 air purge seconds | 10 | 0 | 255 |
| P54 | #1 recipe 2 water fill minutes | 1.0 | 0.0 | 25.5 |
| P55 | #1 recipe 2 chemical pump fill minutes | 1.0 | 0.0 | P50 |
| P56 | #1 recipe 2 aux fill minutes | 1.0 | 0.0 | P50 |
| P57 | #1 Minutes to inflate drain bladder | .5 | 0 | 25 |
| P58 | #1 Hours until footbath should drain | 1.0 | ||
| P59 | #1 Precleaning Seconds. Water on – drain open | 0 | 0 | 255 |
| P60 | #2 water fill minutes | 1.0 | 0.0 | 25.5 |
| P61 | #2 chemical pump fill minutes | 1.0 | 0.0 | P60 |
| P62 | #2 aux fill minutes | 1.0 | 0.0 | P60 |
| P63 | #2 air purge seconds | 10 | 0 | 255 |
| P64 | #2 recipe 2 water fill minutes | 1.0 | 0.0 | 25.5 |
| P65 | #2 recipe 2 chemical pump fill minutes | 1.0 | 0.0 | P60 |
| P66 | #2 recipe 2 aux fill minutes | 1.0 | 0.0 | P60 |
| P67 | #2 Minutes to inflate drain bladder | .5 | 0 | 25 |
| P68 | #2 Hours until footbath should drain | 1.0 | ||
| P69 | #2 Precleaning Seconds. Water on – drain open | 0 | 0 | 255 |
| P72 | Footbath1’s hours between top off | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| P73 | Footbath1’s top off water minutes | 1 | 0 | 25.5 |
| P74 | Footbath1’s top off chemical pump minutes | 0 | 0 | P73 |
| P75 | Footbath1’s top off aux minutes | 0 | 0 | P73 |
| P77 | Footbath1’s recipe 2 top off water minutes | 1 | 0 | 25.5 |
| P78 | Footbath1’s recipe 2 top off chemical pump minutes | 0 | 0 | P77 |
| P79 | Footbath1’s recipe 2 top off aux minutes | 0 | 0 | P77 |
| P82 | Footbath2’s hours between top off | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| P83 | Footbath2s top off water minutes | 1 | 0 | 25.5 |
| P84 | Footbath2’s top off chemical pump minutes | 0 | 0 | P83 |
| P85 | Footbath2’s top off aux minutes | 0 | 0 | P83 |
| P87 | Footbath2’s recipe 2 top off water minutes | 1 | 0 | 25.5 |
| P88 | Footbath2’s recipe 2 top off chemical pump minutes | 0 | 0 | P87 |
| P89 | Footbath2’s recipe 2 top off aux minutes | 0 | 0 | P87 |
| P100 | A Time of day to AutoFill #1 | 0:00 | 0:00 | 23:54 |
| P101 | B Time of day to AutoFill #1 | 0:00 | 0:00 | 23:54 |
| P102 | C Time of day to AutoFill #1 | 0:00 | 0:00 | 23:54 |
| P103 | D Time of day to AutoFill #1 | 0:00 | 0:00 | 23:54 |
| P110 | A Time of day to AutoFill #2 | 0:00 | 0:00 | 23:54 |
| P111 | B Time of day to AutoFill #2 | 0:00 | 0:00 | 23:54 |
| P112 | C Time of day to AutoFill #2 | 0:00 | 0:00 | 23:54 |
| P113 | D Time of day to AutoFill #2 | 0:00 | 0:00 | 23:54 |
| P140 | Is top off after footbath filled function active? | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| P161 | Monday autofill. 0 = not active, 1 = normal, 2 = recipe 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| P162 | Tuesday autofill. 0 = not active, 1 = normal, 2 = recipe 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| P163 | Wednesday autofill. 0 = not active, 1 = normal, 2 = recipe 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| P164 | Thursday autofill. 0 = not active, 1 = normal, 2 = recipe 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| P165 | Friday autofill. 0 = not active, 1 = normal, 2 = recipe 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| P166 | Saturday autofill. 0 = not active, 1 = normal, 2 = recipe 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| P167 | Sunday autofill. 0 = not active, 1 = normal, 2 = recipe 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Setup configurations
| ID | Description | Default | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P0 | Does Bath #1 use a drain. 0 = No, 1 = Yes | 0 | 1 | |
| P1 | Does bath #2 use a drain | 0 | 1 | |
| P30 | Revert controller to defaults |
Specifications
| Size of enclosure | 15″ × 10″ × 7″ |
|---|---|
| Input voltage | 120VAC |
| Output | 10 Normally open relays |
| Warranty | 1 year |
Version notes
- V2 Changes. Moved assignment of relays to make it easier for 120v wiring.
- Manual Chemical overrides now will go to manual off when leaving override screen, so the chemical is not manually left on.
- Added drain bladder logic. 2 additional parameters per bath. Drains can be enabled in the config menu.
- V4. Bug fix.
- V5. Added day-of-week overrides, 2 recipes, and top off function (approx. 20 new parameters).
- V6. Bug fix.
- V8. Fixed that it drained the bath if drain time had not elapsed.