This is a condensed thread on the specific steps I used when motorizing my Blue Eco RDF
with the kit provided by Tung Tran (tung.tran@yahoo.com) for anyone doing the conversion.
Here are some things I used for the conversion in addition to the kit...
A timer. I use the Sentinel DRT-1. This is a really good timer but no longer made so you can normally
only find them on eBay now. Many people use a high/low sensor to start and stop the cleaning cycle
instead of a timer but I didn't use one so I won't be of much help if you go that route.
An electric solenoid valve. This will take the place of the float that operates the cleaning cycle in
the rdf now. They make ones that work on 24v and 12v too but you'll need a converter. The
one I bought is a straight 110v version.
https://www.ebay.com/i/301768546130?chn=ps
The motor and geathead. This is model is the only one that will work with the white plastic
disc and metal shaft in the kit. The motor is not water proof so it has to be protected
from the weather if your RDF is exposed outside. Oriental Motors does make other
weather proof motors but this isn't one of them and if you want to get a waterproof
one I would call and talk to Oriental Motors directly so you get the correct model.
They don't take returns so you have to be sure to order the right one!
https://catalog.orientalmotor.com/it...-aw2u-5ge180rh
Part number 5IK90GE-AW2U General Motor $148.00
Part number 5GE180RH Right Angle Gear (AC) $225.00
Subtotal: $373.00
Shipping: $0.00
Tax: $33.58
Total: $406.58
The motor and gear come with a separate startup capacitor that you have to wire. It
also comes with no power cord so you'll need to wire one for this as well as the
electric solenoid. They're under $10 at the hardware store.
So, if you're ready to have your RDF off line for a while (I think it took me a week or two to get it
all back to working), the first thing I did is turn off the UV inside it, shut off the valves to the
inputs, and drain as much water as I could out of the rdf. Then I took out the bracket and float
that operates the cleaning process of the drum that are in the lower left of this picture. Also remove
the horizontal plunger that operates the gear that turns the drum. It should just be held on with a bolt
and nut in the front of it:
Then open the hunter valve which is this black valve that was under the plunger. Remove the 4 screws
and pry off the top of the valve. Then remove the diaphragm from the valve and then just replace
the cap and screws. What this does is let water just flow through that valve like it's not there.
The one thing I found on mine is there is a small hole that is some sort of pressure release and leaks water out
when the spray bar operates if the diaphragm is removed, so I just put a small screw to plug most of the flow. It
doesn't really hurt anything as it's just flowing into the clean side of the rdf, but it does reduces the pressure at the
spray bar a little so plugging it will add a little pressure.
You can remove the whole valve if you want but the pipe is 32mm and you'd need an adapter to
replace the section where the valve was. It wasn't worth it to me so I just left it and it still works fine.
Next you need to cut and plug all the pressure lines. If I remember right I think there were 3. I just cut
the plastic pipe and then heated and pinched the hose close so there were no leaks. *One line extends
all the way into the drum to the hunter valve that operates the waste valve which can just be removed.
*NOTE: My hunter valve that operated the waste valve was broken so mine was disabled. If yours still works
you may want to try and leave the pressure line to it intact. I don't know for a fact that it will still operate
and you may need to disable your waste valve if it doesn't. This could be a bigger issue if your water level is
normally above the waste tray.
My example pictures may be a little different since I'm using a pressure pump instead of my house water
line to feed the rdf spray bar, but it should operate the same even if you're using the your houses service line.
You'll need to cut the house water pressure line feeding the rdf and install the new electric solenoid valve
in line with it. If your solenoid is like mine you'll need to wire a plug onto the valve. I just soldered the wires and
used heat shrink tubing to seal the open wires.
This plug wire will need to be long enough to route to your timer if using one.
Once the electric solenoid is wired you can test it if using a timer. I mounted my timer in a dry location
and put a power strip next to it since I had 3 devices to plug into it, the solenoid, the motor, and the pump.
If using your homes service line you should only have two... the solenoid and the motor and the timer I linked
to at the beginning already has two plugs.
Notice the outlet plug at the top of the power strip; that's a plug with a on/off switch on
it. This is handy because once the new motor is installed, you can't move the drum like
you used to in order to open the screen hatch to access the waste tray. So I plug the motor
into it when I need to manually turn the drum and not turn on the solenoid and pump and can
stop it when the access hatch in the drum is at the right location.
So now you should be able to start the water for the cleaning cycle with your new solenoid and
timer. Of course the drum won't turn since it's not motorized... which is our next step!
To start I replaced the sprocket on the shaft that is mounted to the drum. I found the simplest
way was to remove the 3 nuts and bolts that attach the shaft to the drum. Then just took the
old one off and put the new one on and reattached the shaft to the drum and made sure everything
still lined up turned normally.
I wanted the gear that would be mounted to the motor and would turn the drum to be positioned
right above the large sprocket. So I took the blue gear from the kit and put it against the inside of
the rdf outside wall and positioned it so it was meshed with the large sprocket and then drew a circle
around the gear shaft. Since I didn't have room to get my drill on the inside of the rdf, I measured as
best I could from the top and side where I should drill a pilot hole. In this picture you can see where
I drew around the base of the gear and drilled the pilot hole... but then realized I was off from being
right above the large sprocket where I wanted to be! So I redrew it, drilled another pilot hole, and
then used the hole saw that came with the kit to cut the final hole. The good part is that the disc that
comes with the kit is large enough that it easily sealed the hole that was off center. After I drilled the
hole for the motor shaft I marked the smaller mounting holes for the disc itself and drilled holes for it
too.
So after the silicone is dry you can remove the 4 smaller bolts and mount the motor. You
can see the raised circle on the disc which should line up with the gearhead. Mount the motor
on the gearhead and mount the gearhead with the shaft and small gear on the rdf.
The motor should have come with a startup capacitor that needs to be wired along with
a power cord that will run to the timer. I soldered the wires onto the capacitor and used
shrink tube on it to insulate them. I just used contact cement to attach the capacitor to the
rdf but it can be mounted anywhere.
At this point you should just have to dial in the "off time" and the "on time" duration for the
timer. Right now mine is set so it's off for about 30 minutes and on for the cleaning cycle for
about 15 seconds, but start with a shorter time than you probably need and increase it until
you get to a point where the water level outside the drum drops about the right amount. I noticed
on mine that it only takes a small amount of disturbing the pond to effect the rate at which the
rdf needs to cycle, so be aware of that if anything is changed and shorten the cycle time as needed
until things are "normal" again.
That's about it! Using a timer takes some experimenting to get the times right, but I've found the
motor used in this conversion is so powerful that it has no problem turning the drum even if the
clean side of the rdf is empty. This puts a lot of strain on it so avoid running it empty as much as
possible... but knowing it has the ability to turn it if needed, is comforting.
Hope that helps and if you motorized your BE rdf and found a method or procedure that would
make it easier for the next person, feel free to share!