# Sticky  How To Guide- Fabco Solenoid



## TorontoPlantMan

Hey Guys,

I've recently begun my journey into starting a CO2 setup, but I cannot say the process was very easy. Yes there are many guides and such on here and other forums that tell you about certain parts but not many in which show you actually how to achieve your goal.

*Where to purchase a solenoid?*

So for all those who are looking for a solenoid for their CO2 setup, I purchased mine locally in Mississauga at Sempress Canada for $33.90 total.

Here are the two parts you're going to need

- Fabco Directional Control Valve, Part # 3853-04-A287 - $27
- Plug Sys 8 Mini, Part # 4552150 -$3

The staff at Sempress are actually well aware of our use for the solenoid in the aquarium hobby and will direct you to the correct parts if you happen to forget the model numbers before you arrive.

*Where to buy the wiring?*

Now onto the actual wiring of this device....

It doesn't come wired so we'll have to do a bit of a modification, but nothing a grade 2 student couldn't do so don't be afraid.

After purchasing your Solenoid and adapter so it can be wired, you'll need to stop at your local hardware store and pick up a grounded 16 gauge 3 prong A/V equipment cord. This should read "16 gauge, 3 prong, 13 amps and 3 outlets" on the box. Although we will be cutting off the 3 outlets so that part is useless.

I purchased this wiring at Lowes for $10 for 16.4ft of cord, not a bad deal if you ask me.

Now that we have all the supplies we need for the build lets get started into taking everything apart. But before we do that lets just do a price recap

*Whats it going to cost me?*

- Fabco Directional Control Valve, Part # 3853-04-A287 - $27
- Plug Sys 8 Mini, Part # 4552150 -$3
- 16.4 FT A/V Equipment Cord- $10 (price will vary)

TOTAL PRICE- $40+tax

*How to connect the wire to the solenoid*

This is the Solenoid and adapter once taken apart. 


Here is the A/V Equipment cord purchased from Lowes for $10


This is what it should look like once you cut the cord


Next you're going to want to peel back the outer shell of the wiring and expose the wires. You may need to use wire strippers here to strip back the plastic and expose the copper tips as you will see in the next picture.


You're now going to want to attach the fittings which came with the adapter, please note the order they go in so you do not spring a leak.


This is what it should look like after you've properly connected all the fittings.


Continued of what it should properly look like


This is where you're now going to want to feed the wiring through the box, I found it very hard to work with since I have large hands so make sure to leave yourself enough room to be able to grab the wires.


Now you're going to want to connect your wires to the appropriate slots. Please follow this as a guide when connecting as it's impossible to take pictures of it once it's connected. 
Green = Earth/Ground
Black = Hot/Live (+)
White = Neg (-)


Next we connect the ground wire (green) after connecting the positive and negatives (black and white)


Once all the wires are properly connected this is the end result


After this you can simply snap everything back into place and this is what you'll be left with


Here is the end result. 


Goodluck and I hope this helps you out when trying to wire your solenoid.

TorontoPlantMan
-Kirk


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## TorontoPlantMan

500+ views and not one comment  common guys ! lets see how you put your solenoid's together or lets get some feedback to see if this helped you at all, if this helps no one I will just remove


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## charlie1

TorontoPlantMan said:


> 500+ views and not one comment  common guys ! lets see how you put your solenoid's together or lets get some feedback to see if this helped you at all, if this helps no one I will just remove


I know how you feel bud, I`m convinced our hobbyist on this side of the water are passive hobbyist as opposed to passionate.


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## Kimchi24

dont remove it. I hate when i fav these pages and when i finally go and try it out... its been deleted lol.


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## TorontoPlantMan

charlie1 said:


> I know how you feel bud, I`m convinced our hobbyist on this side of the water are passive hobbyist as opposed to passionate.


I'm glad someone agrees! It's unfortunate that it's like this way here, I find the U.S threads to be FAR more active/forth coming with information then here, maybe this forum is turning purely salt? who knows!



Kimchi24 said:


> dont remove it. I hate when i fav these pages and when i finally go and try it out... its been deleted lol.


Don't worry I won't  Just wanted to maybe motivate some people to do a detailed write up; I'd still love to see how to connect the other types of solenoids like most SMC models. FlyingHellFish has showed me a picture before but I'm talking a DETAILED write up; everyone learns differently


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## tom g

*diy*

sticky this to the diy page good job


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## TorontoPlantMan

tom g said:


> sticky this to the diy page good job


Thanks a ton Tom I really appreciate that


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## LooseheadLen

*Much better than instructions for Ebay solenoid!*

G'day and thanks for posting these. 
FWIW, I used a very similar solenoid I bought on Ebay. I was not able to fit a 3 prong cord so used a 2 prong and will plug it in to a GCFI extension. This version has a resistor on one side and a diode (power on indicator) on the other. I connected the hot wire to the resistor side.


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## Matthew RJ

*....*

Great thread! I have a regulator sitting on a shelf, just waiting for the other parts to go with it to get it active.


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