Disabled InnovativeAquatics Drip Sensor

revance

revance

New member
So I finally got fed up with the stupid drip sensor always turning my dosing pump off. I purchased the pump used from a buddy (hmmm I wonder why HE got rid of it). He got it from InnovativeAquatics.

Anyway, here is my fix...

I just used a 555 timer along with the necessary components to create an alternating signal just like the drip sensor did (when it actually worked). The specific chip I used was a TI NE555P.

63335100_1919_sized.jpg


Parts used:

4.7uF capacitor
0.1pF capacitor
2 x 187 ohm resistors
1 x 10 mega-ohm resistor
TI NE555P timer IC
Project board (tested on a prototype board first)
Wire
Plug cut off drip sensor

Total cost: ~$3

The chips documentation provides all the information you need to wire this sucker up. From the search I did, this seems to be a pretty popular subject, so hopefully this bit of advice helps some people out.
 
Just thought I would post the schematic for it too. You will still want to read the documentation to know how it works and how to choose your resistance and capacitance values.

63335555_schematic.JPG
 
Cool. I ended up returning my original pump that I bought from them because of the crappy drip sensor and got one without it instead. Stan there is a great guy to work with. What model pump do you have?

- Cory
 
oops, stupid typo above... that should read

2 x 100 ohm resistors

I meant to use 100 kilo-ohm resistors but accidentally grabbed them from the wrong box. The only difference is it thinks its getting a drip roughly every thousandth of a second rather than every second. That works fine for my pump, other pumps might require you to use a different timing. If you weren't sure, you could always use potentiometers instead.
 
Rev -

I have a JBJ ATO Unit, can I replace the pot in that to increase their failsafe time from 15 mins to 30 mins ?
 
They have two float sensors and different options for running them, and two different modes.

My problem is that I can only use flexible air line tubing to return my top off water to the tank, that requires a small pump.

The small pumps will not pump enough water fast enough to fill the tank to trigger the sensor via air line tubing.

What happens is the units failsafe circut says "The pump has been on for 15 mins and the trigger has not been switched yet"
The unit then disables the pump incase the switch is faulty there by saving you from a flood.

I don't have fittings to adapt a bigger pump down to a smaller tubing.

If I can bypass or lengthen the time of the failsafe I can then pump enough water in a slow amount of time.
 
Hmmm... thats interesting. I didn't understand what you meant by "failsafe time".

It really depends on how they do the timing. They probably aren't using this chip. It really isn't possible to answer that without seeing the insides of one as there are many ways they could have done it. I am also by no means an expert.
 
Yeah, I did a search for this before I posted because I didn't want to be redundant and was suprised by the number of threads I found that went unanswered.


Cory: I have no idea what model it is because the innovative aquatics sticker had fallen off before I bought it (I got it used). I imagine this solution would work on all dosing pumps because they all use the same drip sensors. The only thing that might need changed is the timing on it. As mentioned earlier, you can always use 2 potentiometers instead of resistors and then it is adjustable.
 
I just threw mine away...DOH! Stan replaced it for free and I couldnt get it to stop shutting down and beeping like crazy. Oh well :(
 
Darn, I could use another one... I should have bought one off some frustrated person for $10 before posting this. :D
 
Revance,

I sent you a PM.

In any case, has anyone else tried this fix? I have made it and cannot get it to work. The setup seems to work and I can see where the output fluctuates, but how to hook it up to the pump is not clear. It appears the pump from Innovative has red, white, yellow and black going to the 2 ir sensors (1 emitter, 1 receiver) I am thinking the red & white wires went to one sensor and the yellow and black wire went to the other sensor, this I have asked revance to clarify but have not received an answer; the other question is which wires on the "fix" goes to which wires on the pump that would normally go to the sensors?

The wiring is different colors on my pump, but they are IR sensors and should operate the same. I have orange & white going to one sensor (I believe is the emitter - it is smaller and darker than the other), then I have green & light blue going to the other sensor (which I believe is the receiver - it is about double the size of the other sensor and clear).

I am hoping maybe someone has taken this information presented and completed it and can give more information. Another thought I have had is is there a way to cause the emitter to blink, sending alternating impulses to the receiver? The software is apparently looking for periodic breaks in the IR signal between the sensors. I guess I should have paid more attention in the electronics shop classes! LOL

Anyone's help is this area would be great.

revance, I would appreciate your helpin this matter as well, if you could give you take on this as well.

Thanks
 
Sorry I forgot to get back to you again.

I have to take mine apart to figure out which wire was which as I can't tell from my picture and I don't remember for sure. On mine, the white wire was not needed. You can see it is just cut off. I am pretty sure the red wire was +5v, the black was ground, and the yellow was the output. However I will have to take it apart to be 100% positive.
 
How did you figure out which wire was "output"? Power goes to both sensors as I can figure it out.
 
Well went to local Radio Shack and they didn't have some of the pieces or had multiple different types of each.

revance: Can you be a little more specific about the parts and where one might obtain. I'll be happy to experiment and post results.

Thanks, G
 
What specifics do you want about the parts? The only thing that is really important is the TI NE555P chip (which there should only be one of). Other than that, you can use any combination of resistors and capacitors you wish in accordance to the instructions that come with the chip. The sizes you use will change the frequency of the output. All parts are available at radio shack.

As for which is the output etc. I don't remember which is which, I just used a multi-meter to figure it out. You can also just start shorting each pin to ground until it senses a drip. The one that makes it think there was a drip is the output. I'm pretty sure on mine the yellow (pin below the ground) was the output.

This shouldn't be a difficult project. Just buy the chip and follow the instructions. It will give you some simple equations showing how to choose the capacitors and resistors to obtain the desired frequency. The hardest part is finding a good layout on the project board, but even that isn't a big deal because this is a low frequency device, so you don't have to worry as much about the placement of the wires.
 
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