My Neptune Apex web interface compatible DIY reef controller

[geekengineer]

lol sorry if that came across cranky. It would be nice if there was a cheaper option whether its worth the bother it just depends on the person and situation I suppose.. I know the person from Canada was saying has to pay duty so it gets more expensive also I don't know how much so of course.

I did find out the older PH circuit from Atlas uses a negative voltage generator so its a different sort of circuit than I thought. I not sure what they are using on the new one since the parts are much harder to decode.

 

[Foggman]

i did a quick rundown of the more expensive parts and i think it would be about $10 to build it. even if it was $20 to build it i still might build it cause thats part of the fun of it. now the coding...... geek engineer how are you with coding, i know doughboy is busy with the other upgrades to the controller, im sure i could do it i just need to look it over more to see exactly how the sparky code would differ from atlas code.

 

[geekengineer]

i did a quick rundown of the more expensive parts and i think it would be about $10 to build it. even if it was $20 to build it i still might build it cause thats part of the fun of it. now the coding...... geek engineer how are you with coding, i know doughboy is busy with the other upgrades to the controller, im sure i could do it i just need to look it over more to see exactly how the sparky code would differ from atlas code.

Would you be interested in trying other circuits potentially? I had some ideas but they would be prototypes of course. If I have some time I may just try it I going on vacation away from home so I don't know if I be able to do it for a while.

I am so so on coding some of it is I am a bit rusty and some of it is just trying to modify code you didn't write can be a confusing. I would probably understand how to do the math part I not sure how complex it is to do the calibration but in theory its just a linear interpolation to my understanding. As far as temperature compensation I have to dig into that some more to understand if that is a concern or not.

Just out of curiosity were do you usually get your parts digikey or mouser etc?

 

[m1k3]

Just to jump in on your conversation here, have you looked at the reef angel schematics? It shows their PH circuitry on the main board, and if you're interested the circuitry for the salinity module too. All the eagle files are here http://reefangel.com/download.aspx . I would be interested in collaborating on this as well. Did someone say they can etch PCBs?

 

[m1k3]

Dont know if anyone has seen this, but was searching amazon for BNC connectors and a PH kit popped up in the results, includes probe and board ~30. Googled the store and they have salinity and ORP too. I am most interested in getting salinity added to my controller. There salinity kit includes the board and probe for $70 and its ATC. Anyway if you're interested in checking them out you can find them here:
http://www.dfrobot.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=36_68

 

[geekengineer]

They did it a bit differently and with more parts than what I was thinking but probably less noisy this way but this is one of two ways I was thinking of going about it. So would this be cheaper PH circuit overall? I haven't looked at the EC circuit yet. Don't know if we need too powerful of an Atmel processor but maybe even bolting on a cheap nano clone would suffice, but they are a bit tricky to setup. duno.

 

[m1k3]

They did it a bit differently and with more parts than what I was thinking but probably less noisy this way but this is one of two ways I was thinking of going about it. So would this be cheaper PH circuit overall? I haven't looked at the EC circuit yet. Don't know if we need too powerful of an Atmel processor but maybe even bolting on a cheap nano clone would suffice, but they are a bit tricky to setup. duno.

Are you talking about RA's PH circuit? That whole schematic is their mainboard, it is a custom arduino board. You only need what it going into pin 19 of the Atmega8. Not much to it, couple op amps, a few caps and several resistors.

 

[geekengineer]

Are you talking about RA's PH circuit? That whole schematic is their mainboard, it is a custom arduino board. You only need what it going into pin 19 of the Atmega8. Not much to it, couple op amps, a few caps and several resistors.

Didn't see your second post there at the time. I meant the reef angel board.

The DA board isn't in stock it seems, but I dont' know I like the op-amps the picked better but they amped up the input quite a bit to be able to filter the input. So you have to muck around adjusting the gain and I rather not have to do that. I think the reef angel circuit would be less hassle so far out of what I have seen. But maybe make something like the DR board but stick a small processor in front of it to do the ADC part and processing? or either do the I2C ADC like sparky? hmm too many choices lol.

 

[XahmedXsa]

hello

can anyone help me to Calibrate my ph

the reading is not correct 4.1 3.90 and so

i try many time same result
i change my ph probe and i get same reading

i have pH Circuit 5.0v with probe from atlas

#define _PH //comment out if no ph probe or ph stamp
#define MAXPH 1 //number of ph stamps
#if !defined(_PH)
#define MAXPH 0
#endif
#define _PH1_NAME "pH"
#define _PH1_EZO false
#define _PH1_SERIAL Serial1 //you can select serial or i2c but not both
//#define _PH1_I2C 99 //default address is 99

#define _PH2_NAME "CalRX"
#define _PH2_EZO true
//#define _PH2_SERIAL Serial2 //you can select serial or i2c but not both
#define _PH2_I2C 99 //make sure i2c address is unique

#define PHALERT {{7.6}}
//uncomment the next line you have Atlas Orp sensor and make sure the addr has the right serial port
//#define _ORP

 

[Foggman]

Would you be interested in trying other circuits potentially? I had some ideas but they would be prototypes of course. If I have some time I may just try it I going on vacation away from home so I don't know if I be able to do it for a while.

I am so so on coding some of it is I am a bit rusty and some of it is just trying to modify code you didn't write can be a confusing. I would probably understand how to do the math part I not sure how complex it is to do the calibration but in theory its just a linear interpolation to my understanding. As far as temperature compensation I have to dig into that some more to understand if that is a concern or not.

Just out of curiosity were do you usually get your parts digikey or mouser etc?

i usually get my parts from from tayda if i can if they dont have what i want then i go where ever has the best price

 

[Foggman]

Just to jump in on your conversation here, have you looked at the reef angel schematics? It shows their PH circuitry on the main board, and if you're interested the circuitry for the salinity module too. All the eagle files are here http://reefangel.com/download.aspx . I would be interested in collaborating on this as well. Did someone say they can etch PCBs?

i can etch double layer pcbs

 

[geekengineer]

the reef angel salinity circuit looks funny but I guess this stuff works? I just haven't seen one that uses a opto-isolator before and it does some funny cross through with the osculation signal.

 

[geekengineer]

hello

can anyone help me to Calibrate my ph

the reading is not correct 4.1 3.90 and so

i try many time same result
i change my ph probe and i get same reading

i have pH Circuit 5.0v with probe from atlas

hmm don't know what happening there are you sure you didn't contaminate your solution or something? or maybe something weird with your setup. Did you make sure your leads to your PH BNC are as short as possible i.e. not on some long set of wires for instance. It could be you have a bad atlas im not sure.

 

[Foggman]

hello

can anyone help me to Calibrate my ph

the reading is not correct 4.1 3.90 and so

i try many time same result
i change my ph probe and i get same reading

i have pH Circuit 5.0v with probe from atlas

I had a simular problem, it ended up being stray voltage in the tank, it would calibrate just fine then when i put it in the sump i would get weird readings. one day i was messing with it and put my hand in the sump and noticed the reading was correct, removed my hand and it went weird again , i couldnt find the sorce of the stray voltage so i just put in a ground probe. this could be your problem but also maybe not

 

[XahmedXsa]

when i put my hand same reading
when i put in coupe of water it is reading 7.8
when i return back to my sump it is reading 3.99

:deadhorse1:

 

[geekengineer]

when i put my hand same reading
when i put in coupe of water it is reading 7.8
when i return back to my sump it is reading 3.99

:deadhorse1:

lol well I not sure what to tell you so I thought what you were reading was from calibration fluids that was about .1 off? You wouldn't have some weird voltage offset on your ground maybe. I did have a problem with mine where I had it reading wrong because of ground loop in my tank from pumps in the tank. I had to put a isolated power supply on the PH circuit. Do you have a picture of your circuit setup by chance?

It could be you just got a bad stamp. Maybe try to use the stamp by itself first without anything else. Maybe get and use a USB to TTL serial cable and bread board to take everything else out of the equation first. That is what I did first to make sure the stamp was working before using it.

 

[XahmedXsa]

for the ph 7 , 4.00 and 10.00
when i want to Calibrate
should they in 25 temp or its will read the temp from the apex
and how i can isolated power supply on the PH circuit
thanks

 

[d0ughb0y]

Sort of remember feeling like I got raped on shipping so by the time I was done it was like almost $50 just for a PH circuit. (Maybe I'm just spoiled on Amizon prime. lol) But yeah. Could do something cheaper than sparky he did overdo a bit I think compared to what Atlas does and it has a processor. But yeah it be easier to add a small CPU to the mix and then you wouldn't have to do the processing of the PH/ORP/EC values etc. Then the plus is it is it would be transparent to your code.

EDIT: Other thing I don't like about then is I don't like dealing with companies that don't give me a tracking number and I have no idea when they ship out. As far as I know I never get any information from Atlas. Which I don't know if that Sparky guy is any better which is likely the case for all I know.

you can buy the ezo ph stamp on amazon prime for $38 shipped.

http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Scientific-CIRCUIT-FOR-ARDUINO/dp/B00641R1PQ

 

[geekengineer]

you can buy the ezo ph stamp on amazon prime for $38 shipped.

http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Scientific-CIRCUIT-FOR-ARDUINO/dp/B00641R1PQ

They were out of stock when I was looking.. :headwally: I didn't realize it was amizon prime item tho.

 

[geekengineer]

so I having a lot of aborts and timeouts. I think its of ruddy internet I have at my current location. Needless to say the reef controller doesn't seem to be handling this very well.. Don't know if I can do much about it or not?