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scott711

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Now that I have gotten back into the hobby and reschooled myself with all things new in automation and with Neptune's new Apex controller.  There are a ton of cool things that can be done!  In designing my new system, I wanted to have as many things as possible to be semi automated/fully automated. My Apex has several modules that I have managed to get over time to help with that.  I have the ATK(autotop off), the FMM(fluid monitor), DOS, break out box. I added the FMM to be able to monitor the flow of water through my UV sterilizer so I could dial the correct amount of flow for it to work properly.  I also have the ATK for automating the topoff. 

 

That is where the fun begins.  In looking at the ATK, there are two optical sensors that they use to control it.  So being a reefer and into reverse engineering things.  I looked at the optical sensor to see if I could make one myself because I wanted to use optical sensors vs float valves.  There were several threads on people doing something similar with their DOS(can be a whole other topic that I can post info for).  Neptune's connectors are not proprietary, so a few people were able to get various sensors and modify them to have the appropriate connector, but no one had been able to modify the optical sensor to work as a float switch. Most people have used the break out box to add float switches. Very easy to do.  I wanted to use an optical sensor. I managed to find the appropriate sensor and connector and then figured out the pinout for the optical sensor to work on the FMM.  In the end I have a working optical sensor :)

 

 

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Way cool!!!!!!

I get all the automations, but part of the fun/joy of reefing for me is to do stuff to the tank. Finding the balance is key. I enjoy doing wc, granted i do not have to carry buckets of water, i just open and close valves and water gets in and out of the tank. Perhaps that will all change later on.

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Way cool!!!!!!

I get all the automations, but part of the fun/joy of reefing for me is to do stuff to the tank. Finding the balance is key. I enjoy doing wc, granted i do not have to carry buckets of water, i just open and close valves and water gets in and out of the tank. Perhaps that will all change later on.

 

Agreed.  Instead of manually opening and closing valves, I watch the tank do a water change by tapping a couple of buttons.  You could also swap out your manual valves for solenoids and flow monitors :) and still watch it or do it yourself.  I always have a "honey do" list and a busy home life, so making things easier is always at the top of my mind.  Work smarter, not harder.  BUT I always try and build in as many fail safes as possible since it only takes one time to screw something up.   

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  • 2 weeks later...

super cool dude. are you going to post up the config and parts so we can make our own or is it not that complicated once one is open?

 

Somehow I missed your post.  I sure can.  There are not too many parts.

 

You need an optical sensor:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Optical-Infrared-Water-Liquid-Level-Sensor-Liquid-Water-Level-Control-Switch-5V-/142236835583

 

you also need a male 3.5 mm connector.  This goes into the FMM.  Something like this:

 

https://www.amazon.com/3-5mm-Stereo-Male-Plastic-Connector/dp/B000I94EV4

 

Then you need to wire the optical sensor into the male connector with the proper pinout. Here is the pinout of the neptune optical sensor:

 

Pin one (closest to base of plug) Red

Pin two Green

Pin three Black

Pin four White

 

The generic optical sensors will probably have different colors on them, but generally Green is the Blue wire, and the Black is the Yellow

 

Then once you have the optical sensor with the 3.5mm connector you are all set.  Then you can insert it into the FMM.  It will be new so it won't be visible until you unlock the tiles.  The new sensor should be in the unused tile section. 

 

Then you can start coding. I ordered a bunch of optical sensors and connectors to build a few for other things I want to do. 

 

If there are any other questions, ask away.

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Scott, that 3.5mm plug that you pointed to is a standard stereo connector with 3 conductors, not 4. I noticed in some FMM pictures that Neptune uses a 4-conductor plug. 
 
It seems that you're probably wanting this kind of plug, correct?

 

Tell me (since I don't know much about the FMM), does the FMM give you much more than the Boolean state of the sensors it's monitoring? That is, is it basically just monitoring discrete switch/logic state? Or is it something more?

 

Thanks for posting the links. It's good to have knowledge of these sensors for other DIY projects.

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I like the sensor. I may order some just to play around with.

 

I think that I found the pinout for these 4-lead sensors. but it's different than what you listed above. In the generic sensor that I found (model FS-IR02), the pinout is

 

1 (Red) Ground (Probe Ground)

2 (Yellow) Ground (Probe Ground)

3 (Blue) VCC (Probe VCC)

4 (White) Out (Signal Output)

 

Some sellers list the colors in reverse order.

 

Given this, then I guess a three-pin plug would work fine as pins 1 and 2 would be tied together. (As long as the designer didn't need the isolation between the two sides, that is. This wouldn't apply to the sample circuit below, unless you wanted to put a few discrete resistors in the plug housing(which is easy to do).)

 

One Amazon seller provides this circuit diagram for the sensor. They want $18 for the sensor which can be bought for far less from other sources. But, on the plus side, they do provide an explanation of the sensor pinout (shown below).

212OP6u05tL.jpg

 

And another figure as one way of wiring it:

 

41JK0EEYYbL._SX355_.jpg

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Scott, that 3.5mm plug that you pointed to is a standard stereo connector with 3 conductors, not 4. I noticed in some FMM pictures that Neptune uses a 4-conductor plug. 

 

It seems that you're probably wanting this kind of plug, correct?

 

Tell me (since I don't know much about the FMM), does the FMM give you much more than the Boolean state of the sensors it's monitoring? That is, is it basically just monitoring discrete switch/logic state? Or is it something more?

 

Thanks for posting the links. It's good to have knowledge of these sensors for other DIY projects.

Tom,

 

You are correct.  It needs to be a 4 pin connector.  I was just doing a quick search and posted the wrong piece.  In all the threads I have seen they have used 4 pin connectors.

 

The FMM from the looks of it is probably just a solenoid and a DC24 input and power supply input.  The power supply input lets you power up to 36W 24V DC piece of equipment.

 

The optical sensors range in price, it just depends on how long you want to wait.  I have seen some for as low as $2.30/sensor. 

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The optical sensors range in price, it just depends on how long you want to wait.  I have seen some for as low as $2.30/sensor. 

^^That is the part that got me. It's so inexpensive. Could be fun to play with it. Looking closely at it, it's basically an solid state optoisolator with the beam reflecting off of an oblique air-plastic interface. When the air is replaced by water (that is,when the air reaches the clear plastic dome, the index of refraction changes and some of the light leaks out of the sensor. This drop is reflected in the output of the output stage of the optoisolator. 

 

Anyway, you have some, I assume? Is it sealed up nice and tight? Could it be used in a submerged application (such as a low-water sensor)? When it rises out of the water, does it shed the water pretty cleanly so that it detects the change from being in water to out of water fairly quickly?

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  • 2 weeks later...

^^That is the part that got me. It's so inexpensive. Could be fun to play with it. Looking closely at it, it's basically an solid state optoisolator with the beam reflecting off of an oblique air-plastic interface. When the air is replaced by water (that is,when the air reaches the clear plastic dome, the index of refraction changes and some of the light leaks out of the sensor. This drop is reflected in the output of the output stage of the optoisolator. 

 

Anyway, you have some, I assume? Is it sealed up nice and tight? Could it be used in a submerged application (such as a low-water sensor)? When it rises out of the water, does it shed the water pretty cleanly so that it detects the change from being in water to out of water fairly quickly?

 

Ok, now you are geaking out on me.  I will take your word for it that all it is is an solid state optoisolator. 

 

Yes, I just got some more because I wanted to add more to my setup and put them in different places.  They are less prone to failure than the regular float switches. Yes, they can be submerged (that is how my existing one is).  When I was testing it, i was using my android phone through the webpage, so it wasn't an instant change.  I would imagine if you use the actual app on an iphone it might be a lot quicker.  I have my old ipad that I am going to try with the actual app and see how fast it changes state.

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