Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yes we are pols apart on that one. though I am in IT I cannot stand the idea of giving your data to someone else. Thank fully I have commercial reasons for maintaining onsite servers. So many advantages and as accessible as any ICloud service.

It would be a boring world if we all did hings the same way. One the advantages of aquaponics is it is so versatile.

On the submerged probes I read some ware that some one had damaged their Atlas probe by having it submerged. That I why I tried placing them in a float to keep the tops dry. They get slashed but it does not seem to be an issue. They do last a long time between calibrations.

It is quite satisfying to calibrate them and see the results still the same.

I'm pretty sure taking a knife or indeed any bladed tool to your sensors would not be good for them.

OK Stuart. SPLASHED!

heheehe

I've got a bunch of PMs regarding the custom shield so hopefully this answers everyone.

Here are the detailed pics.





Not my cleanest effort but it works. Once I'm confident that everything is final, I'll pot the whole bottom with epoxy.

Here is a link to the PCB from ebay. The terminal blocks are .100 pin spacing from my parts bin... same with the IDC ribbon cable sockets.

I have contemplated designing a PCB in eagle but that will have to wait till I have more time.

I thought fly leafs or bridge leads were a bad idea?

Not sure what a fly leaf is.

If by bridge leads, you mean solder bridges... then yes they are definitely not good practice. All those thick solder bridges have a thin copper wire inside (actually I used chopped up bits of resistor lead). I just used excessive solder for mechanical strength.

Doh!

I meant bridging leads as in all the wires soldered in everywhere. In the Atlas documentation it talks about not using them. Just wondering why its not ok on there part of the circuit but you have done it on the shield.

The Atlas spec sheet says not to use perf board for two reasons... not everyone is good at soldering and not everyone cleans the flux from their boards. It is really a blanket statement just to make tech support possible.

Bad soldering can cause microshorts that are very hard to see because of the close pad spacing. Using flux while soldering will eliminate these micro shorts in most cases. But flux can cause leakage current that will act just like a resistor. I use water soluble flux and clean my boards very thoroughly with hot water and a toothbrush. Then I use an air compressor to blow dry.

A properly soldered perf board circuit will perform exactly like a pcb in most simple cases.

I think soldering is a great skill to learn. I am with a Hackerspace and a few times a year they have a "Learn to Solder" night where you pick a kit and one of the members gives you pointers on how to solder it correctly and to give a hand.

I found this wire splice from someone at at work that had joined a plug to the low voltage end of a 24v 130w transformer for LED lighting. This is sad. Very cold Joints when joining 20awg to 10awg wire. There is heat shrink on the wire but there is no way to slide it over the splice.

That looks a lot like some of my work with my slot car transformer when I was a kid.

I couldn't solder so I would just cut the wires to different lengths so they couldn't short, and twist

Had some spare time at work today.



We'll see if it ever gets made.

I'm curious to see what else you guys would want on the board if you had a wish list.

Note : IC1 is a DS3231 Real Time Clock chip

Chiumanfu WOW, I am new at this and I am in shock.....your system must be huge would love to see a few pics, I didn't understand some of it but mate looks 10/10.

I only have a basic system

good luck with it all and thanks for sharing, learning every day from guys like you

TIA

My system is actually non-existent at the moment. It will be re-built when the new greenhouse is in place.

It's not going to be huge either. Just a standard IBC 1:1 CHIFT PIST. The reason for the elaborate monitoring/control is because I go away on business a lot and need someway to remotely keep an eye on things.

You could think about adding some sort of wifi to the system, my router if 20 meters from my FT's through the house, and I detest seeing cables, so I'd need to route a router cable though the roof, down the wall...

It's my next job with my setup to add wifi. I've got to find a chip I like the look of first.