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Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 1:09 pm
by rimai
SalinityModule.jpg
SalinityModule.jpg (23.3 KiB) Viewed 17564 times
I know some of you have been waiting for these quite some time.
I have a very very limited quantity of these available at $149 each.
It comes with the following:
  • Salinity Expansion Module
  • Salinity Probe
  • 12 VDC Power Supply
The libraries for this module is not yet fully developed.
I'll be working with Curt to get it added.
If you are interested, please PM me.

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 1:16 pm
by NanoTrevor
ohh, nice, but alas to rich for my blood, at this time.

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 6:49 am
by chase
NanoTrevor wrote:ohh, nice, but alas to rich for my blood, at this time.
Same here...maybe a group buy option would bring it down?

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 10:20 am
by rimai
Yeah, that's the reason I have always been against investing so much time and effort into getting one of these out, but since there had some interest, I decided to just give it a shot.
I could sell just the module for $60, but it would be no good without the probe. The probe is what is really expensive.
They work by measuring the electrical conductivity through the water. So, the probe needs two metal leads that conduct very tiny amount of electricity through the water and they are made out of platinum to avoid corrosion, which unfortunately drives the price point to the upper side.

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 8:01 pm
by aranax
Hey Robert. Do you have any left and what's the status on the libs? At $149 I'm still considering buying one though a group buy would definitely sway me. Thanks.

-J

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 9:16 pm
by rimai
The libraries .19 released from Curt contains the code for the Salinity Module.
Although, there is no calibration menu option made yet.
Calibration values can be manually registered within the code or internal memory easily though.

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 9:32 pm
by Neogenesis
Did this ever go live? I don't see it in the shop for sale, and would like to eventually like to run this module if I end up buying a reef angel.

Thanks!!

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:45 am
by rimai
Yes, I have made a very limited quantity of these and they were all sold.
I do plan on manufacturing some more in the very near future.

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 6:21 pm
by mr_mojo02
Hi Guys,

I ended up getting one of these bad boys, and have been very impressed with the results.
There was initially some problems with getting it up and running, but with some help from Roberto we were able to get it going.
If you pick one up (and i recommend one if you have the budget) try and install it in a place away from your heaters, as fluctuating temps in the water will impact the reading.

You will also need a custom main screen setup if you want to display the value there. Im using the following code on mine:

ConvertNumToString(SALtxt, ReefAngel.Params.Salinity, 10);
ReefAngel.LCD.DrawHugeNumbers(COLOR_LIMEGREEN, DefaultBGColor, 5, 55, SALtxt);

I'm not sure if its in the current release of the library's yet, but i needed to download the salinity module library's from Curt's github, and also the calibration code. I had really weird results until i loaded the calibration code.

If anyone needs a hand, feel free to give me a yell.

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:57 pm
by wolfador
do you happen to have an iPhone and the app? I added support in but was never able to test on a live system since I was not one of the lucky few to get one :)

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 9:44 am
by mr_mojo02
Nah, i don't have an iphone mate. Maybe someone else can jump in with their results?

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 4:42 pm
by rimai
I checked it and the reading shows up fine.
Although, there is a cosmetic error. It shows in the wrong decimal. It's supposed to be 35.0ppt and it's showing 0.350

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 4:51 pm
by wolfador
rimai wrote:I checked it and the reading shows up fine.
Although, there is a cosmetic error. It shows in the wrong decimal. It's supposed to be 35.0ppt and it's showing 0.350

aww lol I forgot I set it up for a specific gravity measurement like 1.025. I will fix in next update. Thanks

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 4:58 pm
by rimai
It's actually not specific gravity, but in actual salinity, which is measured by parts per thousand (ppt). The value in the XML will be usually 350. Simply divide it by 10 to get one decimal point and display it as 35.0 ppt.

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 5:01 pm
by wolfador
rimai wrote:It's actually not specific gravity, but in actual salinity, which is measured by parts per thousand (ppt). The value in the XML will be usually 350. Simply divide it by 10 to get one decimal point and display it as 35.0 ppt.

Yea when I first added it in I was planning on doing a spot for Specific Gravity and one for the Raw Salinity measurement. Forgot to finish it up though.

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 5:22 pm
by binder
wolfador wrote:
rimai wrote:I checked it and the reading shows up fine.
Although, there is a cosmetic error. It shows in the wrong decimal. It's supposed to be 35.0ppt and it's showing 0.350
aww lol I forgot I set it up for a specific gravity measurement like 1.025. I will fix in next update. Thanks
At least you had some form working. I had a generic placeholder and didn't allow for parsing it properly thus causing the parser to fail. Mine is fixed now too. :)

curt

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 11:22 pm
by tkeracer619
How reliable are these probes? Something that needs to be replaced each year or more?

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 9:44 am
by rimai
They are made of extremely thin platinum plates that do required replacement.
As with any other metal, there will always be corrosion, even though it is minimal.

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 6:14 am
by Deckoz2302
Still have these available?

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:00 am
by rimai
Yes, I have one more available.

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 2:55 am
by Deckoz2302
On the 5v input, is center pin positive or negative? And how many mA is the unit as I have a 5v regulator circuit for my fans controller w/700mA and using 300 of it trying to jump off of that if I can instea[youtube][/youtube]d of buying a power supply. Let me know cause the manual doesn't state polarity or amperage. Thanks, I'm confused because the jack says 5v and the manual says 12v. And I didn't receive a power supply :/

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:01 am
by rimai
It's actually 12VDC with center positive.

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 6:34 pm
by Deckoz2302
I just got the power supply in for the module, powered down the RA hooked it up - the ra continually resets over and over again....if I power cycle the controller sometimes the screen where the salinity readout is say 20*.64*86 the * are degree symbols. when it stays on and shows these symbols the controller is locked up joystick doesnt work. The PH probe and main temp sensor are in the overflow, second temp sensor is in one side of the sump, salinity probe is on opposite side of sump so it should be far enough away that the voltage from it isnt affecting it? uhh so confused

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:33 pm
by rimai
Probably internal memory not initialized.
What do you get when you browse http://myipaddress:2000/mi847 ?
Set initial value to 2550 using http://myipaddress:2000/mi847,2550
Let me know if this solves the problem.

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:41 pm
by Deckoz2302
That worked, and surprisingly I didn't need to calibrate its spot on sir.

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:36 pm
by jnicita
rimai wrote:Yes, I have one more available.
PM me please about this. Would like to know about 3rd run as well, thanks in advance.

-john

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:36 pm
by bluwinghawk
do you have any in stock now i would like to get one please

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:41 pm
by rimai
No. I'll have some in about 3 weeks.
PM me if you would like to reserve yours.

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:46 pm
by bluwinghawk
lol im not allowed to pm yet but yes reserve one please and let me know when and how to pay thanks

Re: Salinity Expansion Module

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2014 10:34 am
by mason dixon
Any idea on how often the probe needs to be replaced? What does that cost?

Does anyone use this in conjunction with a saltwater topoff system to keep the levels spot on?