I need to find a way to design the sensor better. It's clumsy with the epoxy, maybe a heyco grip cord is better.
The LCD is a better way too but obviously $14-$15 more expensive. And the microprocessor needs to be designed too. It can't be left exposed where water can get at it
Unless, I can just get all the parts, program it and let you guys handle the assembly. That would keep cost down.
Holy cow,
I was wondering where my order was on the lcd was and it turned out I never placed the order last week.. It was just sitting in the shopping cart.
Meter AND sensor (minus ship & handling) looks to be under $50.
Accurate? hmm. tough question... It is by no means as accurate as a PAR meter mainly because of the photodiode used and lack of cosine correction.
There was a chart in past posts where I compared my readings to Hoppy's readings. It came close enough.. I can't really give a +- percentage error. In Hoppy's chart, the curves are margins and not lines. I don't think reading light is an exact thing, correct me if I'm wrong.
You don't need an exact reading, and even a PAR meter doesn't give you that. All it takes is slightly tilting the PAR sensor and the reading changes, plus there is an error range for the distance between the sensor and the light to consider also.
Ideally you will borrow a commercial PAR meter and calibrate yours against that, but I can understand that not being easy to do.
You don't need an exact reading, and even a PAR meter doesn't give you that. All it takes is slightly tilting the PAR sensor and the reading changes, plus there is an error range for the distance between the sensor and the light to consider also.
yeah, short of getting lucky and finding something that will fit nicely inside the slot that needs to be crimped and using pliers.. you'll most likely have to get a hold of some actual crimpers to make sure it won't pull out on accident.
yeah, short of getting lucky and finding something that will fit nicely inside the slot that needs to be crimped and using pliers.. you'll most likely have to get a hold of some actual crimpers to make sure it won't pull out on accident.
It just made sense to have the sensor detachable and not soldered into the board. I used a telephone jack as the interface.
And the underside.
[
The only thing is I forgot or never bothered to design it with an on/off switch .... To turn it off, I yank a battery out... I'll have to think about a switch.
I was confused on how to wire up a switch and then the machine started feeling warm/hot. You know you're in it deep when it turns into a heater. Basically, I created short circuit.
Ok, when I have time, I'll make another one and post it up in the swap 'n shop. No pre-orders, forum rules. I'm guessing $50 will be the cost of the thing.
In the meantime, I'll keep testing it and making refinements.
Really interesting to see all of the par values in the tank.
substrate area
22 PAR - (under large plants) smaller plants will not grow, they die off actually.
60 PAR - plants grow slowly
180 PAR - (open area) plants will grow but with algae
I'm seeing GSA at the top of my crypts where I'm getting 280 PAR. I might get a glass cover for my 75G and see how the PAR will drop. I need something for stopping the fishes from jumping anyway.
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