ATO reporting 3600 seconds

[swisschris104]

Hey, I am running robo tank, The ato is reporting active time as a 3600 pumps. The pump is not actually running.
.

I am using the optical sensor extension box that is included with Robo-Tank board. I believe Rob's instructions say set the connector to be reverse, but that i dont have it setup that way because once i put it as reverse it the pump will just run 24/7 if submerged.

Is it something that I am doing wrong, or is it just a bug?

 

[robsworld78]

Hey, I am running robo tank, The ato is reporting active time as a 3600 pumps. The pump is not actually running.
.

I am using the optical sensor extension box that is included with Robo-Tank board. I believe Rob's instructions say set the connector to be reverse, but that i dont have it setup that way because once i put it as reverse it the pump will just run 24/7 if submerged.

Is it something that I am doing wrong, or is it just a bug?

You should be ok with "reverse" unchecked, what does your macro look like?

If you change the "control" to "equipment" and select an AC outlet or whatever does it switch on/off?

Earlier you mentioned you figured out sensor 4 is the last sensor on extension, how did you test it then?

 

[swisschris104]

I kinda misstated the original post. When I say the pump is not running I mean it is not running for a hour straight, but is still working as expected.

It’s kind of odd because It was reporting properly before including yesterday. I tried it to control equipment and got same results. I’ll troubleshoot more tomorrow it has to be something I did. I just don’t know what I did lol

 

[robsworld78]

Hmm, that is odd, not sure. If reef-pi shuts it off based on sensor the graph should stop counting too. I wonder if the macro is still somehow running even though it stopped the pump. How do you have macro setup? Normally a macro follows a set of instructions, if you only use one macro for ATO you would need something like 3 steps, DC 1 on, delay 10 seconds, dc 1 off. Obviously you wouldn't want that so I'm curious what it looks like.

Normally a standard ATO doesn't require macros as reef-pi will turn on/off based on sensor state. If you run two sensors for low / high level macros are good.

 

[swisschris104]

Yup that is how I have it:

I am just going to delete the connectors, dosing pump, and ato and recreate them, it all worked normally until last night when It actually was triggered for hours and hours, because I was using cat 5 pair for power to the pump and the solid copper on (-) broke and pump could never actually turn on.
(I’m just using whatever I have around right now while testing until I do permanent setup). Here is a video of it working.

Warning: It’s kinda messy in this cabinet right now because it’s all just temporary while testing.

It’s hard to tell but I can guarantee it is. It the float switch disabling dc1 which is why the pump is not running continually. Because when ato actually triggers I can see the equipment showing as on in reef-pi and when it is not triggered it shows as off

 

[swisschris104]

IMG_1213.MOV

MOV File

1drv.ms

 

[robsworld78]

Using the macro is likely the cause. You don't want to use them when you want the equipment to run based on sensor status unless it's multiple sensors working together.

Delete the macro and in the ATO settings change control to equipment and select DC 1. Like this when water is touching the sensor DC1 will go off and when water doesn't touch DC 1 will come on. The window between on/off is very small with those sensors so you should see it run often but short periods.

 

[swisschris104]

Yup that worked.

I kinda of exaggerated how loud the pump is so i wanted to tone it down, but realistically it's not even loud at 100% and only runs for like 3 - 4 seconds every few hours which isn't bad.

I changed it control the pump as equipment and had to set the sensor to be reverse, now it is working as expected.

 

[robsworld78]

Good to hear. The narrow operating window on those optical sensors is nice as not much water can evaporate before it runs. The non-contacts have a larger on/off window.

 

[swisschris104]

Yup, I am a happy camper!! Thanks!