Breakout Box Showoff

Memphis · Dec 31, 2017

I recently splurged and got myself the latest Apex along with a breakout box. I have setup a few of your typical float switches, but looking for inspiration on what else I could do. So, who's been the biggest MacGyver and done something a little outside the "box" with their breakout box? Let's start off the new year with some reef geeks showing off!

Bob Escher · Dec 31, 2017

Well can we see yours plus coding
Happy New Year

Memphis · Jan 1, 2018

Nothing too fancy for me. Just a few float switches. One in my ato bucket just to let me know when it's getting low. Then a few in my "sump". See why I used quotes in pics lol. I have a franken sump with very little room, so I have a HOB skimmer and fuge. It's an tank built in the wall, so the ugliness on the other side isn't a big deal. The switches in the sump are just for standard ato top off, then one for the sump being low and another for it being high. For the high one, I figure it could be my ato not shutting off for some reason, or the skimmer overflowing. Not a great solution, but I ran a tube from my skimmer down to the sump. I had an overflow once while I was away and would rather have it go back in the tank than flood the room again. Someone has to have something fancier than what I have so far! Crappy pics of tank, switches and code attached

MaddyP · Jan 1, 2018

I built a control box for my automated mixing station. Facilates the float switches, triggers electric ball valve, and solenoid for RODI.

Transfer: rotates ball valve and turns pump on to send water to mixing tank. This procedure will be programmed to end when either the RODI tank hits low float or Salt tank hits high float.

Cancel: simulates end of transfer, ball valve will rotate back to original position towards Salt tank and pump turns off.

Fill: signals solenoid on RODI line to open and fill RODI tank to high float. This is primarily for when the salt tank needs to be refilled and RODI tank is not full.

Mix: signals pump to turn on and run for set amount of time on Salt tank. This will be used when adding new salt after a transfer.

Bob Escher · Jan 2, 2018

MaddyP said:
I built a control box for my automated mixing station. Facilates the float switches, triggers electric ball valve, and solenoid for RODI.

Transfer: rotates ball valve and turns pump on to send water to mixing tank. This procedure will be programmed to end when either the RODI tank hits low float or Salt tank hits high float.

Cancel: simulates end of transfer, ball valve will rotate back to original position towards Salt tank and pump turns off.

Fill: signals solenoid on RODI line to open and fill RODI tank to high float. This is primarily for when the salt tank needs to be refilled and RODI tank is not full.

Mix: signals pump to turn on and run for set amount of time on Salt tank. This will be used when adding new salt after a transfer.

So what puts the salt into the station

MaddyP · Jan 2, 2018

Bob Escher said:
So what puts the salt into the station

Well, adding the salt remains the only manual part of the system. I've explored a couple of different ideas for automating the addition of salt, but each idea was less reliable than the last due to humidity and salt caking. Maybe you have some ideas..?

Bob Escher · Jan 2, 2018

MaddyP said:
Well, adding the salt remains the only manual part of the system. I've explored a couple of different ideas for automating the addition of salt, but each idea was less reliable than the last due to humidity and salt caking. Maybe you have some ideas..?

Nope none at all I only do ten gallons a week ( which in reality is about a 25% water change) so I make my fresh water in a brute can add 6 cups of salt and I’m good to go

Sppf121 · Jan 2, 2018

Just have mine controlling two float switches but want to follow this conversation...

Sleepydoc · Jan 2, 2018

I have an ATK/FMM, so I have 3 optical sensors plus a leak detector on that.

Optical 1 - senses sump level and turns the ATO pump on/off
Optical 2 - senses if the sump level is too high, shuts off the skimmer so it doesn't overflow and shuts off the ATO
Optical 3 - senses when RO/DI reservoir is too low and shuts off the ATO
Leak Detector - turns off ATK and the skimmer & sends an alarm. I didn't have it turn off the return pump, because if the sump was already starting to overflow because the ATK got stuck, that would just let more water siphon back down.

For my breakout box:

Float switch at the top of my skimmate jug; shuts off the skimmer. There's a plug on the end of the cable so I can unplug it when I need to empty the jug. The float switch is configured to be normally closed - that way if I forget to turn plug it in (or if the BOB gets disconnected) it won't keep running the skimmer and letting it overflow. (as a side note, this is a good practice to follow - configure your sensors to be normally-closed whenever possible so if they get unplugged it triggers the alarm condition.)
Switch for sump lights. Currently just a toggle switch, but I'm waiting for a pair of magnetic window sensors that will mount on the doors, so when I open the doors, the sump lights will come on.
A momentary push button that triggers a feed mode
A momentary bush button that triggers a maintenance mode
Open
I have this shorted out so it is always closed. If the BOB gets unplugged for any reason, the APEX will send me a notification.

I purchased a Neptune Breakout box, but one fault that it has is it only has one connection for all the grounds. I purchased a 6-lug round block to make it easier to connect the grounds of all the switches, but if I were to do it over, I would get one of these from Avast Marine

Memphis · Jan 2, 2018

Sleepydoc said:
I have an ATK/FMM, so I have 3 optical sensors plus a leak detector on that.

Optical 1 - senses sump level and turns the ATO pump on/off

Optical 2 - senses if the sump level is too high, shuts off the skimmer so it doesn't overflow and shuts off the ATO

Optical 3 - senses when RO/DI reservoir is too low and shuts off the ATO

Leak Detector - turns off ATK and the skimmer & sends an alarm. I didn't have it turn off the return pump, because if the sump was already starting to overflow because the ATK got stuck, that would just let more water siphon back down.

For my breakout box:

Float switch at the top of my skimmate jug; shuts off the skimmer. There's a plug on the end of the cable so I can unplug it when I need to empty the jug. The float switch is configured to be normally closed - that way if I forget to turn plug it in (or if the BOB gets disconnected) it won't keep running the skimmer and letting it overflow. (as a side note, this is a good practice to follow - configure your sensors to be normally-closed whenever possible so if they get unplugged it triggers the alarm condition.)

Switch for sump lights. Currently just a toggle switch, but I'm waiting for a pair of magnetic window sensors that will mount on the doors, so when I open the doors, the sump lights will come on.

A momentary push button that triggers a feed mode

A momentary bush button that triggers a maintenance mode

Open

I have this shorted out so it is always closed. If the BOB gets unplugged for any reason, the APEX will send me a notification.

I purchased a Neptune Breakout box, but one fault that it has is it only has one connection for all the grounds. I purchased a 6-lug round block to make it easier to connect the grounds of all the switches, but if I were to do it over, I would get one of these from Avast Marine

Nice! Really wish I knew about that Avast one. Looks a lot better. I think I'll probably see if I can rig up a float switch in my skimmer cup as well.

Larry L · Jan 2, 2018

Sleepydoc said:
I have this shorted out so it is always closed. If the BOB gets unplugged for any reason, the APEX will send me a notification.

This is a really good trick.

Pola0502ds · Apr 17, 2018

Sleepydoc said:
I have an ATK/FMM, so I have 3 optical sensors plus a leak detector on that.

Optical 1 - senses sump level and turns the ATO pump on/off

Optical 2 - senses if the sump level is too high, shuts off the skimmer so it doesn't overflow and shuts off the ATO

Optical 3 - senses when RO/DI reservoir is too low and shuts off the ATO

Leak Detector - turns off ATK and the skimmer & sends an alarm. I didn't have it turn off the return pump, because if the sump was already starting to overflow because the ATK got stuck, that would just let more water siphon back down.

For my breakout box:

Float switch at the top of my skimmate jug; shuts off the skimmer. There's a plug on the end of the cable so I can unplug it when I need to empty the jug. The float switch is configured to be normally closed - that way if I forget to turn plug it in (or if the BOB gets disconnected) it won't keep running the skimmer and letting it overflow. (as a side note, this is a good practice to follow - configure your sensors to be normally-closed whenever possible so if they get unplugged it triggers the alarm condition.)

Switch for sump lights. Currently just a toggle switch, but I'm waiting for a pair of magnetic window sensors that will mount on the doors, so when I open the doors, the sump lights will come on.

A momentary push button that triggers a feed mode

A momentary bush button that triggers a maintenance mode

Open

I have this shorted out so it is always closed. If the BOB gets unplugged for any reason, the APEX will send me a notification.

I purchased a Neptune Breakout box, but one fault that it has is it only has one connection for all the grounds. I purchased a 6-lug round block to make it easier to connect the grounds of all the switches, but if I were to do it over, I would get one of these from Avast Marine

Do you happen to have a thread on how you programmed the breakout box? You have done a lot of what I want to do.. I would also really light to know where I can find the push buttons.

Sleepydoc · Apr 17, 2018

The push buttons I actually got at Home Depot - you can get momentary switches or the push on - push off type.

As far as programming, it's scattered around, since you program outlets (and virtual outlets) based on the inputs, but I'll try to make sense here. Also, Apex won't let an input (i.e. a button) trigger a feed mode so you have to use a 'virtual feed mode' triggered off of the button. Below is my programming. Hopefully it makes sense.

Alarm
Set OFF
If pH < 7.70 Then ON
If Sump_H CLOSED Then ON
If FeedA 005 Then OFF <- these turn off the high sump level alarm when Feed mode is on
If FeedB 005 Then OFF
If Output vFeedA = ON Then OFF
If Output VFeedB = ON Then OFF
If Error FMM-24V Then ON
If Error Cor_20 Then ON
If Skimma OPEN Then ON <- Send an alert if the skimmate float switch is Open
If RODI_L OPEN Then ON
If pH > 8.40 Then ON
If Time 22:00 to 06:30 Then OFF
If Leak_d CLOSED Then ON
Defer 000:05 Then ON

Skimmer
Fallback OFF
Set ON

**These lines turn off the skimmer for either feed mode or virtual feed modes

If FeedA 005 Then OFF
If FeedB 030 Then OFF
If Output vFeedA = ON Then OFF
If Output VFeedB = ON Then OFF

**this turns off the skimmer if the return pump outlet is off

If Output ReturnPump = OFF Then OFF

**these turn off the skimmer if the sump leak sensor is wet(closed) or if the high level sensor in the sump is wet (closed)

If Leak_d CLOSED Then OFF
If Sump_H CLOSED Then OFF

**This turns off the skimmer if the float switch in the collection jug is tripped. I have it set so it’s CLOSED when the jug is empty and OPEN when it’s full. That way if I forget to plug the float switch back in after emptying the jug it won’t turn on and flood the sump accidentally.

If Skimma OPEN Then OFF
Defer 003:00 Then ON

Sump Lights
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Temp > 79.0 Then ON
If Temp < 78.5 Then OFF

**I have a magnetic switch on the door of my sump, so when you open the door, the switch opens and Apex turns the sump lights on. The toggle switch lets me override it.

If DoorMg OPEN Then ON
If ToglSw OPEN Then OFF

vFeedA

** virtual outlet to create a feed mode. It turns on when the top button is pushed (closed) and then stays on for 10 min before turning off. I used a momentary push button with the Defer statement so I don't have to come back later and push the button again to end the feed mode

Set OFF
If TopBtn CLOSED Then ON
Defer 010:00 Then OFF

vFeedB

**virtual outlet to create a feed mode. It turns on when the bottom button is pushed (closed) and then stays on for 30 min before turning off.

Set OFF
If BtmBtn CLOSED Then ON
Defer 030:00 Then OFF

COR 20 pump
Fallback ON

//For feed mode A the pump goes down to a speed of 1 which is just enough speed to keep the water from flowing back down into the sump. If you have a different DC pump like a Varios, you can use a variable 0-10V output and a profile to accomplish the same thing.

If FeedA 000 Then 1
If FeedB 000 Then 0
If Output vFeedA = ON Then 1
If Output VFeedB = ON Then 0
If FeedC 000 Then 0

5altkreep · Apr 17, 2018

Thanks for taking the time to post this. I just got my (used) apex online last week, and just started dabbling in the setup. Very helpful. Thanks again.