Using Amps tracking on EB832 as a dosing pump fail safe?

[chaostactics]

I'm looking to dose AB+ AND Tropic Marin All for Reef and thinking about picking up one of the cheaper Jebao dosers. If it fails in the off position NBD my tank isn't going to die without the AB or All for. However if the doser breaks in the on position and dumps a bunch in at once it could be problematic.

Could I use the Amps monitoring feature to kill the dosing pump if it senses it drawing a higher than rest state power consumption for longer than x period of time?

If yes does anyone know how or could point to a guide where I could learn how?

 

[SuncrestReef]

What dosing pump are you using, and does it have its own controller of some sort? Most Apex users just turn the dosing pump's outlet on and off based on time, so there's no way the dosing pump could run longer than programmed.

As for controlling based on watts, just look at the power monitoring graph for the doser's output to see if the power draw is measurable. If it shows you a difference in watts, then you can program against that reading. See my tutorial on Apex Power Monitoring for examples of power usage programming:

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 4: Power Monitoring

Part 4 of our series on programming your Neptune Apex: Power Monitoring

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Pistondog]

That's the question; is the current during run registering as different than off in the apex.

 

[blaxsun]

Unless you're permanently refrigerating the Red Sea Reef Energy AB+, you'll only have 7 days worth of supply on-hand.

 

[n2585722]

As far as AFR I use a pint container as a reservoir. I also use a Intllab doser with the small tubing as the dosing pump. I use my controller to turn it on and off On a schedule. I also mix it half strength when I mix it up. Otherwise the dosing time is very small.

 

[chaostactics]

What dosing pump are you using, and does it have its own controller of some sort? Most Apex users just turn the dosing pump's outlet on and off based on time, so there's no way the dosing pump could run longer than programmed.

As for controlling based on watts, just look at the power monitoring graph for the doser's output to see if the power draw is measurable. If it shows you a difference in watts, then you can program against that reading. See my tutorial on Apex Power Monitoring for examples of power usage programming:

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 4: Power Monitoring

Part 4 of our series on programming your Neptune Apex: Power Monitoring

www.reef2reef.com

What dosing pump are you using, and does it have its own controller of some sort? Most Apex users just turn the dosing pump's outlet on and off based on time, so there's no way the dosing pump could run longer than programmed.

As for controlling based on watts, just look at the power monitoring graph for the doser's output to see if the power draw is measurable. If it shows you a difference in watts, then you can program against that reading. See my tutorial on Apex Power Monitoring for examples of power usage programming:

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 4: Power Monitoring

Part 4 of our series on programming your Neptune Apex: Power Monitoring

www.reef2reef.com

I was gonna grab one of the Jebao 4 channel pumps which has a controller built in but I'm just hoping to use the Apex to act as a back stop if the pump runs too long. I.e. the pump should only draw energy above stand by state for 10 min to dose supplements. So if at any point the pump over draws for say 15 min then have the Apex kill it and alert me.

I'm only dosing 5 mL each of the AB and All for so I should have a pretty consistent reading. I don't mind bolus dosing vs spreading it out.

 

[SuncrestReef]

I was gonna grab one of the Jebao 4 channel pumps which has a controller built in but I'm just hoping to use the Apex to act as a back stop if the pump runs too long. I.e. the pump should only draw energy above stand by state for 10 min to dose supplements. So if at any point the pump over draws for say 15 min then have the Apex kill it and alert me.

It will boil down to how much power the dosing motor consumes and whether it's enough to register on the EnergyBar. For example, my roller filter motor show zero watts consumed whether it's running or idle, so I'm unable to use any power monitoring programming to know if the roller runs too long because a float switch is stuck.

 

[n2585722]

I was gonna grab one of the Jebao 4 channel pumps which has a controller built in but I'm just hoping to use the Apex to act as a back stop if the pump runs too long. I.e. the pump should only draw energy above stand by state for 10 min to dose supplements. So if at any point the pump over draws for say 15 min then have the Apex kill it and alert me.

I'm only dosing 5 mL each of the AB and All for so I should have a pretty consistent reading. I don't mind bolus dosing vs spreading it out.

The dosing pumps I use only draw around 184 ma at 12 volts. That would be almost nothing at 120 volts. This is the current draw at 12v when it is on. Wattage wise it is 2.2 watts.it does vary depending on flow rate.