n2585722 Posted January 27, 2019 Author Share Posted January 27, 2019 Controller Internet access Setting up the Archon for access from the internet. This requires a DDNS ( dynamic domain name system ) service and port forwarding setup on the router. Nothing needs to be done on the Archon itself for this. I have an Asus router and with it was a free DDNS service with Asus. The first thing to do is setup a static IP ( Internet Protocol ) address for the Archon. I did this on my router by reserving the current IP address assigned to the Archon. On my router this can be done under LAN ( Local Area Network ) and the DHCP ( Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol ) Server tab. At the bottom of the page is Manually Assigned IP around the DHCP list. I added the Archon to this list. You may need the MAC ( media access control ) address for the Archon to do this with your router. In my case 192.168.1.118 is the local IP address for the Archon. Once setup any time the Archon request an IP address from the router it is given this address. It is reserved for the Archon only. The router uses the MAC address of the Archon to identify the Archon. The reason for doing this is so the router will know where to route any incoming transmission for the Archon. Next is the setup for port forwarding. Port forwarding is how the router knows when the incoming transmission is for the Archon. For this to work you need to pick a incoming port for the Archon. I chose 7092. On my router to setup port forwarding you choose WAN ( Wide Area Network ) and the Virtual Server / Port Forwarding tab. At the bottom of the page is the Port Forwarding List. I setup the Archon in the list to receive any incoming transmission on port 7092. The 7092 port is converted to port 80 before it is forwarded to the Archon. Doing this keeps the Archon on port 80 on the local NET. I also have two other devices with static IP's and port forwarding. One is an old android phone I am using as a webcam. The other is a Raspberry PI. Port 80 is assumed if no port is given in the IP address of the device. Next is the ddns service. You will have to setup an account at one of the services that is supported by your router. What is does is every time your internet provider changes you Internet IP address your router will send the new address to the ddns service. The ddns service reroutes your call back to your router. The screenshot below has the ddns setup for my router. Select WAN and the DDNS tab. Under host name you would put the name you chose when setting up your account. The server is a drop down menu with the ddns services supported by your router. Once this was all setup all I have to do is type in my hostname with the ddns service web name. Example: MyHostName.Asuscomm.com:7092 The number after the ":" is the port number you used when setting up the port forwarding. In my case it was 7092. The way I have it setup the only time I need to use the port is when accessing the Archon over the internet. Hopefully this is helpful. Unfortunately every model of router has settings that are a little different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted February 10, 2019 Author Share Posted February 10, 2019 I was able to get a spare Archon head unit and IOE module as a backup. So I have a backup for all the modules used in the system if I ever need them. Not much else happening. with the tank. I did start another non tank related project. I started building a cabinet for the garage. It looks like kitchen cabinets will be next. Hopefully after them it will be on to the 110 gallon setup. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted February 26, 2019 Author Share Posted February 26, 2019 I got some photos of the corals in the tank when I got them below. The candy cane and zoanthids were purchased in Oct 2016. The duncan in Nov of 2018. Below are current photos of the three. I moved the candycane toward the front of the tank away from the zoanthids. The green zoanthids seem to vanish but the other has grown. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted April 30, 2019 Author Share Posted April 30, 2019 Two new additions to the tank. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted May 1, 2019 Author Share Posted May 1, 2019 The goby out just chilin. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted July 8, 2019 Author Share Posted July 8, 2019 I got a Archon head unit as a backup a while back just incase the one I have goes south. Today I decided to see if I could clone the one I am using to the one I got. The alternitive would be to hookup the newer one and program everything from scratch. First ai tried copying the files from the one I am using to the one I got. The version on the software already match. That did not work. when the unit power up it still had the original programming and modules in the system even though no modules were attached. They did show as detached. None of the modules or programing were there. The next try I removed the memory and copyed the files from the original Archon to the memory stick again. I left the new one running. I then inserted the memory stick and when to the system webpange and selected restore in the power option and pressed the run button like in the screen shot below. This did it when it restared it showed all the modules attached to the original as detached. I then took it and swapped all the connected cables from the original to the new unit. Everything is running as it should. The only thing I had to do was calibrate the ports that were on the head unit. That is a temp, pH and ORP port. All the ports on the modules kept their calibrations. I will leave it connected for a 24 hr period before removing it. I will leave it powered up but not connected to any modules so it will be ready to go if needed. Anyone that needs to replace a Archon head unit can do this if the have a copy of the memory stick files from the old head unit as long as the software versions match what was on the old Archon. I now have a least one spare module of each type I use on the system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted January 13, 2020 Author Share Posted January 13, 2020 I took some photos with our Canon camera. It looks like I need to do this more often instead of using the iPad. Check out the goby hiding under the coral. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 looks great! hows the archon been working out long term for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted January 13, 2020 Author Share Posted January 13, 2020 I have had very few issues lately. I started with it early on as a beta tester. There were some issues in the begining but most have been worked out. One thing I was asking for that never happened was a wireless connectivity with the modules instead of the buss cable. It looks like the Hydros system will have this. I will be looking at it closely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 How do you like that blue chromis? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted January 13, 2020 Author Share Posted January 13, 2020 That is the fish that rules the tank. I had 3 to begin with. The first three fish introduced to the tank. That is the remaining one of the three. I would only get one unless you have a large tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted August 4, 2020 Author Share Posted August 4, 2020 I decided to try a different dosing pump so I needed to build a stand for the one chosen. I used some scrap wood I had left from other projects. The stand is put together with wood glue. No screws were used except for mounting hardware for the tubing. The photos below are after it was glued together and painted. I have three pumps to start with. I have had one in use for almost two months. So I decided to get two more to try. They are Intllab doisng pumps. They run around $25 each. Below are a couple of photos of the pumps. The pump head can be mounted with the tubing pointing 4 different ways. In the photos it is on so they are pointing up. The stand was made to hold six of these pumps. Below are some photos of the finished stand with two of the pump staged. I used some scrap tubing to show how the tubing will be routed on the stand. There is some hardware missing in the photos. I had to order some to finish and it had not arrived at the time I took these photos. I had ordered the Hardware for another project and decided to use for this one instead. I now have the stand in the garage with the three pumps I have on top. Photo below. The one on the left is the ATO pump. The one in the middle is the fill pump for AWC. The one on the right is the drain pump for the AWC. The one in the middle and the one on the right were running at the time of the photo. These are controlled by powering them up when you want them to run and power down when you want them off. Simple enough to control I guess. I just had to plug them into outlets on a power bar and program the controller. I did had to calibrate them by running them with flow catches and dialing to the flow rate I wanted. The pumps come with two sizes of tubing to give you two different flow rate ranges. The larger tubing is already installed in the pump head and has a flow range of 19 to 100ml/min. The smaller tubing has a range of 5 to 40ml/min. Those are the specs. I did not test them to see if that was the range I could get. I set the ATO to as close to 35 as I could get it. The controls are kind of touchy so I would say if you can get within + or - 3ml/min stop there and correct with adjusting the on time. The AWC pumps are set to near 50 ml/min the actual was 51.2 on the fill pump. I then set the drain pump by weight. I ran both pumps for 15 minutes which is how long I plan for them to run each time with a flow catch that the fill pump would fill a comtainer at the tank. The drain pump would draw form the same container. I started with about 500ml in the container by weight including the container weight. After the runtime I would weight the container again and compare. I got as close as I could to the same weight. I alway error on the side of more weight added to the dontainer as long as it is minor. I am always pulling water out for testing anyway so if anything I will need a little more anyway. The AWC pumps have only had a day of use so far so time will tell if these will work out. For now I still have to keep the old DP1's hooked up since they also have the swtich inputs used by the controller for the storage tanks. I am still using one of them for dosing All for Reef also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 Oh man 25 bucks a pop sounds like a great deal! can you link them? I will say though that I'm not confident in their ability to run continuously for long periods of time, but at $25 a pop, thats a lot of versas or DOSs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted August 4, 2020 Author Share Posted August 4, 2020 30 minutes ago, victoly said: Oh man 25 bucks a pop sounds like a great deal! can you link them? I will say though that I'm not confident in their ability to run continuously for long periods of time, but at $25 a pop, thats a lot of versas or DOSs... I don't run them continuously so I cannot say. Mine run for 15 minutes three times a day for the AWC and once an hour for up to 4 minutes on the ATO. I guess I will find out how long they will last running them like that. I got them from Amazon. The link is below. I have had the one I use for ATO running almost 2 months now without any issues. The tubing from the pumps to the tank goes into the attic and runs 35ft then down inside the wall to an outlet then to the tank. The drain pump pulls it that far then back up in the attic about 15ft then down a wall to the kitchen sink drain. It also has a check valve in the line just to make sure there is no back flow from the sink. All three pumps are in the garage and it does get hot out there in the summer and cold in the winter. The tubing in the attic is in conduit with insulation. https://www.amazon.com/INTLLAB-Peristaltic-Liquid-Aquarium-Analytical/dp/B07PWY4SM6/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=intllab&qid=1596567921&sr=8-6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 Thats awesome!!! I may pick up a few.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 I don't think I ever got into the Brute storage tanks I use for DI water, fresh salt water and salt mixing tank. I have three 20 gallon cans with dolly kits. To use them I had to modify the lid by drilling holes for the fill and despense hookups along with holes for the level sensors. In this case the sensors are float switches. There are two for each tank. A full sensor and a low level sensor. All the tanks are almost the same give or take a few holes in the lid. I will show some photos for the lid for the DI tank. Since everything is done to the lid if I need to switch out a tank all I need to do is remove the lid and place it on the other tank. Below is the parts used on the DI tank. I was originally using a different tank for DI so these were removed from the old tank. Below is a photo of the lid with holes drilled ready for instalation of the fittings Below is the bottom view of the lid. Below is a view with the float valve installed. This is for refilling the tank when it goes low level. The float valve is a backup for the full float switch. The backup to the valve is the leak detectors on the floor near the tanks. Below is the top view with the elbow installed in the float valve. Below is a view of the parts for the low level sensor. The gray tube is schedule 80 PVC pipe 1/4". One end has been tapped so the float switch can be installed. Below is the bulkhead fitting and the PVC splice and section of PVC pipe. I also used a o-ring on each side of the lid with these fittings. The black fitting is a probe holder that I got from Avast Marine. I got around a dozen of these at the time. The 1/4" gray PVC has a 1/2" outer diameter which is the same as most standard probes. Fittings are installed ready for float switch assembly. Below is the low level float switch installed from the top. Below is a view of the low level sensor installed in the lid from the bottom. The probe holder allows for adjustment of the height of the float switch if needed. Below is a view of the parts for the full sensor. They are the same as the low level sensor exept for the length of the PVC pipes used. Below is a view of the assemblies ready to install in the lid. Below is a view of the full sensor installed from top of the lid. Below is a view from the bottom of the lid with both sensors installed. Below is a view of the parts for one of the despense bulkheads. There are two. I have a backup ATO that is plumbed and ready for use. If for some reason I have an issue with the ATO I can remotely program this pump for use. Top view if the fittings installed. The backup pump uses a slightly larger tubing than the 1/4" tubing. It also requires a screen valve assembly at the end of the tubing. That is the reason for the reducers. Below is a bottom view of the backup ATO fittings installed. Below are the parts for the bulkhead fittings for the primary ATO pump. Below is a view of the fittings for the primary ATO installed from the top. Below is a bottom view of primary ATO fittings installed. Below is a photo of a RJ45 breakout adpter. I use two of these and a RJ45 cable to get the signals from the level sensors to the input ports of the controller modules used. In this case the ports are on one of the DP1 modules. Below is a view with the float switch wires connected to the breakout adapter. Below is a view with the input tubing installed ready for use. The other two tanks are done very similar to this one with just minor differences. All three tanks will fit under a workbench in the garage. They can be rolled out when needed and then rolled back under the bench out of the way. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 i like the use of ethernet jack here. very crafty. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 1 hour ago, victoly said: i like the use of ethernet jack here. very crafty. I did switch to a different style of jack at the tanks. It is still the RJ45 jack. The new one is shown in the photo below. I ran shot on them and seen these when ordereing and decided to give them a try. This is the top of the mix tank. The 1/4" line going to the center bulkhead is the DI line used to refill the tank with DI after the mixed water is transferred to the fresh salt water tank. The 3/8 line to the right goes to the fresh salt water tank. A pump is usd to transfer the water. Both have manual valves to close off the lines if needed. The transfer and DI refill is automated cia the controller. All I have to do is add the salt mix after the mix tank has refilled with DI. Once I have it right I press a button which is a momentary switch and that lets the controller know it is OK to use the water in the tank when needed. I will post on the pumps later. All three tank now have them but in the other two tanks they are used to dispsnse water to other contaners when needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted October 31, 2020 Author Share Posted October 31, 2020 I got some Neptune equipment for the first time for my storage tanks. I purchased 3 PMUP-T pumps to add to each storage tank. The pumps in the DI and fresh saltwater tanks are for dispensing water into containers when needed without having to pull the tank out from under the workbench and removing the lid to get water. plan is to add a push button to use to dispense when pressed.For now I am just turning them on via the iPad and turning them back off when finished. The third pump is for transferring the contents of the mixing tank to the fresh saltwater tank when the fresh salt water tank becomes empty and the water in the mixing tank is ready to use. Below is the fittings I got to hook up the new pumps. The cat5 breakouts in the photo are for later use. Below is a photo of one of the PMUP-T pumps. I got the version with it own power pack so they can be controlled with my Archon. I had some red 3/8 tubing that I used for the pump in the saltwater tank. Below is the tubing and fittings used for the fresh saltwater tank installation. The DI tank installation is the same except I used white tubing instead of red. Photo of tubing and fittings for DI installation is below. Below is a photo of the 3/8” fitting installed on pump outlet. Below has s a photo of tubing installed to pump fitting. This will hook to the bottom of the 3/8” bulkhead in the lid. Below is the outer tubing with one of the elbow fittings installed. Below is the outer tubing with elbow installed that will connect to the top of the 3/8” bulkhead. the tubing between the outer elbow and the manual valve has been installed also. Bleow is the outer tubing assembly with manual valve installed. The outer tubing assembly complete ready to install in the lid. Below is a photo of the pump assembly installed to the bulkhead in the lid for the fresh saltwater tank. The lid with bulkhead installed back on the fresh salt water tank. The plug on the other side is the input to this tank from the pump in the mix tank. This photo was taken before that tank was ready for that pump so that hole is plugged In this photo. Below is the installation complete ready for use when needed. Below is a photo of the pump assembly for the DI tank ready to install. the installation is basically the same for the DI tank as the fresh saltwater tank. Blelow is a photo of the pump already installed just the elbow and manual valve assembly needs to be installed. Below is both tanks with installation completed and tanks are back under the workbench. Below is the top of the mixing tank With fittings and pump installed. The fittings are the same except this is also connected to the input that was plugged in a previous photo of the fresh salt water tank. Also I used some 3/8” tubing that was left over from the install in the DI tank and fresh saltwater tank. So several colors were used here. When the mixing tank water is transferred to the fresh salt water tank the mixing tank is automatically refilled with DI water. All I have to do is add the salt mix an press a button when it is ready to use to let the controller know it is ready. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted January 6, 2021 Author Share Posted January 6, 2021 I got some new stuff for my tank back in November. I have started to transfer over the task in the garage to the new controller. So far I really like the new controller. I have it doing the ATO and auto water change for the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted January 6, 2021 Author Share Posted January 6, 2021 (edited) I have switched auto top off over to the Control 4. Below is the setup screen for the input used to control the ATO. This input has s currently coming from a output on my Archon. It will indicate dry when the sump is below full level and none of the alarms on the Archon that control the Archon output are not active. To set the type of input you select from a drop down list like the screenshot below. I this case I am using one of the four sense ports here so I selected sense port for the type. Below is a screenshot of the different sense modes available for a sense port.In this case I chose water level so it will show as wet or dry. Pins 2 and 4 of the sense port are connected to a relay. When the relay is not energized the contacts are open and the sense input shows as Wet which means it is full. Once the relay is energized it will close the contacts and show as dry on the input which means the sump needs water added. Below is a screen shot of the available sense ports. I used sense port 3 in this case. Once I have the control input setup it was time to setup the output. Below is a setup screen for the output. This shows up after I selected creat new output and named the new output. This output Is named ATO. First thing is to choose the type of output From the drop down list. Coralvue call the items in this list recipes. For this one I choose ATO since this is going to be an ATO output. I could have used the generic output type also but I would have to setup all the settings myself. With ATO it is already setup with the most likely settings for use as a ATO. Next is the screen shot of the drop down to choose the input to control the output with. In this case it will be sump level which was created earlier. Below is a screenshot of drop down to choose from the available output. Once an output is used it will be removed from the list. In this case I used Drive port 1. This is a 12v DC port that can drive up to1 amp of current are both ports together are limited to 1.5 amps. the dosing pump I use for the ATO only draws 120ma from the port. At this time I also have a relay on the port so I can graph the output using one of the unused input on my Archon. This is just temporary while I am testing it. With both hooked up is still only draws 200 ma well within the 1 amp rating. I plan on using the second drive port to run two auto water change pumps. Throat will still be within parameters for a single output or both outputs at the same time. Below is a screenshot of the modes this output will be active in. Water change is the only one here at the time being that I would not want it to operate. I am not sure if I will be doing manual water changes that often but there is a mode for it already setup in the controller. You can also add you own custom modes. Below is a drop down of the depends on outputs for this I selected return pump. If that pump is off for any reason the full sensor would probably prevent the ATO from running anyway, but this is a backup just in case the retun is off and the full sensor fails. Currently the Return pump is not actually connected to the Control 4 but I setup an output for testing anyway. The Archon already has the return pump off programmed into the sump level input for now. So the sump level input to the Control 4 will remain wet if the return pump which the Archon still controls is turned off. In the screenshot below there is a drop down for selecting what the output will do depending on the output selected in depends on. In this case we want it to off if off. Also for this I wanted the advanced settings enabled so I can set the on times. Also if for some reason the input is not available I will shut off this output. Since I only have one Control device this will not happen but if I had a Control 2 hooked up to the collective and I was setting up an output on one control device and using an input from another control device this could possibly happen. I setup a minimum off time. With this the output will not turn back on until at least 30 minutes form the previous on time event. I also set the minimum on time for 1 minute and 15 seconds. This makes the pump run at least this long regardless of the input. I also set a maximum on time of 2 minutes and 30 seconds. If it runs this long it will stop and send an email and a text. The run passed maximum time is set to off. If it goes that far something is wrong and need to be addressed. The last thing is notification level there is four settings none, yellow, orange and red. I have the levels set to default Setting none sends nothing, yellow sends email only, orange sends email and text, red sends email, text and turn on visual and audible alarms on the controller. I will probably be tweaking these over the next several days. Also there is a setting for max off time. I have not used this but I assume if max off time is exceeded it will send an alert jut like max on time does if it is exceeded. Below is a screenshot of the status page. Don’t worry the pH and temp reading are from storage tanks in my garage. It is not the tank. Some of the input are not hooked to anything yet and all the outputs with exception of the ATO are not really controlling anything yet. The DI tank level and DI full and DI low are all from one of the analog 0-10v inputs. I will be attempting to make a water level sensor from a pressure transduce. I have several of the parts. I am still waiting one the others. Since no sensor is connected to the input it defaults to 2.5 volts. I have the multiplier set for 10 to give a reading in percentage. I used the push button type on the DI full and DI low. Doing this I can set a time that the action will stay active for both. I figure that will allow me to control a refill solenoid and have it stay on until the full is triggered. I will have to time how long it normally takes to refill the tank with the RODI unit and set the time for a little longer. That is another thing I will be working through. but next is AWC transferred over. Edited January 6, 2021 by n2585722 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted January 6, 2021 Author Share Posted January 6, 2021 (edited) As I said in the previous post I started testing a MXP2010 pressure sensor to see if I can measure storage tank level with it. I have a circuit made up to test in two storage tanks. I have a 0-10v output hooked up to two of the 0-10v inputs on the Control 4. I only had it working for a few days. I did find out that pressure is temp sensitive and is worse the longer the tubing. I had to shorten the length to just above the lids of the tanks. So for now I have the sensors on top of the tanks and cables running to the circuit on the bench. It is on a breadboard at this point. Below is a screen shot of the inputs setup on the Control 4. The glitches in the graphs are from me messing with the circuits. Below is the circuit for both tanks. I use a 12v power brick to power a DC to DC converter that outputs +12 and -12 volt for the two INA128 IC’s used to amplify the output of the sensors. I still need to order more things to complete this once I am sure it is viable. Edited January 6, 2021 by n2585722 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 That’s definitely a marketable device IMO... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted January 6, 2021 Author Share Posted January 6, 2021 6 hours ago, victoly said: That’s definitely a marketable device IMO... I am still not sure how this sensor is going to work out. At the moment I may integrate the float switches in as a fail safe when I go to controlling the DI fill with the Hydros. In the interim I am adding in some relays and using the float switch to energize the relays so I can connect them to both controllers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2585722 Posted January 6, 2021 Author Share Posted January 6, 2021 (edited) Since the Control 4 has 4 0-10v input I thought I would try and use 3 of them to monitor the level in my three storage tanks in the garage. I have 2 circuits breadboarded and I made one on a PC board with a layout like the breadboard. This is mounted in a box that will sit on top of the tank. Below is a photo of the circuit. It has the pressure sensor, DC to Dc converter for +12v and -12v to power the amp which is a INA128. There is a pot for offset and one for gain. Below is the box with the cover in place. Below is a screenshot of the inputs from the hydros. DI Level, FSW Level and Mix Level are the three sensor circuits hooked to three of the 0-10v inputs. I used a 10.5 multiplier to get the 0-100% levels. Full will be at 9.5 volts and empty will be at .5v if I use the same sensor for those also. I am still testing whether it can be done or not. At this point I may just use them as an indicator and use the actual float switches to to trigger the empty an full levels. The reading is temp sensitive. Edited January 6, 2021 by n2585722 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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