Reef nutrition

JVU’s RSR750

Sweet deal, yeah that seems like a major kick in the proverbial nuts "You can't use your pretty graphic unless you use our overpriced containers!" but that hack is just flipping brilliant, hopefully Neptune does fix that "bug"
 
Very cool thanks for sharing this, do you think it would be possible to do this without having the dos as well? It would be nice to be able to use the basic brs dosers and have this volume level.

Also I just ordered pH calibration fluid, it has been about 4 months since I got the probes and I am getting some WILD pH readings it’s insane. Hopefully calibration fixes it.

5E00022D-AF3D-498F-AD69-44BAFE42F733.jpeg
 
max_nano said:
Very cool thanks for sharing this, do you think it would be possible to do this without having the dos as well? It would be nice to be able to use the basic brs dosers and have this volume level.

Also I just ordered pH calibration fluid, it has been about 4 months since I got the probes and I am getting some WILD pH readings it’s insane. Hopefully calibration fixes it.

View attachment 14750
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I’m pretty sure you would need to be using the DOS for this to work, since it plugs into the DOS, and Apex reads it as an extension of the DOS.

Wow those pH readings are pretty wild. You could try to recalibrate but it looks like maybe something more significant is wrong with the probe to me. Neptune Support can likely give you better advice than I can. For example maybe you need to clean or reset the probe before recalibrating, make sure there’s no nearby voltage, etc.
 
JVU said:
I implemented a pretty simple hack for being able to show a graphic for how much liquid is left in a reservoir that isn’t a Neptune DDR when using DOS as a pump.

I dose my Triton 3-part with 2 DOS pumps and 1 DDR. I use the DDR for parts 1 & 2 of my Triton Core7, and a larger DIY dosing jug for part 3 (which doses as much as the other 2 combined). I like the graphic tiles that show at a glance how much is left in each of the DDR containers, but it has always annoyed me that it won’t show how much is left in my non-Neptune container, even though I’m using DOS pumps for it, and even though you can enter the volume of the container, the Apex updates the volume as solution is used, and all other relevant details to be able to show it are there. Like Neptune saying “No pretty graphic for you unless you buy our DDR”.

Anyway I came across a solution by making the DOS think that it is plugged in to a DDR. Some EE folks obviously much more knowledgeable than I am figured out that if you connect with a tiny resistor the top left and top right wires of the 6-pin Molex plug the DDR uses to plug into the DOS, the system will see that as having a DDR connected and will allow you to use their pretty graphic. They also figured out how to wire up additional float/level sensors, which I didn’t have a use for at this time. In case you want the result without the wiring, there‘s a guy selling kits with plug/sensors on EBay.

The smart people who figured this out:
www.reef2reef.com

Apex DOS DIY level switch?

CuseReefer, I know this is an old thread. I was not on r2r, but googled and this thread came up. I did this mod to both of my dos units. It works flawlessly. I just wanted to thank you for sharing this info. I only signed up to thank you, but I’ll look around here a bit out of curiosity.
www.reef2reef.com www.reef2reef.com

Although pretty simple as far as this kind of thing goes, I’m not very experienced with wiring/soldering, so it was a good learning experience for me.

By the way, I tried to find the plug and resistors at 4 different local stores and was unsuccessful (a couple months ago before the lockdown), so I eventually ordered from Amazon.

The 150 ohm resistor (comes in multi-packs):

E-Projects 25EP514150R 150 Ohm Resistors, 1/4 W, 5% (Pack of 25): Single Resistors: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

E-Projects 25EP514150R 150 Ohm Resistors, 1/4 W, 5% (Pack of 25): Single Resistors: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
www.amazon.com
View attachment 14746

The plug was hard to find, I wound up getting this one:
View attachment 14745

View attachment 14747

These top 2 wires are the ones to connect with the resistor, the other 4 to be cut close to the plug:
View attachment 14741

My old soldering iron was broken so I had to get a new one, I‘m happy with this basic Weller:

I soldered the 2 wires to each end of the resistor, then put shrink wrap tubing around with a heat gun.

Finished and plugged in to the DOS:
View attachment 14740

Voila, pretty graphic for my Alkalinity container (I didn’t update the volume yet, but notice the larger total volume):
View attachment 14742
Click to expand...

I’m going to have to do this. Awesome!
 
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With the recent PG&E power insecurity issues, I was thinking more about backup power for my tank. I have PowerWalls, but in the Summer and Winter they really are not adequate to keep up with my whole-house demands (Spring/Fall are fine), and even with a shorter outage and depending on when the outage happens I could be caught with my proverbial pants down since PG&E only allows the PowerWalls to be recharged by solar. I also drive a Tesla Model X electric car, so I was thinking about how to safely access the large amount of power stored in my car for emergency backup.

I certainly didn’t come up with the following on my own; I got inspiration from various threads and videos online. The idea is to run my Apex and therefore most of my system off of a 12v DC to 110v AC inverter supplied by the small 12v battery in the car. The large high voltage DC battery recharges the small one on demand whether or not the car is on. The large battery holds a lot of power, I have the 75 kWh battery, which is one of the smaller options. I read the internal car charger that recharges the 12v can handle up to 2400W, but I have no interest in pushing anywhere near any limits with this, so I got a highly rated 1000W inverter:

Amazon.com: BESTEK 1000W Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter DC 12V to 110V AC Car Inverter with Digital LCD Display 4.2A Dual USB Charging Ports

Amazon.com: BESTEK 1000W Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter DC 12V to 110V AC Car Inverter with Digital LCD Display 4.2A Dual USB Charging Ports
smile.amazon.com

The pure sine wave inverters like this one are more expensive, but are required for powering sensitive electronics (like, say, an Apex or any other pump or device controller).

Since I’m only planning to use this for emergencies, I wanted one that could be hooked up quickly and easily as needed, and not built-in like a lot of people do online.

Basically you just want to hook up the inverter to the pos and neg posts of the 12v battery (or pos and grounded metal frame). This isn’t super straightforward on a Tesla, but after some research:

F4FA3D97-A53B-4B83-84C9-19AAB4BC9E6D.jpeg

C0161B5B-F21F-4751-B0DB-83B654CFD65A.jpeg

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I ran the extension cord (rated for 1500W) through the pass-through from my garage to my tank stand.
0C015ED2-205F-432D-85DC-B7413A60DA85.jpeg


Apex was running like normal
4F21C01E-139F-45BF-B8C2-78A85C148CAE.jpeg


I also tested by turning on 1 of my 2 heaters (which is all I typically need), refug light, etc. Got up to about 550W and didn’t skip a beat. I left it on the lower (normal) power consumption level for a few hours without issue. Note, I don’t run my lights through my Apex, mainly just because I don’t have a free plug in the EB832 and they have their own controller. In a few hour outage I probably don’t need any of the above. In a couple-day outage I could with no lights or run them off the PowerWalls for reduced time/intensity. Or maybe run them through the inverter too if needed, with much lower power draw. I didn’t test that now since I don’t think it would likely come to that for me.

When I was researching this, I saw people with other types of electric cars like the Leaf also with similar approaches, so it isn’t just Tesla-specific.

So at a draw of 250-550W, and assuming I have about 60 kWh to spare on my car max (10% reserve, and starting at 90%), I could run my tank for about 109-240 hours with this setup depending on time of year/heater use. With reduced lights running through it, figure a little less. I’d also like to stress that this is not something I’d do on anything like a regular basis because it could place extra strain on the 12v system. Just for power emergencies, which we all know can be life or death for our tanks.
 
Depending upon your pumps you very well might run DC pumps off the power supply too, since the transformers are typically very "dumb" in that the convert ac to dc through the use of diodes and capacitors, some have filters too that may be ok.. but I'd ask someone with more electrical background than me. If you have vortech pumps you very well could just run them straight from the car battery since their battery backups are literally nothing more than a 12V battery with a few plugs to put in cables.

But way back when, pre-Vortech, and PG&E told me power was going to be out, I did something similar with my Prius, except turned it on so that if the engine needed to recharge the battery it could. Overall it was an outage that lasted all of an hour, so it really wasn't necessary.
 
Isn’t that an accessory battery you hooking up too? Do you have to “leave the car on” to get the Tesla to charge that “accessory” battery? And what about warranty?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
sfsuphysics said:
The large high voltage DC battery recharges the small one on demand whether or not the car is on.
Click to expand...
I was poking around for fun, and it seems unclear.
As near as I can tell, it wakes up 5-6 times a day. As part of that, it will check the voltage and recharge as needed.
Except there is some sort of power savings mode setting that affects that delay.
Also, it seems to be a pretty small 12V battery.

If your heaters are on the inverter, I would suggest checking the details carefully.
 
Some poking around shows that the battery is somewhere in the 33AH range, so max draw at 550w is about 4.6amps. So depending upon inverter efficiency rating that's anywhere up to 7+ hours before need of the other batteries to juice it back up.

Some more poking also shows that those 12V batteries typically get replaced almost yearly, geezus, talk about a money pit... well I guess not paying for gas kind of helps cushion that cost :D
 
sfsuphysics said:
Some poking around shows that the battery is somewhere in the 33AH range, so max draw at 550w is about 4.6amps. So depending upon inverter efficiency rating that's anywhere up to 7+ hours before need of the other batteries to juice it back up.

Some more poking also shows that those 12V batteries typically get replaced almost yearly, geezus, talk about a money pit... well I guess not paying for gas kind of helps cushion that cost :D
Click to expand...
Efficiency is probably around 75%.
And you definitely do not want to drain a lead acid battery all the way. Maybe 75%.
So for those heaters it is more like 4 hours.
And then the motors, controllers, lights, and so on.
Now you are down to 2-3 hours.

So if the wakeup time of 5-6 hours is correct, it would not be a good solution.
 
The risk of discharging the battery is a little high. Does the inverter have any protection of some sorts? I’m not sure if Tesla makes it difficult to DIY replace the batteries. I do know Audi does...

It may make sense to just have a larger battery available. I have 300ah batteries laying around so I’m hook them up to my UPS when I have some time.


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rygh said:
Efficiency is probably around 75%.
And you definitely do not want to drain a lead acid battery all the way. Maybe 75%.
So for those heaters it is more like 4 hours.
And then the motors, controllers, lights, and so on.
Now you are down to 2-3 hours.

So if the wakeup time of 5-6 hours is correct, it would not be a good solution.
Click to expand...
Yeah but unless it's so cold that heaters are on constantly you're not going to get that huge draw, heaters very easily can be off less than 50% of the time, although I have no idea what his setup is.
 
Thanks everyone for the concerns. I also had the same concerns and researched it for many hours over several months before implementing. I believe my approach is safe and effective. Not pushing any engineering limits. The Tesla power management system is overbuilt and this is a trickle.

For one of the specific questions- The 12v does recharge from the large battery, as I mentioned. It periodically recharges as needed, more frequently if needed more frequently, even with the car "off". I also verified this with my test. For anyone worried, you can also put the car in camp mode where the car accessories stay on and recharging need is assessed more frequently.

And again to emphasize- only planning to use in emergency power situations.

Just thought it could be helpful for someone else. Of course I always would recommend doing your own research and satisfy yourself if considering implementing.
 
Along those lines, for campers, they have controls now that automatically turn on your engine when the main camper batteries get low.
I have a large (small compared to tesla) LiPo4 battery.
I have been thinking about that new control, but I think my truck is too old.
 
I’ve been running a 55 watt UV sterilizer for a little over a year. I never noticed a difference between having it or not. But to be fair I was running it at parasite-killing optimized flow not agae-killing optimized flow.

You’re supposed to change the bulbs after 12 months, so I ordered the parts and set to it. I somehow cracked the quartz sleeve taking out the old bulb, though I have no idea how since I was being careful. So I ordered another sleeve ($50), waited over a week for the 2 day shipping to arrive (thanks riots) with my UV system open and carbon/GFO reactor that uses the same pump off.

Then I proceeded to not be able to reinstall the cap over the quartz sleeve no matter how I tried to do it gently. So I pushed a little harder, and guess what? Crack. So frustrating. So I disassembled the whole UV unit out of my system and put it in the garage. Got my carbon reactor back online (thanks to my small adjustable speed DC pump- IM MightyJet).

My under-cabinet now looks so much better without the UV and associated plumbing. Since I never noticed a difference with/without I might just leave it out.
 
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