Hey guys, I was told that I could find help with a project idea I had. I'm looking to save money on the hardware so I can pass some of that savings on to you. You dont need to buy any parts I just need a wiring diagram and the programming.
What I need is to monitor and control the ph of 4 different systems. I need it to monitor the ph and if it drops to low to activate a pump until it reaches the level I need and then the same thing the other way, if it goes high it should activate the other pump to bring it down to level. To me it's just a screen and 4 probes and 8 pumps but I'm sure it's much more complicated then that. It would be nice if it data logged useful information such as the time it has to turn on and the levels before and after. I guess I also need a way to set max and min.
Pump
Ph probe
I need to know what screen bread board, and arduino is best for my project, also wire size. I have several 12 v 1 amp power supplies around.
Maybe start be drawing a plan showing the various cisterns (tanks or vessels), the interconnecting pipes, the pumps and the sensors. You may have to add overflow or empty sensors etc.
Then attempt to work our how you are going to configure it all, including rules like:
what pH ranges are acceptable
how long to wait after adding fluid before accepting a pH measurement as valid,
when to raise an alarm
etc. etc.
Then, plan a simple model of it to test the concept.
What is this all, incidentally? An industrial process ?
jimfromcanada:
What I need is to monitor and control the ph of 4 different systems. I need it to monitor the ph and if it drops to low to activate a pump until it reaches the level I need and then the same thing the other way, if it goes high it should activate the other pump to bring it down to level. To me it's just a screen and 4 probes and 8 pumps but I'm sure it's much more complicated then that
Any reason to do it all on one Arduino? Sounds like you may be much better off making that four independent systems (that happen to do the same thing). So one pH probe, two motor, and maybe some other sensors as suggested above. A 1602 display may also be useful to show the current pH and any errors/alarms for each of them.
Building it as four independent systems makes the whole setup more robust (simpler, smaller code), and easier to maintain.
Calibration is another issue, those probes will need to be calibrated now and then (depending on your precision requirements somewhere from once a day to once every quarter).
The pH control as such is pretty straightforward. It's what else you want to add that's adding to complexity.