3D Printed EC Probe Hydroponics Aquaponics by AquaponicsLab

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

Non 3D printed Parts For Mechanical Portion:
1 Pieces M3x8 Stainless Steel Button Head Bolts
-Hot Glue Gun
-1k resistor
-2 pcs carbon brushes http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Pairs-Pcs-15mm-x-10mm-x-6mm-Motor-Carbon-Brushes-for-Power-Tool-CP-/331787606335?hash=item4d4015193f:g:JXkAAOSwB4NWzoT3
-Temp sensor DS18B20 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Waterproof-Digital-Thermal-Probe-or-Sensor-DS18B20-Length-1M-/201544352532?epid=1158405043&hash=item2eecfac314:g:Q88AAOSwXeJXehjS
Code: https://github.com/MTRatcliffe/AquaponicsLabGUI
Building:
the ec probe is relatively simple, we want two conductive surfaces to place in a water solution of a known size and space apart, so that we can measure the conductivity of the fluid between the probe faces. We are using carbon brushes as the probe face as they last a long time. We will also be attaching the temperature sensor to the housing.
Step-1: Solder each of the carbon brushes to a individual wire long enough that it will reach your fish tank from the controller but as short as possible.
Step-2: Place the carbon brushes in the 3D printed housing.
Step-3: Place the top plate over the probe holder and using a hot glue gun fill the internal void with hot glue, to make a watertight seal around the carbon brush wires and your soldered connection. We use a laser cut plate, but yours may be 3D printed.
Step-4: Use zip ties to connect the temperature probe to the housing and on the sensing wires to the housing so the soldered connection is under less strain from the wire being moved.
Step-5: Upload the code to the MCU/Arduino and wire the sensor in just as we do with the plug based sensor [ resistor value depends on sensing range you want to measure over, but dont go under 300 ohms].