Apex Dosing Pumps

[chatyak]

I am having trouble with the programming of pumps. I understand OSC can be off/on/off or on/off/on. I want to program my calc and alk dosing pumps to be on for 10 minutes, 3x a day.

I can't figure out the right time. Say I want my alk to dose at night... starting at 10pm, 2am, and 6am, would this be it?

Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/010:00/240:00 Then ON
If Time 006:30 to 021:59 Then OFF


Leaving Sunday morning and hoping to get this settled before then :eek2:


EDIT** Tried the code and it is not working... didn't come on. not sure why..

[chatyak]

I want the ALK dose to come on at the top of the hour, and run for 10 minutes, 3x - on 10pm, 2am, and 6am.

This is my ALK code:

Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/010:00/240:00 Then ON
If Time 06:15 to 21:55 Then OFF (off from 615am to 955pm)



This is my CALC code:

Fallback OFF
OSC 030:00/010:00/240:00 Then ON
If Time 06:45 to 22:25 Then OFF



I want the Calcium dose to come on at 30 minutes past the hour, and run for 10 minutes 3x.



These codes didn't work either. Do I have to use a "SET" command?

[RussM]

If you want OSC to work as expected with 4-hour intervals, the total time for each OSC (initial off + on + off) needs to add up to an even multiple of 60 minutes. I've adjusted the times you posted accordingly.

ALK
Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/010:00/230:00 Then ON (0 + 10 + 230 = 240 minutes)
If Time 06:15 to 21:55 Then OFF (off from 615am to 955pm)

CALC
Fallback OFF
OSC 030:00/010:00/200:00 Then ON (30 + 10 + 200 = 240)
If Time 06:45 to 22:25 Then OFF

[chatyak]

If you want OSC to work as expected with 4-hour intervals, the total time for each OSC (initial off + on + off) needs to add up to an even multiple of 60 minutes. I've adjusted the times you posted accordingly.

ALK
Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/010:00/230:00 Then ON (0 + 10 + 230 = 240 minutes)
If Time 06:15 to 21:55 Then OFF (off from 615am to 955pm)

CALC
Fallback OFF
OSC 030:00/010:00/200:00 Then ON (30 + 10 + 200 = 240)
If Time 06:45 to 22:25 Then OFF

Ahhh - I must have missed that in the manual somewhere. I will give that a try - for now I have:

If Time { } Then {} etc...




Now I do have a question about the return pump... say I want to email myself with an alarm in case the return pump stops.

Would I receive a notification ONLY if that outlet's power stops? Anotherwords... there would be NO notification if the pump just dies, but the outlet still shows "ON" for status?

[RussM]

Would I receive a notification ONLY if that outlet's power stops? Anotherwords... there would be NO notification if the pump just dies, but the outlet still shows "ON" for status?There is no way for the Apex to detect if an given device is actually running. It only "knows" if a given outlet is ON or OFF.

The way to detect if a return pump is not actually running is somewhat indirect - use a float switch in the sump to detect higher-than-normal water level, and program the Apex to react accordingly. You could just have the Apex trigger an alarm, or you could do the alarm and also shut off the return pump (and probably skimmer as well.)

[chatyak]

Alrighty. Well I have no time to set that up then - will have to wait for the future. In regards to the OSC issue - on page 57 it shows this:

"One final comment on the oscillate command. The 3 time values don‟t have to add up to exactly 1 hour or even 24 hours. They can be any combination of minutes and seconds you desire."

That's why I couldn't figure it out.

[RussM]

"One final comment on the oscillate command. The 3 time values don‟t have to add up to exactly 1 hour or even 24 hours. They can be any combination of minutes and seconds you desire."True. But if you want the ON times to match up hour to hour or day to day, then the total times must be evenly divisible into 60 minutes or 1440 minutes (24 hours).

OSC 0/10:00/50:00 will run at the top of the hour every hour.
OSC 0/10:00/60:00 will run every 70 minutes, and therefore will happen 10 minutes later as each hour goes by.

Odd things like OSC 5:00/13:00/133:00 (total time of 151 minutes), while perfectly legitimate programming, can be difficult to predict exactly when they will occur each day. And even more importantly when dosing... what is the total dosage per day? When figuring out dosing in precise amounts, it's soooo much easier to work with nice round total cycle time values.

Both of these statements

OSC 0:00/0:30/59:30 Then ON
OSC 0:00/1:36/73:24 Then ON

will run the same total of 12 minutes a day. Which one is easier to know when it will dose? The "This %$#* makes my brain hurt" factor is further compounded when you want to limit the OSC to running only certain hours of the day. ;)

OSC 0:00/0:30/59:30 Then ON
If Time 09:00 to 20:59 Then OFF

Ok, this is easy to figure out... On for 30 seconds at the top of each hour, except between 9am and 9pm, for a total of 6 minutes/day.

OSC 0:00/1:36/73:24 Then ON
If Time 09:00 to 20:59 Then OFF

I'm lazy... not going to figure it out. Wanna give it a try? :D