Pacific Sun Kore 5th dosing Fan Club

[Przemek_PacSun]

Please contact with my service. We will find a solution for that.
Good night!

[PeteStewardson]

I emailed earlier, but I imagine everyone had left for the evening.

[truepercs]

"Are you using Mac or Windows for firmware update ? If its Mac - it's iMac?
If yes - cause it using the same Bluetooth module for communication with peripheral devices and mouse/keyboard - until you are not using second bluetooth module - you shouldn't use mouse/keyboard during firmware update because it will break communication with dozer... Yeah, that's very strange but I'm using iMac also and I noticed it several time until I found a source of that CRC errors on iMac."

Does this mean that the bluetooth keyboard and mouse can not be used on iMAC while updating firmware of doser?

The iMAC came with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, the only means of communication between user and desktop. I or anyone would not be able to use a desktop for updates if this is the case. (Not buying non bluetooth items)

[Broly_PT]

hello all

I have a 5 kore and i will start a daily wc.

Its worth to buy the awc module for this doser?

regards

[Przemek_PacSun]

If your tank is bigger than 150-200 liters we strongly suggest using AWC module.

[Broly_PT]

hello Prez,

I'm Pedro from Portugal,

yes my tank is bigger than that, have around 1000L

Do i need the PS ATO to the AWC work?

I'm saying this because i read that when the AWC is working the ATO stop working avoid fresh water enter sump.

But my ATO is from another brand... is a problem?

regards

[PeteStewardson]

Originally Posted by Przemek_PacSun

Please contact with my service. We will find a solution for that.
Good night!

I've had a reply to clean the heads, I'm not sure this will do much to fix the motors running at different speeds.

I'm getting to the point of needing to replace the doser as I'm having to try manually dosing at the moment. It's not looking good if I do as I will have to consider alternatives.

[truepercs]

Tomasz sent along a fix for the firmware updater software (Mac version) and the firmware updated as it should. The update went along very easily with the fixed version.

Simply selected new firmware and hit "update".


My hope is that the new "Mac version" of the Kore 5th software works as good as this fix did.


-Ed

[PeteStewardson]

Originally Posted by truepercs

Tomasz sent along a fix for the firmware updater software (Mac version) and the firmware updated as it should. The update went along very easily with the fixed version.

Simply selected new firmware and hit "update".


My hope is that the new "Mac version" of the Kore 5th software works as good as this fix did.


-Ed

Connection wise over BT the new firmware and software looks pretty good with the latest and greatest versions. It's a shame that didn't get sorted earlier really.

[truepercs]

Originally Posted by PeteStewardson

Connection wise over BT the new firmware and software looks pretty good with the latest and greatest versions. It's a shame that didn't get sorted earlier really.

I agree with you completely... I have the new firmware in however I am just going to wait a bit before attempting to use the new software. I want to make sure that nothing has changed before "making changes".

As I said earlier the doser has worked solid (related to dosing) software not so much...
I want to make a change in my techniques by giving ATI essentials a try. However I will need to use more than the two pumps currently using. This new method will rely a bit more on doser accuracy. Easy calibration will be necessary so that all pump doses are equal.
The start date of the new dosing regimen is dependent on my doser.
I anticipated problems, I still have solution from current two part and wanted to see what I was up against. I really believe they have a good product, they just need to be a bit more disciplined in testing before sending out the releases.

In this case it was only the firmware updater. When you are already a bit skeptical and an update does not go as planned it really hurts your confidence in the product.

Any glitch found may only be a code change to fix for them, on the flip side folks have a lot of money in their tanks and even a small glitch can cost the hobbyist years of hard work and money. Early on a mishap may not have been that bad however as my tank matures I am not willing to take chances.

I am glad to hear of your comments on the latest version. It sounds promising I will provide feedback on my experience positive or negative. I really do hope they pull it all together.


-Ed

[truepercs]

Originally Posted by PeteStewardson

I've had a reply to clean the heads, I'm not sure this will do much to fix the motors running at different speeds.

I'm getting to the point of needing to replace the doser as I'm having to try manually dosing at the moment. It's not looking good if I do as I will have to consider alternatives.

Manual dosing... ARGHHH At this point that is something I do not want to have to fall back on. It is nice to limit the Alk swings by the small doses the doser has allowed. and... there is no way my family could keep up on it while I was away.

I hope you were able to straighten this out by checking and possibly modifying the pump speed settings.

-Ed

[PeteStewardson]

No I haven’t been able to calibrate to my liking after cleaning the heads as instructed. Without replacing all the motors and heads I can’t see how I can.

As this isn’t going to be resolved without near enough buying a new one I’m currently thinking if getting a ghl doser 2 and forgetting all about the kore5th.

[truepercs]

Originally Posted by PeteStewardson

No I haven’t been able to calibrate to my liking after cleaning the heads as instructed. Without replacing all the motors and heads I can’t see how I can.

As this isn’t going to be resolved without near enough buying a new one I’m currently thinking if getting a ghl doser 2 and forgetting all about the kore5th.

Sorry to hear...

[PeteStewardson]

OK so support got back in touch offering a discount on a new motor and new heads, but without replacing all the new motors and all the heads I don't think I would be able to get a satifactory calibration, and since I've had such issues with it all along it's an expense I'm not willing to risk.

I've already lost more than enough SPS to outweigh the cost of buying a new tank never mind a new doser.

So sadly that's me out of Kore5th ownership. I just can't justify spending so much money on something I don't trust.

I ordered a GHL Doser 2 the other day thinking I'd return it if the Kore5th could be got up and running, but yesterday evening I opened that up being fed up of manually trying to dose and got it set up. I have to say although I needed a windows PC to set up initially, so had to sneek the software onto my work laptop for the evening, set up was a breese.

All is not lost on the Kore5th. I like the PCB inside it and now I know what the Hardware is, and it has what I think from a quick scan is the Mega programming header, I can reuse that myself in a DIY project. Can just stick an Arduino boot loader in that and use it as a BT development board.

[Przemek_PacSun]

Dear Pete,
Im sorry to hear that kind of feedback, but that report about troubles with different speed on each channels is first which we got from Customer after almost few thousand of units sold( I talk about big difference on speed since the factory new unit).
As I understand it wasn't looking like that from the beginning Of course, each motors are different(its normal - they can have different speeds even up to 10% difference) but everything depend from their overall condition(new, used etc).
You bought your unit in May 2015 and please forgive us that we will not replace your pump heads/rollers without any cost. They probably need to be replaced(not motors - but pump head and rollers) and it can't be done by us after almost 2.5 years from purchase date.
We are ready to check your dozer carefully but without sending it to us it's like reading tea leaves..
Calibration procedure is exactly for that what you try to do - mean getting precise dosing on each channel without matter on which speed they are working.
I understands that you expected that maybe we will replace all your motors and pumps heads for free after warranty period - but as my service explained you - pump heads and rollers are that parts which wear in the time.
The same about tubings - they have simply limited lifetime(depending from material used - silicone or Pharmed) it can be 100-200 hours of continuous use up to 1000 hors for Pharmed). During that time flow can change and it's completely normal.
We don't have possibility to check your dozer but it if you experienced problems like you said - to could be a reason(they simply need to be replaced). We can't do that for free, and even that kind of feedback publicly will not change it. I hope that you understand it.
Im sure that you can't go wrong with GHL Doser 2 - it's nice and well built dosing station(many of ideas included originally in Kore 5th were simply copied by GHL ;-) ) but I need to tell you that their rollers and pump heads also wear during the time - and you will need simply replace them after some time.
I regret what you said that you can't trust in Kore 5th - but it still only one dosing station which have dosing resolution 0.01ml(single drop is 0.04-0.06ml depending from liquid density) and GHL Doser 2 will offer you minimum resolution 0.1ml. So you can't dose single drops using GHL doser. Of course - if that kind of precision is not important for you it doesn't matter.
I can also grantee to you that if you will ask GHL for replacing your pump heads/motors/tubings for free after 2.5 years after you will buy it - they will also not agree to do it for free..
Finally - thank you for your time and overall feedback - we hope that maybe in the future we will can work together again.
I wish you only success with your reef tank!
Thank you.

Best regards

Przemek Cybulski

[PeteStewardson]

OK so first up who said anything about you supplying me anything for free? I've never mentioned this and your post above accusing me of doing such is the first time it has been mentioned at all. My feedback is honest and it is you attacking me by suggesting I am trying to get something for free. To be 100% clear, I have never once asked for you to replace anything for free, in fact I never asked you for a discount, or any help, I have only ever stated my beleif that to be able to get this working again it requires the purchase of new parts, namely motors and heads. It was you who asked me to get in touch with your service dept! We're kind of used to you suggesting the issue is a customer fault now, BT modules are to blame, then all of a sudden MAC BT modules are great and not a problem being the most notable.

The response from your service dept was they offered me a set of heads, and one motor at 50% of retail + shipping. I didn't ask for anything, it was a response to me giving info about what I see as wrong currently. To replace all 5 motors I would have to pay retail for the other 4. This is a significant amount of money all in. Especially since I've never really managed to achieve satisfactory dosing, and indeed I've spoken to you and your service dept several times about this in the two years so you know of the issues I've had.

I had at the time already purchased a GHL Doser 2 and was awaiting delivery, but was doing the tests your support guy was asking me to and giving him the results, nothing more.

Having said that would you like me to persue you through UK consumer law? That states I have 6 years from purchase date to get a satisfactory resolution to any issues, and since you have tried several times to fix the issue with software updates, I am well within my rights to demand a full refund! Have I asked for that? No. So please don't post on here trying to make it look like I'm trying to be dishonest and get you to give me anything for free...

Anyway like I said many times, I think your HW is very nice. Your PCB is really nicely designed and obviously has had a lot of thought into it including where you've placed ground floods etc. Given that it is basically an arduino ( And yes I know you probably aren't coding it in wire, and just using the same MCU ) with a BT module attached though you must agree that your main selling point is the software. This is where you've fallen down for me, and since software is my livelyhood I know how important that is to get right and do properly.

So my feedback here is simply that rather than spend a significant amount of money replacing components and hoping you have fixed all the software issues I've seen ( BT connection is looking good but not had chance to do any other testing. ) and the ones reported on forums, I have decided to move on and use another product that has from my research had better customer feedback publicly.

Oh and on the point of resolution, I'm not sure why you claim a resolution of 0.01ml if you say the smallest drop would be 0.04-0.06ml because surely your resolution is drop size...

Anyway, I'd like to say it's been fun, but well, it's been a rough ride and I'm glad to be off. I'm sure you'll reposond to this, but this post will be the last from me.

Pete

[Przemek_PacSun]

Pete
Thank you for your input, please let me explain.
You got offer for spare parts with 50% of discount. Because you wrote about first motor shaft rusted you got offer for one motor and 5pcs pump heads.
If you would decide to replace all motors - you would get 50% discount for all of them...
But again - as I said in previous post replacing motors is not needed(other 4pcs) only that pump heads which wear with the time(they have limited lifetime - longer than tubings - but have..). Simply nylon rollers inside pump heads after so long time can be used too much and that can be a reason why pumps work on different speeds(however as I remember you are the only one who informed us about that so maybe dozer need to be inspected by service)..
About contacting with service - I asked for contact history and they have only two,.\
First - immediate water purchase(May 2015)you sent some mails about firmware update on Mac OS, second thread - now(about that parts etc).
I will tell again - we are not blaming anybody - but you need to agree, that if hardware and softwrae(dozer firmware) is working fine(on Android/Windows platform) and the same have some troubles on Mac OS - it's not sourced by hardware/firmware of dozer.
Even on this thread you can easily read many posts when first version of Yosemite was released many Customers reported troubles after upgrade from Maverick OS. We informed publicly that we know about that because Apple on developer forums confirms several issues with AirDrop and BT connectivity. After few OS updates released by Apple many issues simply gone...
We prepared best as we can app for Mac OS X - and with every new one OS update we were able to include some new protocols in Mac OS app also. That why it's working now much better(I talk about connection issues only - not overall dozer work).
Mac OS environment is simply much more harder to work on some communication protocols - thats why still many "big" manufacturers doesn't have working native versions of app for their products under Mac OS.
For example ATI(for their hybrids - I don't talk about actual wifi which use web server), Giesmann or even GHL. You still need to use Windows based machine to perform firmware update on their doser (cause they don't have prepared Mac OS port for controlling software and suggest Customers using BootCamp or Parallel on their computers to run Windows. I hope that you know about that if you are Mac OS only ....)
Finally about resolution - it's very important with resolution doser/channel have.
If here is minimum 0.1 - you will be probably able to dose 2 drops, than on second dose(if the rest from dispenser will not evaporate) 3 drops etc.
We never informed that smallest resolution is drop size.
As you can see on that movie - dozer can build single drop very precisely - and having resolution 0.01ml is simply very important.
You can clearly see how much of liquid would be dosed if dozer will work with 0.1ml resolution(on movie your can see 0.01ml and 0.04ml )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5roThPDsM7w
That amount have to be adjusted for exactly liquid - different density will be in coral food, different in bacteria - and liquids like Zeostart or any other Korallen Zucht liquids (or Aquaforest) where you need to dose 1 drop per 100 liter of tank.
But you will see that by yourself.
I hope that you will read that post properly. I really thank you for your feedback, I wish you only satisfaction from other product(GHL Doser) and I'm really don't want to be ironic(but I'm sure that even is something will be wrong with GHL - you will not inform me about that here ;-)
First surprise can be with firmware update but maybe you will not need to perform that.
Im sure that it's very good an nice manufactured station and you can't go wrong with your purchase.

best regards

Przemek

[truepercs]

Kore 5th has been working fine since firmware and software update, software appears to be in better shape. Have not been able to get temperature settings to show up on connection page nor do I see the Celsius or Fahrenheit options as I did in windows version. I use doser only for dosing 2/3 part and avoid making changes unless absolutely required. Changes mainly consist of slight adjustments to dosage. (.5-1.0 ml adjustments when needed)

I have never experienced any unwanted dosing, As long as it stays consistent I am happy. I will be switching hoses and doing some calibration soon, hopefully all will continue working fine.


-Ed

[Przemek_PacSun]

Good to hear that - we will post few news about Kore 5th very soon!

[truepercs]

Anyone using android version for Kore 5th?
Can you provide any feedback?

[miralami]

Originally Posted by truepercs

Anyone using android version for Kore 5th?
Can you provide any feedback?

I am using Android as well to test, very same.
Similar to all other PAC SUN software, unreliable and works once out of ten.
No matter which platform you are running on.
So shame with such a great hardware they have a software like this.

[PacSun Service]

Hello.

@miralami - Please tell which version of Android You use? And which device?
We have currently no signals from users of last version Android application about any problems with it.
Could You describe more precisely problems which You experienced? Also please describe problems with other platforms versions.
It will help us to improve our applications and each signals like that are important for us.
Please send mail directly at service@pacific-sun.eu it will allow us to answer You faster than here on forum.

Best regards
Pacific Sun Service.

[intheshaddow]

I use Android app on Moto G4 and it works spotless. No issues do far.

Wysłane z mojego Moto G (4) przy użyciu Tapatalka

[homer1475]

Android app on my S8+ works pretty good.

My only complaint is when the screen times out, it disconnects the app. I have to close the app before it will link with bluetooth again. Same can be said when you manually disconnect(pressing the connect button for a few seconds), the app will not reconnect until you close it and start again.

[truepercs]

Is there any instructions?
The calibration portion appears different. I do not see anything telling me how to stop the pump when trying to calibrate