Automatic Hydroponic Doser DIY

[devinrayolsen]

Ahh i see so no pwm/HBridge? Im guessing your swiching relay on for say 10 sec and calculating water flow that way?

Wouldnt mind going though your open sorce code. Would give me some ideas and save me time.

Correct, in my menu system I've exposed Pump Settings -> Pump X -> Calibrate Pump.
On this screen the user gets the opportunity to enter the manufacture pump rate (100ml per min for instance) found on the pumps, and test said rate under a 1ml target. User can adjust this rate as needed till 1ml test target is met and pump is calibrated.

Once you have ml over 60 seconds, it gets really easy from here.

https://github.com/drolsen/DRO-Matic...Pumps.cpp#L138

[BritishBotanics]

Inbox me the link. Links arnt allowed. Also have you done a check on the relay or a fail system incase one gets stuck open? You think its possible with a TB6612 instead. Im after doing some learning on pwm.

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[devinrayolsen]

The relays have a normally open and normally close option upon wiring, so it's default state with no power is closed.
That said, a relay is moving parts so I suppose over years and years of use it might break down (unsure tbh) but moving away from relays over to logic level MOSFET switches that will last longer than I will be alive because there are no moving parts.

I've tried to use nema 17 stepper motors (10 of them) to do a nutrient doser already. I built syringe actuator arms, but in the end the unit was just HUGE, really slow and had torque issues that would mess the dosing process up.



I've not used them as a peristaltic pump motor replacement, so I've got no idea how well that would work but I would bet you would have more precision with no configuration by end user.
If you are going to use a stepper motor, I would recommend using the EasyDriver module; it just makes things way easier cause the PWM is baked into the library / API for you.