I am baffled why dumb dosing pumps cost $70+ and am wondering what the issue would be buying a Komaor peristaltic pump head by itself, mount it in a project box and power it with an appropriate power supply. I could then use a timer to dose and spend $20 per head vs. $100 per head to get a quality pump. It looks like this is all a drews doser is... and you use to be able to get similar ones for $40, not over $100. This is the pump I am looking at.
DIY dumb dosing pump
- Thread starter kcinnick
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Most of the cost is the electronics and programming to run it reliably.
Some people like to pay the extra for a finished product
Id love to see your doser setup when its all complete though
Some people like to pay the extra for a finished product
Id love to see your doser setup when its all complete though
"dumb" pumps run into the problem that they are only as good as your timer is. And good timers are relatively expensive, unless you really don't care about whether the pump is running a half a minute more or less.
Much better to have the logic internal.
Where are you paying 100$ per dumb head? I only know European prices, but it all comes from China anyway, and for that money you can easily get a smart 4 channel pump with app, sometimes much cheaper.
Of course you can't compare to pump setups using stepper motors, they are much more expensive to get compared to the basic kamoer nkp pump you posted there, think about $30 vs $7 per pump unit easily. But then you need to ask yourself if you need the accuracy from a stepper motor, and you definitely don't if you plan on using a outlet timer.
Im using those nkp pumps with a few logic boards and raspberry pi using reef-pi, I think I figured out that excluding the pi the cost comes to about 10€ per additional head (not buying from Amazon though)
Much better to have the logic internal.
Where are you paying 100$ per dumb head? I only know European prices, but it all comes from China anyway, and for that money you can easily get a smart 4 channel pump with app, sometimes much cheaper.
Of course you can't compare to pump setups using stepper motors, they are much more expensive to get compared to the basic kamoer nkp pump you posted there, think about $30 vs $7 per pump unit easily. But then you need to ask yourself if you need the accuracy from a stepper motor, and you definitely don't if you plan on using a outlet timer.
Im using those nkp pumps with a few logic boards and raspberry pi using reef-pi, I think I figured out that excluding the pi the cost comes to about 10€ per additional head (not buying from Amazon though)
kcinnick
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I was going to use a Hydros for timing, adding 4 timed outlets is CHEAP on a Hydros. I was looking at the BRS and Drews 2.0 for pricing. I see pumps put together, but they all have variable output, I can just see that knob getting moved and wrecking the doses.
How many ml do you usually dose? The standard tube size on the kamoer pumps may or may not be too large depending on how finely you can control the running time. They have versions with lower inner diameter, I use 1mm ones
I have seen the mother board of the expensive pump, they use the same theroy, which controls pump running time, the smallest running scale is 0.1 second. And their interface is more frandly. If you want lab standard accuracy， should chose the pumps with servo motor.
Yeah, a significant, maybe the biggest part of the retail price is the power supply, the nice housing, and things like R&D, assembly, logistics and profit.
The housing in particular shouldn't be neglected when calculating cost, even more so if you want it to look nice
Also note that there's a not insignificant price difference between the pump versions with silicone tubing and those with bpt tubing, and buying replacement bpt tubing is expensive
n2585722
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I use these with my Hydros and they are around $28 on Amazon. The green one in the bottom photo was one I modified by installing a motor with a shaft with room for two pump heads. The motor and pump heads to do that I got from Amazon. The cord in the first photo I made so I could hook them up to the Hydros drive port.
kcinnick
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I saw those, I was worried about the knobs getting turned and messing the dosing up, I guess I could time everything at the max speed and if something gets turned it would just under dose and not over dose the tank.I use these with my Hydros and they are around $28 on Amazon. The green one in the bottom photo was one I modified by installing a motor with a shaft with room for two pump heads. The motor and pump heads to do that I got from Amazon. The cord in the first photo I made so I could hook them up to the Hydros drive port.
n2585722
2500 Club Member
Take a photo after you have them setup. Mine are behind my workbench in the garage so the only one that would knock them off is me. You probably would not want to use them turned all the way up. That is quite fast. The knob will pull off also. That would make it a little harder to accidentally move them. Also you can make a place for them that has a cover to keep them from accidentally getting moved.
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