Doser 2.1 SA night schedule

[FishyFishFish]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but is there any way I can set up to dose more than 8 times over night (and not at all during the day).

I was going to start using mine to dose Kalk, but was looking at doing it over night only to balance the PH swing. However the Kalk needs to be dosed slowly so I would like to dose small amounts every 15 minutes or so.

It appears that I have the option for lots of doses throughout a 24 hour period (using the automatic setting) but if I only want to dose at night I am limited to using the manual setting which has a max of 8 doses.

Is this correct and, if so, is there any way to get it to do what I want? I don't have a Profilux - just the doser.

 

[Rototank]

I believe you need a firmware update

 

[FishyFishFish]

I have the latest firmware and the latest version of the GHL software for PC.

 

[Vinny@GHLUSA]

The 24 manual dose option is reserved for the ProfiLux 4 / 4e controller.

 

[FishyFishFish]

That is disappointing.

Overnight dosing is a pretty basic function for a doser and this is supposed to be a high-end system. You should be able to select a start time, an end time and an amount and have automatic dosing over that specified period. Even the $60 Kamoer can do that!

Even manual overnight dosing with an infinite number of points would be a pain as I have to select the dosing amount for each dose. Even with my paltry 8 manual doses, if I want to change the overall amount dosed overnight I have to change the amount 8 times, for each of the manual doses.

This appears to be a huge oversight from GHL.

 

[Lasse]

With the Profilux controllers and slave Dosers - it is rather easy to set up dosing just during certain times. You need to construct a virtual doser with automatic dosing, a timer, a PL command, a virtual socket and a real doser that answer to the virtual socket

Sincerely Lasse

 

[FishyFishFish]

With the Profilux controllers and slave Dosers - it is rather easy to set up dosing just during certain times. You need to construct a virtual doser with automatic dosing, a timer, a PL command, a virtual socket and a real doser that answer to the virtual socket

Sincerely Lasse

I’m hoping that is tongue in cheek.

My doser is a 2 pump version. I was considering buying the extra pumps to upgrade it to a four, or maybe using it as-is on my second tank and buying another 4 pump SA doser for my main system.

But if the Kamoer X1s are more capable (at less than $240 for 4 pumps vs over $450 for the GHL) then it’s a bit hard to justify. How hard can it be to make a tiny software/firmware change to allow this to happen? I believe this has been asked for in the past and I am not the only person who would like this function.

I would honestly find this limitation, for such a supposed high-end system, rather comical if it wasn’t for the fact that I am having so come up with sub-standard dosing schedules to overcome the doser’s shortcomings, rather than being able to set it to do what is best for my tank.

 

[Lasse]

But if the Kamoer X1s are more capable (at less than $240 for 4 pumps vs over $450 for the GHL) then it’s a bit hard to justify. How hard can it be to make a tiny software/firmware change to allow this to happen? I believe this has been asked for in the past and I am not the only person who would like this function.

You should be able to select a start time, an end time and an amount and have automatic dosing over that specified period. Even the $60 Kamoer can do that!

Are you really sure on this - In the X1:s manual - I can´t find this.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[FishyFishFish]

I have just checked and that is correct but with limitations that I was not immediately aware of.

You can set a start and stop time to create an automatic programme with the Kamoer X1, but only within the same day. i.e. you could start it dosing at 1 minute past midnight and stop at 8am for example. All you need to do is type in the start time, end time, total amount and the number of doses and it will split the amount equally without you having to type in all of the individual dose amounts. It doesn't appear, however, to go over midnight (so you can't run it from 8pm to 8am for example) and it only has a max of 12 doses, which is less than the GHL's automatic 24 hour mode but still more than the GHL SA's 8 in manual mode.

The point is, as far as I am concerned, is that the GHL product is supposed to be amongst the pinnacle of aquarium control products, yet it doesn't even have the flexibility to do something as simple as creating an automatic programme between a specified start and end time (and providing an overnight or day only automatic dosing schedule).

I understand that they can't think of everything but when suggestions are made that have a practical benefit, and can't be rocket science to introduce, then the implementation of that idea should at least be considered.

Additionally, in my opinion, the SA doser isn't really fully standalone if it doesn't have the same dosing schedule options that you would have if it was plugged into a Profilux.

I will be able to get it to work for me, but I'm unlikely to buy another one with these basic limitations.

 

[Lasse]

I dose my Core7:3a+b uneven during day, every day. For the moment it dose 0,9 ml every 10 minutes between 20:00 to 15:00 the next day

​

But I use a Profilux computer and a Doser 2:1 in slave mode. I do exactly what you want to do with no problems. This is not possible to do with the SA but can be done with help of a Profilux computer from P3 and upwards together with a slave doser or a SA in slave mode. If you want to do it this way - buy a used P3 and connect your doser as a slave - that´s it

Sincerely Lasse

 

[FishyFishFish]

Thanks very much. That sounds like it would solve my problem but I’m not going to buy more GHL kit to overcome the shortcomings of my GHL doser.

 

[Lasse]

Good luck to find another standalone that manage to do the dosing the way you want

Sincerely Lasse

 

[george7523]

Thanks very much. That sounds like it would solve my problem but I’m not going to buy more GHL kit to overcome the shortcomings of my GHL doser.

I totally understand your frustration @FishyFishFish. It's ridiculous how much you pay and the 8x limitation you get with it. I have come up with a workaround for this limitation. basically you use automatic mode to increase the number of times you want to dose and plug the doser into a smart outlet plug and program it to go off at the times you don't want it to dose(ie. night time) and program outlet to turn it back on day time. my posting has more detail here

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/g...-individual-dose-settings.787664/post-9276697

 

[george7523]

That is disappointing.

Overnight dosing is a pretty basic function for a doser and this is supposed to be a high-end system. You should be able to select a start time, an end time and an amount and have automatic dosing over that specified period. Even the $60 Kamoer can do that!

Even manual overnight dosing with an infinite number of points would be a pain as I have to select the dosing amount for each dose. Even with my paltry 8 manual doses, if I want to change the overall amount dosed overnight I have to change the amount 8 times, for each of the manual doses.

This appears to be a huge oversight from GHL.

totally agreed. but it's not an oversight. it is on purpose to make you buy profilux 4 controller. GHL has been real disappointment company for me. They advertise themselv as german company which relates to quality product but in my opinion does not reflect on actual product. I am selling kh director which is really glitchy. I'm trying out alkatronic now

 

[meermann]

I dose my Core7:3a+b uneven during day, every day. For the moment it dose 0,9 ml every 10 minutes between 20:00 to 15:00 the next day

​

But I use a Profilux computer and a Doser 2:1 in slave mode. I do exactly what you want to do with no problems. This is not possible to do with the SA but can be done with help of a Profilux computer from P3 and upwards together with a slave doser or a SA in slave mode. If you want to do it this way - buy a used P3 and connect your doser as a slave - that´s it

Sincerely Lasse

Hi Lasse,
at first thank you for given approach regarding pairing GHL Doser to Profilux, creating virtual doser and so on.

A question: as I understood, the timer will switch on and of the socket to which real doser associated with, right?In this case do you need to calculate amount of liquids proportionally? Example: you dose 0.9 ml every 10 min from 20:00 till 15:00: approximately 100ml daily. What do you see in daily dosage settings: 100ml or 126ml? Because if the doser is off every 5 hours per day the total amount of dosing in the interface is expected to be set higher, right?

 

[Lasse]

You need to do some math if you should do this and use virtual dosers, In the example above I set the virtual doser to work automatically 144 dose a day and 0.9 ml each time. After that I knit this virtual doser to a time schedule - PL like this - Doser Y AND Timer X This PL I knit to a virtual switch channel Z. My real dosing sets to dose after index Z. My virtual doser (y) will report a daily amount of 144*0.9 ml = 129,6. My real doser will not report anything but if you set it to record the dosage - you can see the daily dose in the chart. The time channel is between 20:00-15:00 -> 19 hours. Total amount will be 19*6*0.9 = 102.6+ ml

Did this answer your question?

Sincerely Lasse

 

[meermann]

You need to do some math if you should do this and use virtual dosers, In the example above I set the virtual doser to work automatically 144 dose a day and 0.9 ml each time. After that I knit this virtual doser to a time schedule - PL like this - Doser Y AND Timer X This PL I knit to a virtual switch channel Z. My real dosing sets to dose after index Z. My virtual doser (y) will report a daily amount of 144*0.9 ml = 129,6. My real doser will not report anything but if you set it to record the dosage - you can see the daily dose in the chart. The time channel is between 20:00-15:00 -> 19 hours. Total amount will be 19*6*0.9 = 102.6+ ml

Did this answer your question?

Sincerely Lasse

Now it's clear, thank you. I'll try to set up my Profilux and dosers in the same way.