Kamoer KCP - Plus dosing Pump.

[Dukereefnz]

Kamoer KCP - Plus dosing Pump.

I couple of sites say that this is the pump in a FX-STP.
As I want to control it from a controller - reef-pi I do not need any of the wifi stuff...

Has anyone used one of these? How was it wired up.
I have a reef-pi - so it supplies 12vdc - +/- wires, so two wires - this things has 4.
I have a cheap O - intlab pump runing on the Pi on my desk and I can control speed etc easy as...
Looks like the wiring is to run forward and backwards... so I only need the forward wires?
That might be tooooo simple.. could it be?

Pictures says 24vdc but thee are 12vdc version available on the site.

I would like to use it for CA reactor - why pay for all the electronic stuff when i do not need it?
Also water change?

A fraction of the cost to the FX.. and same pump?

Thoughts?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32715399829.html

 

[Dukereefnz]

Does no answer mean no one has looked at these?
It seem like a great option for a quality pump at a low price, you just need to control it.
Soo much cheaper than the FX and same pump!

Oh and wire it!

 

[KWolfe81]

Just started looking into pumps which lead me to your thread. Haven't bought anything yet, but this is high on the list.

 

[Dukereefnz]

Great we are in the same boat.....
It would be good to know if anyone has purchased these as they look like an excellent option.

I do not need the controls as I have reef-pi - so a dump "good" pump is what i need.

1 for CA Reactor
1 x water change

 

[KWolfe81]

@Dukereefnz Which models are you looking at? The Kamoer store on AliExpress has way too many options. I am going to be ordering two for use for an AWC system, but there's the KCS, KCS Mini, KCS Plus, KHM, KPAS... too many! I'm looking for the longest reliability and ~200mL, so PharMed/BPT and 3 or 4 rollers, but beyond that, no idea what to buy.

 

[KWolfe81]

Looking at the CoralVue website for replacement motor, it looks like the FX-STP uses the KCS Mini w/ Stepper Motor, 24v

 

[Dukereefnz]

Yes that looks like a good option.
Unfortunately I do not know enough about these pumps to recommend which one to purchase.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated

12v or 24v - 12 v sounds ok
Straight or L mount - I like the L mount
3 or 6 roller - no idea here but more seems better in my head... comments?
Colour - No idea what these codes mean...
Flow 300ml / min - is this good for a CA Reactor?

Price is good at $60 US approx $89 NZD

 

[elysics]

Fyi, all these,KCP, KCS, KAS variants have stepper motors. You can't just hook them up to 12 or 24v, the power needs to be pulsed in certain patterns. Best to use dedicated stepper motor drivers, I can recommend TMC2209, though there are cheaper options (resulting in a louder motor).

No outright support for stepper motors in reefpi at the moment, though o hear that is being worked on.

More rollers means smaller more frequent pulses of liquid which should make the pump more accurate, but you lose maximum dosing speed

 

[elysics]

So in essence you need some sort of knob, potentiometer (or other way to set speed), cheap arduino nano clone or other microcontroller to make things easy, a stepper driver, a housing and various wires and stuff

Interfacing with reefpi could be done via skipping the arduino part and hooking the stepper driver to a PCA9685 connected to reefpi and doing some scripting

 

[KWolfe81]

So in essence you need some sort of knob, potentiometer (or other way to set speed), cheap arduino nano clone or other microcontroller to make things easy, a stepper driver, a housing and various wires and stuff

Interfacing with reefpi could be done via skipping the arduino part and hooking the stepper driver to a PCA9685 connected to reefpi and doing some scripting

The Kamoer store does offer DC motor variants of most of the pumps. I also know that there are a few stepper motor hats that can be put on a rasp-pi but I'm not familiar with what reef-pi offers in terms of connectivity.

 

[KWolfe81]

As a follow-up: I ordered the following: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000945507215.html

Seemed like a unique fun pump to play around with. Going to use it for AWC. Perks were simplicity (only one head, but two ports), 12v DC, high flow rate, BPT tube. I realize that the volumes pumped in and out will be slightly different due to input pressure differences, but I should be able to compensate by changing my AWC reservoir salinity.

 

[elysics]

Oh alright, def give an update with your experience with that pump


Continuous duty pumps for calcium reactor and such usually have stepper motors, not DC, but I'm not entirely sure what happens if you use DC anyway

 

[Dukereefnz]

Agree - no idea and am very interested to see how it goes...

 

[Borat]

Jagshemash!

Did you know that Kazakistan launched a man into space well before the US&A did?

Follow my new thread where the technologically advanced glorious nation of Kazakistan will show off peristaltic pump building technology!

The build thread is here:

DIY Peristaltic Pump: Cultural Teachings of Glorious Nation of Kazakistan

A warm hello from a friendly nation of Kazakistan to friendly reefers from US&A! In this thread I am going to show a step-by-step guide on how to make a DIY peristaltic pump (similar to Kamoer FX-STP pump). I have already built such pump for my DIY calcium reactor and it's been working hard...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Borat]

Here is teaser for what you should expect to see at the end of the build thread:

 

[GlassReef]

I ordered and received KCS Plus about 3 weeks ago. The KCS, the KCS Plus, and the KCS Mini, all have the same base dimensions. The KCS and KCS Mini have somewhat more robust parts for the tension bridge, etc. I have no idea why the Mini is called Mini and the Plus is called Plus. The Plus (the one I have) is the least robust. It still looks very well made. I have been using it with a TMC2208 driver. Can't hear it, at all, at 150 RPM. I've been playing with this kind of stuff for a number of years. I'm impressed!

These make the ubiquitous, 3-friction-roller heads look like toys. I would not think twice about using it to drive a CA reactor.

 

[Borat]

i have been using my DIY pump for CaRx for a few months now - almost continous use. Before I built my first peri pump, I tried to re-use a dosing pump (Jebao) that had UI part broken (but otherwise working fine). I dis-assembled the doser and looked at the tiny motors, at the fiddly 3 roller dosing head and thought: well... no wonder it's so noisy and no wonder tehy say that you can't use the doser as a continous operation pump...

This is how my DIY pump was born... here's the video of the completed second pump. The pump should theoretically last forever, there are no wearable parts in it! The rollers do not wear off..