Reefmat Float sensor project

[hellsangelbx]

Hi everyone, I have a freshwater tank for my son and my local fishstore sold me this reefmat. One issue is, is doesn't play well with brackish or freshwater. I didn't know until installation and then ran water through it. I can only use it two ways , 1) through a manual button that moves new fleece into position / 2) through the reefbeat app you can change the fleece in the app. I thought it can be tricked by cutting the titanium sensor for installing the auto aqua water level sensor. It didn't go so well. I attached a photo of my hack. The electrical tape is there for temp signal connection. I was going to solder or heat shrink the connections if I got the schematic right. So far there are three wires on the reefmat sensor and there were three wires on the auto aqua. I tried connecting the same color wires together with no luck and then I tried all the combinations with no luck. I think this has something to do with the motor. Does anyone have an idea how I could make this work?

 

[blaxsun]

In the ReefBeat app, under the ReefMat section - under More Settings, there's an option to schedule mat advancement. I think this might do the trick for you.

 

[hellsangelbx]

Yeah I can only use the sensor to tell me when it gets wet and then use the automat at this point. Thanks for the reply

 

[Alotton]

Hi everyone, I have a freshwater tank for my son and my local fishstore sold me this reefmat. One issue is, is doesn't play well with brackish or freshwater. I didn't know until installation and then ran water through it. I can only use it two ways , 1) through a manual button that moves new fleece into position / 2) through the reefbeat app you can change the fleece in the app. I thought it can be tricked by cutting the titanium sensor for installing the auto aqua water level sensor. It didn't go so well. I attached a photo of my hack. The electrical tape is there for temp signal connection. I was going to solder or heat shrink the connections if I got the schematic right. So far there are three wires on the reefmat sensor and there were three wires on the auto aqua. I tried connecting the same color wires together with no luck and then I tried all the combinations with no luck. I think this has something to do with the motor. Does anyone have an idea how I could make this work?

Red Sea is working on a prototype sensor for freshwater systems. I am currently testing one of the prototypes on my 130 gal Discus display and 40 gal remote sump system - so far so good and I assume a marketable freshwater version will be released in the near future. I must say that I love the ReefMat - it not only keeps my display crystal clear, but my sump is super clean too. Brilliant design, and super easy to change fleece rolls. Sept 27, 2023

 

[Alotton]

Forgot to post photos.

 

[Deanpeak]

Red Sea is working on a prototype sensor for freshwater systems. I am currently testing one of the prototypes on my 130 gal Discus display and 40 gal remote sump system - so far so good and I assume a marketable freshwater version will be released in the near future. I must say that I love the ReefMat - it not only keeps my display crystal clear, but my sump is super clean too. Brilliant design, and super easy to change fleece rolls. Sept 27, 2023

So there is a ray of hope for a freshwater sensor. I got the reefmat 1200 before knowing the sensor would not work in freshwater. So been dojng a lot of manual advancement. Do you know if they are looking for anymore testers?

 

[Alotton]

So there is a ray of hope for a freshwater sensor. I got the reefmat 1200 before knowing the sensor would not work in freshwater. So been dojng a lot of manual advancement. Do you know if they are looking for anymore testers?

I am not sure if they are, but I was in your same boat and purchased the ReefMat before I realized it would not work with FW. I contacted RedSea several times -and begged them to release a freshwater version, but with no luck. Then out of the blue several months later, I was asked to beta test a prototype. I am very happy with the results so far, and RedSea is remotely monitoring my data. I would assume they will launch a FW version in the coming months. Cheers!

 

[Jeremy King]

/necro
New news on this? I would love to get a ReefMat, but I have a freshwater angel tank (that might turn into a discus tank) and would love to have something better than the p.o.s. Klir 7 that I have on it now. I've thought of doing voltage/current analysis on the reef sensor and measuring how saltwater makes it trigger, and then using an optical sensor and faking the signal back to the ReefMat controller, but ADHD

So if the trial period is over, or anyone has an inkling of when a freshwater version might show up, I'd buy a ReefMat in 1/2 a heartbeat.

 

[Alotton]

/necro
New news on this? I would love to get a ReefMat, but I have a freshwater angel tank (that might turn into a discus tank) and would love to have something better than the p.o.s. Klir 7 that I have on it now. I've thought of doing voltage/current analysis on the reef sensor and measuring how saltwater makes it trigger, and then using an optical sensor and faking the signal back to the ReefMat controller, but ADHD

So if the trial period is over, or anyone has an inkling of when a freshwater version might show up, I'd buy a ReefMat in 1/2 a heartbeat.

No new updates on the FW version that I've been included on. But, they should since my beta test unit has been working flawlessly. Lets keep our fingers crossed, as I would like to purchase one more for another display build.

 

[pbarnes298]

Any update?

 

[Jeremy King]

I've been playing with mine, looking at it with an o-scope and to see how it works. It's not a simple discrete sensor. The controller seems to pulse the sensor for a 1/2 second and then do nothing for a 1/2 second. I'm guessing it's doing a simple salinity measurements (is the probe in salt water and conducting, or not), and it seems to take a number of seconds before it will trigger the roll. That would keep it from turning when getting splashed (little conductivity and only momentary contact with water.)

I'm rather annoyed they didn't use a standard M8 connector. It's essentially a M8, but it doesn't have the rhombus pin pattern; it's a 2.5mm square. I've not been able to find a connector that will plug into it.

The app (and the device) knows if the sensor is connected, which either means there's a pin the connector (very small connector and I can't see anything there) or there's an interaction I don't understand with how it's monitoring the pins.

I have more details (voltages, pulse timing, resistances, etc), but I'm not sure how much I should put here. :D

I'm going to try a simple resistor across some pins and see if that triggers it. (Salt water is about 65k ohms.) If so, maybe I can use my Apex to monitor an optical sensor, and have it close a relay to connect the pins through a resistor.

@Alotton Do you have a different sensor or is it just special firmware? I have firmware 1.9.1. Can you say what version yours reports? I'm curious if it's 1.10 or 1.9.2 or something, so I can watch for an update that might roll out freshwater compatibility.

 

[Jeremy King]

Success!

I bought a second sensor and eviscera ..., um, disassembled it. Pins 1 and 2 (black wires) are connected together at the connector. Pin 4 (red) is the sensor inside the ReefMat, while pin 3 (blue) is outside. I connected a 1LINK cable (the DC24, with bare wires) to my FMM, trimmed the length, and connected it to the coil of a 24V relay. The DC24 has has black and red wires, so I used the extra cable to connect to the dismem... er, disassembled sensor cable's pin 1 (black) and pin 4 (red). Black wire connected to the relay's common, and red wire to a 100ohm resistor, which was connected to the relay's NO terminal. This let's me turn on the FMM accessory output to turn on the relay, which connects the sensor's pin 1 and 4 through a 100ohm resistory. Turn on FMM output for 7 to 8 seconds, and the ReefMat activates. To monitor water level, I put an optical sensor (MOS) inside the ReefMat.

I'm using this program in my Apex to run it:

Set OFF
If H2OHigh CLOSED Then ON
If SumpHi CLOSED Then OFF
Defer 000:10 Then ON
Min Time 000:10 Then ON
Min Time 015:00 Then OFF

H2OHigh is the sensor inside the ReefMat. I think this is working. It ran overnight and the water wasn't runing out the overflow holes on the ReefMat this morning.

I had problems with water staying on the sensor (it's a 4-sided pyramid shape) makting it trigger continuously. I turned it 45 degrees so the sharp ridge is vertical, giving the water an edge to run down (and not a wide flat surface to stick to). I want to try a Liquid Level Sensor for a better sense of when to trigger the ReefMat, but I don't have one and they are a bit pricy.

Parts:
1 - FMM
1 - MOS
1 - DC24
1 - DIN rail 24v relay - https://a.co/d/gP0m2Ot (any 24v relay will work, I happen to have one of these)
1 - DIN rail box - https://a.co/d/g2J1icv (something else I happen to have)
1 - Sensor, pn 35445 (if you don't want to chop up the one the ReefMat came with)

 

[Jeremy King]

Oops. I forgot the resister, and don't see how to edit my post, so here is the parts list again.

Parts:
1 - FMM
1 - MOS
1 - DC24
1 - 100 ohm resister
1 - DIN rail 24v relay - https://a.co/d/gP0m2Ot (any 24v relay will work, I happen to have one of these)

Optional:
1 - DIN rail box - https://a.co/d/g2J1icv (something else I happen to have, and it's mostly waterproof)
1 - Sensor, RedSea pn 35445

I had all but the extra sensor on hand, but if you went and bought all of these it'd be about $170 to $200. An annoyingly large amount to spend on top of the ReefMat. (But what aquarium junkie doesn't have lots of random parts laying around :D )

 

[Formulator]

Sounds like you are already down the rabbit hole, but wouldn’t it be easier to ditch the red sea control box entirely and just wire up a simple dc stepper motor to the roll spindle with a float switch and your apex for control?

 

[Jeremy King]

The ReefMat has a very nice controller. It runs forward to get new filter, and backs up just a touch, to release tension on the roll. It knows if you installed the rolls correctly, because it monitors if both rolls are turning. It reminds you when you're almost out, or are out of clean floss. There are lots of reasons to use their controller, I just need a sensor that works with freshwater. And any optical or float sensor that would control a relay would work, but I chose to use my Neptune Apex.

Besides, it was a fun rabbit hole! :D

 

[SnowyFox]

The ReefMat has a very nice controller. It runs forward to get new filter, and backs up just a touch, to release tension on the roll. It knows if you installed the rolls correctly, because it monitors if both rolls are turning. It reminds you when you're almost out, or are out of clean floss. There are lots of reasons to use their controller, I just need a sensor that works with freshwater. And any optical or float sensor that would control a relay would work, but I chose to use my Neptune Apex.

Besides, it was a fun rabbit hole! :D

I'm currently about to attempt my own version of a freshwater sensor. Thank you so much for posting your findings on how to make this work. Gives me confidence that I can wire up something similar myself. I'm hoping to use a basic float sensor switch to wire up directly. Was curious, did you ever try to connect the relay to the ReefMat without using the 100 ohm resistor? Pretty sure I can find one, just wasn't sure if it was actually required to make the ReefMat work or not. Thanks

 

[SnowyFox]

Just did some exploratory testing with my ReefMat 500. On my unit, pins 3 and 4 needed to be jumped together to simulate the sensor being connected. Pins 1 and 2 are the 2 probe inputs. Which one is the inside vs outside of the ReefMat is determined by what setting you have configured for which side the drive unit is mounted on. When I first tried to short one of those pins to pins 3 and 4, the unit showed a high water level indicator in the app. When I tried to short the other pin, it started the rollers moving after a few seconds. Once the water level started to drop in my unit, I disconnected the short and it continued running until the length configured to advance the mat was reached. This all seemed to work without any resistors at all. I’m feeling really confident that I can just wire a couple float switches (the basic 2 wire ones that just act like a push button when activated) to the connector, and have a working alternative to the stock sensor. Will share some updates tomorrow once the float switches arrive and I can try wiring up a prototype

 

[SnowyFox]

It works!!!

The cable only has 3 wires in it, an unshielded copper “ground” wire, and 2 insulated wires (red and blue). The ground wire is attached to pins 3 and 4 on the connector, and to one side of each of the pair of probes in the sensor. Blue and Red wires go to the other side of each of the probes. I twisted a wire from each of float sensors together, and soldered the ground line to it. Then soldered the other wire from each float sensor to the blue and red wires.

This is the final modified cable I made. I used the app to verify which float switch should on the outside vs inside of the unit. The one that goes on the outside should trigger a high water level alarm to show up and also makes the exclamation point light blink on the drive unit. The other should trigger the drive unit to advance the mat.

Here is the float sensor installed on the ReefMat. Used a piece of EVA foam to hold it in place.

 

[Formulator]

It works!!!

The cable only has 3 wires in it, an unshielded copper “ground” wire, and 2 insulated wires (red and blue). The ground wire is attached to pins 3 and 4 on the connector, and to one side of each of the pair of probes in the sensor. Blue and Red wires go to the other side of each of the probes. I twisted a wire from each of float sensors together, and soldered the ground line to it. Then soldered the other wire from each float sensor to the blue and red wires.

This is the final modified cable I made. I used the app to verify which float switch should on the outside vs inside of the unit. The one that goes on the outside should trigger a high water level alarm to show up and also makes the exclamation point light blink on the drive unit. The other should trigger the drive unit to advance the mat.

Here is the float sensor installed on the ReefMat. Used a piece of EVA foam to hold it in place.

Winner winner! Nice work!

 

[go2ready]

It works!!!

The cable only has 3 wires in it, an unshielded copper “ground” wire, and 2 insulated wires (red and blue). The ground wire is attached to pins 3 and 4 on the connector, and to one side of each of the pair of probes in the sensor. Blue and Red wires go to the other side of each of the probes. I twisted a wire from each of float sensors together, and soldered the ground line to it. Then soldered the other wire from each float sensor to the blue and red wires.

This is the final modified cable I made. I used the app to verify which float switch should on the outside vs inside of the unit. The one that goes on the outside should trigger a high water level alarm to show up and also makes the exclamation point light blink on the drive unit. The other should trigger the drive unit to advance the mat.

Here is the float sensor installed on the ReefMat. Used a piece of EVA foam to hold it in place.

Just wanna say thanks for sharing, planning to do something similar:)