Flow meter/sensor

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I think I bought the adaptor for it on amazon. I'll have to look.
I've been frustrated with readapting neptune stuff lately. I'm close to having the level sensors work, but they are wired a touch differently in their FMM in comparison to the cheap, nearly identical, Chinese level sensors ($7/each).
 
scolson said:
I was going to use some sensors from Amazon but sourcing unions with BSP thread became to frustrating so I ended up getting the Apex 1" flow. I haven't gotten around to wiring up the connector. Hopefully the color coding on the wire will be clear when I cut off the exiting connector.
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Did you have any luck? I still have my flow sensors abandoned inline from my previous controller. Didn't take them apart to check how they are wired. Just posed the question to the FB group last night. Had some time this morning to test rope leak sensor cable minus the sensor itself with Apex 1" flow sensor plugged into it. As is, this didn't read anything other than 0gph and when in diagnostic mode the voltage hovered aound 4.3v regardless of pump speed. So the simple solution didn't yield mucb positive result. But definitely believe there is a sensor that will prove more positive results
 
I regret not taking the sensor apart and photographing the innards before I installed it. I was hoping I could unscrew the cover while it was installed but that resulted in water coming out so quickly tightened it back up. That one is probably ruined now :(

I did notice that the plug on the sensor is 4 conductor. The leak cable extension is only three so I'm not surprised that it didn't work.

I need to find a time to shutdown the pumps so I can pull the cover off of the sensor. I'll post back when I have some news.
 
scolson said:
I regret not taking the sensor apart and photographing the innards before I installed it. I was hoping I could unscrew the cover while it was installed but that resulted in water coming out so quickly tightened it back up. That one is probably ruined now :(

I did notice that the plug on the sensor is 4 conductor. The leak cable extension is only three so I'm not surprised that it didn't work.

I need to find a time to shutdown the pumps so I can pull the cover off of the sensor. I'll post back when I have some news.
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I think most of the flow sensors send back pulses that increase with flow increase. So you would have a ground, a power input and the pulse output as the three wires. Not sure which would be which.
 
scolson said:
I regret not taking the sensor apart and photographing the innards before I installed it. I was hoping I could unscrew the cover while it was installed but that resulted in water coming out so quickly tightened it back up. That one is probably ruined now :(

I did notice that the plug on the sensor is 4 conductor. The leak cable extension is only three so I'm not surprised that it didn't work.

I need to find a time to shutdown the pumps so I can pull the cover off of the sensor. I'll post back when I have some news.
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That's why I swung for the fences and just tried this quick test. Didn't want to take apart the plumbing or do anything significant for that matter when I was leaving for a few days. I may have a dead sensor in the basement I can pull apart and share pictures of. From the pics we may possibly conclude which color cable is which function. Then have to cut the connector apart to see which colors goto which conductor. Will check when I'm home briefly tomorrow afternoon before heading out again for the weekenx.
 
ggdowski said:
Seems like the software is ready. However, you can't set the frequency sensitivity of the sensor. If you could do that, you could wire up one of the Gredia sensors from Amazon. I've thought about running the Gredia sensor into a frequency to voltage convertor and run that into a voltage input of the hydros.
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I decided to remove and sell my Apex flow sensors for whatever I could get rather than trying to reverse engineer how they're wired and figure out the math. Got the Gredia 1" sensors off Amazon for cheap. Soldered up and GX12-4 and was measuring flow. Not accurately initially but measuring. Opened a Support case and Don shared the Flow Rate Model math with me. It just so happens the FM-075 model matches the 1" Gredia pulse rate. In your Gredia 1.5" use case, it looks like it does match the FM-150 model.
 
I've done both at this point. I reverse engineered my 1" Neptune sensor and its working fine. I've also added on two other 0.5" Gredia flow sensors to my reactors. They are working great. Mine have all been working very consistently.
 
I ended up sacrificing one of my 1" Apex sensors to test. It works well. Actually better than the 1" Gredia. Found the Gredia to restrict flow.
 
A bit surprising, but for all the bad press that the Neptune ones received -- I didn't think they were all that bad. They all restrict flow to some extent. The blades of the turbine are oriented differently than the Gredia. I figured I had nothing to lose with the Neptune sensor. No one was going to buy it. I'd end up selling it for what it costs to ship it. I figured I was better off trying to get it to work. It actually wasn't that bad. The wire colors were not what I expected from recollection.
 
I think the Gredia was restricting flow significantly more. It is noticeably smaller in diameter than the Apex.

Agree on the wiring. I would have reversed +5V and output had I not found an old forum post where somebody hacked it to work with a Raspberry Pi.
 
Hmm. I don't have the 1" Gredia. I have the 1.5 and its diameter is what you might expect. The 0.5 inch looked pretty good to me as well. It is hard to determine the overall impact if you don't have one to compare against another... so it was good you have both.

The wiring thing threw me for a loop. I think I checked it about 10 times.
 
Can you guys provide a list of parts and how to guide for programing this if I’m looking to add a flow meter to my build.

Could it be connected to a Harry’s brake out box ??

Thank you
 
Wondering if we could use these 3.5mm FM TRRS adapters to convert the Neptune flow meter into a Hydros sensor using a HYDROS 3.5mm Sensor Adapter Cable, just cut the tip and wire up to the TRRS. I'll have to reverse engineer the FMK connections unless someone here has already done so?

1651881960879.png

I have (4) of these flow meters in my system (1) FS-100, and (3) FS-50s. My Main APEX died yesterday and I've had it with faulty equipment I have already had to replace an EB8 so that is the last straw for me. I plan on whole selling over to Hydros, the flow meters are the last item in my list of conversion.

1651881123372.png
 
marcod said:
Wondering if we could use these 3.5mm FM TRRS adapters to convert the Neptune flow meter into a Hydros sensor using a HYDROS 3.5mm Sensor Adapter Cable, just cut the tip and wire up to the TRRS. I'll have to reverse engineer the FMK connections unless someone here has already done so?

View attachment 2373

I have (4) of these flow meters in my system (1) FS-100, and (3) FS-50s. My Main APEX died yesterday and I've had it with faulty equipment I have already had to replace an EB8 so that is the last straw for me. I plan on whole selling over to Hydros, the flow meters are the last item in my list of conversion.

View attachment 2372
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Coincidentally Hydros recently released their own line of flow sensors which will be available soon. But there is no reason why you can't adapt the Apex sensors. I have done so myself with both Apex FS-100 sensors and some off brand 1" Amazon sensors. The FS-100 conversion factor matches the Hydros FM-100 Flow Rate Model. Don't have any FS-50s so I haven't tried them but they may also work if their conversion factor is 7.5 matching the Hydros FM-50 Flow Rate Model. When you take apart the Apex, you'll find a circuit board with red, black and green wires soldered to the back. Green is +5v, red is output and black is ground. On the 3.5mm side, red output is tip, green +5v is lower ring and black is ground. If you were to clip the cable, you'd also discover an abandoned white wire which, if I recall correctly, mapped to upper ring. Your GX12-4 will map pin 1 to black, pin 2 to green, pin 3 to red and pin 4 unused.
 
thom_smith said:
Coincidentally Hydros recently released their own line of flow sensors which will be available soon. But there is no reason why you can't adapt the Apex sensors. I have done so myself with both Apex FS-100 sensors and some off brand 1" Amazon sensors. The FS-100 conversion factor matches the Hydros FM-100 Flow Rate Model. Don't have any FS-50s so I haven't tried them but they may also work if their conversion factor is 7.5 matching the Hydros FM-50 Flow Rate Model. When you take apart the Apex, you'll find a circuit board with red, black and green wires soldered to the back. Green is +5v, red is output and black is ground. On the 3.5mm side, red output is tip, green +5v is lower ring and black is ground. If you were to clip the cable, you'd also discover an abandoned white wire which, if I recall correctly, mapped to upper ring. Your GX12-4 will map pin 1 to black, pin 2 to green, pin 3 to red and pin 4 unused.
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Thats great if they are also thread MIP, then I can just swap them out for the Hydros ones! Would love the see the specs on the new ones, do they know when they plan to release them?
 
I didn't see the Reef-A-Palooza announcement so there may have been more detail released elsewhere that I'm not aware of. But Connor just dropped a teaser video on the Hydros FB group a couple hours ago. Check out OFFICIAL CoralVue HYDROS Community Group | Facebook. Since in the past CoralVue hasn't made mention of upcoming products until just before they ship, I would tend to believe you'll see the Hydros branded sensors at retailers soon. Not certain though. No inside knowledge, just observations.
 
ggdowski said:
Those are essentially Gredia flow sensors. You can buy them on Amazon. You have to cut off the connector and add a connector that interfaces it to the Hydros. I have been running 3 of them for over a year on a Hydros.

https://www.amazon.com/GRODIA-Sensor-Food-Grade-Flowmeter-Counter/dp/B07MY5ZN3Z/ref=sr_1_26?crid=1FQG99TJW4KAC&keywords=frieda+flow+sensor&qid=1667419743&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjAzIiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ==&sprefix=greida+flow+sensor,aps,60&sr=8-26
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Are there instructions or is someone willing to build to order?
 
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