Cheap Chinese Doser Hack?

thegasman2000 · 04/04/2018, 07:51 AM

I have an old 3 channel Chinese (Marine Color) doser sat doing nothing as I hate the interface of it, programming it is a pain and I am not happy with the calibration.

https://imgur.com/a/0nDoT

The pumps all work and I have a spare arduino so I wondered if anyone has cracked one open and replaced the main board with an arduino and made it work.

This is whats inside... https://imgur.com/a/0nDoT

I want to be able to set the dosage levels via an app (blynk seems the easiest) as well as get graphs of dosage rates over months to show growth etc.

Anyone tried this? Is it worth the effort? I guess there are 3 cheap peri pumps in there and a relay board perhaps...

mcgyvr · 04/04/2018, 08:12 AM

Sure.. Its quite easy if you know what you are doing..

To me though its not worth the time/effort unless you are just looking for things to keep you occupied..
A doser for me is a set it and forget it device..
If the interface sucks.. So what.. I use it once or very rarely that who cares...

Ironically a few posts down from yours is this.. So really all the work is likely done for you..
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2671699

thegasman2000 · 04/07/2018, 05:11 AM

So I have the hardware done, using a few relays attached to each pump. It works fine. Just need to work on the programming for the blynk app as thats what I want to control the thing.

jh2pizza · 04/08/2018, 04:40 PM

Quote:

To me though its not worth the time/effort unless you are just looking for things to keep you occupied.

LOL that's what I was thinking. Im not smart enough to figure it out. I threw it out and picked these up.

To me though its not worth the time/effort unless you are just looking for things to keep you occupied.

04/04/2018, 07:51 AM	#1
thegasman2000 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Pewsey, England Posts: 91	Cheap Chinese Doser Hack? I have an old 3 channel Chinese (Marine Color) doser sat doing nothing as I hate the interface of it, programming it is a pain and I am not happy with the calibration. https://imgur.com/a/0nDoT The pumps all work and I have a spare arduino so I wondered if anyone has cracked one open and replaced the main board with an arduino and made it work. This is whats inside... https://imgur.com/a/0nDoT I want to be able to set the dosage levels via an app (blynk seems the easiest) as well as get graphs of dosage rates over months to show growth etc. Anyone tried this? Is it worth the effort? I guess there are 3 cheap peri pumps in there and a relay board perhaps... __________________ The Google Fu is strong in this one. Current Tank Info: 90 gallon sumped cube Last edited by thegasman2000; 04/04/2018 at 07:59 AM.

04/04/2018, 08:12 AM	#2
mcgyvr Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 20,050	Sure.. Its quite easy if you know what you are doing.. To me though its not worth the time/effort unless you are just looking for things to keep you occupied.. A doser for me is a set it and forget it device.. If the interface sucks.. So what.. I use it once or very rarely that who cares... Ironically a few posts down from yours is this.. So really all the work is likely done for you.. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2671699 __________________ Who me?

04/07/2018, 05:11 AM	#3
thegasman2000 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Pewsey, England Posts: 91	So I have the hardware done, using a few relays attached to each pump. It works fine. Just need to work on the programming for the blynk app as thats what I want to control the thing. __________________ The Google Fu is strong in this one. Current Tank Info: 90 gallon sumped cube