Setting float

[Rob F]

You can discard what I said previously. :)

I've been playing and got it figured out, I was misunderstanding how the macro ran. 

Here's an example of a low level sensor starting a pump and a high level sensor stopping the pump.

This is how the jumpers should be set, sensor 1 is the low level float. Notice I have one float on GND and other float on +5v and the P-U / P-D jumper is opposite. I did it that way so connectors in reef-pi don't need to be "reversed". If both were wired like sensor 2, sensor 1 connector would need to be "reversed". For float switches the P-U / P-D jumper should always be opposite of 2nd wire on float. If a wire from float goes to GND jumper must be set to P-U, if the float wire goes to +5v then jumper needs to be P-D. 



Based on the floats connected like above this is how connectors should look. (RevB has a 6th sensor port).




Now setup two macros like image below. The "Start Fill" is the low level float and "Stop Fill" is high level.

Once both are added you can press "Run" button for "Start Fill" and the pump should turn on. I have DC 1 set for equipment but anything on that tab will be available.

Then press run for "Stop Fill" and it should turn off. 

When this is working you can move on.



Now add the two sensors to ATO tab. I have them both disabled so I could get both on single image so do keep them both enabled (on).

Now the low float will start the pump and top float will turn it off. Note both floats always need to be in the position they would be otherwise it will flip flop. During testing this can throw you off. If you are testing out of water make sure you keep adjusting both floats in order they would be in reality. 



Here's some images of the floats. the lower one is low level and other high level. Of course space between floats is unlimited, this is just what I was using.

This image represents a full tank of water, both floats would be up and pump (light in image) would be off. At this point if you went to equipment tab and turned on the pump manually it would flip flop once because the high level sensor is still running the macro which is turning off the pump.



This image would be a partially filled tank, bottom float is still high but top dropped. Pump remains off. Now at this point if you went to equipment tab and turned on that pump it would turn on and stay on until the high level float went back up. This can be useful to manually start a refill at any time.



This picture is when the tank gets empty, both floats are down and the pump will turn on. This time if you manually tried to turn off the pump at this point it would immediately come back on because low level float is forcing it on. If you manually moved the high level float up while low level is down it would flip flop as well but in reality this should never happen.



This image is during the fill but tank not full yet, low float is up and high float is still down. Once water raises high level the pump will stop and it can go back to the down position when water is used.




And this the end of the cycle and tank is full again. Pump is off and waiting for both floats to drop to start the pump.