Flowmeter not working

[Arne]

I'm not sure this is the right place to start this topic...

I connected a flowmeter, three wires.
In my case, it's not working at this moment.
Tried different inputs and different flowmeters.
Checked the connections, also the cables from the smaller board to the main board, all looks well.

Am I overlooking something?

---

No voltage on the connector...

Rob, I saw you are switching the supply ground, I'm not sure why, probably you want to control the powerheads this way.
But when I use this connector for my flow meter, so as an input, how can I switch to supply ground to ON?

[Rob F]

Hi Arne, that's correct the grounds on those 4 ports is being switched. I did it like that so those ports can be used for 3 pieces of equipment each. The switching ground is for what I call "DC accessories". That ground is being switched currenlty using the custom rules. So you will have to use a regular ground from another port.

[Rob F]

Oh, if you haven't seen my other post, you'll have to add a 10k resistor across the 12v and flowmeter pins on each port. The pins are side by side so you can add on inside fairly easy. If you don't do that they will interfere with each other.

[Arne]

Thanks Rob... ;-)

Yes, I know about the 10K resistor. It's a good idea to add all 4 of them even if you connect only one flow meter.

Rob, what was the idea when you designed the board. Are these connectors meant to connect a flow meter OR a powerhead?
Or was it meant to connect a flow meter AND a powerhead?
In the last case you will have to get the ground from somewhere else.

At least it is working now... ;-)

[roland33]

Hello Arne,
I ask Rob a time ago nearly the same, and here ís his answer:

Your correct on the flowmeter GND. Those 4 ports can handle 12 pieces of equipment. One pin for flowmeter, another for digital power head and then the switched ground for pumps or whatever. But yeah that means no permanent GND on those ports.

[Rob F]

Yeah technically it should be a 5 pin connector for those 4 ports, I wanted to get the most of them that's why I added the switching ground. Later I do plan to have a setting so it can be turned on but if that was done obviously it couldn't be used for anything else. Your correct, all 4 ports should have that resistor even if only one is being used. If the others don't once a while one of those ports will show that something is flowing. The nice thing is the pins are side by side so its easy to solder a resistor on the back of socket. The new boards have these on them now.

[roland33]

Hello Rob,

I try to install the flowmeter at the newest board (rev 3) , but it didnt work:

I use 12v from the connector and take the ground from an other pin and give back the signal to the controller at the 3th pin of thr connector.

Is there some thing that I have to to with software? The parameters at the menue seems to be ok.

What is about the 10k resistor, are they on the new board necessary?

is it able to use all three pin at the connector at the same time or does only one of the work at one time?

[Rob F]

Hi Roland, sorry it's not working, I just tested them on a new set of boards and my older set, they work ok so it's not in the software.

What flowmeter are you using?

I assume you have 12v with volt meter on the two pins you use to power the flow meter? The ground on the 3 sensor ports or temp ports should work.

There is nothing to do on the controller, when you view the flow meter screen and blow through the flow meter it should start counting. Make sure to blow in the flow meter the correct direction as they're usually directional.

Have you tried all 4 flow meter ports?

Those resistors are on the board, they just keep the counter from counting when no flow meter is attached.

You can use all the pins on those ports at the same time, only the GND is switched so it can't be used for accessories that require constant power. On the picture that shows how to wire the connectors for different things you should be using pin 3 & 4 and then GND from another port.

[roland33]

Hello Rob,

at first time: happy new year!

second: the newest update is verry good!


third: I try the flowmeter today again, but it didn't work;

between the black and red wire are 12V, the output is about 5-8v and if the flowmeter is running, you have a frequenz about 50Hz till 250Hz

I tested all 4 ports with 5 different flowmeter, always the same......

Did you have any idea, what I can do?

[Rob F]

Hi Roland, thanks, happy new year!

Can you check the voltage directly on the Arduino pins, you should be able to access them. There's an IC on the board that converters that 5-8v down to 3.3v so its safe for the controller, you should get that on the Arduino pins.

Pin 22 = Flow meter 1
Pin 43 = Flow meter 2
Pin 52 = Flow meter 3
Pin 2 = Flow meter 4

[roland33]

Hello Rob,
the voltage at the different pins are between 3,25V and 3,32V it didn't change if I bllow in the flowmeter.

[Rob F]

Interesting, that means that IC is ok as it's meant to drop the voltage to 3.3v. Those pins are regular digital pins so they always get full voltage, an interrupt is used to count how fast the meter spins. Did you adjust any of the settings for the flow meter calibration on display? Maybe that will fix it. What flow meter are you using, do you have a link?

[roland33]

Hello Rob,
here is a link:
https://de.aliexpress.com/item/Water-Flo...0.0.By86DW
I tested all different parmeters of setting, but it is always the same....nothing...

[Rob F]

Hi Roland, I don't know what to think, it should work. A while ago I broke my flow meter so I can't even check mine, maybe I did mess up something in the code and not realized it. I'm guess you did use the yellow wire for data? I'll get another meter so I can make sure its working.