Neptune Trident re-casing vs DIY Alk/Ca/Mg Tester

[thesassyindian]

Hello folks,
I'd like to express my gratitude to @anthias for providing me with a Trident that I can customize and utilize for calibrating a DIY Alk/Ca/Mg tester.

Several key factors drive this initiative:

1. The ABC reagent bottles do not fit into a Trident.
2. Reagent usage is monitored in an open-loop fashion in Apex Fusion and is not reconfigurable (quite perplexing, isn't it?).
3. I've encountered instances where the Apex system alerted me to a depleted reagent bottle when there was still around 40-50ml left (yes, you read that right – WTF?).
4. There's ample room for improvement in the realm of water testing.

I am well aware that #1 can be tackled with a simple remix of this https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4937145, but it has an awkwardly shaped footprint and cannot be wall mounted easily.

I've also been searching for a broken Apex head unit that I could repair and repurpose for this project. Unfortunately, this pursuit led to a peculiar exchange of messages with another member on BAR.

If any of you happen to possess a broken or dead 2016+ Apex head unit, please get in touch with me and let me know your asking price.

Should I manage to acquire a head unit, the plan is to develop a titration color tester using the Trident as a baseline and eventually release the project as open source.

 

[richiev]

Awesome, would love to see it!

One question: why the bottlenecking on the Apex head unit versus just connecting to the unit directly initially? If you can get the hardware/firmware for the deice working, I'd imagine there'd be a variety of ways to approach the apex integration.

Also, is the apex -> trident protocol open sourced / reverse engineered? I know devices like the Kh Guardian can work with an apex, faking that they're a pH sensor. However that would be not practical for testing 3 different things and loses apex knowing it's Alk/Ca.

 

[thesassyindian]

Awesome, would love to see it!

One question: why the bottlenecking on the Apex head unit versus just connecting to the unit directly initially? If you can get the hardware/firmware for the deice working, I'd imagine there'd be a variety of ways to approach the apex integration.

Also, is the apex -> trident protocol open sourced / reverse engineered? I know devices like the Kh Guardian can work with an apex, faking that they're a pH sensor. However that would be not practical for testing 3 different things and loses apex knowing it's Alk/Ca.

The Trident protocol is not open source. There have been previous attempts to reverse engineer the protocol, but I believe Neptune intervened and shut those efforts down. Boo!
Plus if they change the protocol, we will have to keep chasing their changes. Not worth it.

Which is why I am thinking of an MVP of just re-casing the Trident to fit the ABC bottles. Something like this, where I'm planning on designing some risers and a new "tray" as shown in green.

 

[thesassyindian]

My stretch goal is to make my own titration sensor using a spectral LUX sensor and incorporating the the Trident's manifold and cuvette system.
That way, I can feed the data to my homebrew Apex Display, and slowly move away from the Apex altogether.

DIY Neptune Apex Display Module + Dosing Calculator

Needed a release from a rather stressful couple of weeks at work, so decided to treat myself to a DIY project. After upgrading my AQI monitor (see details here) hardware to a bigger screen/microcontroller, I had to find a use for the old module. Enter: The Neptune Apex, and my need for manual...

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