Will anyone buy a homemade 150$ Quantum Par Meter?

[xzkeee]

I just started a reef tank recently, made a DIY Led light.

Because my light is DIY, I have no idea how much par I have.

Apogee par meter is way too expensive for me. I am not happy about the price. So I start to look for a way to make it myself.

Every par meter on the market is so expensive

there is a very cheap way(use TCS34725) but requires a par meter to celebrate.

Then I found a par sensor, advertise to have +-1% accuracy,0-2600 mol/s range,400-700nm Spectral Measurement Range. 

At ~60$ price. This is an acceptable price for me. Already order one and arrive tomorrow.

 

Then I am thinking of design a case for this, use 3d print case, OLED screen,18650 battery, Arduino, or stm32 chip.

Will anyone want this? Thinking of selling this for around 150$.

Please let me know what you think about this thing.

 

 

 

 

By the way, if you want to save even more money, you can buy this sensor from the seller. Not sure if they ship overseas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are pics of the led light I made

[mitten_reef]

Very cool idea. I’ve seen that you can have the apogee sensor interface with generic multimeter, if you want to make it even more economical of a diy, you might be able to go that route too.  I can’t provide any links, but definitely do a search on that. 

[xzkeee]

11 hours ago, mitten_reef said:

Very cool idea. I’ve seen that you can have the apogee sensor interface with generic multimeter, if you want to make it even more economical of a diy, you might be able to go that route too.  I can’t provide any links, but definitely do a search on that. 

Yeah, I have seen that video, it is kind of how I get this idea
But the Apogee sensor itself is super expensive start from 250$. Another more range one is like 440$, I don't think a sensor should cost this much.
That's why I'm looking for another sensor option.

[mitten_reef]

1 hour ago, xzkeee said:

That's why I'm looking for another sensor option.

I guess what I was suggesting is if you're going to DIY to be economical, why not just have your DIY sensor interfaces with a generic multimeter and leave it at that, vs doing arduino with display, etc.  But if you want to sell the whole thing as a package, then I think $150 seems like a really good deal. 

While i don't personally see a need for a PAR meter, I'd love to follow along on your DIY progress.  The DIY aspects of reefing is just as intriguing as the hobby itself....

 

 

[xzkeee]

On 10/14/2021 at 9:47 PM, mitten_reef said:

I guess what I was suggesting is if you're going to DIY to be economical, why not just have your DIY sensor interfaces with a generic multimeter and leave it at that, vs doing arduino with display, etc.  But if you want to sell the whole thing as a package, then I think $150 seems like a really good deal. 

While i don't personally see a need for a PAR meter, I'd love to follow along on your DIY progress.  The DIY aspects of reefing is just as intriguing as the hobby itself....

 

 

Making stuff myself is fun, I made lots of things myself.

Write Arduino code is quite fast.. takes me 1 night to make all this.
$150 is for the whole thing, an actual ready-to-use par meter, just like apogee.
 
Here is a video that shows how it works.

 

 

For my personal use ,at this stage is good enough, no need for a case.

Since not much people intersted about this, i gonna end this project here.

Just to prove this cheep way works quite good.

Thank you for your intrested!

[DaJMasta]

It's a neat project, but speaking from experience, there are a lot of 'budget' parts available from those other than reputable distributors that will advertise specifications they don't properly test for and often don't meet.  A lot of the time, most of the cost of this kind of measurement gear is in the testing and calibration of the readings and referencing them to known accurate sources, and that means while your unit may meet all the posted specifications and work as described, the only way to know for sure is to get the more expensive stuff (a meter to compare to, a calibrated spectroradiometer, an irradiance calibrated spectrometer, or even reference lamps and a test setup for them), and then demonstrate that your project is as accurate as the sensor claims.... and at that point it's usually cheaper to buy the reputable equipment from the company you know is testing things thoroughly.


That said, you probably don't need nearly the accuracy advertised to get a good PAR comparison in a reef tank (and PAR itself has plenty of limitation as a complete light output analysis), and if you can get your sensor to read within 10% of an accurate measurement, it will be plenty sufficient for mapping out light in your tank and adjusting corals appropriately, so it could be worthwhile.  Can't say about a $150 pricepoint - while it will appeal to some, either getting one on loan from your local club or "renting" one from BRS or similar with a buy and return for a restocking fee will probably suffice and be cheaper for a lot of people interested but not willing to buy a PAR meter for themselves.

[xzkeee]

On 2021/10/17 at AM1点00分, DaJMasta said:

这是一个整洁的项目，但从经验来看，除了信誉良好的分销商之外，还有很多“预算”部件会宣传他们没有正确测试并且经常不符合的规格。很多时候，这种测量设备的大部分成本都用于测试和校准读数并将它们引用到已知的准确来源，这意味着虽然您的设备可能符合所有发布的规格并按描述工作，确定知道的唯一方法是获得更昂贵的东西（要比较的仪表，校准的光谱仪，辐照度校准的光谱仪，甚至参考灯和它们的测试装置），然后证明您的项目是正如传感器声称的那样准确......然后它'把事情彻底搞定。 也就是说，您可能不需要几乎宣传的精度来在珊瑚缸中获得良好的 PAR 比较（并且 PAR 本身作为完整的光输出分析有很多限制），并且如果您可以让传感器在 10作为准确测量的百分比，它足以绘制水箱中的光线并适当调整珊瑚，因此它可能是值得的。不能说 150 美元的价格点 - 虽然它会吸引一些人，但从当地俱乐部租借一个或从BRS 或类似的“租借”一个购买并返回重新进货费用可能就足够了，而且更便宜很多人有兴趣但不愿意为自己购买PAR计。

 

Thanks for the reply! True, a cheap sensor may not have the same accuracy, may be way off. But even a 10%  difference is still good enough for a normal use case.

About 150 price point, the sensor plus all other components add up will cost 100$+, and other unknown potential costs, not interest to make it if under 150$.

But yes, still not a cheap price. Not many people are interested in this, so I decide to stop the project at the crappy version.

Ideally, I wish the par meter cost only 10$, just like a cheap lux meter.

Maybe someday someone will make it out.

[Tamberav]

I think $150 is a great price point. Would just think borrowing a apogee and comparing it would be worthwhile. If it is fairly close, then I would buy one.

 

I miss the days of buying DIY stuff. I still have a temp controller that a member was making and selling here and it still works great many many years later.