PondM8

Is there any interest in prototype units without the Air Pump function - £250 each which is cost (max 3 to be made)

You can tell winter is here, time to start making some units

First unit ready to go. Before it does though a few software tweaks to make management easier

4 in the final stages

A quick post showing the primary screens

Discounting the App and website (local and remote), I love the portability of this screen.

New version sensor pack fitted and working beautifully

Keeping an eye on things from work

Well, the board was sound but the sensors were operating at a different voltage. New board later and both can be adjusted depending on what the sensor needs and I'm again doing trials to make sure it's all good and stable.

After thousands of pounds I think I'm either very nearly there now or I'm giving up as I can't afford and vulnerabilities that would cause support issues.

Half full, I think it's nearly there!

New Shotgun PCB, a more robust design

It's been a long journey

The latest M8

The first ever M8

My 2 favourite night mode screens

2 previous designs had errors, better luck with V2.

New site pump pressure sensor added to the base unit

Unfortunately I'm halting production of further units until I resolve some assembly issues that are plaguing me. I am unable to identify the problem at present and this is resulting in wastage that I can't afford to continue to experience.

Apologies, I'll shout when I've made headway

Final environmental test - 18 months unprotected component check.

When I deployed my PondM8 I didn't apply any protective coating to any of the components. This was through design so I could monitor the durability of the design in its "raw" state, providing a measure of robustness when exposed to the elements.

18 months in I have finally experienced intermittent operation of the ambient environment sensor and you can see from the photos that light surface corrosion was the cause.

I'm pleased to say that a light rub with alcohol easily removed this and all is operating as expected again.

Your units will have protection applied and so I am confident that durability will not be an issue. I'm also pleased to note the main unit, without any additional cleaning or maintenance, had held up superbly.

If only the supply chain situation improved we'd be streaming ahead

Not yet happy with the functionality of the audio alarm. Should be done in the next few days.

Calibrating the temperature sensors. Wait for the Adjusted temps to stabilise, then reload and make adjustments to the offsets.

It's important to let the temps stabilise, you can see this happening by watching them move away from the True values. When this movement stops you can adjust the offsets and commit the values to memory.

Top tip: reload the page before adjusting

So the last tester was unfortunately not resources well spent and left me a little poorer with no data or feedback to show for it. The 5 units being finished off now therefore will be available as a prototype (fully functional and comes with updates etc) but also at a cost as I can't afford to release these otherwise. Details to follow but they should be available soon on a first come first served basis.

UK first although the USA trial went well and I may consider one going out to the States

New web hosting committed to, initially to commission new PondM8s and hold your config data. This will expand to capture environmental data.

9 months in and I'm sure they don't even know PondM8 is there

Testing PondM8 in the USA whilst I'm out here. All good so far 👌

My favourite bit

Productive night tonight

4 more little PondM8s are born