Completed PCB BOARD
Completed PCB Board connections
Key Issues & Findings:
- We solved the issue of the metal connections below the relay and Arduino touching the PCB board by inserting PCB connectors onto both the PCB and the relays.
- One of our biggest hurdles was trying to solder all the components together.
- At times, some of our components could not work properly as we did not solder them onto the PCB board securely and this led to us resoldering the components multiple times
- Moreover, we failed to provide isolation for some of the pins on the PCB board, resulting in the pins being connected to the entirety of the GROUND layer of our PCB.
- This resulted heat dissipation on these pins, making it hard for us to melt the soldering metal onto the pins and connect our components.
- Overall, our PCB is now functional and has allowed us to compact our components together in and greatly reduce the number of wires required for our product.
pH calibration
Calibrating pH sensor at pH = 7
BEFORE CALIBRATION
AFTER CALIBRATION
Key Issues & Findings:
- One issue we faced throughout the development of our product is pH calibration
- There were times where our pH readings just became very off and as such there was a need to recalibrate our sensors often.
- We suspect this is due to the sensors being taken in and out of water tanks often.
- To attempt to solve this, we first conducted a 2 – point pH calibration at pH level 4 and pH level 7.
- We then decided that we should leave the pH sensors in the water tank throughout and never take them out unless absolute necessary.
- Through this, we were able to ensure that the pH of our sensors did not fluctuate rapidly and were about +- 0.1 pH away from the true readings.
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