Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Product sources Cheapest source for a DO probe?

Have not been around in a while, been teaching myself some other useful skills. I am looking for the least expensive source for a dissolved oxygen probe. I have been messing around with Arduino microcontrollers and sensor networks, and have a breadboarded setup with air temp, humidity, barometric pressure, water temp(tested in a bucket), and pH (from hacked cheap unit I had). Once I have the DO added I may try for measuring akalinity and water clarity before soldering it up and casing it for placement and testing at the pond. Lots of other options could be added, and hard to decide where to stop.

AES has one in the $200.00 plus range in their catalog. I think it's a YSI.

So all of this for a recreational pond? Whatever floats your boat but you'll find the pond parameters except temp and diurnal PH won't change much and it will get boring.

Personally I'd put the money into something else on the pond.

You will never stop! It is addictive!

There is a place on the web that sells DO sensors with 4-20ma output, from California. They may have other Analog/options available.

It is a project helping me learn some programming(Arduino and Processing). The DO meter is the only part that could not really be repurposed into a home weather station. Maybe I will just skip the DO since that is more than twice what I have in the whole thing so far. I was just hoping there was something less expensive out there.

The other problem with a DO probe for continually monitoring DO is that DO probes are fairly "touchy" and sensitive due to their design of using a permeable memberane to sense DO. Leaving the probe in the water all the time is bad for it's accuracy because a biofilm (first bacteria then algae) will quickly start growing on the membrane and cause inaccurate readings.

That is very true Bill. Everything needs to be cleaned on a regular basis.

The CIP units for sensors are way too expensive, so manual cleaning is necessary. Some sensors can not be powered on for extended periods of time or you'll fry them, so you have to keep that in mind.

Thanks for the heads up on membranes and that 4-20mA one was optical and way out of my price range(but no membrane to foul). Maybe I will just skip it or find one on fleabay. I can always add whatever I want later. Someone already had this idea and sells an Arduino compatible board set up for a DO sensor on fleabay for $30, but sensor and connector sold seperately.

Those Arduino kits are pretty neat. I'll have to look into them more.

The complete DO kit is 185.00, which seems reasonable for what it is.

You might look into optical disolved oxygen probes. They do cost more, but they do a better job and they require less maintenance.