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wow - there are so many memes you can use for this! This is great info @FlaMike !! My probes were working fine but I decided to change them annually back in march since I was just running the cheap consumer probes. This year, for some reason, it did not like the new probe. I followed your issues and went out and bought some rubber washers to try and isolate any potential interference and in the process, disconnected and reconnected the ORP probe may times. At least for now, it seems to be stable as of May 1. But you can see the ~2 months of instability below starting in March when I changed the probes.
Looks like the new gold probes requires a 3/4 NPT tap out - which I've avoided all this time 😂, but if it can provide stability and many years of use, I'd have to take another look at doing that. |
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great to hear - I'm making due with my old consumer probe but will definitely be on the look out for a lab grade gold probe when it's time to rebuy next year. Please let them know of my interest! |
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Will do! |
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Update du jour on gold ORP probes. I've just been informed that Atlas-Scientific expects to have the lab-grade probes available for purchase in July. If you anticipate needing a lab-grade ORP probe in the near future, you may want to keep an eye on their web site. Nothing much else to report on my experiment since yesterday. In my pool the gold probe readings appear to be stable and more-or-less as one would expect. |
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Great timing! Thanks for the update. |
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OK, I've been running the industrial gold ORP probe for almost two weeks. In my pool (saltwater), the gold probe is much more stable & its output appears to be much more reliable than the platinum probe ever was. Had the gold probe been available and recommended for saltwater pools several months ago and I purchased it originally, I likely would have saved myself much grief & hand-wringing. In addition, I may have saved the fine folks who crafted, update, & support njspc & REM many posts as I was seeking help with my chemistry challenges. In short, if you have a saltwater pool & are looking for an ORP probe, it may very well be worthwhile to pay the premium for the gold ORP probe rather than the platinum one. I do not know of is any advantage to using the gold probe in non-saltwater pools, but the folks at A-S do not indicate it is needed. You may want to check with them prior to purchasing, however. |
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I was eager for Atlas’ lab grade gold ORP probe, but no sign of it exists, yet. I bought Sensorex’s gold lab grade probe for $150, shipped. Will report back on my results. |
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Gee, I have no idea what happened to A-S' lab grade gold probe. The tech support guy who was helping me seemed confident 6-7 weeks ago that the lab probe would be available in July. I've not looked or inquired since my last posting about it. Perhaps a note to tech support if you're in the market would be worthwhile? I hope the Sensorex probe works as well for you as well as A-S' gold industrial probe works for me--it's been rock solid since I installed it. |
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Atlas now has a lab grade gold ORP sensor for sale. $99. My Sensorex gold one has been fairly stable so far. No "crashing" or inverse-sensing like the platinum one did. I'll get this Atlas one and see how it does. Still collecting data to see if there's some correlation between FC and mV, but seems useful so far, unlike the platinum. |
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Glad to hear your Sensorex gold probe is working well and that A-S finally has their lab-grade gold probe available. Good to have solid options! I'll be interested to hear about your A-S lab grade experience, whenever you get one. Not sure why it took so long to get gold probes for saltwater pools, but based on a very limited sample of folks reporting, they seem to be far superior to platinum. |
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I like the Atlas probe better than the Sensorex. It seemed like the sensorex needed "seasoning" whereas the Atlas probe worked correctly right out of the box. Sensorex started at 400 and then over 3 weeks gradually rose to the "correct" reading of 750. When I put the Atlas probe in, it immediately read 750. I have the Sensorex in my spa and the Atlas in my pool, separate bodies with roughly the same chemistry. I run pH of 7.6 and FC of 4 with CYA brought to 25 at the start of each season, so really, CYA could be anywhere from 25 to 0. So I target an ORP of 750 which corresponds to manual testing of 4 FC. Anyway long story short: when my Sensorex needs replacing I will be getting the Atlas probe. |
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Thanks for posting your experience with the two probe options! It's a little surprising the two probes behave differently initially, but eventually agree. In any event, very helpful information all around! I guess the bottom line is to stick with A-S & use gold if you have a saltwater pool. |
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I've been having an ongoing conversation with Jordan, a tech support person at A-S regarding instability of the readings from my ORP probe. The probe is a Gen 3 model with an SMA connector that was installed by A-S. It's been in service for about 3 months and never seemed provide reliable readings for more than a few days at a time.
I've done a fair amount of troubleshooting and modification to the installation to reduce/eliminate static, interference from other electrical lines, etc. to no avail. Jordan finally asked me if the pool is saltwater. Yep, it is. To which Jordan replied as follows (and this is a direct quote).
Oh...
That explains what's going on.
A few weeks ago, I had a long conversation with a pool company, and they were talking about the need for gold ORP probes.
For reasons that are unclear to me, platinum ORP probes behave differently in saltwater pools.
In a pool that uses old-school chlorine tablets, the ORP readings go to ~800+
But in a saltwater pool, platinum ORP readings are ~40% lower.
The timing of all this is quite unusual.
Because, behind the scenes, I had been working on a new type of ORP probe for the oil industry.
A gold ORP probe.
(Because a platinum ORP probe can react with the oil like a catalytic converter, VERY BAD!)
Jordan suggested I try their brand spanking new Gen 3 ORP probe that uses gold instead of platinum. He offered me a discount on the probe since I've been having problems with my probe & been working with him for the past few months. This morning I ordered the new probe & hope to have it installed in a week or so (the usual delivery time from A-S).
I plan to report my experience with the gold probe once it's been installed & running for a week or so.
In the interim, if you are getting an ORP probe from A-S and have a saltwater pool, you may want to consider getting the gold probe instead of the platinum model. A link to the probe is below. Like the other Gen 3 probes, you can get it with the SMA connector already installed, potentially saving some time & headaches.
https://atlas-scientific.com/probes/gen-3-industrial-orp-probe-gold/
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