[DaveG]

Hi,

I’m in south central PA and haven’t taken the probes out of the water for the winter.  It seems like that would defeat the purpose of monitoring conductivity spikes from road salt – after snow storms.

I know that the CTD probe isn’t supposed to freeze but I am leaving it deployed and checking it weekly when cleaning probes/swapping data cards.

The mayfly that I am using was deployed by a previous employee (since retired) at a different location and I think that it might have iced over in that deployment.  The depth data that I’ve been collecting has consistently been 265-270mm less that the staff gauge and I’ve been tracking the offset on a spreadsheet.  However, since the week of 12/27/22 the depth offset has been more in the 240mm range.  There was a severe cold snap around/just after Christmas and the edge of the deployment stream was frozen but it didn’t seem, from what I saw, that the probe was frozen or encased in any ice.

I’m hoping that the data will stabilize at a certain point and that the offset could possibly be programmed into the mayfly so that the depth reading is accurate – but the stabilization may not happen (or the range/variation) may be too great or random.  At which point it would probably be time to replace the mayfly because it is a first generation model that may not have seen the care that it needed.

So, after all of this, I think that the unit is supposed to remain deployed over the winter, but I’m not sure ho to protect the probe from freezing.  Your board and data ought to be ok otherwise, especially if your battery is getting and providing enough voltage.

Dave

[DaveG]

Hi,

Thank you for reaching out.  I haven’t updated the UUID on the mayfly because I’m not clear on how to do it and not mess up the sketches that it is running.  Not having attended a mayfly workshop, I don’t really know much about coding/reprogramming the unit.

Any advice/instructions you could provide would be greatly appreciated.  I’ve pestered Shannon enough already.

Thanks again for reaching out.

Dave

[DaveG]

Hi Shannon,

Thank you once again for your thoughtful and thorough reply – as well as for your patience and understanding of my Mayfly ignorance for not having attended a workshop.

I greatly appreciate you sharing your time and knowledge.  Your reply above is quite helpful.

The board already has corrosion issues on the main chip- likely humidity related as you mentioned – but it appears to be functioning properly at this point.  I will suggest that we purchase a new board (and some desiccant) so we can replace it if/when it fails.  There doesn’t seem to be any humidity impacts on the battery.

Our board is simply recording data to a micro sd card and we will be entering it on the network – but I wanted to make sure that it is functioning properly before I created the account and uploaded the data.

Thank you again for your kindness and support.  It is greatly appreciated!

Dave

[DaveG]

Hi Shannon,

Thanks for the info.  I downloaded the drivers at the link provided and restarted my computer but still no additional ports appear when Arduino is open and the mayfly is connected, turned on.

I’ve ordered a new micro usb/usb-c data cable that should be arriving today.  This will let me check on 2 variables; 1) it will allow me to have a new data cable with all new pins, 2) it will allow me to bypass the apple dongle that converts the standard usb connection to a usb-c.

Additionally, I’ll try connecting it to a pc this afternoon following the tutorials that Beth sent.  If none of these steps work, then I’ll get the “friend” from Adafruit.

Finally, the mayfly was previously used for monitoring CTD and turbidity.  I will be using it for the same purposes, just at a different location.  The sketch should be on the Mayfly already but without accurate time/date information, the data doesn’t have much value – and I can’t correct the time and date without making a connection to the computer, correct?

Thanks again for your time and help.

[DaveG]

Thank you.  I’ve seen some of the videos but the guide should be important for the most relevant sessions in the videos.

Dave

[DaveG]

It’s ALIVE!

St. Patrick’s Day miracle…

Chip cleaned with 91% but still a bit corroded – but Adafruit CP2104 manually attached (not soldered) and iMac picked up the com port, I adjusted baud rate until gibberish became legible.  Will have the adapter soldered together and we should have a working machine.

Thanks so much for your time and help!

Dave

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[DaveG]

Thanks, Shannon.

I’ll try to clean it up a bit this afternoon but I think the corrosion is pretty bad – based on the image.

I’ll keep an eye out on Amazon to see when the single boards become available.

Thank you again for your time and help.

Dave

[DaveG]

Hi Shannon,

We got the Adafruit adapter and sent it and the board to a local university where our intern is from to have the engineering dept. do the soldering.  A couple of issues came up.  One is that the pattern on the Adafruit adapter doesn’t match the screen printing on the board… but the bigger issue is that the artel/main chip looks like it has seriously corroded connections. So, it may not be fixable or worth fixing.  I couldn’t find an individual board available for sale.  Do you know when they may be available?  We don’t need/can’t afford a 5 pack and amazon doesn’t have single boards.  Do you have any top secret knowledge that you could share about when single boards might be available and what they would cost?

Thanks again for your time and help.

Dave

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[DaveG]

Hi Shannon,

I replaced the battery with a new one when I started this process of trying to revive the Mayfly.  The original battery may have still been good, but it was several years old and the unit has been sitting for a year or so – so I figured it would be best to start fresh with a new battery.

The board doesn’t have a modem so time syncing can’t happen that way.  It isn’t a feature we’re likely to add to the Mayfly, either.

Hopefully I’ll get this unit to connect to a pc, if not then we’ll have to go the Adafruit way.

thanks again for your time and help.

 

[DaveG]

Thanks.  I’ve done everything the video shows already, but there is no additional port popping up when I turn on the mayfly.

[Author]

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