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Holt Systems

Aerator power failure alarm: know which pond went dark

We fit sensors on your incomer, generator and every pond feeder, so a text tells you which pond lost aeration and why.

  • WatchesIncomer, generator, each feeder
  • You getA text naming the pond
  • Sends byStarlink or 4G, no site wifi
Get a quote for aerator power alerts See the SMS alerts or call 07 2150 3666
Aerator power failure alarm on a pond farm: sensors, feeders and alert path Plan of a four pond prawn or fish farm. A tidal creek feeds an intake pump station and a supply channel that fills four ponds. Each pond has a row of three paddlewheel aerators on its own feeder, F1 to F4, from the main switchboard. The switchboard also holds a changeover between the utility supply and a standby diesel generator. Orange sensors sit on the utility incomer, on the generator running contact and on each of the four feeders. Pond 3 is drawn with a dead feeder reading 0 A in red while the farm supply is healthy. Sensors report by LoRaWAN radio to a gateway on the shed roof, which sends alerts over Starlink or 4G to a dashboard and to SMS and email. A panel compares two cases. With one feeder dead, the incomer is present, the generator is on standby, feeders F1, F2 and F4 read ok, F3 reads 0 A, and the alert says Pond 3 stopped, supply healthy. In a farm wide outage the incomer is lost, the generator is not running, all four feeders read 0 A, and the alert says farm supply lost, no generator. Tidal creek Intake pump station Supply channel Sensor Radio link Aerator Power feeder Pond 1 feeder F1 F1 Pond 2 feeder F2 F2 Pond 3 feeder F3 F3 0 A Pond 4 feeder F4 F4 Main switchboard Changeover Incomer Utility supply Running contact Standby diesel generator LoRaWAN Gateway on shed roof Starlink or 4G Dashboard SMS and email Panel One feeder dead Farm-wide outage Incomer present lost Generator standby not running Feeders F1 ok F1 0 A F2 ok F2 0 A F3 0 A F3 0 A F4 ok F4 0 A Alert Pond 3 stopped, supply healthy Farm supply lost, no generator
Plan of a four-pond farm, not to scale. Orange sensors on the utility incomer, the generator running contact and feeders F1 to F4 send by LoRaWAN radio to a gateway on the shed roof. Starlink or 4G carries alerts out. Pond 3 is drawn dead with supply healthy, beside a farm-wide outage.

8 to 12 t

A typical dissolved oxygen crash can lose 8 to 12 tonnes of prawns in one pond.

Source: CSIRO

7,924

Fish died when an aerator fault shorted one pond's aeration overnight in November 2017, valued at $175,960.

Source: Stockhead, reporting Murray Cod Australia

up to 15 kW/ha

1.5 kW paddlewheels were reported peaking around 15 kW of aeration per hectare in an Australian study.

Source: Global Seafood Alliance

One pond's aerators stop at 2 am and the farm power is fine

On a pond farm, aeration is what keeps the stock alive. An aerator power failure alarm has to tell you which pond has stopped, and why.

The supply, the generator and each pond's feeder can all fail on their own. A breaker trips on pond 3 while the lights stay on and the shed sounds normal.

  • Mains lost: the whole farm goes quiet.
  • Generator didn't start: the backup let you down.
  • One feeder dead: one pond is dark, the rest sound fine.

How an aerator power failure alarm tells one pond from the whole farm

  1. 1

    A sensor on every feeder

    A current clamp on each pond's aerator feeder reads the running current of that paddlewheel row.

  2. 2

    Incomer and generator too

    A battery-backed sensor watches the mains. A dry contact reports if the generator is running.

  3. 3

    Radio to the shed roof

    Sensors send by LoRaWAN (long range wide area network) radio to a gateway on its own battery or UPS.

  4. 4

    Starlink or 4G sends the text

    The alert names the pond or the farm supply. If the gateway goes quiet, a site silent alert follows.

Pond farm alerts

  1. 2:08 am

    Pond 3 still at 0 A. Sent to all nominated people.

  2. 2:41 am

    Pond 3 aerator feeder back to 8.1 A. Normal.

What lands on your phone when a pond goes dark

Three texts from the same night: one pond down, then escalated, then back to normal.

Pond farm alerts

  1. 2:03 am

    Pond 3 aerator feeder at 0 A for 2 min. Farm supply healthy. Check feeder.

  2. 2:08 am

    Pond 3 still at 0 A. Sent to all nominated people.

  3. 2:41 am

    Pond 3 aerator feeder back to 8.1 A. Normal.

Messages go to the people you nominate, by SMS to any phone.

Pond 3 aerator feeder current

Dashboard view

Farm supply
Healthy
Generator
Standby
Pond 3 feeder
0 A
0 4.1 8.2 Below running current 1:001:302:002:30 A
Example reading for a row of three 1.5 kW paddlewheels. Your feeder values are set at commissioning.

What we fit on a pond farm

Sensors go on the incomer, the generator and each feeder. One gateway covers the lot.

  • Mains loss sensor

    Sits on the incomer side of the main switchboard and keeps sending after the mains drops.

    Own battery

  • Feeder current clamp

    Split-core clamp on each pond's feeder, downstream of its breaker, reading the aerator row.

    One per pond

  • Generator run input

    Reads a dry contact from the generator controller to see if it's running.

    Escalates after 3 to 5 min

  • Gateway on the shed roof

    Picks up every sensor by radio, on its own battery or UPS.

    Heartbeat every 20 min

  • Starlink or 4G backhaul

    Sends the text out, on the same protected supply as the gateway.

    Starlink where mobile is poor

The same night, with and without a text

Without monitoring

  1. 2:00 amPond 3 feeder trips. Aerators stop.
  2. 2:10 amNothing sounds wrong. The farm is powered.
  3. 5:30 amFirst walk of the day finds still water.

With monitoring

  1. 2:00 amPond 3 feeder current drops to zero.
  2. 2:03 amText names pond 3 and says supply is healthy.
  3. 2:20 amYou reset the feeder, or send someone.

Today versus with an aerator power failure alarm

TopicTodayWith monitoring
One feeder tripsFound on the next walk round the pondsA text names the pond within minutes
Farm-wide outageA mains alarm, if it has a batteryIncomer lost, all feeders zero, generator status shown
Generator fails to startFound when someone checks the shedNo run signal alerts everyone on the list
Alarm goes quietYou find out when you need itNo heartbeat raises a site silent alert

On a pond farm

We walk the switchboards, trace each feeder to its aerator row, check the generator and changeover, and test radio at every sensor point.

To watch the paddlewheels themselves, see pond aerator monitoring. For the water, see the prawn pond oxygen alarm.

Running a farm with a few sites? See the farm power failure alarm. Want generator hours logged? See generator run hours.

Rows of aquaculture ponds divided by earth walls
Illustrative photo. Photo: Jubayer Hossain on Pexels

What it costs

We set a fixed price after a short scoping call or site visit. It depends on how many ponds and feeders, how far the gateway is from the sensors, and how it gets out. Ongoing support is available as a plan after handover.

Get a quote for aerator power alerts

The fixed price covers

  • Sensors on the incomer, generator and each pond feeder
  • Gateway, battery or UPS and Starlink or 4G backhaul
  • Installation and electrical work under QLD Electrical Contractor Licence 1513082
  • Alert set-up: who gets the text and the order they're called
  • Commissioning, alert tests and training
  • An ongoing support plan after handover, with a weekly test message

What this alarm won't do

  • It reads supply and current, not dissolved oxygen. Water quality is a separate job.
  • Current flowing doesn't prove the paddles are turning.
  • It tells people. It won't start an aerator, a generator or emergency oxygen, and it isn't a certified safety system. Your generator auto start and oxygen alarms stay.
  • A gateway battery is finite. A long outage can end in silence, which the site silent alert reports. Texts reach only phones with coverage.
  • Alerts go to the people you nominate. We support the system behind them: design, install, then a plan for faults, batteries and tuning.

With you every step

How the five stages go on a pond farm, with feeder labels, generator arrangement and isolation windows settled at the first visit.

  1. 1

    Discovery

    We walk the switchboards, trace each feeder to its aerator row, check the generator and changeover, and test radio at each sensor point.

  2. 2

    Design

    You get a written scope: monitored feeders, incomer and generator signals, gateway, backhaul, recipients and escalation timings.

  3. 3

    Build and test

    We bench test the sensors, gateway and alert rules, including a supply loss and a silent-site test, before anything reaches the farm.

  4. 4

    Install and commission

    We do the switchboard work one feeder at a time under Licence 1513082, then time the alerts on your phones.

  5. 5

    Ongoing support

    You get the recipient list, alert rules and test log, with weekly test messages running and support arranged.

Why Holt Systems

We design, install and commission every system ourselves, then look after it with an ongoing support plan. Monitoring supplements the site's own control, protection, fire and safety systems; it does not replace them.

Alerts
SMS to any phone, no app
Based in
Brisbane, QLD
Electrical licence
QLD 1513082
After install
Ongoing support plans
Call
07 2150 3666

Aerator power failure alarm questions

Will the alarm still work when the farm loses power?

Yes. The incomer sensor has its own battery. The gateway runs from a battery or UPS with its backhaul on the same supply: about five days on 4G or about a day on Starlink, on an assumed 100 Ah battery. When it finally goes quiet, the missing heartbeat raises a site silent alert.

How does it tell one dead feeder from a farm-wide outage?

Each feeder has its own current sensor, read against the incomer. Incomer lost and all feeders at zero is a farm-wide outage, and the generator signal shows if backup took over. Incomer healthy and one feeder at zero means a fault on that pond, and the text names it.

Does it replace our generator, oxygen probes or emergency oxygen?

No. It tells nominated people that the supply, the generator or a feeder has failed. It doesn't start anything, measure oxygen or supply backup oxygen. Global Seafood Alliance reports US guidance pairing notification of at least two people with backup oxygen, so the two work together.

Is an aeration alarm required on Queensland prawn farms?

We didn't find an Australian rule requiring backup power or aeration alarms on Queensland prawn farms, and didn't review the industry's environmental code of practice. Check that code and your environmental authority conditions. Either way, the loss figures above are the commercial case.

How fast will the text arrive?

We design for under 5 minutes from supply loss to phone. The sensor and radio take seconds, a delay filter takes 1 to 2 minutes, and delivery depends on the phone's coverage. We time it on your phones at commissioning, and we don't promise it.

Sources

  1. Water quality tool for prawn farming, CSIRO
  2. Murray cod loses 8k fish in pond oxygen failure, Stockhead
  3. Cyclone Larry hits prawn farmers badly (22 March 2006), The Fish Site
  4. Study in Australia keys on aeration, pumping demands, Global Seafood Alliance
  5. Backup oxygen and power systems are essential insurance (Ebeling and Hightower, 2010; US), Global Seafood Alliance
  6. Queenslanders urged to Get Ready for storm season (8 October 2018), Queensland Government statements

Get a quote for aerator power alerts

Tell us what you need to watch and where. We confirm the sensors, gateway location and alert recipients, then give you a fixed price.

Or email hello@holtsystems.com.au

Your details are handled in accordance with our privacy policy.

  1. 1

    Tell us about the site

    A few lines on the assets, distances and what you need to know about.

  2. 2

    A call to scope it

    We confirm the sensors, gateway location and alert recipients, and whether a site visit is needed.

  3. 3

    Fixed price

    You receive a defined scope and a fixed price before any work starts.

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