Hardware calibrations
Hardware calibrations serve as a method to get accurate performance from your Pioreactor.
Stirring calibration (optional)
You'll need the following:
- Pioreactor HAT
- Pioreactor sleeve
- Vial and stirbar
Internally, the Pioreactor will vary the amount of voltage to apply to the stirring motor to reach the desired RPM, however, this can take a few minutes. We can significantly improve this by asking the Pioreactor to create a "map" between voltage and RPM beforehand. Then the Pioreactor only needs to perform a lookup in the map to hit the desired RPM.
This is optional, but can really help stirring performance. Creating a stirring calibration is also very easy, so we recommend it.
Calibrating the stirring in the UI #

- Start by filling a Pioreactor vial about 3/4th with water, and place the stirbar inside. Close with lid. Place into the Pioreactor.
- From the web interface, in Pioreactors, find the Pioreactor you wish to calibrate. Click Calibrate.
- Click stirring.
- Click Start. The Pioreactor will increment the voltage applied to the motor, and record the RPM. After it's done, it will collect this data into a calibration curve, and store it locally.
You're done! Your stirring RPM should be much more responsive now.
Pump calibration
Calibrating a pump, like a low-volume peristaltic pump, is very important to accurately dispense or remove a target volume. There is no liquid feedback loop in the Pioreactor (unlike in the stirring & RPM relationship), so this calibration curve is important.
There are three pumps on the Pioreactor: media, alt-media, and waste. You don't need to have all three available, and can calibrate them one at a time.
You'll need the following:
- A Pioreactor
- A pump, with power connection to Pioreactor's PWM outputs
- An accurate weighing scale
- Container of water
Supplying external power? Make sure to plug in your external power before pump calibration!
Calibrating the pumps #

- We'll perform this routine through your computer's command line. Need help accessing it?
- Enter
ssh pioreactor@<insert unit name>.local
.- For example, to calibrate on our Pioreactor named worker3, we typed
ssh pioreactor@worker3.local
. - The default password is
raspberry
.
- For example, to calibrate on our Pioreactor named worker3, we typed
- Enter
pio run pump_calibration
. - Follow the prompts to calibrate your media, waste, and/or alternate media pumps.
- Calibrations can be performed depending on the frequency of your Pioreactor use.