Help accessing my new-to-me Robo Tank controller

Fish Fan · Sep 30, 2024

Hey all!

I bought a used Robo Tank controller system some time ago, and never really did anything with it, but I would be thrilled to get this up and running

I was inspired today to pull out what I've got, and right away I realized that I don't know how to connect to the Pi in the Robo Tank controller. It doesn't have an HDMI port. I do know about SSH and headless systems, but this was purchased used and ostensibly set up on a network other than my home network. And even if I could find the Pi I wouldn't know any of the passwords or anything the previous owner setup.

How can I get access to this Pi? Is there a reset or something I can do on it? I have no idea what Pi version is in there, should I just open up the Robo Tank case and see if there's an HDMI port on this Pi?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Again, I'd be thrilled to get this working! Thanks guys!

Fish Fan · Sep 30, 2024

Well I did open the case, and of course it's a Pi Zero. Looks like it does have a micro HDMI, but me without my cable....

I pulled the MicroSD card, formatted it, and loaded the Raspberry Pi OS using the imager linked in this document (it's the main Raspbery Pi imager):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fED4R1cvlrzFk_XTM1_NAxNrTJSN7COY/edit

Everything seemed to install just fine, but I still cannot SSH into this Pi. I can't find it on the network. During the install I added my local network SSID and Password (<double checked), enabled SSH and selected to use a password. I've tried the install several times now trying both the default Pi Hostname: raspberrypi and I've tried my own names, like "FragTank".

I cannot find this Pi on my network. I tried 'ping raspberrypi' and 'ping raspberrypi.local' from my command prompt, and get "could not find host". If this Pi is on my network, I should be able to ping it, but I can't.

I tried using Advance IP scanner to list every device on my network, and I don't see the Pi, but it is possible I'm just missing it.

Can anyone help me past this please? I'd really appreciate it, I'd love to get this going!

Thanks in advance for your help!

robsworld78 · Oct 1, 2024

Fish Fan said:
Well I did open the case, and of course it's a Pi Zero. Looks like it does have a micro HDMI, but me without my cable....

I pulled the MicroSD card, formatted it, and loaded the Raspberry Pi OS using the imager linked in this document (it's the main Raspbery Pi imager):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fED4R1cvlrzFk_XTM1_NAxNrTJSN7COY/edit

Everything seemed to install just fine, but I still cannot SSH into this Pi. I can't find it on the network. During the install I added my local network SSID and Password (<double checked), enabled SSH and selected to use a password. I've tried the install several times now trying both the default Pi Hostname: raspberrypi and I've tried my own names, like "FragTank".

I cannot find this Pi on my network. I tried 'ping raspberrypi' and 'ping raspberrypi.local' from my command prompt, and get "could not find host". If this Pi is on my network, I should be able to ping it, but I can't.

I tried using Advance IP scanner to list every device on my network, and I don't see the Pi, but it is possible I'm just missing it.

Can anyone help me past this please? I'd really appreciate it, I'd love to get this going!

Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi is your wifi setup as 5.8 GHz? The Pi Zero is only 2.4 GHz so it won't work on 5.8. Hopefully your router allows you to connect using 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz.

It is good that your did a fresh install and you'll have to use the default user name of "pi" for the Raspberry Pi.

Fish Fan · Oct 1, 2024

robsworld78 said:
Hi is your wifi setup as 5.8 GHz? The Pi Zero is only 2.4 GHz so it won't work on 5.8. Hopefully your router allows you to connect using 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz.

It is good that your did a fresh install and you'll have to use the default user name of "pi" for the Raspberry Pi.

I have never had a Pi Zero before, so I didn't realize that about the networks. Yes, I have been trying to use my 5.8 GHz, it's what my laptop is connected to, and was auto-filled in by the Raspberry Pi Imager.

I will try again on the 2.4 GHz network, I'm sure that's the problem. After that I will follow the rest of that install guide to get RoboTank installed.

Thank you very much for your help!!!

robsworld78 · Oct 1, 2024

Fish Fan said:
I have never had a Pi Zero before, so I didn't realize that about the networks. Yes, I have been trying to use my 5.8 GHz, it's what my laptop is connected to, and was auto-filled in by the Raspberry Pi Imager.

I will try again on the 2.4 GHz network, I'm sure that's the problem. After that I will follow the rest of that install guide to get RoboTank installed.

Thank you very much for your help!!!

Sounds good, that should work.

Fish Fan · Oct 2, 2024

Alright, I changed the network, and was able to SSH into the Pi.

I updated the Raspberry PI OS, then installed the RoboTank software following your guide I linked in my first post. I could not install the stable version 6.6, it complained of 'file not found' or similar (I did this last night), but the install of version 6.7 went through without an error. So for now I'm running the less stable version, but I'm not worried at all, this isn't going on a tank just yet, this is just for me to learn how to set all this up

I now have the software installed on the Pi, and the Pi back in the controller. I'm looking online, and I cannot find the next step, so to speak. How do I setup up RoboTank/Reef-Pi from here? Is the Reef-Pi webserver already running?

I really appreciate your help with this! I have this RoboTank system, and I want to get this going for a frag tank I'm building. But if this works well, I want to get another complete system for a new display tank I'm planning.

Thanks, Rob, I really appreciate your help here!

robsworld78 · Oct 3, 2024

Fish Fan said:
Alright, I changed the network, and was able to SSH into the Pi.

I updated the Raspberry PI OS, then installed the RoboTank software following your guide I linked in my first post. I could not install the stable version 6.6, it complained of 'file not found' or similar (I did this last night), but the install of version 6.7 went through without an error. So for now I'm running the less stable version, but I'm not worried at all, this isn't going on a tank just yet, this is just for me to learn how to set all this up

I now have the software installed on the Pi, and the Pi back in the controller. I'm looking online, and I cannot find the next step, so to speak. How do I setup up RoboTank/Reef-Pi from here? Is the Reef-Pi webserver already running?

I really appreciate your help with this! I have this RoboTank system, and I want to get this going for a frag tank I'm building. But if this works well, I want to get another complete system for a new display tank I'm planning.

Thanks, Rob, I really appreciate your help here!

Great, good to hear. 6.7 is working well so there shouldn't be any major issues. This software doesn't work with reef-pi, it's using Apache for the webserver. If you start any more threads about this maybe post them over at the "Aquarium Controllers" section.

Aquarium Controllers

This forum is dedicated to all Aquarium Controller Discussion. Share your experience as well as learn from others.

www.reef2reef.com

Have you logged into the app? If not you access it through a web browser using the IP address you used for SSH. Once you log in you go to "settings" and then "configure ports" screen. From there you can enable and configure the various ports for what you need. Once you do that things will appear where they should. It looks like you have a temp sensor, if you plug that into a temperature port on the main controller it'll be detected and ask for a custom name.

For those white non-contact sensors you have, you plug those into the correct port on the sensor extension and set the jumper, here's manual showing that. Then on the "configure ports" screen you click on the port you plugged it into, enable it, set it as a "non-contact" sensor and it'll appear on the dashboard. Then you can use that sensor in the "custom rules" to control equipment.

Robo-Tank Sensor Module Wiring Diagrams.docx

Sensor Extension Wiring Diagrams Safety Reminder READ & FOLLOW ALL SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS DANGER Never handle electrical equipment with wet hands special care should be taken since water is employed in the use of aquarium equipment Do not attempt repairs to commercial equipment ...

docs.google.com

Fish Fan · Oct 3, 2024

Thanks again!

Sorry, I thought RoboTank was built over Reef-Pi, so I thought I was posting in the right place. Is there a section in the controller forum for RoboTank?

Man, I didn't even know Apache was still being used lol! But it sounds like the server is running, I will try to log in later.

I am probably missing a cable or two, and would need some help with the sensors, but for now I'm just trying to get the software up and check it out.

Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate it!

robsworld78 · Oct 3, 2024

Fish Fan said:
Thanks again!

Sorry, I thought RoboTank was built over Reef-Pi, so I thought I was posting in the right place. Is there a section in the controller forum for RoboTank?

Man, I didn't even know Apache was still being used lol! But it sounds like the server is running, I will try to log in later.

I am probably missing a cable or two, and would need some help with the sensors, but for now I'm just trying to get the software up and check it out.

Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate it!

No worries, the aquarium controller section is for all controllers so it's ok there but yeah if you were using reef-pi here is good.

I believe Apache is still the number one server worldwide but it slowly losing dominance. It's very reliable same with MySQL.

Let me know how it goes.