reef-pi :: An opensource reef tank controller based on Raspberry Pi.

[Ranjib]

Ranjb and all,

I am planning to buy components soon. I have looked at the BOM and the list you have here in the thread, but I am not sure what components to purchase for my immediate use and "wish list"

I will be purchasing a Sbreeflight either 2 channel or 3 channel after I build this controller.

Need components to control the following at this time:

Heater and fan controller based on tank temperature
Refugium light on and off timer and power - opposite of DT light
PH
Salinity
Alkalinity
Display - not sure what size

Future (possibly a larger aquarium)

ATO - not sure what function other than monitoring?
LED 2 or 3 channel
Additional moon lights if LED 2 channel above - I think it would be very cool to have this based on lunar cycle
four circulation pumps on and off plus speed control
Main return pump on and off
wifi?

Is there a way to have the controller send a text or message? This would open new areas to explore.

For people like me, it might be easier to list the components required to support each item in the list. I realize that some items will and can be used for more than one item.

I will create a How To as I am building these components and adding and configuring the software. As you mentioned, we can place where others can use the information. I believe you want to use this : https://reef-pi.github.io/build-guides/01_power/

Current purchase list - with comments regarding the component use (anyone, please correct as necessary)
Pi 3 - 16mb memory and power supply - used to as the controller, software storage, and memory.
Sainsmart 4 channel relay - should I get a 6 channel or larger? - not sure what this is used for?
kanakit's ds18b20 temp probe - used to detect tank temperature

I would say for the time being:
6 channel relay.
Raspberry pi 3
3 pair of electrical receptacles
Pca9685 breakout board
Ds18b20
Official pi touchscreen (can buy this later also, when you have a housing and wiring a are all done )
Jumper wires (are comfortable with soldering ? You can either buy female /male jumpers or create them )
Micro sd card
Frmale electrical socket with fuse and switch
5 volt 2.5 amp micro USB power supply

 

[Ranjib]

Got my temperature controller housing done.
Electronics:
Pi zero, ds18b20 , two channel ssd relay, right angle 3.5 mm audio jacket male with bare wires, 3.5 mm female panel mount audio jack, a 4.7k resistor

 

[Cary]

I would say for the time being:
6 channel relay.
Raspberry pi 3
3 pair of electrical receptacles
Pca9685 breakout board
Ds18b20
Official pi touchscreen (can buy this later also, when you have a housing and wiring a are all done )
Jumper wires (are comfortable with soldering ? You can either buy female /male jumpers or create them )
Micro sd card
Frmale electrical socket with fuse and switch
5 volt 2.5 amp micro USB power supply

Thanks Ranjib. I will start sourcing the items.

It has been some time since I soldered, but I should be able to do it. Regarding the temperature probe, do I need to buy a temperature sensor go with the probe?

 

[Ranjib]

Ranjb and all,

I am planning to buy components soon. I have looked at the BOM and the list you have here in the thread, but I am not sure what components to purchase for my immediate use and "wish list"

I will be purchasing a Sbreeflight either 2 channel or 3 channel after I build this controller.

Need components to control the following at this time:

Heater and fan controller based on tank temperature
Refugium light on and off timer and power - opposite of DT light
PH
Salinity
Alkalinity
Display - not sure what size

Future (possibly a larger aquarium)

ATO - not sure what function other than monitoring?
LED 2 or 3 channel
Additional moon lights if LED 2 channel above - I think it would be very cool to have this based on lunar cycle
four circulation pumps on and off plus speed control
Main return pump on and off
wifi?

Is there a way to have the controller send a text or message? This would open new areas to explore.

For people like me, it might be easier to list the components required to support each item in the list. I realize that some items will and can be used for more than one item.

I will create a How To as I am building these components and adding and configuring the software. As you mentioned, we can place where others can use the information. I believe you want to use this : https://reef-pi.github.io/build-guides/01_power/

Current purchase list - with comments regarding the component use (anyone, please correct as necessary)
Pi 3 - 16mb memory and power supply - used to as the controller, software storage, and memory.
Sainsmart 4 channel relay - should I get a 6 channel or larger? - not sure what this is used for?
kanakit's ds18b20 temp probe - used to detect tank temperature

Alakalinity and salinity is not supported yet. I dont have any immediate plan for those currently :0(

Thanks Ranjib. I will start sourcing the items.

It has been some time since I soldered, but I should be able to do it. Regarding the temperature probe, do I need to buy a temperature sensor go with the probe?

yup, thats the ds18b20 from kanakit or sparkfun, with plastic cover

 

[Ranjib]

Thanks Ranjib. I will start sourcing the items.

It has been some time since I soldered, but I should be able to do it. Regarding the temperature probe, do I need to buy a temperature sensor go with the probe?

Keep us posted on your lighting equipment choice (T5s or halides or LEDs, which brand etc), the electronics might differ based on what type of light your choose.

 

[Cary]

I will be purchasing an sbreeflight led. it will be a 2 channel and using 0-10 not pwm.

I will want to add to this moon light leds (I have some 420nm leds but I am not sure they are dimmable) that I can sync to the lunar cycle. This would be a 3 channel, I assume

I do have a rather stupid question. When I buy the pi 3, does the operating system come preinstalled or do I need to buy the sd card with noobs or something else on it?

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I do have a rather stupid question. When I buy the pi 3, does the operating system come preinstalled or do I need to buy the sd card with noobs or something else on it?

Not a stupid question at all. Some Pis come with an SD, but unless it's a package, they usually don't have one included.

You can either buy a card with Noobs or install it yourself. I personally have lots of SD cards laying around. So I just grab one and install Raspbian. If you're buying an SD card, it's not much more expensive to buy one with Noobs preinstalled. It's also not too difficult to copy over the image yourself if you want.

It's worth knowing how to reformat the card just in case you need to reformat and start from scratch. Still, I don't think it's wrong to do it either way. Whatever feels best to you.

 

[Aaron Smith]

I think that's what Ranjib was trying to tell everyone on page 22 when he said it wasn't working for https. Anyway glad I could clarify.

I thought you were reffering to my post back on page 5......

I am connected via Ethernet.

To access reef-pi, do I go to my web browser (on pi) and type HTTPS://localhost:8080 ?

I was simply stating that back when that post happened, Ranjib was having to hold my hand every step of the way. LOL!

I have had reef-pi operating ever since then.

 

[Ranjib]

I will be purchasing an sbreeflight led. it will be a 2 channel and using 0-10 not pwm.

I will want to add to this moon light leds (I have some 420nm leds but I am not sure they are dimmable) that I can sync to the lunar cycle. This would be a 3 channel, I assume

I do have a rather stupid question. When I buy the pi 3, does the operating system come preinstalled or do I need to buy the sd card with noobs or something else on it?

You have to buy a micro sd card and write the image to sd card. Some places sell kits that pre-enclude them, but I'll suggest writing raspbian image by yourself. 1. It will be handy to know how this process is done, 2. You can ensure that you are creating the card from latest raspbian image (I recommend raspbian if you are using display & pi 3, raspbian lite with pi zero and no display ).
Go for an sd card with at least 8 GB memory, and class 10, and it will be nice to have wear leveling in it. Most SanDisk 8 GB cards are good (SandDisk Ultra are even better) . They should cost aroun 8-12 $USD. I would not be terribly concerned if you get couple of cheap ones. Whatever you do, get at least 2 cards, 1 extra for backup.

Once you get the sd card, you can write raspbian image into it, instructions are here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/

 

[Aaron Smith]

It's worth knowing how to reformat the card just in case you need to reformat and start from scratch. Still, I don't think it's wrong to do it either way. Whatever feels best to you.

I re-formatted my SD so many times during this project, I am half tempted to pull it and start with a new one now that I know more about what I am doing!

 

[Ranjib]

I re-formatted my SD so many times during this project, I am half tempted to pull it and start with a new one now that I know more about what I am doing!

Most thing we learn to do nicely is in three passes. Some random philosophy

First pass: I have no idea what I am doing, result is something that solves what my problem was but turns out quiet different that I imagine.
Second pass: I now know what I am doing and what I want, so my start and end goal is similar and the creation is not janky. But still it is not efficient or reliable. .. in short its not in par with best manufacturing practices
Thrid pass: We know what we are doing, we built exactly what we intended, and it is on par with best known practices (or with known and understood compromises)

My learning from making things

 

[Aaron Smith]

@Ranjib, Is the PI zero build stable as a lighting controller only? I am thinking of going ultra small form factor and converting my PI 3 to an HTPC.

 

[Ranjib]

@Ranjib, Is the PI zero build stable as a lighting controller only? I am thinking of going ultra small form factor and converting my PI 3 to an HTPC.

Yup. It's rock solid. Not only it pi zero compatible, the lighting controller had a set of critical bug fixes as well.. you should be good to go.

 

[Ranjib]

I will be purchasing an sbreeflight led. it will be a 2 channel and using 0-10 not pwm.

I will want to add to this moon light leds (I have some 420nm leds but I am not sure they are dimmable) that I can sync to the lunar cycle. This would be a 3 channel, I assume

I do have a rather stupid question. When I buy the pi 3, does the operating system come preinstalled or do I need to buy the sd card with noobs or something else on it?

Check this one out: I think in most cases you should be able to work with 10v pwm instead of 0-10v analog.
All LEDs are dimmable , i think . Thats the PWM trick i think, unlike incandescence light, LED dimming are basically switch on/off at very fast rate. So I am pretty sure you can dim your blue leds. I will be testing my biocube's moon light bar with reef-pi, I'll keep you updated.

 

[Cary]

Thanks Ranjib, ChipmonkOfDoom2, and Aaron. Since I am a writer (technical), I ask a lot of questions. I have already started some notes to help others. I need to check my laptop at home and see if I have sn SD slot. I believe I do. I also run Mint Linux, but haven't really spent much learning it because the interface is so windows-like. Will get back to you soon and continue reading until I have something for review.

 

[Ranjib]

Ranjb and all,

I am planning to buy components soon. I have looked at the BOM and the list you have here in the thread, but I am not sure what components to purchase for my immediate use and "wish list"

I will be purchasing a Sbreeflight either 2 channel or 3 channel after I build this controller.

Need components to control the following at this time:

Heater and fan controller based on tank temperature
Refugium light on and off timer and power - opposite of DT light
PH
Salinity
Alkalinity
Display - not sure what size

Future (possibly a larger aquarium)

ATO - not sure what function other than monitoring?
LED 2 or 3 channel
Additional moon lights if LED 2 channel above - I think it would be very cool to have this based on lunar cycle
four circulation pumps on and off plus speed control
Main return pump on and off
wifi?

Is there a way to have the controller send a text or message? This would open new areas to explore.

For people like me, it might be easier to list the components required to support each item in the list. I realize that some items will and can be used for more than one item.

I will create a How To as I am building these components and adding and configuring the software. As you mentioned, we can place where others can use the information. I believe you want to use this : https://reef-pi.github.io/build-guides/01_power/

Current purchase list - with comments regarding the component use (anyone, please correct as necessary)
Pi 3 - 16mb memory and power supply - used to as the controller, software storage, and memory.
Sainsmart 4 channel relay - should I get a 6 channel or larger? - not sure what this is used for?
kanakit's ds18b20 temp probe - used to detect tank temperature

Thanks Ranjib, ChipmonkOfDoom2, and Aaron. Since I am a writer (technical), I ask a lot of questions. I have already started some notes to help others. I need to check my laptop at home and see if I have sn SD slot. I believe I do. I also run Mint Linux, but haven't really spent much learning it because the interface is so windows-like. Will get back to you soon and continue reading until I have something for review.

awesome. We can use your help to review reef-pi guides then

 

[Cary]

I am happy to help.

 

[denierlexiese]

@Ranjib I got npm and node install on ubuntu 14.04 - version stats are listed below. When I run the webpack build command, i do get a 4.6 Megabyte ui.js file in assets now, that's good. However after make bin, and restarting the webserver I still get a blank home.html at the root url of localhost:8080/ . I added a div tag to home.html ensure that I could serve text. No issues. Then when I click on the src link in home.html under "view page source" for /assets/ui.js I get a 404. Perhaps that is ok because maybe I'm going through a middleware dispatcher in the go language / reef pi - IDK. I added the below code to server.go to make sure I could see the ui.js file. Comes up in firefox html editor with no issues - all 4.6 Megabytes of text.

http.HandleFunc("/js", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
log.Println("hello js")
//~/reefP/src/github.com/ranjib/reef-pi/
http.ServeFile(w, r, "/reefP/src/github.com/ranjib/reef-pi/assets/ui.js")
})


~/reefP/src/github.com/ranjib/reef-pi$ npm --version
5.3.0
~/reefP/src/github.com/ranjib/reef-pi$ node --version
v8.2.1
~/reefP/src/github.com/ranjib/reef-pi/api$ nodejs --version
v0.10.25

 

[Ranjib]

@Ranjib I got npm and node install on ubuntu 14.04 - version stats are listed below. When I run the webpack build command, i do get a 4.6 Megabyte ui.js file in assets now, that's good. However after make bin, and restarting the webserver I still get a blank home.html at the root url of localhost:8080/ . I added a div tag to home.html ensure that I could serve text. No issues. Then when I click on the src link in home.html under "view page source" for /assets/ui.js I get a 404. Perhaps that is ok because maybe I'm going through a middleware dispatcher in the go language / reef pi - IDK. I added the below code to server.go to make sure I could see the ui.js file. Comes up in firefox html editor with no issues - all 4.6 Megabytes of text.

http.HandleFunc("/js", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
log.Println("hello js")
//~/reefP/src/github.com/ranjib/reef-pi/
http.ServeFile(w, r, "/reefP/src/github.com/ranjib/reef-pi/assets/ui.js")
})


~/reefP/src/github.com/ranjib/reef-pi$ npm --version
5.3.0
~/reefP/src/github.com/ranjib/reef-pi$ node --version
v8.2.1
~/reefP/src/github.com/ranjib/reef-pi/api$ nodejs --version
v0.10.25

Can you describe your development environment little bit more. Are you on a laptop ? or using pi to develop directly. How you are invoking the reef-pi command , i.e. from which directory and whats the config file?.
The versions look ok. `nodejs` binary is irrelevant, only `node` matters. `nodejs` is ubuntu's old node js package.
If you have run `./node_modules/.bin/webpack -d` successfully and got an ui.js file, then npm and nodejs issues should not impact. After that its only go serving static file.

From you HTTP 404 error, I would assume that go file server is not able to find the ui.js file in proper location. Code: https://github.com/ranjib/reef-pi/blob/master/api/server.go#L40 & https://github.com/ranjib/reef-pi/blob/master/api/server.go#L59 .
Can you remove all the changes you made, and share the reef-pi invocation details (i.e. directory and configuration file) , and the log output.

 

[denierlexiese]

@Ranjib I got it. The GUI is up and running now on my ubuntu x86_64 desktop. ReefPi is expecting the executable to be called from the reef-pi directory path instead of the reefpi/bin directory.