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

[buddy.]

happy new year Australia !

Happy new year! Here is a snap from Sydney Harbour last night

 

[Ranjib]

Is the BOM linked here still accurate, or are there changes to it? I'm going to start a build shortly (probably can't use the Reef-Pi base boards since I'm trying to incorporate my existing power, thermocouple, etc)...

It is still accurate, but its always a good idea to start a thread or let us know the things you want and the BOM and we can review it for you

Hello guys !

i just setup new water level sensors, i have one on GPIO 16 that is set has the LOW LEVEL WARNING,

i want a pump to stop when that sensor is out of water, the pump is on AC4


SO, when i activate AC4, when the water level reaches the sensor, i want the AC4 to turn off.

i can't find how to do this.

Thanks

you can declare an inlet in reverse mode (theres a checkbox for it), and then declare an ato to associate that inlet with the equipment you want, and since you have deliberately specified the inlet in reverse mode, it will act opposite, i,e. turn on the equipment when water is above the level and turn it off if the water is below the expected level. Is that what you want? It will be easier to think about alternatives if you can describe what you are trying to achieve instead.

 

[Ranjib]

Happy new year! Here is a snap from Sydney Harbour last night

Spectacular thanks for sharing

 

[Ranjib]

I added another Sparkfun temperature probe to my build but I am having issues with some of the readings. As you can see from the temperature graph, I will randomly get erroneous temperature readings of -1000 to -3000 from this new probe.

I know people have reported problems with extending the cable for their sensors but both cables for my temperature sensors are exactly the same length. I am running the latest release of reef-pi 2.0
I occasionally get errors like "temperature sub-system. Failed to read sensor Display. Error:First line of device file does not ends with YES" but not at the times associated with these erroneous readings.

Any ideas on what could be causing the issue?

Another problem has been email alert notifications. I receive the "test" email without problems but I realized that I am not receiving other notification emails. For example, I set this probe to send alerts if temp is below 77 and nothing was sent. There is an error message "535 5.7.8 Username and Password not accepted. Learn more at 5.7.8 https://support.google.com/mail/?p=BadCredentials k18sm21237749ioa.39 - gsmtp" but if there's a problem with the username or password, how come the test email comes through without difficulty?

it means checksum failure of that probe (during data reading). Can be either due to faulty probe and resistor/power configuration. If this is persistent, try only one probe attached, individually, to confirm that both are indeed alright. If not, replace the bad probe. If probes are confirmed as good , then try with both sensor along with 10K resistor and 5V power & pull up

 

[Ranjib]

Hello

I'd like to create a continuous feeder using the dosing pump design

The section about controlling the direction of the pumps interested me as it would be ideal to have the pump run in one direction to feed and then in the opposite direction to clear the tubes to prevent spoiling of the food within the tube line

Is this possible in the coding or is it a case of setting the direction once in the settings?

You dont need programming knowledge (like coding), you should be able to do this with UI , using a combination of timers/macros to turn the virtual equipment on/off in conjunction with the dosing regimen

 

[Ranjib]

How customizable is the UI for reef-pi? Is it basic javascript/JSON or something similar?

what do you wabt to customize ? the frontend (UI) is a single page react app and we also use bootstrap for css and font-awesome for icons

 

[ScottF83]

You dont need programming knowledge (like coding), you should be able to do this with UI , using a combination of timers/macros to turn the virtual equipment on/off in conjunction with the dosing regimen

Excellent!

I'd like to find the time to build it in the next few weeks and then I'll probably be asking for your help to achieve this within the UI

Happy new year!

 

[Kampo]

what is the resolution of LED dimming using a PCA9685. i'm trying to setup a moon light for a couple hours after effective lights out. so I figured if I set say 8pm to 1percent I assumed it would dim down to 0 between 8 and 10. but it turns off at 8pm using this setting. is there any plans to add more fine control of the leds?

 

[dmolavi]

what do you wabt to customize ? the frontend (UI) is a single page react app and we also use bootstrap for css and font-awesome for icons

Since I'm not going to be using the ADJ strip, I already have a python-based UI written for my power controller, and I'd like to integrate that into the existing UI (I can easily change it to HTML/JSON).

 

[Bigtrout]

@OllieNZ - there are mixed reviews on the SS temp probes. Some people have had good results and some have had bad results i.e. - large variance in temp from one probe to another, early sensor failure, tough time figuring out a good way to coat the SS, etc.
@theatrus was going to be conducting some different materials/methods for coating the SS. Perhaps he'll chime in here too.

The problem is threefold:
Is the sensor a real ds18b20?
Is it real stainless? What grade?
How did they crimp/seal the end?

As in all things china made there is alot of variance.
The adafruit ones are more expensive but get good reviews.
I bought 2 from drok before xmas that had a nice double crimp at the end, silicone cable insulation, and are shielded...made in Canada, but alas they are gone on amazon.

 

[bishoptf]

Happy New Year!

I joined just to say thanks to Ranjib Dey for putting the project together and providing the guides an documentation. I think git hub also mentions a couple of other people that help out Vincent le Goff and Michael Lane , not sure if they read the forums but wanted to also thank them also. Thanks any forum members that have also helped move this along.

I'm not a reef guy, just a fresh water planted tank (novice at that) but have three small tanks (10G, 5G and a 2.5G) that I play with and have been looking for something that could help monitor the temps and cut off the heaters if they get stuck heating which they are known to do. Not sure why its so difficult to make a decent heater but looks like no one does from what I can see. They do make some ink bird controllers that will doo what I wanted but I would need three of them and just makes a mess for the wiring with each unit and timers etc. I came across the reef pi project while searching and I was hooked immediately. I do IT/IS work during the day time and quite comfortable with the software side of things big believer and user in open source software/projects. I knew i would have no issues with that but I've only done limited soldering work, mainly removing/replacing bad caps and splicing wiring so I wasn't sure how well I would do with the electronics side of things but I like to learn and tinker so it became my project over the holidays. I ended up purchasing a low cost solder station (decent but something to start with) and a Hakko chisel tip and did some practicing and followed the ADA fruit guides.

I was able to complete three guides (software, power and temperature 3 probes) and have everthing working. My biggest issue and one that I will have to get better with is how to hold components on the board when its upside down, lol. Other things that frustrated me were that my case was thicker than the stereo plugs and I had to counter sink them etc, just little things like that. I think it will be a good platform to expand on if needed which brings up a couple of questions.

I do have some questions since I like to understand things, I had a couple of clarifications I would make to the power guide for us electronic noobs, but the main one is I still am not sure how to read the pinout to the serial connector. I have mine working but had to basically remove all of the pins and connect each one to pin 1 and see which channel it turned on. I have it working but would like to know what I am missing with that one. The other question is I would like to control my lights, they are not the fancy kressel ones but simple and led unit (china made) Chihiros A series. They have a a dimmer feature that is connected to each light and allows you to turn up and down the intensity. They do make a inline controller like this - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Sma...iros-A-series-RGB-plus-C-LED/32859450598.html that does what I am looking for basically it steps up and down the intensity of the light. I need to take my multimeter to the current dimmer and figure out how it works but what I am hoping is that someone could suggest how I could get this to work. This would allow me to ramp the lights up and down instead of just turning on and off.

Sorry for the long winded but wanted to show some appreciation for all the hard work. I would also like to offer some support, not sure if you need any additional help, but willing to help if there is some way I can contribute and help out.

 

[b4tn]

I had thought about buying some DS18B20 from a reputable place like mouser or digikey. They look just like transistors in a t092 package. Then just make my own with some acrylic tubing and silicone but the problem is they seem to be discontinued. I can’t find any of the chips for sale. Only the probes that may or may not be the actual thing.

 

[Bigtrout]

I had thought about buying some DS18B20 from a reputable place like mouser or digikey. They look just like transistors in a t092 package. Then just make my own with some acrylic tubing and silicone but the problem is they seem to be discontinued. I can’t find any of the chips for sale. Only the probes that may or may not be the actual thing.

Its a different part number the ds18b20+
Here are just the chips
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/maxim-integrated/DS18B20/DS18B20-ND/956983

 

[Ranjib]

Happy New Year!

I joined just to say thanks to Ranjib Dey for putting the project together and providing the guides an documentation. I think git hub also mentions a couple of other people that help out Vincent le Goff and Michael Lane , not sure if they read the forums but wanted to also thank them also. Thanks any forum members that have also helped move this along.

I'm not a reef guy, just a fresh water planted tank (novice at that) but have three small tanks (10G, 5G and a 2.5G) that I play with and have been looking for something that could help monitor the temps and cut off the heaters if they get stuck heating which they are known to do. Not sure why its so difficult to make a decent heater but looks like no one does from what I can see. They do make some ink bird controllers that will doo what I wanted but I would need three of them and just makes a mess for the wiring with each unit and timers etc. I came across the reef pi project while searching and I was hooked immediately. I do IT/IS work during the day time and quite comfortable with the software side of things big believer and user in open source software/projects. I knew i would have no issues with that but I've only done limited soldering work, mainly removing/replacing bad caps and splicing wiring so I wasn't sure how well I would do with the electronics side of things but I like to learn and tinker so it became my project over the holidays. I ended up purchasing a low cost solder station (decent but something to start with) and a Hakko chisel tip and did some practicing and followed the ADA fruit guides.

I was able to complete three guides (software, power and temperature 3 probes) and have everthing working. My biggest issue and one that I will have to get better with is how to hold components on the board when its upside down, lol. Other things that frustrated me were that my case was thicker than the stereo plugs and I had to counter sink them etc, just little things like that. I think it will be a good platform to expand on if needed which brings up a couple of questions.

I do have some questions since I like to understand things, I had a couple of clarifications I would make to the power guide for us electronic noobs, but the main one is I still am not sure how to read the pinout to the serial connector. I have mine working but had to basically remove all of the pins and connect each one to pin 1 and see which channel it turned on. I have it working but would like to know what I am missing with that one. The other question is I would like to control my lights, they are not the fancy kressel ones but simple and led unit (china made) Chihiros A series. They have a a dimmer feature that is connected to each light and allows you to turn up and down the intensity. They do make a inline controller like this - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Sma...iros-A-series-RGB-plus-C-LED/32859450598.html that does what I am looking for basically it steps up and down the intensity of the light. I need to take my multimeter to the current dimmer and figure out how it works but what I am hoping is that someone could suggest how I could get this to work. This would allow me to ramp the lights up and down instead of just turning on and off.

Sorry for the long winded but wanted to show some appreciation for all the hard work. I would also like to offer some support, not sure if you need any additional help, but willing to help if there is some way I can contribute and help out.

Thank you for the kind words and a warm welcome to reef2reef.
The adj power strip does not have a guide that explains the pinout (which pin in db9 connector controls which outlet). I had to do something similar (create all 8 outlet, create 8 equipment with those and then connect a table lamp in one of the outlet and alternatively turn them on in ui to figure out which one maps to which). This is a one time effort during the setup and I don’t know if the setup is same across all power strips.
I’ll look into the light and get back to you .
I use a tape to stick the components on perma board while soldering then in upside down position. Sometime I just lay them flat on the soldering table directly . I had to learn this hard way as well. I think a video tutorial will help with things like this.
We could use all the help you can offer around coding or testing or documentation. Let me know if you are interested , just drop your email in a PM to me and I’ll add you in the developer slack channel where we do most of the development chattering

Happy new year and thank you for giving reef-pi a shot

 

[Ranjib]

what is the resolution of LED dimming using a PCA9685. i'm trying to setup a moon light for a couple hours after effective lights out. so I figured if I set say 8pm to 1percent I assumed it would dim down to 0 between 8 and 10. but it turns off at 8pm using this setting. is there any plans to add more fine control of the leds?

Pca9685 is 12bit which maps to 0-4095 equal steps, which reef-pi again maps to 0-100% (and can be a fraction value). Check with multimeter what voltage reading you are getting at 0,1,50,99 and 100%

 

[Kampo]

Pca9685 is 12bit which maps to 0-4095 equal steps, which reef-pi again maps to 0-100% (and can be a fraction value). Check with multimeter what voltage reading you are getting at 0,1,50,99 and 100%

I did some messing arround with it this morning, it is defianatly not maping to 12bit. Had blues set to 0 at 6am, and 2 at 8pm. they clicked on at 7pm, when it would be exactly 1

 

[Ranjib]

I did some messing arround with it this morning, it is defianatly not maping to 12bit. Had blues set to 0 at 6am, and 2 at 8pm. they clicked on at 7pm, when it would be exactly 1

They were on with full brightness ? It would be easier to texts if you just manual change the intensity with ui and measure the voltage

 

[Kampo]

They were on with full brightness ? It would be easier to texts if you just manual change the intensity with ui and measure the voltage

no it was 1% not "full" ill see if I can break out the multimeter

 

[theatrus]

The problem is threefold:
Is the sensor a real ds18b20?
Is it real stainless? What grade?
How did they crimp/seal the end?

As in all things china made there is alot of variance.
The adafruit ones are more expensive but get good reviews.
I bought 2 from drok before xmas that had a nice double crimp at the end, silicone cable insulation, and are shielded...made in Canada, but alas they are gone on amazon.

With the sub dollar ones, questions 1 and 2 are very much no and “crap” . The end is potted into the pill, I haven’t cut one apart yet (soon!). No cables shields and generic PVC jacket.

The adafruit ones look very similar, I’ll buy one and do some destructive testing.

 

[bishoptf]

Thank you for the kind words and a warm welcome to reef2reef.
The adj power strip does not have a guide that explains the pinout (which pin in db9 connector controls which outlet). I had to do something similar (create all 8 outlet, create 8 equipment with those and then connect a table lamp in one of the outlet and alternatively turn them on in ui to figure out which one maps to which). This is a one time effort during the setup and I don’t know if the setup is same across all power strips.
I’ll look into the light and get back to you .
I use a tape to stick the components on perma board while soldering then in upside down position. Sometime I just lay them flat on the soldering table directly . I had to learn this hard way as well. I think a video tutorial will help with things like this.
We could use all the help you can offer around coding or testing or documentation. Let me know if you are interested , just drop your email in a PM to me and I’ll add you in the developer slack channel where we do most of the development chattering

Happy new year and thank you for giving reef-pi a shot

I checked out the dimmer attachment with my multimeter, its a seven step dimmer, at full blast its putting out 12.19v, when I step it down one notch it doesnt stay constant, its always moving although you can see that it has lowered the voltage. It cycles from 10.9 to 12, always moving and does this with each step down. Looks like the bottom setting is 5.9 to 7 or there abouts kind of hard to get the readings since it cycles constantly. This will probably make sense to electronic users but looks like they step down the voltage which is what I assumed but not sure why it cycles like it does.