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

[GK3]

Having some power issues tonight with a thunderstorm. While there's a USB battery between the wall and the Pi, it still seems to lose power when the power drops for a second. When it comes back and the Pi boots again. The web services don't seem to come up gracefully. I need to reinstall the services and restart everything with the following commands to get it working again.

sudo dpkg -i reef-pi-2.3-pi3.deb
sudo systemctl status reef-pi.service

The temp services seem to be started with the reboot, just not the web services. ideas?

What usb battery are using and how do you have it connected?

 

[Ranjib]

on the subject of power supplies,
what amperage would you guys recommend for the 12v supply?
i see the adafruit guide calls for 1A whereas i see a few posters using 3 - 5A

given the choice what would be the best ?

I won’t recommend anything above 3a with the components described in the adafruit guides. Those guides are based on 22 or 28 awg jumper wires , the perms Proto boards are also rated for 2-3a at max. So if some one is using above 3a circuit , they should reconsider all the components ground up,

 

[Ranjib]

@Bigtrout look at this new buck converter that I purchased. The lm2596 converter that I have on reef-pi has been pretty solid but I have another rpi build for another project that I used one on and the voltage drops over time. It's not constant but I noticed the red power led flashing from time to time and when I checked the voltage it was a tad low.

This converter is based on an xl4015, supposedly support 5amps vs the lm2596 which is 3amps. I know neither will really support that rating but wanted to see if this will be more stable in my other build. I think it's drawing more power since it has to power a ADS-B usb receiver. It even ces with a stick on heatsink, that's got to make things work better, lol.

I wonder if those coils can cause any type of interference with other circuit components

 

[Bigtrout]

I wonder if those coils can cause any type of interference with other circuit components

Good observation, and good question.

When I populated my case I tried to keep 120v and my power supplies seperate from the rest of my build because of potential interference.

If the inductor is tuned to the circuit design there is probably minimal interference. IF being the keyword, as there are alot of buckpucks being made from many different manufacturers.

 

[Bigtrout]

I won’t recommend anything above 3a with the components described in the adafruit guides. Those guides are based on 22 or 28 awg jumper wires , the perms Proto boards are also rated for 2-3a at max. So if some one is using above 3a circuit , they should reconsider all the components ground up,

Good point! Another option if you use a bigger power supply because you feed several items is to individually fuse each feed at 3 amps.

 

[bishoptf]

I won’t recommend anything above 3a with the components described in the adafruit guides. Those guides are based on 22 or 28 awg jumper wires , the perms Proto boards are also rated for 2-3a at max. So if some one is using above 3a circuit , they should reconsider all the components ground up,

This is good advice I will add though that like in my case I am using a 12v 5amp power supply but feeding 12v directly to 2 rpi pwm LED lights outputs, so my power input is split to drive both the rpi and the lights. It depends on how you want to do things but you should know what your amperage is going to be and ensure it's not flow across components that cannot support the amperage.

The other way to do it is to use multiple inputs etc, different way to do things for sure and it's good that you considering these things before the build.

 

[bishoptf]

Good point! Another option if you use a bigger power supply because you feed several items is to individually fuse each feed at 3 amps.

Good point mine are not fused but that is a really good suggestions, I will need to think about going back and doing that at least to the 5v feed going to the rpi. Would need something small that would work, the other option I have thought about is to feed from the buck to the USB power input. Supposedly they have a more protections built into where the power feeds into the micro USB input.

 

[Bigtrout]

Good point mine are not fused but that is a really good suggestions, I will need to think about going back and doing that at least to the 5v feed going to the rpi. Would need something small that would work, the other option I have thought about is to feed from the buck to the USB power input. Supposedly they have a more protections built into where the power feeds into the micro USB input.

On the dc side automotive blade and miniblade fuses are good up to 32volts. Easy to find anywhere. An inline fuseholder may work.

Another idea thats small is a panel mount screw cap fuseholder.

 

[b4tn]

My aqueon pro heaters are great, with room temp varying 5 degrees, they keep the aquarium at 78 and only vary .3 degrees at most.

@Bigtrout I am super impressed with my Aquaeon Pro 300 watt heater. My sump temp stays at 79.025 and display 78.575 +/- .1 and as you can see the .1 dips are not even that often. Much more smooth and consistent than the eheim that is now a backup. Reef-pi is set to shut the heater off at 79.2 for safety. With reward points and online price matching I picked up the heater at Petco for $11.

 

[bishoptf]

@Bigtrout I am super impressed with my Aquaeon Pro 300 watt heater. My sump temp stays at 79.025 and display 78.575 +/- .1 and as you can see the .1 dips are not even that often. Much more smooth and consistent than the eheim that is now a backup. Reef-pi is set to shut the heater off at 79.2 for safety. With reward points and online price matching I picked up the heater at Petco for $11.

I have three aqueon pro's 100w but none of them keep in the range that you guys are talking about, mine are all about 1.5 degree swing. I am doing 1 min checks, but they are nowhere near that tight of a range, interesting. Although I do think they are one of the better heaters out there, but heaters in general are not that good.

 

[Matt Carden]

I don't know if this has already been brought up, Has anyone considered moving these reef-pi related threads to the aquarium controller section?

 

[bishoptf]

I don't know if this has already been brought up, Has anyone considered moving these reef-pi related threads to the aquarium controller section?

I think reef-pi should have it's own section but I'm biased.

 

[Ranjib]

@Bigtrout I am super impressed with my Aquaeon Pro 300 watt heater. My sump temp stays at 79.025 and display 78.575 +/- .1 and as you can see the .1 dips are not even that often. Much more smooth and consistent than the eheim that is now a backup. Reef-pi is set to shut the heater off at 79.2 for safety. With reward points and online price matching I picked up the heater at Petco for $11.

Yes, had the exact same observation. Fluval is better in terms of fluctuations compared to Eheim .

 

[Ranjib]

I don't know if this has already been brought up, Has anyone considered moving these reef-pi related threads to the aquarium controller section?

The project itself is not a product, which is why we don’t have a dedicated sub forum, there’s also concern around if we will have enough volume in terms of posts/activity etc. but we do have our #reefpi tag, and you can of course post reef-pi related content in the controller section as long as it’s relevant. But I think it fits the current diy section just fine

 

[Ranjib]

Yes, had the exact same observation. Fluval is better in terms of fluctuations compared to Eheim .

Oops..I see you are talking about aqueon. Mine are fluval,

 

[b4tn]

Anybody used these at all? Looks like input is 5-12 volts either high or low trigger and they have an 8 amp AC load current.

https://www.amazon.com/Widewing-Cha...d+state+relay&qid=1557410056&s=gateway&sr=8-9

 

[stefanm]

Anybody used these at all? Looks like input is 5-12 volts either high or low trigger and they have an 8 amp AC load current.

https://www.amazon.com/Widewing-Cha...d+state+relay&qid=1557410056&s=gateway&sr=8-9

That looks nice, expensive though, but definitely a respectable option.

 

[b4tn]

That looks nice, expensive though, but definitely a respectable option.

I am guessing they are relatively new. I was never keen on the solid stay relays boards that are flooding ebay and amazon because they where only 2 amp. At a minimum I would want things to be 5 amp so you have some wiggle room. I saw these and tried to find more but they all ship from China with no reviews and spendy. The price ranges from $20-$60.

 

[bishoptf]

@Ranjib something I am looking at is moving to Centos arm build, lots of reasons but for me is I can freeze thing and just apply security updates for 10 years without all of the software upgrades. Now if new features are needed etc that's a different story but wanted to throw it out there that I'm waiting for Centos 8 userland to be released and will the start poking at getting it working.

If anyone might be interested in the out come let me know and I can post what I find out. I understand since it will be different from the standard raspbian install that I will be kind of on my own but curious to see if it will be something that will work, I use RHEL at work and at home for some servers, some pros and cons but I like the long support cycles since I'm pretty lazy

 

[Bigtrout]

Anybody used these at all? Looks like input is 5-12 volts either high or low trigger and they have an 8 amp AC load current.

https://www.amazon.com/Widewing-Cha...d+state+relay&qid=1557410056&s=gateway&sr=8-9

Reading the specs on the relays on thia board, it may be a good option for general equipment at 5 amps or less.
It maybe expensive but you get what u pay for with relays