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

[burningbaal]

I have a question will reef-pi work on the pi 4? I would like to build another one using the 3.0 and build it with a pi 4

Mine is a 4 I don't have it all set up, but it seems to be running

 

[brandon clow]

Mine is a 4 I don't have it all set up, but it seems to be running

I have been running a pi4 on 2.x and 3.0 alpha without any issues for sometime now.

 

[Bigtrout]

These reports are good...i want to upgrade my pi 0 to a 3b or 4 so I can just run an ethernet line to it...one less wireless thing on the network, plus my tank is only 10 feet from my router

 

[burningbaal]

See if there is anything listed in devices

pi@reef-pi: cd /sys/bus/w1/devices
pi@reef-pi: ls

You should see something that starts with 28-XXXX

If that's not there, it's probably a wiring issue.

It's almost certainly a wiring issue. I checked the amazon listing for the probes I bought, they say yellow is data , black is ground (red is power). I soldered colors to match, which conflicts with Michael's hat listing on tindie. I'll fix it tonight and see if I can ssh in.
I tried to ssh in real quick from my phone (random ssh app) and couldn't get in this morning, I'll try from my macbook tonight. I may need to change the system settings on the pi to allow ssh...darn

 

[sfgabe]

These reports are good...i want to upgrade my pi 0 to a 3b or 4 so I can just run an ethernet line to it...one less wireless thing on the network, plus my tank is only 10 feet from my router

If you want to keep using the zero, you can add an eth port to it with a dongle like this one on the middle micro usb port

 

[StevieShizzlesBE]

Has anyone use reef-pi and a diy led setup using the meanwell ldd drivers?

I have 5 of them running a diy AI Hydra 26 HD on a 24V (soon 36V or 48V for more units) meanwell switching power supply , works like charm, and easy to setup. You'll need a PCA9685 depending on how many channel.

 

[Ranjib]

I have 5 of them running a diy AI Hydra 26 HD on a 24V (soon 36V or 48V for more units) meanwell switching power supply , works like charm, and easy to setup. You'll need a PCA9685 depending on how many channel.

wow :0-) thats awesome. Thanks for sharing this information, and a warm welcome to reef2reef

 

[Bigtrout]

If you want to keep using the zero, you can add an eth port to it with a dongle like this one on the middle micro usb port

I know about those dongles. Im looking at getting a better pi for future proofing my reef-pi. I already have other designs for the pi zero
Now that I have proven out my reef-pi as reliable, there is a kid down the street whos getting into aquariums. His mom doesn't have alot of money. Seeing as how he could get into alot worse things than a good hobby I am gonna do my permanent "Cadillac" reef -pi build and can donate my spare parts to help him get a reef pi going.

 

[StevieShizzlesBE]

wow :0-) thats awesome. Thanks for sharing this information, and a warm welcome to reef2reef

nack for diy, keeps the mind awake

Been thinking to provide some docs with other parts, like 8ch relais board instead of your box in the guides (can't use that in EU) and setting up LDD drivers with diy CREE leds. I use the meanwell for leds and a computer psu to get 3,3V , 5V and 12V needed for PWM and equipment.
1 meanwell 24v could be used to power all wavemakers, controlled by wavemaker profiles in reef-pi fyi
#thinkingbigdiybuilds - will post soon on instagram

MQTT broker and launcher is mostly done for reef-pi, as in the basics are there to get all data from reef-pi and timeserie data from prometheus, run macro and timers (i'll open an issue, if there isn't any, as UI doesn't reflect running or not in 3.0 Beta)
Not sure if i need to cover getting json from db and parsing that for users that don't want anything like grafana, but i can integrate that fairly easy as next to do.

 

[burningbaal]

It's almost certainly a wiring issue. I checked the amazon listing for the probes I bought, they say yellow is data , black is ground (red is power). I soldered colors to match, which conflicts with Michael's hat listing on tindie. I'll fix it tonight and see if I can ssh in.
I tried to ssh in real quick from my phone (random ssh app) and couldn't get in this morning, I'll try from my macbook tonight. I may need to change the system settings on the pi to allow ssh...darn

Hey @Michael Lane which pin is data and which is power? I see ground, that's easy enough. is the middle pin data and the 'other side' power or vice versa? the wires for my probe are identified as data, power, and ground, but I'm not sure based on your drawing (cause I'm too ignorant)...is 3v3 the power supply to the probe and 1w is the data?

 

[Bigtrout]

Hey @Michael Lane which pin is data and which is power? I see ground, that's easy enough. is the middle pin data and the 'other side' power or vice versa? the wires for my probe are identified as data, power, and ground, but I'm not sure based on your drawing (cause I'm too ignorant)...is 3v3 the power supply to the probe and 1w is the data?

On @Michael Lane hat, the 3v3 is probe power, 1w is probe data and gnd is ground.

 

[burningbaal]

Thanks @Bigtrout @Michael Lane and all the rest, this got it going! I have one running now with short wires for an ambient sensor, now I need to put together two more for duplicate tank water sensors!
For those who are curious, my plan is:
have probe 1 control the heaters between 26-27c
have probe 2 alert if the temperature is outside 25-28
have probe 3 alert if the (ambient) temperature is outside 10-30c (for now, I may fine tune that later)

a feature I'd love for reef-pi (I'd be happy to look at writing the code if people are willing), is to have an alert on a difference between two sensors. I think the UI would need a combobox to say which sensor to compare to (or 'none'), and a 'alert when difference is more than X' text box and possibly a 'when difference is more than Y, trigger macro A' (so you can make sure the heater is off while in this weird place).

 

[Ranjib]

I know about those dongles. Im looking at getting a better pi for future proofing my reef-pi. I already have other designs for the pi zero
Now that I have proven out my reef-pi as reliable, there is a kid down the street whos getting into aquariums. His mom doesn't have alot of money. Seeing as how he could get into alot worse things than a good hobby I am gonna do my permanent "Cadillac" reef -pi build and can donate my spare parts to help him get a reef pi going.

Thats very nice of you @Bigtrout

 

[Bigtrout]

Thats very nice of you @Bigtrout

Just reminds me of.myself at that age. Id scrounge money and ride my bike 5 miles to a mom and pop fish store to buy fish for my 20 gallon setup. The old guy that owned it would throw in extra fish sometimes, or give me equipment when he upgraded stuff in the store. Made a lifelong aquarist out of me...im just paying it forward!

It doesnt hurt that I can justify new stuff to the Mrs. easier this way...so win win!

 

[Ranjib]

Thanks @Bigtrout @Michael Lane and all the rest, this got it going! I have one running now with short wires for an ambient sensor, now I need to put together two more for duplicate tank water sensors!
For those who are curious, my plan is:
have probe 1 control the heaters between 26-27c
have probe 2 alert if the temperature is outside 25-28
have probe 3 alert if the (ambient) temperature is outside 10-30c (for now, I may fine tune that later)

a feature I'd love for reef-pi (I'd be happy to look at writing the code if people are willing), is to have an alert on a difference between two sensors. I think the UI would need a combobox to say which sensor to compare to (or 'none'), and a 'alert when difference is more than X' text box and possibly a 'when difference is more than Y, trigger macro A' (so you can make sure the heater is off while in this weird place).

I like where you going with this, but instead of being very specific with temp sensor and difference, what I would like instead is to have a generic mechanism to combine data from multiple sensors and then take action/alert based on it. Lets keep discussing, once we have something concrete, I'll get rolling on coding, post 3.0

 

[Michael Lane]

Hey @Michael Lane which pin is data and which is power? I see ground, that's easy enough. is the middle pin data and the 'other side' power or vice versa? the wires for my probe are identified as data, power, and ground, but I'm not sure based on your drawing (cause I'm too ignorant)...is 3v3 the power supply to the probe and 1w is the data?

That is correct. 1 wire is the data pin and 3v3 is the power pin.

 

[adityaduggal]

Thanks for trying reef-pi. I'm glad to hear that it's useful for saltwater and freshwater tanks! I'm sure Ranjib will jump in, but here's my take on it.

1. You can control multiple heaters with a single temperature probe by adding multiple probes in the UI, but choosing the same sensor. You may need to stagger the check frequency when doing this. reef-pi v2 doesn't have hysteresis, so if you set the heater threshold to 25, the heater will turn on whenever the temperature is less than 25 and turn off as soon as it exceeds 25. reef-pi 3 is adding hysteresis, which will allow you to do as described.

2. We're still working through some significant changes in lighting (and anything PWM related). The API supports saving multiple profiles and switching between them, but it is not implemented in the UI yet. We're working to get as much of this in and tested before the final release.

I've really enjoyed helping with reef-pi, and it's been a pleasure working with the other devs. We have a set up guide at https://reef-pi.github.io/additional-documentation/development/. We also have a slack channel for dev conversation. I'd love to see more hands on the project if you would be interested.

The error you are seeing is probably a side effect of upgrading to 3.0. It introduces some significant changes and is not backward compatible with 2.0. Ranjib introduced some db commands, so you may be able to fix it, but it's probably easier to delete reef-pi.db and reconfigure.

Hi Michael,

Thanks alot for the detailed information, basically I knew that I was taking a big risk in terms of bugs when I upgraded my reef-pi to v3.0 and as expected I bumped into errrors.

I know v3.0 has a lot many new features like:

• Saving the profiles for my PWM since as I said I have made my own LED lights using the normal LED strips in India, I wanted this feature badly as I wanted to save profiles like for Independence Day I could showcase my aquarium with country flag (@Ranjib might relate with Indian flag)
• Activating macros is also another feature I wanted badly.
• Honestly I am a newbie in everything an hence I wanted to continue with my planted tank and hence reverted back to v2.5 'coz the level of automation in v2.5 is more than sufficient for any starter and maybe an expert in Planted freshwater tank since AFAIK the level of upkeep need in reef is much higher than freshwater.
• Also your suggestion for adding 2 temperature probes for 1 is well understood and I never expected as I thought there might be a validation in the same and hence did not even tried it. But after your suggestion did try and created 2 temp asset for a single probe and found it to be very handy anyhow before your suggestion i had done one major HACK (JUGAAD in India) I had plugged both the heaters on 1 OUTLET so my problem was resolved with one physical hack.

BTW, I am starting my planted tank after about 5 years and this time around I want to manke a sucesss and thanks to the team at reef2reef and especially @Ranjib and all the people associated that this time I think I would be able to successfully establish a planted freshwater tank and who knows after thie success of this I might want to upgrade to reef tank since @tranjib's tutorials are very detailed and I might well be induced into setting up a reef tank in time to come.

Once again from the bottom of my heat I would like to thank the team at reef2reef and ranjib (I owe to a bear whenever to come to delhi do ping me on my number, honestly I am so very grateful for this.)

 

[Ranjib]

Hi Michael,

Thanks alot for the detailed information, basically I knew that I was taking a big risk in terms of bugs when I upgraded my reef-pi to v3.0 and as expected I bumped into errrors.

I know v3.0 has a lot many new features like:

• Saving the profiles for my PWM since as I said I have made my own LED lights using the normal LED strips in India, I wanted this feature badly as I wanted to save profiles like for Independence Day I could showcase my aquarium with country flag (@Ranjib might relate with Indian flag)
• Activating macros is also another feature I wanted badly.
• Honestly I am a newbie in everything an hence I wanted to continue with my planted tank and hence reverted back to v2.5 'coz the level of automation in v2.5 is more than sufficient for any starter and maybe an expert in Planted freshwater tank since AFAIK the level of upkeep need in reef is much higher than freshwater.
• Also your suggestion for adding 2 temperature probes for 1 is well understood and I never expected as I thought there might be a validation in the same and hence did not even tried it. But after your suggestion did try and created 2 temp asset for a single probe and found it to be very handy anyhow before your suggestion i had done one major HACK (JUGAAD in India) I had plugged both the heaters on 1 OUTLET so my problem was resolved with one physical hack.

BTW, I am starting my planted tank after about 5 years and this time around I want to manke a sucesss and thanks to the team at reef2reef and especially @Ranjib and all the people associated that this time I think I would be able to successfully establish a planted freshwater tank and who knows after thie success of this I might want to upgrade to reef tank since @tranjib's tutorials are very detailed and I might well be induced into setting up a reef tank in time to come.

Once again from the bottom of my heat I would like to thank the team at reef2reef and ranjib (I owe to a bear whenever to come to delhi do ping me on my number, honestly I am so very grateful for this.)

Delhi reminds me lots of good food .
UI support for profiles is the only thing left. Next 3.0 release candidate should have it

 

[Ranjib]

Hi Michael,

Thanks alot for the detailed information, basically I knew that I was taking a big risk in terms of bugs when I upgraded my reef-pi to v3.0 and as expected I bumped into errrors.

I know v3.0 has a lot many new features like:

• Saving the profiles for my PWM since as I said I have made my own LED lights using the normal LED strips in India, I wanted this feature badly as I wanted to save profiles like for Independence Day I could showcase my aquarium with country flag (@Ranjib might relate with Indian flag)
• Activating macros is also another feature I wanted badly.
• Honestly I am a newbie in everything an hence I wanted to continue with my planted tank and hence reverted back to v2.5 'coz the level of automation in v2.5 is more than sufficient for any starter and maybe an expert in Planted freshwater tank since AFAIK the level of upkeep need in reef is much higher than freshwater.
• Also your suggestion for adding 2 temperature probes for 1 is well understood and I never expected as I thought there might be a validation in the same and hence did not even tried it. But after your suggestion did try and created 2 temp asset for a single probe and found it to be very handy anyhow before your suggestion i had done one major HACK (JUGAAD in India) I had plugged both the heaters on 1 OUTLET so my problem was resolved with one physical hack.

BTW, I am starting my planted tank after about 5 years and this time around I want to manke a sucesss and thanks to the team at reef2reef and especially @Ranjib and all the people associated that this time I think I would be able to successfully establish a planted freshwater tank and who knows after thie success of this I might want to upgrade to reef tank since @tranjib's tutorials are very detailed and I might well be induced into setting up a reef tank in time to come.

Once again from the bottom of my heat I would like to thank the team at reef2reef and ranjib (I owe to a bear whenever to come to delhi do ping me on my number, honestly I am so very grateful for this.)

And thank you so much for the kind words. Humility and kindness is a community ethos here in Reef2reef. This means a lot for all the reef-pi contributors who keep this project alive

 

[Ranjib]

nack for diy, keeps the mind awake

Been thinking to provide some docs with other parts, like 8ch relais board instead of your box in the guides (can't use that in EU) and setting up LDD drivers with diy CREE leds. I use the meanwell for leds and a computer psu to get 3,3V , 5V and 12V needed for PWM and equipment.
1 meanwell 24v could be used to power all wavemakers, controlled by wavemaker profiles in reef-pi fyi
#thinkingbigdiybuilds - will post soon on instagram

MQTT broker and launcher is mostly done for reef-pi, as in the basics are there to get all data from reef-pi and timeserie data from prometheus, run macro and timers (i'll open an issue, if there isn't any, as UI doesn't reflect running or not in 3.0 Beta)
Not sure if i need to cover getting json from db and parsing that for users that don't want anything like grafana, but i can integrate that fairly easy as next to do.

Are you using the mqtt stuff for anything ?

Usage data can be obtained using curl against the api endpoints