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

[BenB]

thanks Ben ... every day's a school day. I'll check that out

No wories, you can find a lot of info if you read trought the reef-pi tread, I can advice you doing the same, I myself started reading halfway and it helped me a lot. Secondly Google is your best friend! And of course you can always ask!

 

[kapnkush608]

Has any one experienced their pi crashing in the middle of dosing? I heard the pump kick on last night and about 2 minutes later it was still running. It dumped probably 200ml of vinegar but it's not a big deal since I currently dose close to 100ml. While it was running I could not access the local or vnc connection so I power cycled it and regained connection. Glad I was doing long term testing with a 250ml container and only vinegar but regardless I would like to find the root of the issue.

 

[Michael Lane]

Thanks Ben that worked
just for my own future reference how did you know the hex code for pca9685 is 40 / 64 ?

and something for @Michael Lane ... i'm afraid i've still got the dosing pump whine, tbh i wouldn't care but it stops the motors from turning at all.

edit:
just did a further test and all three pumps run fine at 100% .. i only get the whine at a percentage value.

There was an issue with out PCA9685 driver that would cause a whine when at 0%. I thought we had that resolved. The DC motors will tend to whine at lower percentages. I think I found the minimum duty cycle to be a bit over 50% for my pumps.

 

[Ranjib]

Well, I had to sign up for a new forum due to this one. I've only had a chance to do a quick overview, but looks like this project is alive and kicking, and I'm ready to dig deeper.

I've got a background in electronics manufacturing, so hopefully I can contribute to the overall project as needed. I may have to finally figure out how to use github (always found it a really annoying file system to be honest).

Anyway, back to reading and trolling to see where things are, where I can help, and where I can pick up and start building one of these.

Welcome to reef2reef

 

[Michael Lane]

Has any one experienced their pi crashing in the middle of dosing? I heard the pump kick on last night and about 2 minutes later it was still running. It dumped probably 200ml of vinegar but it's not a big deal since I currently dose close to 100ml. While it was running I could not access the local or vnc connection so I power cycled it and regained connection. Glad I was doing long term testing with a 250ml container and only vinegar but regardless I would like to find the root of the issue.

That sounds like some bad timing! Can you check for any errors or clues in the logs?

sudo journalctl -fu reef-pi.service

 

[PaulJ2303]

What frequency are you using...you may have to tweak that to get decent results

ok thanks @Bigtrout i'ts set at the default of 1500 .. i guess that's the duty cycle in hz i'll have a play with that thanks

There was an issue with out PCA9685 driver that would cause a whine when at 0%. I thought we had that resolved. The DC motors will tend to whine at lower percentages. I think I found the minimum duty cycle to be a bit over 50% for my pumps.

funnily enough i was running them at just on 50% ... in conjunction with the duty cycle i'll try changing this.
i'm thinking that if it runs fine at 100% i.e full power i'm wondering if it's a torque thing when i'm trying to run it at a smaller percentage of the duty cycle.

It'll be interesting to see what turns up.

 

[Bigtrout]

ok thanks @Bigtrout i'ts set at the default of 1500 .. i guess that's the duty cycle in hz i'll have a play with that thanks


funnily enough i was running them at just on 50% ... in conjunction with the duty cycle i'll try changing this.
i'm thinking that if it runs fine at 100% i.e full power i'm wondering if it's a torque thing when i'm trying to run it at a smaller percentage of the duty cycle.

It'll be interesting to see what turns up.

It may be worth playing with both duty cycle percentage and frequency. The coil on a motor will have a certain inductance that will tend to react somewhat like capacitance, that is tending to average a signal. Higher frequencies may not work as well as lower ones. It may not make any torque at 20 percent duty cycle on a frequency of 1500hz but it may well run on a 20 percent duty cycle on a frequncy of lets say 200hz

 

[kapnkush608]

That sounds like some bad timing! Can you check for any errors or clues in the logs?

sudo journalctl -fu reef-pi.service

I'll check the logs. It weird because it's been working fine for the past 1.5-2 mos

 

[kapnkush608]

It looks like logs reset last night after the crash.

 

[Des Westcott]

I'm struggling to get Adafruit IO Telemetry working.

I've followed the instruction here - https://reef-pi.github.io/additional-documentation/telemetry/

I get the key, copy into the correct field , update and reload. When I go back to the telemetry tab, the Aio key is gone, but username is still there. I get no feeds in Aio.

I'm obviously missing something fundamental.

 

[Ranjib]

I'm struggling to get Adafruit IO Telemetry working.

I've followed the instruction here - https://reef-pi.github.io/additional-documentation/telemetry/

I get the key, copy into the correct field , update and reload. When I go back to the telemetry tab, the Aio key is gone, but username is still there. I get no feeds in Aio.

I'm obviously missing something fundamental.

Sensitive fields like adafruit is key and password are not shown in the ui intentionally. Unless you see an error , they are set. Reload and reef-pi should start sending data to adafruit.io, unless there’s other issues (internet or rate limit)

 

[Des Westcott]

Sensitive fields like adafruit is key and password are not shown in the ui intentionally. Unless you see an error , they are set. Reload and reef-pi should start sending data to adafruit.io, unless there’s other issues (internet or rate limit)

OK. That makes sense.

I rechecked Adafruit and I am getting some info.

But not getting any of my temp info. Now I look closer and realise that two of my temp probes aren't working including the main "Tank" temp. I'm going to try delete and reinstall.

 

[Des Westcott]

 

[Des Westcott]

Reef-Pi isn't able to detect any of my sensors

 

[burningbaal]

Well, I had to sign up for a new forum due to this one. I've only had a chance to do a quick overview, but looks like this project is alive and kicking, and I'm ready to dig deeper.

I've got a background in electronics manufacturing, so hopefully I can contribute to the overall project as needed. I may have to finally figure out how to use github (always found it a really annoying file system to be honest).

Anyway, back to reading and trolling to see where things are, where I can help, and where I can pick up and start building one of these.

Welcome to R2R!
cooperative source control (like github) can be pretty weird if you've never worked in a team that leverages its resources, you have to kinda forget about what you think you knew about terms like 'branch' and 'pull' and 'merge' because they have very specific meaning in this context that may not line up with what you're used to. I'm the opposite, I'm very used to working with things like github (or bitbucket, etc), but am very not familiar with electronics, so maybe we can help each other

Anyways, welcome to the coolest non-regional forum, we're glad to have you here!

 

[hhaase]

With a thread this long, it'll probably take me a while to get sorted with the current state of the project, but I can definitely contribute in some areas. My main strengths are on the manufacturing side, so DFM work, PCB layout, schematics are all within my wheelhouse. Code I'm not very good with, circuit design I'm very hit or miss.

Heck, being open-source, I'm very interested in maybe seeing this system produced.

 

[Ranjib]

Reef-Pi isn't able to detect any of my sensors

Is one wire enabled and the sensors are detected by raspbian. Reef-pi can only show them and use them if its detected. If its not,, this is beyond reef-pi, and we have to look are circuit/raspbian configuration

 

[Ranjib]

With a thread this long, it'll probably take me a while to get sorted with the current state of the project, but I can definitely contribute in some areas. My main strengths are on the manufacturing side, so DFM work, PCB layout, schematics are all within my wheelhouse. Code I'm not very good with, circuit design I'm very hit or miss.

Heck, being open-source, I'm very interested in maybe seeing this system produced.

We could use any and all help with pcb layout & circuit designs. You are right. its best to start with building a prototype, run it and explore the software/hardware.. then take it from there.
There are many unsolved issues on both the software and hardware side of things. We can cut out a small work for you, in areas you are comfortable with to help you get started on actual development.

 

[Blaxkin]

I also have the problem after every restart with errors that my temp probes are not connected.

i have to delete the temp probes and add them new.

but they always there in the temp menue

I will post pictures tommorow

 

[Ranjib]

I also have the problem after every restart with errors that my temp probes are not connected.

i have to delete the temp probes and add them new.

but they always there in the temp menue

I will post pictures tommorow

Thats a bug then ... can you share the details. If the underlying sensor is detected.. reef-pi should be fine from there.. anything after that is possibly a reef-pi bug. Happy to address those