Another reef-pi build.

[DirtDiggler2823]

So one is actually an HD15 connector. The power box needed 8 pins for the GPIO and 2 more for power and ground so a DB9 wasnt going to work. The DB9 connector on the right goes to the doser motor box which is only 4 pins total with more if I decide to add more dosers. Its actually just a jebao doser that I am going to gut and re use the motors until I get nicer ones.

So with this, you just used the motors? Were you able to use the enclosure at all?

 

[b4tn]

Lol. Here is the higher resolution one. It’s feeling better though.

 

[b4tn]

So with this, you just used the motors? Were you able to use the enclosure at all?

Yeah, lots of room in the box. I just soldered new wires to two of the motors. The other two are still connected to the jaebo controller as backup.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Yeah, lots of room in the box. I just soldered new wires to two of the motors. The other two are still connected to the jaebo controller as backup.

Did you capture any photos as you did the work? Any way to use all 4 pumps for the reef-pi? I'm using all of the pins for the powerstrip, the pins for the thermometer, the pins for the pH probe (at some point). I should have enough left over for command and control of 4 pumps, yes?

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Lol. Here is the higher resolution one. It’s feeling better though.

I've been under the knife a few times myself, but that does not look fun to be dealing with.

 

[b4tn]

Yeah, here is a picture of the inside. I used the tb6612 mooto driver and just ran the out puts direct to to motors. All you have to do is disconnect the motor wires and connect them to the outputs of your motor driver.

If you want forward and reverse outputs you will need 2 gpio outputs per motor to the driver. If you only need one direction you only need one gpio per motor. one of the inputs on the driver can go to ground and the other input to the gpio.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Yeah, here is a picture of the inside. I used the tb6612 mooto driver and just ran the out puts direct to to motors. All you have to do is disconnect the motor wires and connect them to the outputs of your motor driver.

If you want forward and reverse outputs you will need 2 gpio outputs per motor to the driver. If you only need one direction you only need one gpio per motor. one of the inputs on the driver can go to ground and the other input to the gpio.

Pretty sure I only need one direction for now. Each motor requires a tb6612 driver, yes?

 

[b4tn]

No, you can run two motors off one driver. If you are running 4 motors though you will need 4 separate PWM channels. I have a PCa9685 running pwm for my two doser motors and moon lights. My main lights are using the rpi built in pwm.

 

[b4tn]

Here are details for the 6612

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-tb6612-h-bridge-dc-stepper-motor-driver-breakout/overview

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Here are details for the 6612

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-tb6612-h-bridge-dc-stepper-motor-driver-breakout/overview

I see that. I'll probably pull the guts out of the jebao and just add the 4 boards. I have a couple of breakout boards I can use. I'm using the pico boards that @theatrus put together. I'll put some thought into how I want to proceed with this from a buildout perspective now that I know how to do it, so to speak.

 

[b4tn]

Good deal! Let me know if you run into any issues.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Good deal! Let me know if you run into any issues.

A slave unit should work?

 

[b4tn]

I’m only running two motors at the moment. So I just have 4 wires going to the jaebo box. Forward and reverse for each motor from my pi box where the drivers are located. If you are mounting the tb6612 in the doser box for 4 motors going one direction you need power and ground (ground should be common with the pi) for the driver, 4 pwm wires for the driver, 4 gpio pins for the driver, and the grounds for the motors and driver would all be tied together. So 10 wires total to the box.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

I’m only running two motors at the moment. So I just have 4 wires going to the jaebo box. Forward and reverse for each motor from my pi box where the drivers are located. If you are mounting the tb6612 in the doser box for 4 motors going one direction you need power and ground (ground should be common with the pi) for the driver, 4 pwm wires for the driver, 4 gpio pins for the driver, and the grounds for the motors and driver would all be tied together. So 10 wires total to the box.

Is 5v enough power?

 

[b4tn]

Actually I forgot you need two power sources. 2-5v logic voltage and I think up to 13 volts for the motor voltage.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Actually I forgot you need two power sources. 2-5v logic voltage and I think up to 13 volts for the motor voltage.

That makes sense. I have a bunch of buck converters I can use for this as well.

 

[b4tn]

Just an update on lights. I had a really hard time getting the lights set up by manually entering the values since they are spread out in 2 hour increments. It was either not enough light or too much light. So I went back to diurnal about a couple weeks ago and the corals seem to be responding well with whites peaking at 40 and blues peaking at 60. After one week I bumped blue to 65, then after a second week I bumped blue to 70 and dropped white to 35. Next week I will drop whites to 30 and start working my blues up to 90, 5% a week. My end state will be 30 white 90 blue. Schedule is blues from 10am-10pm and whites 11am-9pm.

 

[Ranjib]

I'll be working on the custom pwm profile once I have a basic code for the clustering work. That feature will allow you all specifying custom intervals, ramp ups etc.

 

[b4tn]

I think with these lights I am happy with diurnal timing. It gives 3 hours ramp up and 3 hours down. Everything seems happy so far. I’m in the early stages of planning a diy LED though where more granularity will be a must. For individual channels. But that’s a ways down the road

 

[Fishyj]

I have a sb reef light black box and this seems to be giving me good growth. I mostly keep lps at this time.