ATO input not working...
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bishoptf
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Welp @Sral or anyone I am using a @Michael Lane hat and trying to use the IO pins circled for an ato port. If I use the gpio pin 5 or 6 and ground it works but any of the other gpio pins do not work so obviously I do not understand how they are wired up and while I can use pin5 or 6 I am now trying to understand why it does not work for the other gpio ports. I am just trying to wire a float switch the normal labeled ato ports work but need one more. Anyone have any thoughts let me know. I've attached the layout and schematic...
sorry about the schematic I can not get a good copy...can be found here - https://github.com/Ranthalion/reef-piHat
sorry about the schematic I can not get a good copy...can be found here - https://github.com/Ranthalion/reef-piHat
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Sral
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So … did you solve your problem ?
From the circuit diagram it looks like the ATO pins are directly wired to the Pi pins. You should therefore be able to use any other pin on the board, that’s directly wired as well.
for example any of the 8 pins for the power bar 1, although I would include a 220 Ohm resistor in the signal line, just to make them almost identical to the pins actually designed for ATOs.
Just wondering, the link you provided Leads to an old version, it seems.
From the circuit diagram it looks like the ATO pins are directly wired to the Pi pins. You should therefore be able to use any other pin on the board, that’s directly wired as well.
for example any of the 8 pins for the power bar 1, although I would include a 220 Ohm resistor in the signal line, just to make them almost identical to the pins actually designed for ATOs.
Just wondering, the link you provided Leads to an old version, it seems.
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bishoptf
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Nope I haven't figured it out, this is how I have the ports that are labled ATO ports wired up - he has it going to 5v and the GPIO pin and they work great so that is what I was trying with the other ports that were originally designated for another relay strip. I originally had it wired up 5v plus the IO pin and it did not work. I also added a 220Ohm resistor to the mix and still no joy. I know the ports worked since I did have relay outlet setup and all the ports worked. Then I tried wiring a IO port and gnd and that worked, I thought ok well lets do that but what I found out that it will only work that way for ports IO ports 5 and 6, IO 13, 16,19, 20 and up will not work. I just want one more ATO port and since I have figured a way to get it working I can move forward but it kind of bugs me that its not consistent, I'd like to understand why I cannot use any of the ports and more importantly I'd like to understand how I really should be wiring them up. Should I be using the 5v and IO port or just the IO port and gnd?
Were you able to see the schematic? I've attached to better screenshots of the various sections, the ATO headers and the Protected GPIO header section
Looking at this now this morning with a clear head he clearly has another resistor on the ATO ckt that is not found on the protected GPIO header, I need to go look and see what value r4 and r5 is and that is what I would want to add to the lead for the ckt I believe.
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Sral
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Hm, that does sound strange. I'm assuming you used the power bar 1 header, e.g. GPIO pins 5,6,13,16,19,20,26 and 21 in both cases ?
The LED and the resistor are there so visualize the float switch signal, I don't think they are essential, but can be a good test to see whether the switch is working. From the fact that the float switch only has 2 wires I'm assuming that it switches between conductive and non-conductive states ? That way you should always need to connect it to a protected GPIO and a voltage source. It should not work with GND ... and if you connect it to the power bar 1 pins you’ll possibly fry the 3.3V Zener diodes there if the switch is low resistance and there are no additional resistors in the signal line.
The LED and the resistor are there so visualize the float switch signal, I don't think they are essential, but can be a good test to see whether the switch is working. From the fact that the float switch only has 2 wires I'm assuming that it switches between conductive and non-conductive states ? That way you should always need to connect it to a protected GPIO and a voltage source. It should not work with GND ... and if you connect it to the power bar 1 pins you’ll possibly fry the 3.3V Zener diodes there if the switch is low resistance and there are no additional resistors in the signal line.
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bishoptf
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Yup that is what I am using the power bar header, it works when I wire 5 or 6 and ground but will not work for the other io ports. If I look at the schematic they appear to be protected in a similar manner, they go through a 220Ohm resistor and then a 3.3zenier diode. Now I did have the ports configured under outlets vs inlets for ato but I removed all those configurations and even rebooted and configured under a inlets they did not work except for the 5/6 and gnd. The float appears to be fine, when I test conductivity I get conductivity when float moves from up and down. I hope I have not fried anything but should I be using the 5v and IO pin, is that how it should be wired. I can add an additional 200ohm inline but looking at the schematic it already has one inline going to the IO pin so not sure why I need an additional resistor. I really thought this would be an easy thing to do but as always not so much for me.
I did hook it back up via the relays and outlets and each port works as described, is there anyway I can see if I fried the diode etc?
As you can see in this better pic, the power bar pins go through zenier 3.3v and 220ohm resistor which appears to be the same..
This works fine however:
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Sral
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Oh, right, I was reading that power bar 1 schematic the wrong way around, sry about that.
Those power bar 1 headers are protected in exactly the same way as the ATO‘s. So you can’t fry them anyway with 5V. If you can switch all relays on AND off, you can be reasonably sure that the Zeners are alright in my imagination.
Hmm, that float sensor always needs a voltage source. If you connect it between the GPIO5 and GND, the only source could be the GPIO, if the PI‘s internal ~50k pull-up is activated. That might explain why it works differently on those pins, if only GPIO5+6 have the pull-ups activated for some reason.
Another thought:
those LEDs with resistors R4 and R5 might actually serve an important purpose: providing pull-down when the float switch is inactive. You can easily test if that’s the case by connecting the float between +5V and a power bar 1 GPIO and then something like a 5-10k resistor from that same GPIO to GND.
I think that might make these GPIOs work with the +5V connection.
Those power bar 1 headers are protected in exactly the same way as the ATO‘s. So you can’t fry them anyway with 5V. If you can switch all relays on AND off, you can be reasonably sure that the Zeners are alright in my imagination.
Hmm, that float sensor always needs a voltage source. If you connect it between the GPIO5 and GND, the only source could be the GPIO, if the PI‘s internal ~50k pull-up is activated. That might explain why it works differently on those pins, if only GPIO5+6 have the pull-ups activated for some reason.
Another thought:
those LEDs with resistors R4 and R5 might actually serve an important purpose: providing pull-down when the float switch is inactive. You can easily test if that’s the case by connecting the float between +5V and a power bar 1 GPIO and then something like a 5-10k resistor from that same GPIO to GND.
I think that might make these GPIOs work with the +5V connection.
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bishoptf
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So here is what I have found, I added a 220ohm resister on the io pin inline just to be safe and it just makes me more confused. So with the 5v pin and io ports 13-21 as called out on the schematic that works as expected, however if I use IO 5 or 6 then it doesnt work however io pin 5 and 6 work when I use ground vs 5v.
All io pins work as expected when connected to my relay board, so pretty confused at this point why 5 and 6 provide different behavior....
All io pins work as expected when connected to my relay board, so pretty confused at this point why 5 and 6 provide different behavior....
Have to do some more research. Does pin 5,6 have any special function ?
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bishoptf
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Morning @Ranjib
This is one of the Michael Lane hats, they are really for a relay connection, and appear from what I can see based on the schematic and board layout which I posted above, it works in a relay setup just fine, all gpio ports turn relays off and on as expected. I just needed one more ATO port and was going to use one of these IO ports but found that it didnt work as expected. Using 5v and io 5 or 6 doesnt work but 5v and the 13,16,19,20,26 and 21 ports work as expected. However if I use gnd and ports 5 or 6 works as expected, so something is different with those 2 ports but I have no idea. Right now I am just using 5v and port16 and works, I just like to try to understand things and not sure why it's working this way...
I did shoot an email off to Michael but have not heard back, hope things are well with him...
