DIY Control System I am building

[njtiger aquariums]

Guys check out my video on my DYI control system. This project is taking my longer than I wanted but taking it slow. Here is Episode 3 of my custom control system for my reef tank. If you have questions feel free to watch my other videos or reach out to me.

Thanks

 

[Taservices]

Will be interested in seeing how this all develops.

 

[Harry_Y]

I had seriously though about building one from the ground up before. I was going
to use an Atmel AVR at the heart of it all). But I figured why reinvent the wheel.

With the Pi a lot of the underlying work has been done so it should be a
whole lot easier since you already have a good foundation to build upon.

Good Luck

 

[njtiger aquariums]

I had seriously though about building one from the ground up before. I was going
to use an Atmel AVR at the heart of it all). But I figured why reinvent the wheel.

With the Pi a lot of the underlying work has been done so it should be a
whole lot easier since you already have a good foundation to build upon.

Good Luck

I can understand not wanting to reinvent the wheel. When I started out in the hobby I jokingly post a WiFi controlled light/power heads saying "oh I can join my two hobby IT and saltwater". A friend of mine said "well you know how to code why don't you build one out of a pi?" I been wanting to do a pi project just never knew what until now lol.

Now nothing on those other controllers but a custom one allow for different options. Also price is a whole lot cheaper lol.

 

[Harry_Y]

The Pi has opened up a lot of doors

I use one as a time server (hooked to GPS) for my local network
and another in Amateur radio (connecting radio systems together)

They really are a slick piece of HW

 

[njtiger aquariums]

Guys check out my newest video on my DYI controller.

 

[njtiger aquariums]

So it been a while since I updated this post. In fact I joined NJ Reefer and started a thread over there and kinda been absence from R2R but starting to get back into it.

I figure I will provide everyone here an update on my project. Please feel free to comment and what not but please note I am not sharing my code.

Devices

• Raspberry Pi B+
• 7in Touch Screen
• Water Proof temp sensor
• 4 channel relay
• Leak detector (not wired up yet)

Options

• Text and email alerts of low/high/return temps
• Weekly emails listing what type of maintenance is due
• Schedule for the four outlets
• System auto check schedule after a reboot and make sure proper equipment is on when needed to be on (say after a power failure)
• Quick Buttons (four buttons that handle set task just as feeding, maintenance, lights, all off)
• Log for maintenance
• Log for test results
• Log live stock
• 24 hour temp graph
• Report temp history
• Option to turn on/off outlets
• Options to enable/disable schedules
• Auto monthly backup

Overview (with images)
The system

cover is to prevent the cats from walking on the equipment

7in touch screen (quick buttons and 24 hour temp graph)

Dashboard:
Displays what maintenance is due within 7 days.
Display what the 7in touch screen shows
Quick buttons (blue mean clickable, orange means that button is active, and yellow means its resuming to normal mode [example: Feeding turns off my skimmer and reactor pumps for 10mins and then goes into resuming mode which means equipment is turned back on but a 5min delay for my skimmer to allow water level to not freak out my skimmer])

Tanks:
Displays the tanks I have. Still working on adding more data fields.

Water Levels:
This area is where I log all my test results.

Maintenance:
This is where I log all my maintenance. If the font is green means there more than 7 days before I need to do it, yellow means its due within 7 days, and red means passed due.

Live stock:
This is where I log everything I put in my tank.

Dosing:
Still working on this area but this is where I would log/handle my dosing.


Admin:
This is the area where settings are set.
System Information: List when the system was installed, software version, last updated, plus storage left on drive plus backup location. Still working on this as well.
Report: This will hold the different reports. Right now just the temp report but will hopefully have more.
Email settings: Setting for sending emails
Tank Maintenance: This is where I can enable and disable the maintenance list of the dash plus weekly email.
Alerts: This is where i set my temp alerts. Still working on this.
Schedule: This is where I set the schedule for the outlets
Outlets: This is where I can turn outlets on and off

Report screen shots (opens a new window)

Alert screen shot: (today I got my first real alert)

There more options I am working on. Projector is coming along nicely.

Notes:
Unlike the other controllers out on the market this system is developed solo with my own money. I think the other controls on the mark are nice and they have backing and a company of employees to help out. If you are in to tech and like to tinker a DYI system can be nice. So far for everything it has only cost me about $100 for my system (does not include my time in the cost lol)

 

[Rob Lion]

hey, great system!!
are you willing to share the setup and code? i'm about to start making my own system.

Thanks
Rob

 

[njtiger aquariums]

sorry but I am not sharing my code. I will say its PHP, Python, HTML and a little Javascript. I am using push bullet for the notification to my cell phone. Good luck with your system and feel free to ask questions and I will try my best. I just not willing to share my code and I hope you understand that.

 

[cowbot7]

Wow this looks very exciting! I would like to try it too. Njtiger my question is do i need to learn 4 different programing languages (php,pyton,html and javascript)?
Because i am novice at programing. I have done a little bit with the arduino ide programing. Also do you think this project could be out of my skill level? Like how hard is the programing for this project?

 

[njtiger aquariums]

Wow this looks very exciting! I would like to try it too. Njtiger my question is do i need to learn 4 different programing languages (php,pyton,html and javascript)?
Because i am novice at programing. I have done a little bit with the arduino ide programing. Also do you think this project could be out of my skill level? Like how hard is the programing for this project?

It all depends on you. I am sure you can do a project like this with different languages but I picked those four to use. Now those four are well document so finding help with issues is easier. I also find they are easy languages to learn on one's own. Without knowing your programming skills or understanding of programming I am unable to say if it too hard for you. My suggestion is if you want to try and see what you can do then start out with the basic (the pi and the web interface) and build from there.

 

[njtiger aquariums]

So I been working on some more options on my system. I am not a big fan of the water parameter range UI so that most likely will be changing at some point; yes I just realize I have a type-o in the title.

Water Parameters:
To help determine if my levels are in the range I want I added these ranges. Now with a quick glance I will know if my numbers are off. I am thinking of having it so I can load 'templates' or create a custom one.

When the numbers are in red it means they are in the critical range (either high or low) and yellow means they are just in the warning range (either low or high). I also thinking of adding a hover over so when you hover over a field it will let you know why its in the range and steps to take to fix it.

Reports:
I made some changes to the report section. I now added alert history so I can pull up any alerts my system sends out.

I also added a date range picker for the temp report.

 

[djbetterly]

What is your plan for dosing? I've been working on a wifi /web controlled doser for some time that's built off of a particle photon.

 

[njtiger aquariums]

What is your plan for dosing? I've been working on a wifi /web controlled doser for some time that's built off of a particle photon.

At this moment I don't have a plan for dosing. I have looked at the parts as well as dosers that might be able to link but I have not pulled the trigger on anything like that yet.

Thats cool your working on a wifi unit. How is that coming?

 

[djbetterly]

It works incredibly well!! I'd be happy to adapt my MOSFET board to work with your project if you like.

The web control page should be done in the next week or so and I can give you a look at it. I designed it in a very simple matter. You get a pump calibration, then tell the program how much you want to dose and how many doses you want in either a 12 or 24 hour period and it does the calculations for you.

Let me know if you need any help, I've been working on this project for a long time.

 

[ThePapa]

Sweet setup.

 

[njtiger aquariums]

It works incredibly well!! I'd be happy to adapt my MOSFET board to work with your project if you like.

The web control page should be done in the next week or so and I can give you a look at it. I designed it in a very simple matter. You get a pump calibration, then tell the program how much you want to dose and how many doses you want in either a 12 or 24 hour period and it does the calculations for you.

Let me know if you need any help, I've been working on this project for a long time.

Dude sounds like a good idea. I will keep that in mind when I'm ready to work on the doser section. Right now I am working on changing out my 4-channel relay to an 8-channel relay so I can add four more outlets. I then will add two heaters to the system and set rules so if my water goes below a temp it will kick on the second heater and if it goes above a temp it will kill power to the main heater (backup heater should be off already). This will as well send alerts to me when these actions happen.

I been working on my system for over a year. Slowly working on code and purchasing equipment/parts.

 

[njtiger aquariums]

Sweet setup.

thanks.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I can't even imagine the thought process for this!

 

[Karmann]

Looks great but not a DIY more like do it myself, obviously a lot of thought and hard work was invested in the project but DIYs are typically for documenting a project to teach others how to replicate the process. Just pointing out the difference.