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

[cooltowncorals]

https://reef-pi.github.io/build-guides/temperature/

This is the guide for temperature controller I was viewing. Understand now was just thrown off by additional resources that showed a different hookup. Not seeing the resistor listed in that build though.

 

[Ranjib]

https://reef-pi.github.io/build-guides/temperature/

This is the guide for temperature controller I was viewing. Understand now was just thrown off by additional resources that showed a different hookup. Not seeing the resistor listed in that build though.

Oops , I’ll update the list. You can spot it in the circuit /breadboard image. The reference tutorial on adafruit should also enlist it.
Thank for pointing it out. I’ll update the guide

 

[cooltowncorals]

Any work on adding feedback for power consumption ie if return pump stops pulling full power alert email? Would be nice. Are probes planned for 2.0 ph,salinity etc.

 

[cooltowncorals]

or a food timer button that you can set to turn off say multiple plugs and then restart them in different order i.e. return pump and wavemaker after 10 min skimmer after 2 hours but not at a set time per say starting at 8am but when you go to feed

 

[Ranjib]

Any work on adding feedback for power consumption ie if return pump stops pulling full power alert email? Would be nice. Are probes planned for 2.0 ph,salinity etc.

ph probe, multiple temperature and ato sensors are all planned for 2.0. No plan for power consumption currently, may be after that. I dont see a compelling reason for it, I think you can detect those by some other simpler means, like flow meter etc.

 

[Ranjib]

or a food timer button that you can set to turn off say multiple plugs and then restart them in different order i.e. return pump and wavemaker after 10 min skimmer after 2 hours but not at a set time per say starting at 8am but when you go to feed

Yes, feed mode is also another feature I plan to ship part of 2.0. Not a must have though , pH and few other things (doser, wave makers etc) are first priority, if I get time after that, then definitely stuff like feed mode. But its on my radar

 

[MrDeSaussure]

Just finished my initial configuration of the PI as well as a relay board. This is an amazing project. I'm stuck with a aquarium controller I ordered that's taken a few weeks to get here, that, in the meantime I discovered this project, and have built out a preliminary design.
I've tried to read through all of these posts, but there's been quite a few version updates since this project has been initially posted, so I apologize if these questions have been answered already.
1: Is there a way to EDIT any of the timers or equipment assignments? Seems a bit odd the only way I've found to tweak my timers and stuff is by deleting it and starting over.
2: I see there is a dosing tab, but it does not appear to do anything at this time. One of my goals for this build is to automate my dosing. I realize I can do this now from the timers page, but I was wondering what the eventual featureset of the dosing page would be.

Thanks for all the work you've done on this Ranjib. Although I'm not at all new to electronics, (EE backround) this is my first time experimenting with Raspberry Pi hardware, and so far, it's been fairly flawless.

 

[Ranjib]

Just finished my initial configuration of the PI as well as a relay board. This is an amazing project. I'm stuck with a aquarium controller I ordered that's taken a few weeks to get here, that, in the meantime I discovered this project, and have built out a preliminary design.
I've tried to read through all of these posts, but there's been quite a few version updates since this project has been initially posted, so I apologize if these questions have been answered already.
1: Is there a way to EDIT any of the timers or equipment assignments? Seems a bit odd the only way I've found to tweak my timers and stuff is by deleting it and starting over.
2: I see there is a dosing tab, but it does not appear to do anything at this time. One of my goals for this build is to automate my dosing. I realize I can do this now from the timers page, but I was wondering what the eventual featureset of the dosing page would be.

Thanks for all the work you've done on this Ranjib. Although I'm not at all new to electronics, (EE backround) this is my first time experimenting with Raspberry Pi hardware, and so far, it's been fairly flawless.

You are right , this thread has all the historical logs, so some of it is just outadated and not relevant to current reef-pi version. I would suggest reading the guides instead and then ask questions directly in this thread
reef-pi does not allow any update of existing things (timers , equipments etc) via ui yet. It’s present in the software and can be used via api , as work around, but I did not get the time to implement it in ui. If you want I can share the commands for specific updates you want .
Doser sub system is still a work in progress and will be available in the very next release.

Thank you for giving reef-pi a try

 

[MrDeSaussure]

I got my lighting running after a few trials and tribulations.

As a note for those following the build guides on your website, I had to add the following to get the PWM modules recognized and installed:

add the line:
i2c-bcm2708

to /etc/modules

 

[Ranjib]

I got my lighting running after a few trials and tribulations.

As a note for those following the build guides on your website, I had to add the following to get the PWM modules recognized and installed:

add the line:
i2c-bcm2708

to /etc/modules

In latest raspbian, you have to run

sudo raspi-config

And enable i2c, ssh, one wire. the i2c step will enable the bcm module.

 

[Kampo]

anyone noticing heat issues on a Pi Zero? I think mine gave up the ghost today. been noticing wifi drop outs occasionally but wrote that up to being in a metal box and over water below, but today while i was on the couch getting ready to crash it dropped out again, then the light when to full bright as if it lost pwm signal. i was too tired to deal with it, figured it just crashed or something since i'd been mucking with it a bit. well i tried rebooting it no luck, then i disassembled it and got the obvious smell of cooked electronics. and the pi's main chip was very hot. didn't have time to do any serious diagnosis other than that but it will not boot at all anymore, although it is passing power on to the pca9685 but the light is blinking semi randomly on it. i think it took the sd card with it as well since i pulled the sd card and tried it in my new pi for the salt light i'm building and it wouldn't boot either. so need to see maybe the heat just corrupted something on the boot disk.

wounder if there is a way i can put a heat spreader on the pi and mount it upside down so i can utilize the led heatsink so i don't have to rely on a sealed box for cooling, i don't want to ventalate the light since that is a water risk.

 

[Ranjib]

anyone noticing heat issues on a Pi Zero? I think mine gave up the ghost today. been noticing wifi drop outs occasionally but wrote that up to being in a metal box and over water below, but today while i was on the couch getting ready to crash it dropped out again, then the light when to full bright as if it lost pwm signal. i was too tired to deal with it, figured it just crashed or something since i'd been mucking with it a bit. well i tried rebooting it no luck, then i disassembled it and got the obvious smell of cooked electronics. and the pi's main chip was very hot. didn't have time to do any serious diagnosis other than that but it will not boot at all anymore, although it is passing power on to the pca9685 but the light is blinking semi randomly on it. i think it took the sd card with it as well since i pulled the sd card and tried it in my new pi for the salt light i'm building and it wouldn't boot either. so need to see maybe the heat just corrupted something on the boot disk.

wounder if there is a way i can put a heat spreader on the pi and mount it upside down so i can utilize the led heatsink so i don't have to rely on a sealed box for cooling, i don't want to ventalate the light since that is a water risk.

This is first time we are experiencing heat issue. A few thoughts:
1) Its is very popular to attach a heatsink on top of Pi zero's processor to assist in cooling
2) Pi zero should not heat up by simply running reef-pi. reef-pi is designed and tested to run with less than 1/3rd of CPU & memory with reasonable sized workload (8 outlets, 4 pwm channels, 1 temperature sensor and 1 ATO sensor). Are you running something special? like a full blown desktop and brower, from the same Pi.
3) Did you cross check if the powersupply didn't mal function ? Like sending more than required voltage? Is it a regulated power supply that you are using?

I am running three builds currently, the one running temperature and ATO sensor is working just fine, and I can access it . The kessil controller has lost its internet connectivity after three days of operations. Its working fine, and all my lights are working as expected, its just that I cant access it through browser. I intend to upgrade that build to include the physical UI (button and led display) soon, as and when the physical interface code is released in reef-pi

 

[Ranjib]

anyone noticing heat issues on a Pi Zero? I think mine gave up the ghost today. been noticing wifi drop outs occasionally but wrote that up to being in a metal box and over water below, but today while i was on the couch getting ready to crash it dropped out again, then the light when to full bright as if it lost pwm signal. i was too tired to deal with it, figured it just crashed or something since i'd been mucking with it a bit. well i tried rebooting it no luck, then i disassembled it and got the obvious smell of cooked electronics. and the pi's main chip was very hot. didn't have time to do any serious diagnosis other than that but it will not boot at all anymore, although it is passing power on to the pca9685 but the light is blinking semi randomly on it. i think it took the sd card with it as well since i pulled the sd card and tried it in my new pi for the salt light i'm building and it wouldn't boot either. so need to see maybe the heat just corrupted something on the boot disk.

wounder if there is a way i can put a heat spreader on the pi and mount it upside down so i can utilize the led heatsink so i don't have to rely on a sealed box for cooling, i don't want to ventalate the light since that is a water risk.

If the electronics burn up is related to pi zero heating issue , you should also see an upward trend in your reef pi health chart (cpu/memory), if it’s not there , then this is likely a different issue.

 

[TMB]

@Ranjib , Thank you for all the work you have done on this project!!! Without you I would have never had the chance to DIY a reef controller!
Anyway, add 1 more Reef-Pi user to the list!
I don't have anything configured yet, but I'll be building 2 power bars, and temp controller soon.

Looking forward to contributing in any way that I can with your awesome project.

TMB

 

[Ranjib]

@Ranjib , Thank you for all the work you have done on this project!!! Without you I would have never had the chance to DIY a reef controller!
Anyway, add 1 more Reef-Pi user to the list!
I don't have anything configured yet, but I'll be building 2 power bars, and temp controller soon.

Looking forward to contributing in any way that I can with your awesome project.

TMB

Awesome
Thank you for trying out reef-pi. Let us know if you need any help.

 

[Kampo]

This is first time we are experiencing heat issue. A few thoughts:
1) Its is very popular to attach a heatsink on top of Pi zero's processor to assist in cooling
2) Pi zero should not heat up by simply running reef-pi. reef-pi is designed and tested to run with less than 1/3rd of CPU & memory with reasonable sized workload (8 outlets, 4 pwm channels, 1 temperature sensor and 1 ATO sensor). Are you running something special? like a full blown desktop and brower, from the same Pi.
3) Did you cross check if the powersupply didn't mal function ? Like sending more than required voltage? Is it a regulated power supply that you are using?

I am running three builds currently, the one running temperature and ATO sensor is working just fine, and I can access it . The kessil controller has lost its internet connectivity after three days of operations. Its working fine, and all my lights are working as expected, its just that I cant access it through browser. I intend to upgrade that build to include the physical UI (button and led display) soon, as and when the physical interface code is released in reef-pi

i do possibly suspect the power supply. i used one of these guys, i noticed 2 marks on the acclyc spash shield right where the wires were touching the spash shield they rubbed off but i'm guessing the wires got hot. now i don't know if that is the cause or when the pi fried it caused a short.

 

[Kampo]

If the electronics burn up is related to pi zero heating issue , you should also see an upward trend in your reef pi health chart (cpu/memory), if it’s not there , then this is likely a different issue.

the cpu/mem didn't seem abnormally high but since i can't bring it up i can't really look over it.

 

[Ranjib]

The dosing sub-system is nearing completion. I have gone through a lot of user feedback around different dosing system on r2r and I think the reef-pi 's implementation will support most of it. I was not able to make it as user friendly as possible though. I am leaning towards making it correct, in lieu of ease of use. In simpler terms, the first iteration does not allow users to specify dosing amount in volume (ml) instead it will work on time and schedule. We can revisit that (before 2.0 release) later, once the overall module is stable and bug free. Here are some screen shots from my development version (will be available on 1.3 release)

The doser tab will let users create one of more dosing pumps. Each pump has a name and a pwm pin (pca9685 pin number) associated with it

Once created, each pump can be calibrated (running them on-demand) and scheduled (run periodically). The calibration ui allows running the dosing pump for a fixed amount of time in a fixed pwm speed (which in turn controls the dosing pump speed)

Once calibrated, user will have some understanding about the dosing pump throughput, they can use this knowledge to setup their dosing regiment using the schedule UI. The schedule UI is very similar to timer UI, it allows running the dosing pump at a fixed speed for a specific duration. Here is an example of setting up dosing every 6 hours, for 10 second , at 1/10th speed. I am finding its more precise to run the dosing pumps at lower speed for longer duration instead of higher speed for smaller duration

As I mentioned, this will be available in 1.3 release (a week or two ) , I might polish the UI a bit more, but overall, I think its in a OK state to be shipped.

Feedback ? violent disagreements ?

 

[jcmental]

Wow my eyeballs are bleeding, what a brilliant thread. I'm totally new to programming, I do have a basic understanding of electronics and control though.
I'm a mechanical engineer by trade and have spent most of my working life solving or designing ways out of problems.
I feel I'm throwing my self in at the deep end on this but have just started to order alot of the parts on your list@Ranjib
I've also ordered a 7" touch screen that I intend to wire remotely to mount over my tank. I have access to a 3D printer so will be making a case / housing for it on that.
Also for the power bars I'm going to use a surge protector 6 gang extension with switched sockets but insted of hacking it up I figured I'd by pass the switches in the bar and wire them to the relay board using 12 core wire, this way I can mount it in my cabinet and keep the Rpi and control circuits out of the cabinet and in a safe dry place. Any PWM gear like my lights and wave makers I thinking of using an old network switch for the ports and connecting to my equipment using RJ45 plugs and sockets.
these are just ideas at the moment, my biggest hurdle will be loading your reef pi program on the Rpi and working out to find the source code to have a play.

 

[Ranjib]

Wow my eyeballs are bleeding, what a brilliant thread. I'm totally new to programming, I do have a basic understanding of electronics and control though.
I'm a mechanical engineer by trade and have spent most of my working life solving or designing ways out of problems.
I feel I'm throwing my self in at the deep end on this but have just started to order alot of the parts on your list@Ranjib
I've also ordered a 7" touch screen that I intend to wire remotely to mount over my tank. I have access to a 3D printer so will be making a case / housing for it on that.
Also for the power bars I'm going to use a surge protector 6 gang extension with switched sockets but insted of hacking it up I figured I'd by pass the switches in the bar and wire them to the relay board using 12 core wire, this way I can mount it in my cabinet and keep the Rpi and control circuits out of the cabinet and in a safe dry place. Any PWM gear like my lights and wave makers I thinking of using an old network switch for the ports and connecting to my equipment using RJ45 plugs and sockets.
these are just ideas at the moment, my biggest hurdle will be loading your reef pi program on the Rpi and working out to find the source code to have a play.

Thank you for the kind words. I like your ideas around power bar. Love to see how it turns out.

I dont think you have to learn how to code to use or build a controller based on reef-pi. Basic knowledge of computers, some familiarity with command line , should be more than enough.

Welcome to reef2reef, this is a great place