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

Nicolas Sabrun · Nov 4, 2018

My 125g tank was setup with RKE controller and several modules. I have been trying to source a new head unit but I was not successful since the company went out of business.

Would it be possible to be a reef-pi controller that would reuse some of the RKE module such PB4 power bar, ALC light control...?

Thank you

Ranjib · Nov 4, 2018

Diamond1 said:
Here's the circuit.
The error message comes up every time the sensor tries to take a reading I have it set for every 10 seconds.

ATO page.

Your circuit and configuration looks correct for photo electric sensor. Are you using float switch ?

Dave's Reef · Nov 4, 2018

Ranjib said:
I am in process of finishing up the pH monitor build. It will be published next week hopefully, Its been for few months now, but I never got to document the build guide.

Thank you for the help on the temps and also on the ph I'll be keeping an eye out for it. I haven't ordered the PH probe yet but I want all my jack for everything installed before I mount the box. Thanks again.. and amazing job.

pickupman66 · Nov 4, 2018

Nicolas Sabrun said:
My 125g tank was setup with RKE controller and several modules. I have been trying to source a new head unit but I was not successful since the company went out of business.

Would it be possible to be a reef-pi controller that would reuse some of the RKE module such PB4 power bar, ALC light control...?

Thank you

No go on the old rke equipment. I'd love to as I have 4x of the pc4 and all the other goodies.

Diamond1 · Nov 4, 2018

No just the optical sensor.

Ranjib · Nov 4, 2018

Diamond1 said:
No resistors on the pi hat the optical sensor has a 3 pin connection that goes to a break out board with 4 wires going to the sensor.

your circuit looks fine to me. If you probe the three pin (5v, GND and GPIO 17) on the male header jumper, do you get expected reading, particularly when you put the sensor in and out of water?

Diamond1 · Nov 4, 2018

Like I said in an earlier post I constructed the circuit on a bread board and hooked that up to the pi without the hat on and got the same result.

Diamond1 · Nov 4, 2018

I'll give that a try and see what I get for readings.

Nicolas Sabrun · Nov 4, 2018

pickupman66 said:
No go on the old rke equipment. I'd love to as I have 4x of the pc4 and all the other goodies.

ugh. that s a bummer. Feels like a lot of wasted money now.

Diamond1 · Nov 4, 2018

Ok I just rebooted the pi put the sensor in the water and it shut the relay for the pump off pulled it out and the pump turned on, but I still have nothing for the ato on the dashboard. I refresh the page and get the error message
and the column where the ATO is supposed to be is blank.

Erica-Renee · Nov 4, 2018

Diamond1 said:
Ok I just rebooted the pi put the sensor in the water and it shut the relay for the pump off pulled it out and the pump turned on, but I still have nothing for the ato on the dashboard. I refresh the page and get the error message
and the column where the ATO is supposed to be is blank.

In your screen shot above the Dashboard Configuration under ato on the right you do not have a ATO Selected ..

and for some reason i was thinking the sensor and switch were the same My Mistake..

Diamond1 · Nov 4, 2018

Erica-Renee said:
In your screen shot above the Dashboard Configuration under ato on the right you do not have a ATO Selected ..

and for some reason i was thinking the sensor and switch were the same My Mistake..

DERRP! I was so worried about the sensor not working right I didn't notice that.
It's ALIVE!
Thanks Erica

Ranjib · Nov 4, 2018

Diamond1 said:
DERRP! I was so worried about the sensor not working right I didn't notice that.
It's ALIVE!
Thanks Erica

@Erica-Renee is simply awesome :0)

Diamond1 · Nov 4, 2018

No to get the temp probe going and I'll be golden. Till I decide to add more stuff.

Diamond1 · Nov 4, 2018

Ranjib said:
@Erica-Renee is simply awesome :0)

Yes she is! She has saved my butt in this build now a couple times.

Erica-Renee · Nov 4, 2018

Ranjib said:
@Erica-Renee is simply awesome :0)

This is what she told me. oops... never mind..

Ranjib · Nov 4, 2018

Nicolas Sabrun said:
My 125g tank was setup with RKE controller and several modules. I have been trying to source a new head unit but I was not successful since the company went out of business.

Would it be possible to be a reef-pi controller that would reuse some of the RKE module such PB4 power bar, ALC light control...?

Thank you

No idea. But I think we may be able to hack some of those component at least. The power bar should be reusable

Ranjib · Nov 4, 2018

pickupman66 said:
No go on the old rke equipment. I'd love to as I have 4x of the pc4 and all the other goodies.

Hmm..is there a way to see what sugnal pc4 power bar uses?

pickupman66 · Nov 4, 2018

Ranjib said:
Hmm..is there a way to see what sugnal pc4 power bar uses?

I know there is software that lies within the power bar itself. It's more than just a relayed bar. Through the head units it can be programmed to default a channel on or off if the head u it is removed. These firmwares were periodically updated. It is signaled along a 6 wire rj11 buss. I'm not quite ready to open one of mine up.

theatrus · Nov 4, 2018

Finally got a few cycles to start validating the "pico" original board I had made up almost 6+ months ago. Welp, how time flies with projects. It doesn't even use the new fancy logo

There are a few changes already required out of the box:

- The load switch fail-safe turned off the load switch. Instead of on. So its hard to power up the board without any power controller firmware. I simply bypassed it.
- Now I'm debugging the I2C bus which is held low by something. Going to hunt the various controllers on the board to see what is messed up, since a number of devices are attached to the bus (microcontroller, repeater, the isolator for the I2C circuit). This means the hardware RTC doesn't work right now.

Going to work on the other inputs and outputs next!