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

[Ranjib]

is this compatible for the pwm ? im thinking I don't think so but thought I would ask as its small
https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/adafruit-12-channel-16-bit-pwm-led-driver-spi-interface-tlc59711

Nope. This is SPI based. reef-pi will not work with this,

 

[LionHeart2017]

Nope. This is SPI based. reef-pi will not work with this,

No future plans to use SPI?

 

[Ranjib]

No future plans to use SPI?

I don’t like it :-(. It involves more wires, most of the things it provide can be done in i2c and The PIN numbers does not increase with number of devices in the wire,

That said , there’s no code limitation to stop us from using spi. We’ll have less gpio (total number of outlets and inlets will be less). Very early version of reef-pi had spi based mcp3008 support. we can easily bring spi support if there’s a compelling reason

 

[Diamond1]

My gears are already turning for future add-on's or different build ideas. The thought of automatic water changes popped into my head this morning. So tell me if I am totally off base here or if my plan is flawed. I would like to change 10 gallons of water every 30 days. So that's approximately 50ml per hour of water to be removed and added back per day. In theory this could be done with just the regular doser circuit. one pump to remove 50ml and one pump to add 50ml from a source per hour. Float switches could easily be added in the ATO portion of reef-pi as fail safes for if either one of the fresh saltwater source or tank get out of whack for some reason. For instance if the water level from the source drops below set switch level turn off the drain pump and if tank water goes above set switch level turn off source pump. The question I have is this should work with regular peristaltic pump but would it be robust enough. I dont know enough about stepper motors but would that be better suited for something like this? I know that there are several H-Bridge drivers out there that could drive a stepper motor.

I've thought about this same kind of thing.
Stupid question.
How do you plan on keeping the ATO from adding fresh water while you pull water out of the tank for the water change?
I know 5oml isn't much but if it activated the ato at the same time as the water change wouldn't that cause a bit of a problem?
I may be overthinking it but in my system if the timing was right taking 50 mill of water from the sump would activate the ATO.

 

[Michael Lane]

I've thought about this same kind of thing.
Stupid question.
How do you plan on keeping the ATO from adding fresh water while you pull water out of the tank for the water change?
I know 5oml isn't much but if it activated the ato at the same time as the water change wouldn't that cause a bit of a problem?
I may be overthinking it but in my system if the timing was right taking 50 mill of water from the sump would activate the ATO.

I think the best way would be to put in a macro that disables ATO, runs the pump(s), and then enable ATO again. This would prevent ATO during water change.

 

[buddy.]

I've thought about this same kind of thing.
Stupid question.
How do you plan on keeping the ATO from adding fresh water while you pull water out of the tank for the water change?
I know 5oml isn't much but if it activated the ato at the same time as the water change wouldn't that cause a bit of a problem?
I may be overthinking it but in my system if the timing was right taking 50 mill of water from the sump would activate the ATO.

This won't matter. I have an auto water changer and what happens on the first use is..
Water gets taken out
ATO tops up
New water gets added in.
Because the next small water removal will only be a few minutes away, the water will not have evaporated for the water to fall under the ATO sensor/switch. The water removal also won't activate the ATO since the ATO has already compensated for the water removal the first time.
This is a pretty common question but is not as issue an all. No need for the ATO to be switched off each time.

 

[Diamond1]

This won't matter. I have an auto water changer and what happens on the first use is..
Water gets taken out
ATO tops up
New water gets added in.
Because the next small water removal will only be a few minutes away, the water will not have evaporated for the water to fall under the ATO sensor/switch. The water removal also won't activate the ATO since the ATO has already compensated for the water removal the first time.
This is a pretty common question but is not as issue an all. No need for the ATO to be switched off each time.

Good explanation! I knew I was overthinking it just couldn't see the solution. Thanks

 

[Ranjib]

My apartment change is coming up next month. I’m thinking of making some changes on the tanks , may be upgrade to Red Sea . I don’t like the curved front , and I really want to build some stands using maker beam with reef-pi , accessories etc in mind

 

[LionHeart2017]

I've been making great strides with my lighting lately.

First, I got that "Black Box" light working by adding Meanwell PWM drivers and running it off a PiZero using the two built in PWM channels. That worked very well and I have passed the light on to a young local reefer setting up a small frag system to supplement his student income.

Second, I connected up one channel of my 5-channel DIY light with new PWM driver to the PiZero on the built it PWM and it worked! First time I have got that right with that light. Next step was to try get that same test channel working with the PCA9685 board so that I can set up all 5 channels. FAIL! I can't get it to work. I have checked and double checked connections against Ranjib's guide as well other Adafruit PCA9685 guides and no go. I have checked that PCA9685 is enabled in Reef-Pi. I have checked that the config.txt is correct. I have also now had to try run it off the Pi3 running my main system (because the PiZero is gone) and have double checked everything again. Still nothing. My next step is to connect it to the PI3 built in PWM channel and see if it works like it did on the Zero, but I'm sure it should.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow of how I've got it connected up and I'd appreciate anyone pointing me in the right direction to get this sorted out.

Can you give me some details on how you did the black boxes to mean well pwm?

 

[Ryan115]

There are dual head peristaltic pumps- both heads will run off the same motor, and with a good coupling (e.g. not the super cheap pumps) will run the same fluid in and out simultaneously. I’ve seen a few dual head pumps from Kamoer on Aliexpress which I’d consider for this.

I would imagine that there could still be a small difference in amount of flow, depending on tubing length / head pressure. Not sure if it would be enough to matter, but little differences could add up over time.
But as you said, if you spring for the better pumps without a simple friction coupling, that may not be an issue

 

[b4tn]

I am having issues with the calibration portion for the dosers. I noticed it last night goofing around with reef-pi. When selecting the calibration option it does not matter what speed or time I put in, it runs only what is configured in the timer portion. I can leave the calibration values at 0 and hit run and it will run whatever I have entered in the timer area. If I leave the values at zero in the timer fields then calibration does nothing no matter what the value I enter.

For instance I deleted both dosers and re added them. I configured the jack and pin, set it to disabled, and left the timer and speed values at 0. Saved it and went to the calibration button and entered a speed and time, hit run and nothing. I went back to edit the doser added a speed of 100 and time of 5, saved it. Went to calibration and entered a speed of 50 and time of 10 but it ran at what was saved in the timer 100 for 5 seconds. I left all values at 0 in calibration, hit run and it runs at 100 for 5 seconds. I have tried this both enabled and disabled with he same results.

 

[b4tn]

My apartment change is coming up next month. I’m thinking of making some changes on the tanks , may be upgrade to Red Sea . I don’t like the curved front , and I really want to build some stands using maker beam with reef-pi , accessories etc in mind

I had never heard of Maker Beam. That stuff looks cool! Make sure and post some pics when you are done moving. Moving sucks! I am former military and had to move every 3 years for almost 15 years. Sucks.

 

[Erica-Renee]

I am having issues with the calibration portion for the dosers. I noticed it last night goofing around with reef-pi. When selecting the calibration option it does not matter what speed or time I put in, it runs only what is configured in the timer portion. I can leave the calibration values at 0 and hit run and it will run whatever I have entered in the timer area. If I leave the values at zero in the timer fields then calibration does nothing no matter what the value I enter.

For instance I deleted both dosers and re added them. I configured the jack and pin, set it to disabled, and left the timer and speed values at 0. Saved it and went to the calibration button and entered a speed and time, hit run and nothing. I went back to edit the doser added a speed of 100 and time of 5, saved it. Went to calibration and entered a speed of 50 and time of 10 but it ran at what was saved in the timer 100 for 5 seconds. I left all values at 0 in calibration, hit run and it runs at 100 for 5 seconds. I have tried this both enabled and disabled with he same results.

This kinda explains a issue i have been having, Thinking its a wiring issue.. I re setup my whole reef-pi in the new Case i printed and could not get dosing pumps to work. Using the Calibration tool . I never tried the timer settings so cant confirm its the same issue. But i know it was working fine before and no wiring was changed. I tore it all apart looking for my mistake . Will test this in a bit and see if it helps

I will test to confirm this in about 30 min or so . .

 

[b4tn]

This kinda explains a issue i have been having, Thinking its a wiring issue.. I re setup my whole reef-pi in the new Case i printed and could not get dosing pumps to work. Using the Calibration tool . I never tried the timer settings so cant confirm its the same issue. But i know it was working fine before and no wiring was changed. I tore it all apart looking for my mistake . Will test this in a bit and see if it helps

I will test to confirm this in about 30 min or so . .

I could swear mine was working before also before, but I am not really sure. I know that the wiring is good because speed and time work fine in the timer. If I reduce speed from 100 to 25 in the timer then calibration mimics it.

 

[Erica-Renee]

I am having issues with the calibration portion for the dosers. I noticed it last night goofing around with reef-pi. When selecting the calibration option it does not matter what speed or time I put in, it runs only what is configured in the timer portion. I can leave the calibration values at 0 and hit run and it will run whatever I have entered in the timer area. If I leave the values at zero in the timer fields then calibration does nothing no matter what the value I enter.

For instance I deleted both dosers and re added them. I configured the jack and pin, set it to disabled, and left the timer and speed values at 0. Saved it and went to the calibration button and entered a speed and time, hit run and nothing. I went back to edit the doser added a speed of 100 and time of 5, saved it. Went to calibration and entered a speed of 50 and time of 10 but it ran at what was saved in the timer 100 for 5 seconds. I left all values at 0 in calibration, hit run and it runs at 100 for 5 seconds. I have tried this both enabled and disabled with he same results.

Mine Does exactly the same thing. Now I Need to put my Dosing pump housing back together until i get a nice one Printed...

@Ranjib Looks Like a Exterminator is need But its mostly a minor issue as long as people know its there ..

 

[b4tn]

Mine Does exactly the same thing. Now I Need to put my Dosing pump housing back together until i get a nice one Printed...

@Ranjib Looks Like a Exterminator is need But its mostly a minor issue as long as people know its there ..

Always good to know you are not crazy

Mine are acting strange all together since removing and re adding them. I dont have physical access to my reef-pi right now so I cant tell if they are actually running or not but they are not showing in the graph at scheduled times. It shows in the graph if I manually run the calibration but its not showing in the graph at its scheduled run time. Like I said, they may be sitting on my desk running every hour like I have them set but I cant tell because its not showing on the dash board.

 

[Erica-Renee]

Always good to know you are not crazy

Mine are acting strange all together since removing and re adding them. I dont have physical access to my reef-pi right now so I cant tell if they are actually running or not but they are not showing in the graph at scheduled times. It shows in the graph if I manually run the calibration but its not showing in the graph at its scheduled run time. Like I said, they may be sitting on my desk running every hour like I have them set but I cant tell because its not showing on the dash board.

I have mine back together (not running the test using multi-meter) Will set a timer up and see if its working properly.. This might be helpful to them to solve the issue. Of course unless the two of us are JUST Mindless ....

 

[Erica-Renee]

I have mine back together (not running the test using multi-meter) Will set a timer up and see if its working properly.. This might be helpful to them to solve the issue. Of course unless the two of us are JUST Mindless ....

I set them .. Day * hour * Minute * second 20 .. Duration 5 and speed 70... They run for Five seconds every one minute and speed sounds about right .
Conclusion they are Functioning Correctly.

My Graph is also updating .. Remember the graph is like the ATO Graph.. you have to watch the bar in relation to the number in seconds at the left. You should see it climb. it will only start a new bar once a hour....

 

[b4tn]

Ahhh, ok, that explains a lot!

 

[Ranjib]

@Erica-Renee @b4tn I'll look into the doser calibration issue. From the description it sounds like a bug, but let me confirm if I can reproduce it.