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

[Diamond1]

Maybe something like this?
https://www.amazon.com/Solid-State-...54737&sr=8-16&keywords=12v+solid+state+relays

Nevermind it's for 24v dc load switching.

 

[b4tn]

@Diamond1 , @stefanm , both are exactly what i was looking for. Thanks

 

[Ranjib]

@Ranjib I'm going to have a play with hooking up four dosing pump heads today via a PCA 9685, so do I need two inputs into the l293d from the pi's gpio per head? That's a total of 8 plus 2 more to the PCA SCA/SDL, so that's a total of 10, does it matter which gpio pins I can use?

Also I'll be running 8 relays, so that's 8 more pins gone, plus the data for the temperature probes, so I'll be up to 19, now if I also want to run lights later on with another PCA 9685 (version 3.0?) do I have enough useable pins?

We use the gpio pins in doser guide to control the direction of motors. If you don’t need it, you don’t really have to use it. You can just connect those pins to GND and 3.3v and they should be fine and working in a fixed direction (or use jumpers). As others have pointed out , you can use spi gpio pin as well

 

[Ranjib]

Finally finished up my second reef-pi build. Time to start the 3rd

Epic . Thank you for sharing

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Epic . Thank you for sharing

What size is that doser box?

 

[stefanm]

We use the gpio pins in doser guide to control the direction of motors. If you don’t need it, you don’t really have to use it. You can just connect those pins to GND and 3.3v and they should be fine and working in a fixed direction (or use jumpers). As others have pointed out , you can use spi gpio pin as well

Sorry a touch confused, do you mean the pi's gpio or the control pins on the l239d (I'm using a breakout board)

I did hook it all up earlier and allocated the jack's and the gpio pins on the doser via the pca 9685, all recognised, however I didn't hook up any motors I just tested with my multimeter on the calibrate function, I didn't get any voltage reading at all, do I need to hook up a motor or should I be getting a reading without one? I did cross check I've wired up properly.

 

[b4tn]

PWM control will go to either PRI pins 18 and 19 or come from the PCA9685. If you are just wanting the motor to go in one direction run say the green control signal to ground and the blue to the GPIO output of your choosing. Dont forget to creat the virtual equipment in reefpi for those GPIO controls and turn them on.

 

[stefanm]

PWM control will go to either PRI pins 18 and 19 or come from the PCA9685. If you are just wanting the motor to go in one direction run say the green control signal to ground and the blue to the GPIO output of your choosing. Dont forget to creat the virtual equipment in reefpi for those GPIO controls and turn them on.

Thanks, got it, will give it a try.

 

[b4tn]

@Ranjib Is there a way to put multiple addressees in the alert to: box? I Like to have a txt alert so I have my txt email in there but I cant have cell phones at work so I would like to have my email address in there as well. I tried "," and ";" but doesnt seem to work.

 

[Ranjib]

@Ranjib Is there a way to put multiple addressees in the alert to: box? I Like to have a txt alert so I have my txt email in there but I cant have cell phones at work so I would like to have my email address in there as well. I tried "," and ";" but doesnt seem to work.

Not yet. Should be an easy feature to implement.
You can also do some other hacks, like create an alias or google group and add multiple email in it, and then send alert to that group

 

[b4tn]

Not yet. Should be an easy feature to implement.
You can also do some other hacks, like create an alias or google group and add multiple email in it, and then send alert to that group

That’s perfect. Thanks.

 

[Dave B]

I have this in my mind. If you check the old posts in this thread , there should be a few posts of me talking about reef-pi physical interface. A barebone lcd panel/mechanical button based interface to do basic configuration as well as display summary information. This does not need to be in reef-pi , that was my learning. I was able to run a dedicated program that uses reef-pi api to get the data and show in a lcd panel .. etc

Does the API allow external calls to Reef-Pi? I have a Windows sql based full house automation system with customizable GUI's and would love to integrate Reef Pi into that system.

 

[Dave B]

Finally finished up my second reef-pi build. Time to start the 3rd

Lots going on in that little box! Nice space management!

 

[Dave B]

I have a few questions now that I am up and going. I have searched this thread and several others and sort of have some answers, but I figured that I would ask my questions in one place.
1. Is the Dashboard customizable? I would like to change the background to black and also add buttons for the equipment. I also would like to add a few quick buttons for scripts. Something like a Feeding Time script run button to the dash.
2. How do Macros actuate? Can a timer start a macro?
3. Is there a timer settings guideline someplace?
4. What does the "Enable Profiling" checkbox do?
5. In Timer setup - What is a subsystem?
6. Under camera setup, where do you define the setting for the upload to Gdrive option?

Thanks and sorry about all the questions.

 

[Ranjib]

Does the API allow external calls to Reef-Pi? I have a Windows sql based full house automation system with customizable GUI's and would love to integrate Reef Pi into that system.

yes. in fact entire UI is backed by reef-pi's HTTP/JSON based api. Anything you do by reef-pi UI can be done by API, and it can be any external program. the API was thoroughly documented for 1.0, for 2.0 i didnt get the time to work on API docs. If you want to do somethig specific, let us know, happy to chalk out the details (in case code is not helpful).
API is what gives us the foundation to do clustering

 

[Dave B]

yes. in fact entire UI is backed by reef-pi's HTTP/JSON based api. Anything you do by reef-pi UI can be done by API, and it can be any external program. the API was thoroughly documented for 1.0, for 2.0 i didnt get the time to work on API docs. If you want to do somethig specific, let us know, happy to chalk out the details (in case code is not helpful).
API is what gives us the foundation to do clustering

Perfect! The system I use (Allonis.com) contains very powerful scripting and a vary nice GUI builder. This is going to be fun! I will let you know of any roadblocks. Allonis might be interested in this as well as several users ask about Reef control.

 

[Bigtrout]

You'll need something like this, should be simple to hook up, the Jayfish controller (similar to reef pi) uses this for its dosing set up.

Ive used these, be careful if running anything over 5 amps through them, if so get the heatsink.

 

[Ranjib]

I have a few questions now that I am up and going. I have searched this thread and several others and sort of have some answers, but I figured that I would ask my questions in one place.
1. Is the Dashboard customizable? I would like to change the background to black and also add buttons for the equipment. I also would like to add a few quick buttons for scripts. Something like a Feeding Time script run button to the dash.
2. How do Macros actuate? Can a timer start a macro?
3. Is there a timer settings guideline someplace?
4. What does the "Enable Profiling" checkbox do?
5. In Timer setup - What is a subsystem?
6. Under camera setup, where do you define the setting for the upload to Gdrive option?

Thanks and sorry about all the questions.

1. The grid (row, column numbers, wdth/height of individual cells, etc) are customizable, but not to a extent that you can add widgets.
2. Currently macros dont have timers, they are start/stopped on demand (UI or API). This is coming in 3.0
3. Checkout: https://crontab.guru/
4. Enable profiling will allow you to perform profiling of the reef-pi code for performance analysis (read about go and pprof for details)
5. A subsystem is an entire module in reef-pi (like ATO, timer, temperature, etc). Macro allows you to turn off an entire module (aka subsystem). As you understand this is a powerful and dangerous feature.
6. You cant. Currently this is a very undocumented feature, which assumes you have drive (an opensource cli tool to interact with google drive) installed and configured. Use drive's documentation for setup instructions. I may remove it in future version of reef-pi, unless theres a strong requirement from the community. I use it to get automatic tank image updated on my google drive when i am on vacation.
Dont be sorry about the qustions. Sometime I dont get time, or the thread move so fast that i had hard time answering everything (a good problem if you ask me), but I and the community appreciate your curiosity and the attempt to make a diy controller.

 

[Bigtrout]

@Ranjib
Just another question out of curiosity.
Does reef-pi set the precision on the ds18b20 probes (9,10,11 or 12 bit)or does it read the probes as set when bought?

 

[Dave B]

1. The grid (row, column numbers, wdth/height of individual cells, etc) are customizable, but not to a extent that you can add widgets.
2. Currently macros dont have timers, they are start/stopped on demand (UI or API). This is coming in 3.0
3. Checkout: https://crontab.guru/
4. Enable profiling will allow you to perform profiling of the reef-pi code for performance analysis (read about go and pprof for details)
5. A subsystem is an entire module in reef-pi (like ATO, timer, temperature, etc). Macro allows you to turn off an entire module (aka subsystem). As you understand this is a powerful and dangerous feature.
6. You cant. Currently this is a very undocumented feature, which assumes you have drive (an opensource cli tool to interact with google drive) installed and configured. Use drive's documentation for setup instructions. I may remove it in future version of reef-pi, unless theres a strong requirement from the community. I use it to get automatic tank image updated on my google drive when i am on vacation.
Dont be sorry about the qustions. Sometime I dont get time, or the thread move so fast that i had hard time answering everything (a good problem if you ask me), but I and the community appreciate your curiosity and the attempt to make a diy controller.

Thanks for the answers! Much appreciated.