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

[Ranjib]

@Ranjib There's definitely something going on with equipment status. I manually triggered my ATO pump so that it ran for a few seconds and then stopped as the ATO grabbed control of it. Status stayed showing "On" and I set a stopwatch. 5 minutes later and it was still showing "On" despite the pump being off. Jump to Dashboard and back to equipment and it has changed to "Off"

there's a bug in the equipment chart in 3.4 where it does not show the off state correctly. i am thinking if you are encountering that. i fixed it in master, will be out in next release

 

[Des Westcott]

there's a bug in the equipment chart in 3.4 where it does not show the off state correctly. i am thinking if you are encountering that. i fixed it in master, will be out in next release

I downgraded to 3.3.1 a week or so ago when encountering the temp sensor errors.

 

[Yov]

Sooo @Ranjib, wil there be or is it posible to add functions for "Lightning" and or weather cloning from location ?
Like the bluefish controller?

kind regards !

 

[Litserv]

I have not tried this personally, but should be fairly easy. Try this: https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-ssl-lets-encrypt/ , its for apache web server (which we are not using) but the instructions provided here does show how to control the path of generated certificates.
Please do report back if this works. If not, i'll find out how to do this. Its an important topic (to run reef-pi with https and proper cert authority), which should be easy, and we should know if theres some obvious gotchas.

I run a configuration management system and install my own selfsigned root can and corresponding PKI infra ( certs, crl, csrs etc)

I'm away from home until next week. Asap I'll try it and report the resulst. THANKS!

 

[Smin]

So I have reefpi 3.3 all setup and working to control my custom pwm led build for my 400l tank.
For the most part it's working great, except when dimming there is a noticeable step in lighting. I have six channels so it's proving tricky to setup and dim each one as needed. Is there a way to access the new sine, lunar modes etc? They're not available in the GUI..

 

[GaryE]

I just sent off for a new board. This one is a mini board for use on tanks that don't require a lot of external connetions.

It has two connectors for DS18B20 temp probes and 3 12 or 24 volt led's (depending on your powersupply voltage). It also has a header for an Adafruit SHT31-d Temp/Humidity sensor(optional) and a header to expose 8 GPIO pins for use with buttons or switches to manually control equipment.

No ATO or Dosing on this board.

I intend to use this board for my sons fresh water tank and my QT tank.

If you want to follow along with the progress of this and the full size board I am working on, check in on my build thread.

 

[LongBeachReefer562]

Been wanting to add some dosers and remembered I had some L298Ns (for motor control) in the parts bin so figured it was worth giving them a shot.

I wired as shown below and added pin 4 as a doser.... to my amazement it works fantastic. The output voltage to the motor is very linear as well based on the dosing speed set to pin 4.

They're pretty cheap, about $10 for 5pcs and each is made to control 2 motors for forward/reverse/speed. For reefpi use case I think we could even control 4 pumps since each output can be set to high/low and we only want the motor to run in one direction typically.

Seems to easy to be true though. From a circuity standpoint, does anyone see any issues with using this as a long term solution?

 

[Michael Lane]

Been wanting to add some dosers and remembered I had some L298Ns (for motor control) in the parts bin so figured it was worth giving them a shot.

I wired as shown below and added pin 4 as a doser.... to my amazement it works fantastic. The output voltage to the motor is very linear as well based on the dosing speed set to pin 4.

They're pretty cheap, about $10 for 5pcs and each is made to control 2 motors for forward/reverse/speed. For reefpi use case I think we could even control 4 pumps since each output can be set to high/low and we only want the motor to run in one direction typically.

Seems to easy to be true though. From a circuity standpoint, does anyone see any issues with using this as a long term solution?

Very cool! That seems totally fine to me. You'll probably just want to make sure your PWM frequence <= 1000.

 

[cnidus]

Does anyone have performance/responsiveness issues with the webUI?

im finding it locks up, takes a long time to load the graphs on dashboard and doesn’t respond to clicks on the equipment, macros etc... but then sometimes 10min later the thing I wanted to trigger kicks off (like feed mode macro).

edit: running 3.4 on a rpi2b (is that the problem, old hardware?)

 

[GaryE]

Does anyone have performance/responsiveness issues with the webUI?

im finding it locks up, takes a long time to load the graphs on dashboard and doesn’t respond to clicks on the equipment, macros etc... but then sometimes 10min later the thing I wanted to trigger kicks off (like feed mode macro).

edit: running 3.4 on a rpi2b (is that the problem, old hardware?)

Possible

I'm running my main DT on an RPi3. No issues other than it's connected to a couple of soldered breadboards. They are a bit wonky from time to time.

My QT and sons freshwater are running on RPi0w's without issue, however, they really aren't doing a lot. Temp control via Kaza power strips.

RPi boards are dirt cheap, would be worth it to swap for something with a bit more horsepower.

The best part, you can swap your current sd card to the new board and be up and running with no software changes.

 

[Ranjib]

Sooo @Ranjib, wil there be or is it posible to add functions for "Lightning" and or weather cloning from location ?
Like the bluefish controller?

kind regards !

I’m not sure exactly what it is , if you can detail I can think through . What we get from this ?

 

[Ranjib]

Does anyone have performance/responsiveness issues with the webUI?

im finding it locks up, takes a long time to load the graphs on dashboard and doesn’t respond to clicks on the equipment, macros etc... but then sometimes 10min later the thing I wanted to trigger kicks off (like feed mode macro).

edit: running 3.4 on a rpi2b (is that the problem, old hardware?)

That’s not good. I a, running couple of builds on 3.4 without any issues. How does the health chart looks ?

 

[Ranjib]

So I have reefpi 3.3 all setup and working to control my custom pwm led build for my 400l tank.
For the most part it's working great, except when dimming there is a noticeable step in lighting. I have six channels so it's proving tricky to setup and dim each one as needed. Is there a way to access the new sine, lunar modes etc? They're not available in the GUI..

@Michael Lane just added the ui support for lunar profile . It will be available in next release.

 

[Ranjib]

I just sent off for a new board. This one is a mini board for use on tanks that don't require a lot of external connetions.

It has two connectors for DS18B20 temp probes and 3 12 or 24 volt led's (depending on your powersupply voltage). It also has a header for an Adafruit SHT31-d Temp/Humidity sensor(optional) and a header to expose 8 GPIO pins for use with buttons or switches to manually control equipment.

No ATO or Dosing on this board.

I intend to use this board for my sons fresh water tank and my QT tank.

If you want to follow along with the progress of this and the full size board I am working on, check in on my build thread.

Looks awesome . You plan to sell it Or open source the design ?is it possible to access the unused gpio pins ?

 

[Ranjib]

Been wanting to add some dosers and remembered I had some L298Ns (for motor control) in the parts bin so figured it was worth giving them a shot.

I wired as shown below and added pin 4 as a doser.... to my amazement it works fantastic. The output voltage to the motor is very linear as well based on the dosing speed set to pin 4.

They're pretty cheap, about $10 for 5pcs and each is made to control 2 motors for forward/reverse/speed. For reefpi use case I think we could even control 4 pumps since each output can be set to high/low and we only want the motor to run in one direction typically.

Seems to easy to be true though. From a circuity standpoint, does anyone see any issues with using this as a long term solution?

Super cool . Ideally all the boards should be chainable like this. I don’t see any obvious issue. It will be nice to check the power signal with a scope. I think it’s a best practice to put some capacitors whenever we share power source ...

 

[Yov]

I’m not sure exactly what it is , if you can detail I can think through . What we get from this ?

The blue fish controller can be set to implement info from the weather from a different location. (lets say rain forrest)
This then simulates the cloud's, rain and storm from that location. Of course clouds and storm are "random" outputs. If i remember correctly they always use the weather from -24h. so if yesterday was 50% clouded today in the aqua/paludarium would be a clouded day with la couple of lights down or at a set dimmed point.

next thing is kinde in the above... lightning simulation! aux trigered or with imput from the location info... Wel make the lights go crazy to make it look like thunderstorm. (not the epileptic type of flashing but a cosy lightning storm)

 

[GaryE]

Looks awesome . You plan to sell it Or open source the design ?is it possible to access the unused gpio pins ?

Yes. The first order I made yesterday was for 5 boards. I have to do just a little work to each to be able to sell them. Two of them are spoken for, but the others will be available.

I added a header to open several GPIO pins for use, but with the right connector on the GPIO PI header, shouldn't be an issue to open all unused pins.

The larger board I'm working on will have a header to expose all unused pins.

 

[Matevz Savarin]

Avout my adafruit not sending feeds. I deleted my acount, new key, and I am again getting all the feeds, temp 2x, ph, ato, system. All that I need.
anyone has an idea how to automatic turn on ac when room temp reaches set degreees?

 

[GaryE]

Avout my adafruit not sending feeds. I deleted my acount, new key, and I am again getting all the feeds, temp 2x, ph, ato, system. All that I need.
anyone has an idea how to automatic turn on ac when room temp reaches set degreees?

A window AC unit or central air? Either shoutbe controlled by a thermostat.

 

[b4tn]

Is my GPIO math correct?
I2C uses GPIO 2 and 3
Temp uses GPIO 4
ATO uses GPIO 17
GPIO 14 and 15 are not usable

So that leaves 20 GPIO pins that can be used for general purpose correct?

*Edit looks like UART can be disabled freeing up GPIO 14 and 15 so that makes 22 for general purpose.