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

[Ranjib]

Thanks man! I'm using reef-pi for sure. I don't have your talent for coding. Anything beyond php and I'm lost lol. I don't have a 3D printer, but it would be awesome to custom design an enclosure and print it at home. One day Ill have one, but my fishes are where my money go for now haha.

How you cut these boxes? I always thought these are hard to fabricate (to install receptacles etc)

 

[Ryan115]

I'll see if I can find a way to publish nightly builds, most popular software does that..

That would be cool, but maybe extreme. This is supposed to be a hobby after all, and not work. You have done enough already with everything else.
Unless you just really like coding that much!

 

[Cary]

Anyone ever ask Mike Herman of SB Reef lights how to adapt his light to reef-pi? He seems to be very accessible. I mean specifically taking the PWM from reef-pi and converting it to 0-10 ac (I believe this is what that light uses). He is the expert and knows all the troubleshooting techniques.

 

[Ryan115]

Anyone ever ask Mike Herman of SB Reef lights how to adapt his light to reef-pi? He seems to be very accessible. I mean specifically taking the PWM from reef-pi and converting it to 0-10 ac (I believe this is what that light uses). He is the expert and knows all the troubleshooting techniques.

I am hopefully going down that road very soon. I am waiting and hoping that his anniversary sale is any day now (it was this week last year).

He does have the videos up where he switches them over to Apex control. Can anyone confirm that Apex is 0-10 analog?

Earlier in this thread someone was able to get their MarsAqua BB dimming with 0-10V PWM. All that you would need for that is a 10V source, 2 resistors, an NPN transistor and the PCA9685 board. The drivers from sB are different but similar to other BBs.

If the PWM doesnt work, we have considered running it through a low-pass filter. But I dont think that anyone has tested that yet.

 

[marspeed]

I made the mod on my black boxes Glaxo hydro and use a blue fish controller 0 -10 v and they work fine but I got rid of my frag tank and no longer using them

 

[AshwinRavi]

I made the mod on my black boxes Glaxo hydro and use a blue fish controller 0 -10 v and they work fine but I got rid of my frag tank and no longer using them

I currently have 2 black box over my 75, could you explain how you controlled yours plz

 

[Cary]

Ryan, I am waiting for that sale too. I just thought that since he is so open, he might help us. I think we need to know for sure if the PWM is 0-5 or 0-10, that is one thing I am not sure of.

 

[Cary]

I made the mod on my black boxes Glaxo hydro and use a blue fish controller 0 -10 v and they work fine but I got rid of my frag tank and no longer using them

Marspeed, You use a blue fish controller and reef-pi or just the blue fish controller?

 

[marspeed]

I currently have 2 black box over my 75, could you explain how you controlled yours plz

first chance I get some time today

 

[AshwinRavi]

first chance I get some time today

thank you sir, no rush whatsoever, please take your time

 

[marspeed]

Marspeed, You use a blue fish controller and reef-pi or just the blue fish controller?

just blue fish should work with reef pi to

 

[Brad Cox]

I think the bluefish will have to stay seperate from reefpi.
Reefpi offers the same 0-5,or 0-10 volt pwm.

 

[AshwinRavi]

I guess i really dont have a need to control my BB intensity besides turning it on and off, which the relay should do.

 

[Ranjib]

Anyone ever ask Mike Herman of SB Reef lights how to adapt his light to reef-pi? He seems to be very accessible. I mean specifically taking the PWM from reef-pi and converting it to 0-10 ac (I believe this is what that light uses). He is the expert and knows all the troubleshooting techniques.

I am chatting with @saltyfilmfolks around sbreef controls, I have not sorted it yet, i'll keep you all posted if we make any progress .

 

[Ranjib]

Couple of important updates on the software side
- reef-pi now has improved validation across the modules. reef-pi used to not check if an outlet or equipment is being used (by a timer or ato or some other subsystem ) before deleting . it was possible to delete an equipment and have a timer job that reference to non existent equipment. This was a bug, and only existed because I didn't prioritize fixing it. Now that we are heading to first general release I had to get this done. There will be more such safety checks ....as much as possiublke reef-pi should be idiot proof.
https://github.com/reef-pi/reef-pi/pull/218

- reef-pi now has a health check or heart beat feature. This feature will allow reef-pi to send CPU, memory and other key controller health specific data to telemetry system. We can setup alert based on it. https://github.com/reef-pi/reef-pi/pull/219

Happy reefing

 

[Cary]

I am chatting with @saltyfilmfolks around sbreef controls, I have not sorted it yet, i'll keep you all posted if we make any progress .

He is a very good photographer and an avid supporter of SBReeflights. Also a very nice person.

 

[David Waddell]

How you cut these boxes? I always thought these are hard to fabricate (to install receptacles etc)

I just used a basic dremel tool with a cutting blade. Make sure to use safety glasses when you use one.

 

[Ryan115]

Ryan, I am waiting for that sale too. I just thought that since he is so open, he might help us. I think we need to know for sure if the PWM is 0-5 or 0-10, that is one thing I am not sure of.

Acording to Mike's video here his light need the same controller hack, so 0-10V analog.
However Marspeed had his working with 0-10v PWM and I believe Ranjib has had other types of controlled equipment that wanted analog, but was fine with PWM.

I am chatting with @saltyfilmfolks around sbreef controls, I have not sorted it yet, i'll keep you all posted if we make any progress .

He seems to be everywhere on r2r, and he is always helpful!

 

[Ranjib]

Acording to Mike's video here his light need the same controller hack, so 0-10V analog.
However Marspeed had his working with 0-10v PWM and I believe Ranjib has had other types of controlled equipment that wanted analog, but was fine with PWM.


He seems to be everywhere on r2r, and he is always helpful!

The range annotation (i.e. 0-10) implicitly implies that it is 0-10v analog. This is something I learned few months back while sorting out the final circuitry for kessil and peristaltic pumps. PWM is digital, and the voltage does not really vary for digitial signal, it can only be high or low (square wave). Analog on the other hand can have varied voltage , hence 0-10v notation is correct. The way we control perceived voltage (in multimeter or led intensity) using digital signal is by controlling the ratio between high (10v) and low (0v) .. also called as duty cycle.
Initially when I used to ask 0-10v pwm signal question in electronics forums (adafruit & stackexchage), I used to confuse a lot of people ..

@Brad Cox . had experimented with it, if i recall correctly.

 

[Cary]

Sorry, but I still am not sure I know the answer to the question. Yes, sometimes I am hard-headed and thick brained (ADD actually).

I watched those videos some time ago and was convinced I could do that modification and understood it to be 0-10v. What I don't understand is the output from reef-pi. I believe it is 0-5 PWM. If that is true we need other components to make the 0-5PWM digital changed to 0-10v analog.


Again, sorry if this has been answered above, I just didn't understand the answer. Ryan, I did read you statement earlier. Are you hinting now that the mod that Mike Herman is making the exact mod that we need for reef-pi?

Ranjib, thanks for your effort on our behalf.