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

[b4tn]

Awesome, I will look for the adafruit guide.

@pickupman66 I do use the PH probe to shut off my doser if PH goes above 8.6. Will the reef pi at least read a PH probe currently? Or is that int he works as well?

 

[b4tn]

Nevermind. I found the guide. https://learn.adafruit.com/reef-pi-installation-and-configuration/introduction

 

[Michael Lane]

So the Aqualifter was a nightmare on the Triac due to its design.

Aqualifter is pretty low power. It proabably doesn't draw enough current the keep above the triac's holding current. Mechanical relays are a good choice for that kind of device.

 

[b4tn]

Speaking of PB4’s. Has anyone opened one up? I would probably figure out a way to re purpose them for the pi controller.

 

[pickupman66]

I would not bother. There's a piece of software that lives on top of a control board in them

 

[Ranjib]

Hmm. i bought my female jacks at home depot in individual baggies. they had a cheapo plastic puncher in them.

I am looking into building the pump circuit. I am getting a PCA9685 breakout board. I dont know much about this. Can I run the 24V supply power thru this board using the large screw connector at the top to supply Power to the pumps thru the + &- located next to the PWM output? Unfortunately I dont believe that cat5E will be able to handle the Amperage for these pumps so what I plan to do is use the PCA9685 to drive signaling into the Cat5e connection and then run that over to the tank. once there I will break it out and Marry the PWM and its ground to a 24V power source and then push that into a female end to connect the Jebao pumps to.

Do you think I need Transistors and or resistors?

granted this will not be in working order until the Pump coding can be done which I am not skilled in.

Sounds ok to me. There are PoE( power over ethernet) standards, so you should be able to run 15 watts (24v at 625mA) or higher (PoE+) through cat5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_over_Ethernet

 

[Ranjib]

Hmmm, I think I am going to jump on this. I have a 3 year old Reefkeeper lite that has started flashing "error" across the screen. Everything still works but I would hate for it to fail on me and they are no longer in business. Years ago I built a Mega squirt Electronic Fuel Injection controller from the circuit board up for my race car and loved it. This is right up my alley and a heck of a lot cheaper than an Apex.

So I just read through all the guides and its pretty straight forward. I will probably continue to read through the 300 pages of thread. But a couple questions.

Once wifi is enabled can I control/program 100% of the features via the web interface?

For my ATO I use a toms aqualifter pump. If I recall correctly it only works off a mechanical relay. Is that by design of the pump or the reefkeeper power strip? In other words if I wanted to initially start with 8 outlets how many should be mechanical and how many should be solid state or can they all be optocoupler relays?

Are there any major "known" issues/limitations in comparison to a commercial controller?

Thank you for your interest in reef-pi. I have never used a commercial controller (the only two commercial controller I have is kessil , that I don't use anymore and Smart ATO micro), hence can't comment whats missing in reef-pi. I would assume a lot, and above anything the fact that you have use abundant elbow grease (i.e. you'll spend a decent amount of time building it), although I think this can be fun. Also, we don't have any cloud-based portal, your data and everything stays in the pi, you can send your data to adafruit, but can't control your controller from there. As a workaround, it is possible to set up port forwarding and access your reef-pi UI from outside home... I do that when I am on vacation.
Let us know if you have any question,

 

[Ranjib]

Awesome, I will look for the adafruit guide.

@pickupman66 I do use the PH probe to shut off my doser if PH goes above 8.6. Will the reef pi at least read a PH probe currently? Or is that int he works as well?

reef-pi can do pH monitoring and alert based on it. We don't have equipment control yet (i.e. turn on/off equipment based on pH value), this is something that will come after 2.0 release (sometime after Halloween, probably early next year).
pH module was developed relatively recently, and there is no official documentation other than few posts /circuit images of my own build. I'll publish the adafruit guide directly on pH monitoring using reef-pi sometime around mid-october. I am going through individual guides, and theres 5 more to go. ...

 

[Ranjib]

Speaking of PB4’s. Has anyone opened one up? I would probably figure out a way to re purpose them for the pi controller.

I need some details on which voltage it works, if you have an old unit and a multimeter, check the voltage readings in the rj45/cat5 connector, I am pretty sure we can reuse it with reef-pi

 

[cunninghamT1]

Awesome, could i use a dc fan and fan speed is controlled by temp? current one is noisy
sorry, too many posts here, hard to read them all at once.

 

[Soulreefer]

The best tread in diy section 318 page.. Why this tread not sticky.

 

[Ranjib]

Awesome, could i use a dc fan and fan speed is controlled by temp? current one is noisy
sorry, too many posts here, hard to read them all at once.

The temperature controller is only aware of on/off type control, so you can only start a dc fan on or off. You can create a virtual light with manual profile and use that to control the fan speed (since both light and dc fan uses the same pwm logic for speed/intensity control)

 

[Ranjib]

The best tread in diy section 318 page.. Why this tread not sticky.

Welcome to reef2reef, thank you for the kind words

 

[rroselavy]

One idea: A waterproof cable gland and a terminal adapter could be used instead. Not flush like a jack, but the BNC's are going to stick out anyway. Temp probes aren't changed out often enough for it to matter.

Similar to this project:

Build KnowFlow: automatic water monitor

 

[rroselavy]

Actually, this provides no advantage over a mini jack. lol.

 

[b4tn]

Agreed this is an awesome thread. I have been doing tons of research and am putting together my parts list now. I have decided on the pi 3 B+ so that I have plenty of room for future expansion. PWM control is cool but at the time I am content with my light boxes doing light control on their own. At the bare minimum I need the following features

Ability to control remotley via web (Currently do this with my reefkeeper via port forwarding at my router)
ATO
Auto Temp control
PH monitoring
Graphical statistics and alerts
AC outlets on/off for assorted pumps and lights
Ability to control two wave makers via AC outlets to be on and off at pre programmed timed intervals.

A feature that I have not seen but I may have missed that would be handy, is a to have a single button that will turn off certain devices then have them automatically turn back on after the programmed time has elapsed. For instance, on my current controller I have the standby button (this could be a button on the web interface as well). When I press standby my return pump turns off, wavemakers turn off, and skimmer is turned off for display feeding. After 5 minutes the wavemakers turn back on and kick up any food that has fallen to the bottom for the fish to chase and the corals to catch. 5 minutes later my return pump kicks back on and 5 minutes after that once my sump has been returned to normal water levels the skimmer kicks back on without over flowing.

Based on what I am seeing all of the above can be easily accomplished with the basic setup so I am sold. Some of my future goals once everything above is solid...

PH control
Peristaltic pump control to replace doser
Cameras
Dive into controlling My Ocean revive lights or a DIY LED's

I really wish I knew more about programming! I see a lot of possibilities with this for home automation uses as well. The best part about this is that by doing it myself I will know all the ins and outs. Its frustrating with the RKL especially now that they are no longer in business trying to figure out how to set it up.

 

[noob again]

A feature that I have not seen but I may have missed that would be handy, is a to have a single button that will turn off certain devices then have them automatically turn back on after the programmed time has elapsed. For instance, on my current controller I have the standby button (this could be a button on the web interface as well). When I press standby my return pump turns off, wavemakers turn off, and skimmer is turned off for display feeding. After 5 minutes the wavemakers turn back on and kick up any food that has fallen to the bottom for the fish to chase and the corals to catch. 5 minutes later my return pump kicks back on and 5 minutes after that once my sump has been returned to normal water levels the skimmer kicks back on without over flowing.

There is a Macro button that does exactly this. You can name it Feed mode and turn off all pumps, then wait a period of time, turn on something wait longer, turn on the next, etc... you can also have more than one macro to do water changes, or what ever else you can think of. There is a built in web button the you can just press to tell it to run. I don't know if there is the ability for a physical button or not, but I don't think that would be hard to implement if there wasn't.

 

[sector9]

I am confused at the heating/cooling function and feel like there are potential bugs there.

I only have a heater, no cooler. Previously, if you only had a heater, you could set a heater min and max set point. However, on the RC0, you set "heater threshold". I am assuming that the way this is supposed to work is:
If temperature is above heater threshold, heater should turn off
If temperature is below heater threshold, heater should turn on

I just set my heater threshold to 76. I am getting the following on my logs:

Sep 29 09:01:43 reefpi reef-pi[7235]: 2018/09/29 09:01:43 temperature sub-system:  sensor Temperature value: 77.225
Sep 29 09:01:43 reefpi reef-pi[7235]: 2018/09/29 09:01:43 temperature subsystem: Current temperature is above maximum threshold. Executing cool down routine
Sep 29 09:01:43 reefpi reef-pi[7235]: 2018/09/29 09:01:43 Setting GPIO Pin: 5 State: 1

So working as expected, relay should be off and it is

However, when I change the heater threshold to 79, nothing changes:

Sep 29 09:04:53 reefpi reef-pi[7399]: 2018/09/29 09:04:53 temperature sub-system:  sensor Temperature value: 77.225
Sep 29 09:04:53 reefpi reef-pi[7399]: 2018/09/29 09:04:53 temperature subsystem: Current temperature is above maximum threshold. Executing cool down routine
Sep 29 09:04:53 reefpi reef-pi[7399]: 2018/09/29 09:04:53 Setting GPIO Pin: 5 State: 1

Not working as expected, relay should turn on when the temperature is below threshold.

Have I gone crazy? Anyone else experiencing issues with the heater control on RC0?

 

[Ranjib]

I am confused at the heating/cooling function and feel like there are potential bugs there.

I only have a heater, no cooler. Previously, if you only had a heater, you could set a heater min and max set point. However, on the RC0, you set "heater threshold". I am assuming that the way this is supposed to work is:
If temperature is above heater threshold, heater should turn off
If temperature is below heater threshold, heater should turn on

I just set my heater threshold to 76. I am getting the following on my logs:

Sep 29 09:01:43 reefpi reef-pi[7235]: 2018/09/29 09:01:43 temperature sub-system:  sensor Temperature value: 77.225
Sep 29 09:01:43 reefpi reef-pi[7235]: 2018/09/29 09:01:43 temperature subsystem: Current temperature is above maximum threshold. Executing cool down routine
Sep 29 09:01:43 reefpi reef-pi[7235]: 2018/09/29 09:01:43 Setting GPIO Pin: 5 State: 1

So working as expected, relay should be off and it is

However, when I change the heater threshold to 79, nothing changes:

Sep 29 09:04:53 reefpi reef-pi[7399]: 2018/09/29 09:04:53 temperature sub-system:  sensor Temperature value: 77.225
Sep 29 09:04:53 reefpi reef-pi[7399]: 2018/09/29 09:04:53 temperature subsystem: Current temperature is above maximum threshold. Executing cool down routine
Sep 29 09:04:53 reefpi reef-pi[7399]: 2018/09/29 09:04:53 Setting GPIO Pin: 5 State: 1

Not working as expected, relay should turn on when the temperature is below threshold.

Have I gone crazy? Anyone else experiencing issues with the heater control on RC0?

So, if I understand correctly, the new threshold is not being respected . Can you enable/disable the temperature controller. This can be due to a UI bug.
I'm looking into this right now. Thanks for reporting,

 

[sector9]

So, if I understand correctly, the new threshold is not being respected . Can you enable/disable the temperature controller. This can be due to a UI bug.
I'm looking into this right now. Thanks for reporting,

I tried reloading reefpi and turning off then back on temp subsystem and turning off and on temp controller function. Nothing has fixed it

However! I just found a fix that confirms this to be a bug IMO. I have to set a chiller threshold value for the heater function to work even though I don’t have a chiller. To do this, I have to change the chiller control to a relay and the chiller threshold was no longer grayed out. I set a value then changed the chiller control back to “none”. The heater is now working as expected

It is important to me to have reliable temperature function. In fact, ever since my raspberry pi running reefpi died a few months ago (with reefpi being my only real temperature control mechanism as my heater had a terrible temp sensor built in), I feel strongly that multiple layers of backup for temp control are important.