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

[Des Westcott]

18 & 19

Aaaah. Thanks

 

[Des Westcott]

Aaaah. Thanks

18 & 19

Hold on....

GPIO 18 and GPIO 19?

 

[Ranjib]

Hold on....

GPIO 18 and GPIO 19?

Yes. You can also configure this via kernel /config.txt
More on this here https://jumpnowtek.com/rpi/Using-the-Raspberry-Pi-Hardware-PWM-timers.html

 

[crusso1993]

@Des Westcott - I am curious to what solution you implemented regarding the AC/DC - DC/DC dilemma. Can you please share?

 

[Des Westcott]

@Des Westcott - I am curious to what solution you implemented regarding the AC/DC - DC/DC dilemma. Can you please share?

I have ordered 2 of these
https://www.digikey.co.za/product-detail/en/mean-well-usa-inc/LDD-700H/1866-3119-ND/7704740

The reason being that the solution as suggested by @naoki is 4 times the price and I'm doing this as a proof of concept and the intention is to sell the light or donate it on to a local reefer starting out.

Also to help make people aware of the Reef-Pi ability.

 

[crusso1993]

@Des Westcott - Cool, thanks! It'll be interesting to see if it works. Personally, I do not see any reason it wouldn't. However, that does not necessarily make it safe.

Also, did you give the that the installed driver might be dimmable by PWM? If it is dimmable it's probably not by PWM could be worth a try to run a test on it.

 

[Des Westcott]

@Des Westcott - Cool, thanks! It'll be interesting to see if it works. Personally, I do not see any reason it wouldn't. However, that does not necessarily make it safe.

Also, did you give the that the installed driver might be dimmable by PWM? If it is dimmable it's probably not by PWM could be worth a try to run a test on it.

The lights were never dimmable according to the previous owner. Knowing the "Chinese Black Box" mentality, I seriously doubt they would have used dimmable drivers if they didn't have to. At least this way I know what voltage I have there as well as what I'm getting in terms of the quality Meanwell PWM drivers.

 

[Ranjib]

The pH monitor build guide has been published in adafruit now, https://learn.adafruit.com/reef-pi-guide-7-ph-monitoring
If you are considering building this, please use a voltage isolator circuit (linked in the guide)

 

[JDowns]

I don't think opening it up will help much, but I'd be interested in pictures if you do. What we really need to know is the protocol. Once I fully move my heaters off the RKL, I plan to hook up a logic analyzer to mine.

The RKL uses a pretty simple I2C protocol. Each module has its own I2C address and command set. It's pretty simple to sniff out the address/command bits using the head unit and isolating each command / response cycle. You can use something like this to bridge between the head unit and the first power bar (or whatever module you want to sniff).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017B69D3U/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's a typical four wire connection on the jack (VCC, GND, SDA, SCL).

I had looked at this years ago and stopped at the point of controlling the PB4's and probe modules.

There is no reason you couldn't integrate this into reef-pi although it may be hard to find hardware now. I always thought DA should open source the hardware since their UI/UX was lacking and it was obvious they weren't going to put any real investment into furthering the product line. Which sucks because their hardware has always been rock solid. I still have a DA setup on a paludarium I did almost a decade ago now, and it's still going strong.

 

[Ranjib]

The RKL uses a pretty simple I2C protocol. Each module has its own I2C address and command set. It's pretty simple to sniff out the address/command bits using the head unit and isolating each command / response cycle. You can use something like this to bridge between the head unit and the first power bar (or whatever module you want to sniff).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017B69D3U/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's a typical four wire connection on the jack (VCC, GND, SDA, SCL).

I had looked at this years ago and stopped at the point of controlling the PB4's and probe modules.

There is no reason you couldn't integrate this into reef-pi although it may be hard to find hardware now. I always thought DA should open source the hardware since their UI/UX was lacking and it was obvious they weren't going to put any real investment into furthering the product line. Which sucks because their hardware has always been rock solid. I still have a DA setup on a paludarium I did almost a decade ago now, and it's still going strong.

Interesting, thank you for sharing. I’ll take a look at the amazon product

 

[ScottBrew]

The pH monitor build guide has been published in adafruit now, https://learn.adafruit.com/reef-pi-guide-7-ph-monitoring
If you are considering building this, please use a voltage isolator circuit (linked in the guide)

Awesome and thank you! What I have been waiting for. Something that is incorrect on the fritzing diagram, you have the ground plugged into the 5v (pin 4), should be on pin 6.

 

[naoki]

I have ordered 2 of these
https://www.digikey.co.za/product-detail/en/mean-well-usa-inc/LDD-700H/1866-3119-ND/7704740

The reason being that the solution as suggested by @naoki is 4 times the price and I'm doing this as a proof of concept and the intention is to sell the light or donate it on to a local reefer starting out.

Also to help make people aware of the Reef-Pi ability.

Did you measure the forward voltage (Vf, initial and after warmed up)? The original CC driver has an extremely narrow range of Constant Current region (39-45V). With LDD-H, the driver has to be able to supply 3V above the Vf required by the LEDs.

Whether it works or not depends on the type of over-voltage protection in the original CC. Some CC drivers behave as a CV driver above a threshold voltage (e.g. HLG series). But others shut-off (e.g. LPC series). If yours is the former type, it works. When you use the dimmer in LDD, the original CC driver tries to supply 550mA by raising the voltage, and it will hit the overvoltage threshold (slightly above 45V, I guess). The CC+CV driver will maintain 45V and decrease the current, so it works. But the later type will just shut down (so it probably will flicker). I'm guessing that these cheap drivers are the later type.

 

[ScottBrew]

Has anybody done any research on the Current USA loop enabled devices and how to hook it up to the reef-pi? I have the EFLUX 6010 DC pump and would like to hook it up to more than just an on/off relay and then only have manual speed control. Here are pics of the controller. According to the documentation it hooks to another module (the loop controller) which allows you to access the devices via a phone app. My other option would be to plug the pump directly to the reef-pi eliminating the pictured unit and build in a 0-24v controller. Any thoughts?

 

[theatrus]

Has anybody done any research on the Current USA loop enabled devices and how to hook it up to the reef-pi? I have the EFLUX 6010 DC pump and would like to hook it up to more than just an on/off relay and then only have manual speed control. Here are pics of the controller. According to the documentation it hooks to another module (the loop controller) which allows you to access the devices via a phone app. My other option would be to plug the pump directly to the reef-pi eliminating the pictured unit and build in a 0-24v controller. Any thoughts?

Not at all familiar with these. I imagine this is a digital bus - snoop for I2C or other levels. For example, the APEX is a MODBUS-esque protocol over CAN signaling.

What tools do you have? Pictures of any chips can be helpful.

 

[JDowns]

Interesting, thank you for sharing. I’ll take a look at the amazon product

I'll see if I can find the backup drive that has the C library that I was working on.

 

[Ranjib]

Awesome and thank you! What I have been waiting for. Something that is incorrect on the fritzing diagram, you have the ground plugged into the 5v (pin 4), should be on pin 6.

Thank you for pointing out , I’ll update it

 

[ScottBrew]

Not at all familiar with these. I imagine this is a digital bus - snoop for I2C or other levels. For example, the APEX is a MODBUS-esque protocol over CAN signaling.

What tools do you have? Pictures of any chips can be helpful.

This may be above my pay-grade because I'm assuming you are asking about software tools? I started a thread so as not to hog this forum. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/current-pump-controller-to-reef-pi.497618/

 

[b4tn]

The pH monitor build guide has been published in adafruit now, https://learn.adafruit.com/reef-pi-guide-7-ph-monitoring
If you are considering building this, please use a voltage isolator circuit (linked in the guide)

@Ranjib i don’t see any reference to the voltage isolation info. Did I miss it? These guides are awesome. Thanks for all the work on this.

 

[ScottBrew]

@Ranjib i don’t see any reference to the voltage isolation info. Did I miss it? These guides are awesome. Thanks for all the work on this.

The board with the BNC connector is the voltage isolator https://www.atlas-scientific.com/product_pages/components/single_carrier_iso.html

 

[Ranjib]

@Ranjib i don’t see any reference to the voltage isolation info. Did I miss it? These guides are awesome. Thanks for all the work on this.

the bnc connector listed as part has the voltage isolator. My build pics does not have it, when I built the pH monitor, I was not aware of this (around 7-8 months ago), hence it was not included in my own build. But the guide recommends it, since I learned their importance afterwards. I am planning to upgrade my build with voltage isolator once I am back, expect the guide images to be updated soon after