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

[Ranjib]

Hello

I'm trying to source materials, for the power control project, here in the UK but I'm having trouble locating a serial controlled power bank.

Hoping someone here knows the UK market and what I should be looking for and where?

Many thanks
Scott

Sorry I have no clue about this :-(

 

[Ranjib]

I just made my first Macro, a Feed Mode for spot feeding Corals. The flexibility is amazing! I have a bunch of ideas now that I have become more familiar with Macros.

Does anyone run the heater control with a hardware temperature controller? It seems like the way to do it is have the heater control threshold set so that the outlet is always on to the temperature controller and then cut off the outlet if it gets too hot? Any other way to do it?

Yay , macro for the win. Let us know if you have any feedback
By hardware controller do you mean a comparator circuit? You approach sound good none the less. Also setup alert in conjunction.

 

[Ranjib]

Back from my trip he did not have IRLB8721 but he did have IRLZ44N which appear to be even better, looks like it can be controlled via 5v if I read the spec sheet correctly and is rated for 55amps. He did not have anything else lower that he thought would work, the only downside was they were $3ea. Here is the data sheet - https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/irlz44npbf.pdf?fileId=5546d462533600a40153567217c32725

For the heck of it I decided to put a killawatt meter on the lights and see what they registered, the tech sheets indicated @12v they would pull 33w for the large unit and 12w for the small unit. The large unit pulled 29w and the small unit pulled 12w, both together pulled 42w and when I switched to amps on the meter it was only showing it pulling .5amp combined at there highest setting. I think the .5amp is based on 110v which is what it sees from the wall then it goes through the transformers to step down to 12v, so I think my calculations are correct that @12v it will be around 3.5amps at the highest setting.

I think these should work now just need to put it together and figure out the layout. I was going to pull the 12v from the hat board, from what I can read 22awg should be good for 7amps, is there any concern about doing that?

Thanks

Yes, 22AWG is ok for 6.7A, and we recommend till 4 a (similar to what @theatrus was mentioning, i see a common recommendation to use components that are rated for twice the expected usage). I think you should be fine. I am more worried about ripple and other stability effects stemming from the all in one nature circuits.

 

[crusso1993]

Back from my trip he did not have IRLB8721 but he did have IRLZ44N which appear to be even better, looks like it can be controlled via 5v if I read the spec sheet correctly and is rated for 55amps. He did not have anything else lower that he thought would work, the only downside was they were $3ea. Here is the data sheet - https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/irlz44npbf.pdf?fileId=5546d462533600a40153567217c32725

For the heck of it I decided to put a killawatt meter on the lights and see what they registered, the tech sheets indicated @12v they would pull 33w for the large unit and 12w for the small unit. The large unit pulled 29w and the small unit pulled 12w, both together pulled 42w and when I switched to amps on the meter it was only showing it pulling .5amp combined at there highest setting. I think the .5amp is based on 110v which is what it sees from the wall then it goes through the transformers to step down to 12v, so I think my calculations are correct that @12v it will be around 3.5amps at the highest setting.

I think these should work now just need to put it together and figure out the layout. I was going to pull the 12v from the hat board, from what I can read 22awg should be good for 7amps, is there any concern about doing that?

Thanks

@Tom Bishop - Not sure if your local store has these but I believe you could use them for your application too.

https://www.dfrobot.com/product-156...XU8Rg8-TsePc0pT8DzzM6AxN8NvCdUOhoCGv8QAvD_BwE

Also, I think I might have missed something and, if I did, I apologize. Are you saying that your large fixture with 99 LEDs pulls only 33 watts at 12 volts?

 

[ScottF83]

I don't know if they ship to the UK or not, but Digital Loggers (sells a variety of remotely controlled power strips). I use the Web Pro that is remotely controlled via a web interface (with a variety of APIs available to interface) instead of serial.

Thank you, I'll take a look

I have an existing wireless extension power strip purchased from Amazon. Just a generic Chinese type controlled via a barely workable mobile app.

Would the Pi and Reef Pi be able to link into this and control it as the app does?

 

[bishoptf]

@Tom Bishop - Not sure if your local store has these but I believe you could use them for your application too.

https://www.dfrobot.com/product-156...XU8Rg8-TsePc0pT8DzzM6AxN8NvCdUOhoCGv8QAvD_BwE

Also, I think I might have missed something and, if I did, I apologize. Are you saying that your large fixture with 99 LEDs pulls only 33 watts at 12 volts?

Well yes an no, the stated rating is 33w with 110v, so 33w at 12v maybe is not accurate. I took a reading with the killawatt and again, its ahead of the transformer so its reading 110v and it was 29w for the 99 led unit, that are supposed to be very effecient LED 5730. if I dialed down the dimmer to its lowest setting the killawatt was only reading 5w from the 99 led unit.

Ive already got the pricey mosfets and eager to see if I can get it to work, your link appears like it would work also although I'm pretty sure the store would not have any of those either. I think the fet's that I have should work just fine. From https://learn.adafruit.com/rgb-led-strips?view=all diagrams the NPN transistor diagram called out a resistor https://learn.adafruit.com/assets/2693 but not for the fet diagram https://learn.adafruit.com/assets/2692. From that I am assuming I can get by without a resistor?

 

[ScottF83]

Thank you, I'll take a look

I have an existing wireless extension power strip purchased from Amazon. Just a generic Chinese type controlled via a barely workable mobile app.

Would the Pi and Reef Pi be able to link into this and control it as the app does?

Managed to answer my own question with some more searching of Google.

It's a yes for Raspberry Pi!

Once linked to a rf receiver, can reef-pi control it with a timed schedule? E.g. Sump light on/off at certain times.

 

[bishoptf]

Managed to answer my own question with some more searching of Google.

It's a yes for Raspberry Pi!

Once linked to a rf receiver, can reef-pi control it with a timed schedule? E.g. Sump light on/off at certain times.

Not sure about reef-pi but if you found that the strip would be controllable via a raspberry then depending on how its triggered it would be possible to do it via standard linux methods like cron jobs. If it's controlled via a certain app that is installed then that application would have to provide the scheduling capabilities. It depends on how the strip is controlled via the raspberry, provide the link and I may be able to provide additional information.

 

[Ranjib]

Well yes an no, the stated rating is 33w with 110v, so 33w at 12v maybe is not accurate. I took a reading with the killawatt and again, its ahead of the transformer so its reading 110v and it was 29w for the 99 led unit, that are supposed to be very effecient LED 5730. if I dialed down the dimmer to its lowest setting the killawatt was only reading 5w from the 99 led unit.

Ive already got the pricey mosfets and eager to see if I can get it to work, your link appears like it would work also although I'm pretty sure the store would not have any of those either. I think the fet's that I have should work just fine. From https://learn.adafruit.com/rgb-led-strips?view=all diagrams the NPN transistor diagram called out a resistor https://learn.adafruit.com/assets/2693 but not for the fet diagram https://learn.adafruit.com/assets/2692. From that I am assuming I can get by without a resistor?

yes you can. Its just adds some extra safety

 

[Ranjib]

Managed to answer my own question with some more searching of Google.

It's a yes for Raspberry Pi!

Once linked to a rf receiver, can reef-pi control it with a timed schedule? E.g. Sump light on/off at certain times.

Not yet, but we are contemplating to add some support for smart outlets in future. I think it will be useful and frugal, but I am also concerned about lack of any common protocol and the diverse options available

 

[bishoptf]

yes you can. Its just adds some extra safety

I'm ok with additional safety, 1k resistor?

 

[Ranjib]

I'm ok with additional safety, 1k resistor?

yup.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

What causes this error and how do I fix it?

{"error":"open /sys/class/backlight/rpi_backlight/bl_power: no such file or directory"} | HTTP 404

 

[Ranjib]

What causes this error and how do I fix it?

{"error":"open /sys/class/backlight/rpi_backlight/bl_power: no such file or directory"} | HTTP 404

You have enabled display (official pi touch display) in reef-pi ui ( Configuration -> Settings), but its not attached or configured physicall. That error indidcate reef-pi is unable to switch on/off the display

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

You have enabled display (official pi touch display) in reef-pi ui ( Configuration -> Settings), but its not attached or configured physicall. That error indidcate reef-pi is unable to switch on/off the display

Could it be for the lights? Nevermind. I think I got it...

 

[rushbattle]

reef-pi dummy checking in. I made some timers for my light outlets, using both the starting time and a timer to turn them off, and then deleted those and tried a timer to turn the outlet on, and then another to turn it back off. I have deleted all timers associated with the outlet, and I cannot get it to stay off when I turn it off. I have rebooted the rpi to be sure the timers changes took effect. Still can't get the outlet to turn off. What am I doing wrong?

Further, what is the proper way to make timers to turn on at a certain time of every day and then back off at a certain time?

Thanks for any help!

 

[b4tn]

reef-pi dummy checking in. I made some timers for my light outlets, using both the starting time and a timer to turn them off, and then deleted those and tried a timer to turn the outlet on, and then another to turn it back off. I have deleted all timers associated with the outlet, and I cannot get it to stay off when I turn it off. I have rebooted the rpi to be sure the timers changes took effect. Still can't get the outlet to turn off. What am I doing wrong?

Further, what is the proper way to make timers to turn on at a certain time of every day and then back off at a certain time?

Thanks for any help!

This helped me a lot understanding the Cron format

https://crontab.guru/

 

[bishoptf]

This helped me a lot understanding the Cron format

https://crontab.guru/

The power controller guides goes over the timer section, both on adafruit - https://learn.adafruit.com/reef-pi-power-controller/configure-and-test and github - https://reef-pi.github.io/build-guides/power/

If you have deleted all your timers you just check crontab and ensure that all of them have been removed, if not maybe there is a bug etc...

 

[bishoptf]

Can someone check my sanity with this bread board circuit, about to start soldering some header pins for the PWM GPIO pins 13 and 18 but want to make sure that the logic for the PWM circuit is correct.

The yellow jumper which is up in the air would be connected to pin 13 or 18 goes through a 1K resistor to the fet gate, then then the yellow wire then goes from the fet drain to the plug (-) , fet source is tied to pi ground. +12v is fed from the pi to the plug (+).

:/ hopefully that makes some sense, see attached picture.

 

[bishoptf]

reef-pi dummy checking in. I made some timers for my light outlets, using both the starting time and a timer to turn them off, and then deleted those and tried a timer to turn the outlet on, and then another to turn it back off. I have deleted all timers associated with the outlet, and I cannot get it to stay off when I turn it off. I have rebooted the rpi to be sure the timers changes took effect. Still can't get the outlet to turn off. What am I doing wrong?

Further, what is the proper way to make timers to turn on at a certain time of every day and then back off at a certain time?

Thanks for any help!

One thing I can do is help troubleshoot linux based stuff in my sleep, so fyi you rarely should have to reboot, take a peak at your crontab and see what you have listed in there. If you delete all of your timers then it should be blank, here is a good thread that will give you some additional background on cron - https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=187223

btw feel free to ask linux based questions, im a noob at the electronics stuff but I'm a long time linux user and should be able to help with those kind of questions