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

[Mikeneedsahobby]

I tested it and it ended up being the reef pi. I have the latest boards that I helped to revise with @Michael Lane and no shorting or issues occurred. The last board i did have the ULN fail however but all failed off. I know this was a reef pi issue beacuse as soon as i restarted reef pi it fixed the issue and the doser was off and everything has worked fine ever since.

Okay seems to be a different failure mode. I’m still interested in what the root cause is. I have the same setup as you for the dosers.

 

[AquaRaider44]

Okay seems to be a different failure mode. I’m still interested in what the root cause is. I have the same setup as you for the dosers.

Yep I'm interested as well wish I knew but nobody seems to know

 

[robsworld78]

This is not any sensor based that the pump can make the pump run arbitrarily, hence doser does not have ato like “disable after specific run time “ type feature .
i went through the code , but could not find anything suspicious. I’ll need some insights (logs , details of any other things happened during that time etc) to understand if I’m this is a software or hardware issue , and if it was happened during normal operation or something special was occurring (update or some other non reef-pi stuff )

To cover software maybe the pin assigned to a dosing pump could always be switching off when it's not on?

 

[stefanm]

Help!

I've got this relay board that's been running on my pi for over a year, earlier I had powered down the pi (whilst trouble shooting something else, I also cut the power to everything else, it was just two simple fixes that took a few minutes to fix, anyway sorted the issues which were just the doser gpio wired not having good contact in the Wego connectors.

I powered up and now the relay board isn't switching on, there's 5v to the board and the grounds are tied.

Anything specific I can test or should look for?

Can anyone advise on this please?

Maybe the power led has blown, if so can I just short it?

 

[robsworld78]

Can anyone advise on this please?

Maybe the power led has blown, if so can I just short it?

I was going to respond to this but not sure what to think, sounds like a bad connection. Did you try following the power going into the relay module?

 

[stefanm]

I was going to respond to this but not sure what to think, sounds like a bad connection. Did you try following the power going into the relay module?

I've got power going in, I was just thinking maybe the ground wire is loose, as it's tied to another PSU and possibly that's why I'm getting 5v, I'll need to check that.

 

[robsworld78]

I've got power going in, I was just thinking maybe the ground wire is loose, as it's tied to another PSU and possibly that's why I'm getting 5v, I'll need to check that.

Yeah try checking the grounds, if there's no common ground they won't switch. Can't really imagine it just stopped working. Use continuity meter with it unplugged to make sure everything is connected.

 

[stefanm]

Yeah try checking the grounds, if there's no common ground they won't switch. Can't really imagine it just stopped working. Use continuity meter with it unplugged to make sure everything is connected.

I've removed the power bar, checked continuity and no problems found, connected 5v to it and the LEDs briefly lit up for a few milliseconds, I don't think the main pwr lit, I'll try again in a few minutes as I'm waiting for the capacitance to discharge, doesn't look good.

 

[stefanm]

I've removed the power bar, checked continuity and no problems found, connected 5v to it and the LEDs briefly lit up for a few milliseconds, I don't think the main pwr lit, I'll try again in a few minutes as I'm waiting for the capacitance to discharge, doesn't look good.

The board seems dead, I couldn't replicate the momentary power on...

I have another relay module, not sure if it works though, the board is active low will that work on reef pi @Ranjib ?

 

[Ranjib]

I tested it and it ended up being the reef pi. I have the latest boards that I helped to revise with @Michael Lane and no shorting or issues occurred. The last board i did have the ULN fail however but all failed off. I know this was a reef pi issue beacuse as soon as i restarted reef pi it fixed the issue and the doser was off and everything has worked fine ever since.

Got it. Any chance you can get logs for the pi during that time? `journalctl -since <start> -until <end>` ? Im suspecting something on pi made it hang/stuck. Logs might have some details.

Theres couple of things we can do proactively, including a RTC module (to ensure time is synced correctly), and hardware watchdog setup (that will restart reef-pi./pi when it gets hung), but without diagnosing the exact problem, im not confident this will solve the issue.

 

[bishoptf]

I purchased a pinpoint ph probe and so far it hasn't been a smooth process. I purchased some calibration mix and then learned that I should probably use better stuff so I purchased some pinpoint calibration fluid which is supposed to be accurate but my results are not what I would expect. Here is a screenshot of what mine looks like, using the PH module from @Michael Lane added as a generic PH board driver. It may just be a bad probe but I would not think I would see big swings like this:

Anyone have any suggestions let me know, thanks.

 

[trustychords]

I purchased a pinpoint ph probe and so far it hasn't been a smooth process. I purchased some calibration mix and then learned that I should probably use better stuff so I purchased some pinpoint calibration fluid which is supposed to be accurate but my results are not what I would expect. Here is a screenshot of what mine looks like, using the PH module from @Michael Lane added as a generic PH board driver. It may just be a bad probe but I would not think I would see big swings like this:

Anyone have any suggestions let me know, thanks.

I was having a similar issue and it was because the female BNC connector was not allowing a good connection. Try lightly pushing or wiggling the male BNC connector to see if that gets the pH value to change. If it does, you don't have a good connection.

I thought it was the calibration fluid or the pH probe and replaced them both. That led me to the BNC connector. Once I got a new connector, the problem was solved.

 

[robsworld78]

The board seems dead, I couldn't replicate the momentary power on...

I have another relay module, not sure if it works though, the board is active low will that work on reef pi @Ranjib ?

If you connect the power to your other board does it power up? If so then something must of happened to the other. You can reverse the logic for the outputs in reef-pi by ticking the 'reverse' option for the connectors.

 

[Cole.mormon]

I will be following along

 

[Cole.mormon]

You know what I mean

 

[bishoptf]

I was having a similar issue and it was because the female BNC connector was not allowing a good connection. Try lightly pushing or wiggling the male BNC connector to see if that gets the pH value to change. If it does, you don't have a good connection.

I thought it was the calibration fluid or the pH probe and replaced them both. That led me to the BNC connector. Once I got a new connector, the problem was solved.

Thanks for the feedback, its a @Michael Lane ph board and its not loose, appears to be a real good board. I did re-connect the bnc but it appears to be all over the place. I don't have another method of testing the ph but I do not think it varies that much over 5min span and this one is all over the map. I've had readings over 10ph and I am pretty sure that is not the case, just crazy swings. It appears to have settled somewhat and I will let it ride for awhile and see what it does, will give it a few more days and if it doesn't appear any better will swap it out.

 

[bishoptf]

Okay seems to be a different failure mode. I’m still interested in what the root cause is. I have the same setup as you for the dosers.

I am not to the point of dosing, who know when I will get there but I have it setup and dosing has always concerned me. I guess there are lots of failure points with all of this stuff, I am using reefpi for ATO and if somehow sticks on its a bad day, I have multiple floats etc., but lots of ways that things can fail. I have the @Michael Lane dosing board and a jaebo dp-4s but starting to think that going with the BRS dosers and then controlling it via reefpi since its just and on off via an outlet may be safer, might not be. If reefpi locks up would the outlet stay in the on state, if so you end up in the same place. What if the outlet was a TPlink type, you might could automate the dosing via their software but then you are relying on it to do things proper also, tough cookie. Thats part of the trade off with automation, failure modes can be crazy to figure out and eliminate. Since we are using off the shelf parts tied to the PI there can be a lot of variation.

I will think about the dosing and how we could have additional fail safes since I would like to be as safe as possible but this really is an automation problem and not a reefpi problem, any automation has inherent risks. If you are able to pull your journal logs that may point to an issue that can then be solved and make things more reliable. Maybe someone else can think of a better solution for dosing, like I said before I worry about my ATO for the very same reason.

 

[Ranjib]

I am not to the point of dosing, who know when I will get there but I have it setup and dosing has always concerned me. I guess there are lots of failure points with all of this stuff, I am using reefpi for ATO and if somehow sticks on its a bad day, I have multiple floats etc., but lots of ways that things can fail. I have the @Michael Lane dosing board and a jaebo dp-4s but starting to think that going with the BRS dosers and then controlling it via reefpi since its just and on off via an outlet may be safer, might not be. If reefpi locks up would the outlet stay in the on state, if so you end up in the same place. What if the outlet was a TPlink type, you might could automate the dosing via their software but then you are relying on it to do things proper also, tough cookie. Thats part of the trade off with automation, failure modes can be crazy to figure out and eliminate. Since we are using off the shelf parts tied to the PI there can be a lot of variation.

I will think about the dosing and how we could have additional fail safes since I would like to be as safe as possible but this really is an automation problem and not a reefpi problem, any automation has inherent risks. If you are able to pull your journal logs that may point to an issue that can then be solved and make things more reliable. Maybe someone else can think of a better solution for dosing, like I said before I worry about my ATO for the very same reason.

For the ph module, I’ll suggest to run it without any calibration for couple of days at least, it’s should still show the daily cycle , with values in millivolts. 3-7k. If this is not happening, we have different issue which needs to be solved before calibration, I think

 

[Cole.mormon]

You know what I mean

 

[Des Westcott]

Thanks for the feedback, its a @Michael Lane ph board and its not loose, appears to be a real good board. I did re-connect the bnc but it appears to be all over the place. I don't have another method of testing the ph but I do not think it varies that much over 5min span and this one is all over the map. I've had readings over 10ph and I am pretty sure that is not the case, just crazy swings. It appears to have settled somewhat and I will let it ride for awhile and see what it does, will give it a few more days and if it doesn't appear any better will swap it out.

I had huge issues with my pH readings being all over the place. I also use Michael Lane's pH board. I tracked them down to the pH module suffering from interference from my 12V Meanwell Power supply when it powered my Peristaltic pump running my ATO. The same power supply runs other equipment, but causes no interference with anything except the Peristaltic pump. I have since changed the power supply for the ATO Pump and my problems have gone away.

The only errant pH readings I get now are when my cushion stars in the sump crawl over the probe. Need to put a guard on the probe.