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

[GaryE]

@Michael Lane boards that I had JLCPCB make came in today, they look really good. Wish they had the pca9685 in stock since I somehow have to attempt to not botch them when adding it to the board, lol

They do good work.. PCA9685 isn't too bad. Just don't go crazy with the solder..

Try doing a sht31 sometime.. 8 pins and it's the size of an 805 resistor... but square. Very difficult to solder.

I have a few of this board on the way. (but in black) I even included a couple Adafruit Stemma QT connectors for use with their ready made sensor boards. Just for kicks.

I didn't have them solder anything, I'll do all of that myself, but I did have them make me a stencil to make it a bit easier.

 

[bishoptf]

Well here we go, second board, not nearly as clean as @Michael Lane, his boards were unbelievable clean. I think he ultrasonically clean the boards when he was finished, not a bit of flux anywhere. His board is on the left and the ones I just made up is on the right...

Here is what I ended up with to get close up, highly recommended since it really gives you room to work and your not right up against the board, about 8" of work room and better than the other devices I tried, called a solder scope - https://www.qsl.net/k9ac/solderScope.html

Hardest part is mounting the eyeglass lenses, not a fan of the tape and cardboard, wanted to come up with something I could 3d print but rolling with this for now, lets you see everything comfortable and really clear. One question that one of you smart guys can answer, it has some pca9685 spots on the board that I think are for testing the chip out but can anyone enlighten me how I can do that, since I soldered the pca9685 looks good to me but is there an easy way to test it with those pads?

Thanks for all the tips and tricks...

 

[bishoptf]

They do good work.. PCA9685 isn't too bad. Just don't go crazy with the solder..

Try doing a sht31 sometime.. 8 pins and it's the size of an 805 resistor... but square. Very difficult to solder.

I have a few of this board on the way. (but in black) I even included a couple Adafruit Stemma QT connectors for use with their ready made sensor boards. Just for kicks.

I didn't have them solder anything, I'll do all of that myself, but I did have them make me a stencil to make it a bit easier.

Are you going to be selling these?

 

[Ranjib]

Well here we go, second board, not nearly as clean as @Michael Lane, his boards were unbelievable clean. I think he ultrasonically clean the boards when he was finished, not a bit of flux anywhere. His board is on the left and the ones I just made up is on the right...

Here is what I ended up with to get close up, highly recommended since it really gives you room to work and your not right up against the board, about 8" of work room and better than the other devices I tried, called a solder scope - https://www.qsl.net/k9ac/solderScope.html

Hardest part is mounting the eyeglass lenses, not a fan of the tape and cardboard, wanted to come up with something I could 3d print but rolling with this for now, lets you see everything comfortable and really clear. One question that one of you smart guys can answer, it has some pca9685 spots on the board that I think are for testing the chip out but can anyone enlighten me how I can do that, since I soldered the pca9685 looks good to me but is there an easy way to test it with those pads?

Thanks for all the tips and tricks...

Looks awesome

 

[robsworld78]

Well here we go, second board, not nearly as clean as @Michael Lane, his boards were unbelievable clean. I think he ultrasonically clean the boards when he was finished, not a bit of flux anywhere. His board is on the left and the ones I just made up is on the right...

Here is what I ended up with to get close up, highly recommended since it really gives you room to work and your not right up against the board, about 8" of work room and better than the other devices I tried, called a solder scope - https://www.qsl.net/k9ac/solderScope.html

Hardest part is mounting the eyeglass lenses, not a fan of the tape and cardboard, wanted to come up with something I could 3d print but rolling with this for now, lets you see everything comfortable and really clear. One question that one of you smart guys can answer, it has some pca9685 spots on the board that I think are for testing the chip out but can anyone enlighten me how I can do that, since I soldered the pca9685 looks good to me but is there an easy way to test it with those pads?

Thanks for all the tips and tricks...

Nice job, I knew you could do it. @Michael Lane did have very clean boards, he posted a close up of one, I couldn't believe how clean it was, he said he used an ultrasonic cleaner and some manually scrubbing. Based on how much detail he put in them I can tell you he wasn't in it for the money. Those pads are to change the I2C address for the pca9685, there's 64 combinations allowing 64 pca9685 or 1024 outputs. You can test with volt meter or better with an oscilloscope.

 

[Ranjib]

Meanwhile almost ready for aquashella

wired setup

And Smartplug based setup

Still some work left on the raffle and docs side … final stretch

 

[GaryE]

Are you going to be selling these?

I plan to. Depends on how the prototype works.. I think I have ironed out all of the bugs this time.

 

[bishoptf]

Man there is not a rpi to be found anywhere, crazy times....

 

[JachPot]

I'm gonna ask before I start putting this together. Is the guide updated on the website? Is there any extra options? Anything like that? Sorry for asking, but this thread is 907 pages long

 

[ColoredRock]

I'm gonna ask before I start putting this together. Is the guide updated on the website? Is there any extra options? Anything like that? Sorry for asking, but this thread is 907 pages long

So many ways to go about it... the basic guide on github.. still stands .. but could use an update or two.. if you are not a tech and a hack like me robo-tank is good to look at.

Bigger question is what is it you want it do do?

 

[Ranjib]

Man there is not a rpi to be found anywhere, crazy times....

:-( sme here. I have two that I need to replace, they went down after serving for almost 5 years. I have dozens of empty enclosure waiting . even before all this adafruit used to restrict one piece every shipping.

 

[bishoptf]

:-( sme here. I have two that I need to replace, they went down after serving for almost 5 years. I have dozens of empty enclosure waiting . even before all this adafruit used to restrict one piece every shipping.

Yeah, man it's pretty crazy with things out there, even the old ones going over $50 on ebay, no idea when things will get back in any semblance of normal. I have a bead on someone that has some zero w's, if I can get them for a decent price I will let you know if your interested.

 

[Ranjib]

I have noticed recently, that almost all my pi 3 runs under voltage with micro usb power, even if nothing else is attached to it. one of the reason pi zero is compelling is it’s low power consumption

 

[GaryE]

I have 4 RPI4 in my cluster tower right now.. All but one is actually doing something useful for me. Then I have a couple PI3's running my tanks. I killed 2 pi zero w 2's... experimenting will get you that sometimes.. and also killed a pi zero w..

I have my email on a bunch of waiting lists for zeros w's.. it's a bit ridiculous..

As soon as I get a few things out of the way, I plan to start porting some of the functionality of reef-pi over to Arduino.. If I can get a few ESP32 boards to do some basic things like controlling heaters and lights, that could be a way forward on less intense builds.

 

[bishoptf]

I have noticed recently, that almost all my pi 3 runs under voltage with micro usb power, even if nothing else is attached to it. one of the reason pi zero is compelling is it’s low power consumption

Looks like I can get some origina rpi zero w with the headers for $38ea, almost a 300% price increase, but I am still thinking of doing it. @Ranjib if you are interested let me know...

 

[Ranjib]

Looks like I can get some origina rpi zero w with the headers for $38ea, almost a 300% price increase, but I am still thinking of doing it. @Ranjib if you are interested let me know...

I’m good as of now. I’m using this opportunity to build some more pi 3 based systems.

 

[bishoptf]

I’m good as of now. I’m using this opportunity to build some more pi 3 based systems.

I looked for some of those also, crazy prices right now, lol...just thought I would touch base.

 

[JachPot]

So many ways to go about it... the basic guide on github.. still stands .. but could use an update or two.. if you are not a tech and a hack like me robo-tank is good to look at.

Bigger question is what is it you want it do do?

Mostly just trying to mimic the apex. I'd like to get all the features on the basic guide up and running. Just wanted to know if there was cheap enough premade boards or anything that were popular and not overpriced.

I have a master's in EE. I'm good with all the tech stuff, I just don't want to reinvent the wheel. I'm fine with soldering stuff, I just wanted to know if that was the most straight forward way.


Ideally I'd like to get all the features houses in one central enclosure and go from there. Just wanted to check in if any big time discoveries had been made in the 900 pages.


Edit: with the availability of Pi's, robo tank doesn't seem that bad at $270. I know I could do it cheaper on my own and print my own housings, but the all in one plug and play is attractive

 

[bishoptf]

Mostly just trying to mimic the apex. I'd like to get all the features on the basic guide up and running. Just wanted to know if there was cheap enough premade boards or anything that were popular and not overpriced.

I have a master's in EE. I'm good with all the tech stuff, I just don't want to reinvent the wheel. I'm fine with soldering stuff, I just wanted to know if that was the most straight forward way.


Ideally I'd like to get all the features houses in one central enclosure and go from there. Just wanted to check in if any big time discoveries had been made in the 900 pages.

There are several vendors that have various levels of builds, robotank - https://www.robo-tank.ca/ leviathan - https://www.leviathanautomation.com/ and probably some others out there...I am not endorsing one over the other but there are several options out there..

 

[JachPot]

There are several vendors that have various levels of builds, robotank - https://www.robo-tank.ca/ leviathan - https://www.leviathanautomation.com/ and probably some others out there...I am not endorsing one over the other but there are several options out there..

I have an unused pi4 high speed (can't remember which exact one, I think 8gb?)

I need to see if this $70 leviathan board is all I need. That is attractive. Going to do some digging.


Edit: @Tom Bishop looks like I owe you a beer. With plug and play leviathan costing $70 and the pi4 I already have, it looks like it's absolutely straight forward. I'm going to do more digging later, but seems like the best option.