Reef Pi Noob - Robo Tank Build

[Ranjib]

Keep us posted. If reef-pi can be improved in terms of validation (even when not connected to hardware ) , I’ll consider it .

 

[xiholdtruex]

Keep us posted. If reef-pi can be improved in terms of validation (even when not connected to hardware ) , I’ll consider it .

Definitely will do. Still waiting for the robo tank to come in. Just got a shipping update that its suppose to come in this wensday im excited

 

[xiholdtruex]

Robo tank came in need to source a few cables, the power cable, and the db9 cable , the usb to usb cable I will source later as I am starting with only temp ,ph and power before adding the lights after which are coming in tommorow before I continue the setup

 

[robsworld78]

Robo tank came in need to source a few cables, the power cable, and the db9 cable , the usb to usb cable I will source later as I am starting with only temp ,ph and power before adding the lights after which are coming in tommorow before I continue the setup

Glad it finally arrived, will be watching how it goes. I'm curious, is all the foam pieces in the box? It looks like its short and things would be shaking around, was that the case? When I close it up it almost has too much.

 

[xiholdtruex]

Glad it finally arrived, will be watching how it goes. I'm curious, is all the foam pieces in the box? It looks like its short and things would be shaking around, was that the case? When I close it up it almost has too much.

Yes sir that was a picture just after opening. The components did not seem banged up or anything. I believe during transport from the movement the peanuts may shrink a little also.

 

[xiholdtruex]

Today I worked on the robo tank a bit, Installed the pi into the robo tank case, wired the temperature controller, set up the ph driver and pwm driver. Setup the outlets and tested the power bar. Seems like I forgot my password to my pi to log into VNC -.- still need to put and setup the ph probe and calibrate it. So far so good.

 

[robsworld78]

Yes sir that was a picture just after opening. The components did not seem banged up or anything. I believe during transport from the movement the peanuts may shrink a little also.

Yeah makes sense but surprised that much, will start adding more.

 

[xiholdtruex]

So last night ended up helping @Danghost22 setup his robotank also. We both had a issue where we forgot out passwords and had to pull the sd card and manually go in and change some commands to reset then go back and erase the comands in the cmd text. My sd card came out fine loading and vnc working great. His on the other hand got corrupted and we ended up having to wipe and start over again. So note to self and others have spare sd cards. Now this is something me and @robsworld78 were talking about a while back. Is there a way to copy the image of that sd card to others to have spares that load the same way or does each have to be setup individually? @Ranjib

 

[bigtodski]

Is there a way to copy the image of that sd card to others to have spares that load the same way or does each have to be setup individually?

If you use win32 disk imager you could load your sd card into the pc then select the drive and press read this will then let you create an image of the sd card, that's what I'm going to do with my reef-pi to save starting from scratch or when before you do an update so if it breaks when updating you can just go back to the last image

 

[xiholdtruex]

Tonight I was trying to set up the ph probe and it is not picking up the probe. I have the pH ezo driver installed. Am I missing something? I am using a Gain Express Ph Electrode

 

[xiholdtruex]

Ok so after some email exchanges with @robsworld78 he realized I had not added the analog input for the ph probe (face palm) so added it and checked the ph probe is reading !!! calibrated per manual and threw it in the tank and we got temp and ph readings done tonight!!!!!

 

[robsworld78]

Ok so after some email exchanges with @robsworld78 he realized I had not added the analog input for the ph probe (face palm) so added it and checked the ph probe is reading !!! calibrated per manual and threw it in the tank and we got temp and ph readings done tonight!!!!!

Good to see you got it working. I haven't tested yet but I agree with @bigtodski that win32 Disk Imager should work to backup the SD card. It'll create a single file of everything on the card and you would use the same win32 program to restore or write it to the SD.

 

[xiholdtruex]

today I calibrated temp probe against my field piece temperature reader and got all the materials together to make the PWM cable for the kessil to robo tank ....... have a headache so Im not soldering anything at the moment but its coming soon

 

[Ranjib]

So last night ended up helping @Danghost22 setup his robotank also. We both had a issue where we forgot out passwords and had to pull the sd card and manually go in and change some commands to reset then go back and erase the comands in the cmd text. My sd card came out fine loading and vnc working great. His on the other hand got corrupted and we ended up having to wipe and start over again. So note to self and others have spare sd cards. Now this is something me and @robsworld78 were talking about a while back. Is there a way to copy the image of that sd card to others to have spares that load the same way or does each have to be setup individually? @Ranjib

reef-pi db itself is sufficient enough to recreate the setup. Pi configuration (boot.txt , i2c, one wire) etc are different and needs to be executed independently .

 

[xiholdtruex]

reef-pi db itself is sufficient enough to recreate the setup. Pi configuration (boot.txt , i2c, one wire) etc are different and needs to be executed independently .

this is going to sound stupid since I have not yet mastered the pi where do I find the pi database?

 

[Ranjib]

this is going to sound stupid since I have not yet mastered the pi where do I find the pi database?

/var/lib/reef-pi/reef-pi.db

 

[xiholdtruex]

/var/lib/reef-pi/reef-pi.db

does the raspberry pi recognize usb drives to copy it onto from the pi?

 

[xiholdtruex]

A little update, ended up finally connecting the power bar and figured out how to setup a time to turn equipment on and off. Just recieved the optical sensors for the ato and water level sensing will need to get a mount to setup soon, Have not gotten around to setting up the pwm for the kessil yet.

Here is a little explanation on how I set up the timer The manual explains a rough over view but I would like to add that you have to add a timer to turn on and then add another timer to shut off. This is what confused me along with how to set up the timing. So I added a timer with the outlet I wanted to turn off and inputed the hour to my desired hour and left min and sec 0. I then set action for equipment to turn on and stay on and saved. Opened a additional timer and did the same with the desired off hour and then set action for equipment to turn off and stay off.

Also mounted the robo tank to my wall with velcro. working on my cable management and how I would like my future controller to have everything. does anyone have any other ideas for mounting?

Thanks in advance and happy reefing

 

[Ranjib]

does the raspberry pi recognize usb drives to copy it onto from the pi?

Should be.

 

[Ranjib]

A little update, ended up finally connecting the power bar and figured out how to setup a time to turn equipment on and off. Just recieved the optical sensors for the ato and water level sensing will need to get a mount to setup soon, Have not gotten around to setting up the pwm for the kessil yet.

Here is a little explanation on how I set up the timer The manual explains a rough over view but I would like to add that you have to add a timer to turn on and then add another timer to shut off. This is what confused me along with how to set up the timing. So I added a timer with the outlet I wanted to turn off and inputed the hour to my desired hour and left min and sec 0. I then set action for equipment to turn on and stay on and saved. Opened a additional timer and did the same with the desired off hour and then set action for equipment to turn off and stay off.

Also mounted the robo tank to my wall with velcro. working on my cable management and how I would like my future controller to have everything. does anyone have any other ideas for mounting?

Thanks in advance and happy reefing

I used to do Velcro, now since I 3D print the enclosures, I just print them along with wall mounted bracket