Cocobball Reef-Pi build

Diamond1

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COCOBBALL

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I had some time so i wired directly to the pi hat but still no luck. Cant find the prob. I dont think the connecter i have coming will help.

So i tested the rails above the pins and they are 3.3 for the red and yellow and .002 for blue.

Not sure how to test if the resister is functioning or where to go from here. Other than assume its a bad probe.
20181125_120334.jpeg
20181125_120246.jpeg
 
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LionHeart2017

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I had some time so i wired directly to the pi hat but still no luck. Cant find the prob. I dont think the connecter i have coming will help.

So i tested the rails above the pins and they are 3.3 for the red and yellow and .002 for blue.

Not sure how to test if the resister is functioning or where to go from here. Other than assume its a bad probe.
20181125_120334.jpeg
20181125_120246.jpeg
What's the dfrobot board?
 

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I had some time so i wired directly to the pi hat but still no luck. Cant find the prob. I dont think the connecter i have coming will help.

So i tested the rails above the pins and they are 3.3 for the red and yellow and .002 for blue.

Not sure how to test if the resister is functioning or where to go from here. Other than assume its a bad probe.899128[/ATTACH]
There is a steep learning curve to building these circuits, soldering, etc. So, it's quite possible that the temp sensor got damaged by shorting it out, hopefully the pi itself did not get damaged. You can measure the resistor with your meter in ohm mode (looks like Ω). With the pi unplugged, should read approximately 4700 ohms or as your meter will show with it auto ranging 4.7 K ohms, the K will be on the right side of the display next to the ohm symbol.
 

LionHeart2017

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Optical level sensor. Its working properly.
From what I can see, it seems your resistor is in the 3.3v rail directly to the temp sensor header pin 3.3v.

The temp sensors red wire connects to the 3.3v rail on the hat/board with nothing in its path.

The resistor should be in the yellow wires rail and connected to the hat/boards 3.3v rail.

If you study Ranjibs guide on the wiring you should see it.
 
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COCOBBALL

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From what I can see, it seems your resistor is in the 3.3v rail directly to the temp sensor header pin 3.3v.

The temp sensors red wire connects to the 3.3v rail on the hat/board with nothing in its path.

The resistor should be in the yellow wires rail and connected to the hat/boards 3.3v rail.

If you study Ranjibs guide on the wiring you should see it.
Ya i tried to follow Ranjib guide exactly since im pretty clueless with this stuff.

Going to pickup my new temp sensor today and give it another go.
 

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Pick up a pack of jumper wires also. Can use them for testing to hook up the sensor before you make it permanent. Leave the wire that is already soldered on there and cut and strip it long enough to give you room to hook it up.

edit: to clarify, alligator clip jumper wires.
 
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COCOBBALL

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Diamond1

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Ya i tried to follow Ranjib guide exactly since im pretty clueless with this stuff.

Going to pickup my new temp sensor today and give it another go.

This part of my build was the most frustrating. It seems to me that some of the manufacturers of these probes have zero quality control and ship sub par products. If I were you I would order a 5 pack of the sensors and test them all before permanently installing one. If they all work then you have spares for later if something goes wrong.
I found 2 in the lot of 5 I ordered that were bad.
 

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This part of my build was the most frustrating. It seems to me that some of the manufacturers of these probes have zero quality control and ship sub par products. If I were you I would order a 5 pack of the sensors and test them all before permanently installing one. If they all work then you have spares for later if something goes wrong.
I found 2 in the lot of 5 I ordered that were bad.
Maybe I just got lucky, all 5 of the ones I ordered worked, based my pick on good reviews. I am ordering another 5 but these have a longer cord so I can get them into the sump and out of the overflow without having to splice wires.
 

crusso1993

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I do not recall who it was but someone gave this temp probe high praise. They bought it, hooked it up and have been using it for over 2 years with no problems. Also, it doesn't need anything additional done to it to make it waterproof.

Anyone else tried this one?

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11050
 

Diamond1

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Maybe I just got lucky, all 5 of the ones I ordered worked, based my pick on good reviews. I am ordering another 5 but these have a longer cord so I can get them into the sump and out of the overflow without having to splice wires.

The first one I ordered was from Adafruit with the resistor and I figured it was good considering the source. But it turned out to be bad, very frustrating since it cost 10 bucks plus shipping.
 

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The first one I ordered was from Adafruit with the resistor and I figured it was good considering the source. But it turned out to be bad, very frustrating since it cost 10 bucks plus shipping.
Any chance the wires got shorted together at any time? It's a pretty delicate electronic device, wouldn't take much to damage it. I have seen AND caused some pretty good failures on the equipment I work on due to shorted wires, so don't think I'm looking down at anyone for these mishaps.
 

Erica-Renee

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I have 5 of those from amazon as well the Cheap ones and i Have had no issues out of any of them. They all read will within 1deg of each other and have been in service for well over a year.Same with the Cheap float switches.I am not sure if we got them from the same seller or not as they are really unmarked. If you install one and then it stops working or you have them randomly stop working you have a issue in your Wiring.Also i have found using cat5 solid core cable to be to heavy. I use 30 g stranded cat 3 telephone cable . The longer the cable length the smaller the cable diameter must be... ....

Hope this helps.... Back around page 100-150 in the reef-pi main thread i wrote a lot about my trials and errors trying to achieve long distances for the probes as my system is spaced out....


Good Luck
 

Diamond1

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Any chance the wires got shorted together at any time? It's a pretty delicate electronic device, wouldn't take much to damage it. I have seen AND caused some pretty good failures on the equipment I work on due to shorted wires, so don't think I'm looking down at anyone for these mishaps.

It"s probably because the 1/8" input jack I used had a short from the + to data line that it caused it to go bad, but that doesn't explain the 2 bad out of 5 I received.
I tested those with jumper wires so no soldering or crossing wires.
 

ScottBrew

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I don't have that great of distance to run the temp probes fortunately
It"s probably because the 1/8" input jack I used had a short from the + to data line that it caused it to go bad, but that doesn't explain the 2 bad out of 5 I received.
I tested those with jumper wires so no soldering or crossing wires.
Gotcha, luck of the draw sometimes.
 

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