My reef-pi build freshwater style!

[Ranjib]

Curious, do you see any patterns in your temperature reading?

 

[Bigtrout]

Curious, do you see any patterns in your temperature reading?

No...its steady as it goes...keep in mind im using 2 aqueon pros. I have them doing the control, reef pi is set as a failsafe to shut them off if temps go above 79F

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

No...its steady as it goes...keep in mind im using 2 aqueon pros. I have them doing the control, reef pi is set as a failsafe to shut them off if temps go above 79F

I use aqueon pro heaters as well. And I use 2 of them also. I have the same experience as you with them. I’ve been using them for years. Well not this set at least but you get what I’m saying. Your temp graph looks totally different from mine

 

[Bigtrout]

I use aqueon pro heaters as well. And I use 2 of them also. I have the same experience as you with them. I’ve been using them for years. Well not this set at least but you get what I’m saying. Your temp graph looks totally different from mine

Are you using the aqueon thermostat to control the heater, or reef pi?
Im using the heaters own thermostat, and reef pi to monitor and as a failsafe shutoff in case a heater sticks on

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

Are you using the aqueon thermostat to control the heater, or reef pi?
Im using the heaters own thermostat, and reef pi to monitor and as a failsafe shutoff in case a heater sticks on

Yes I am still using the internal thermostat of the heaters.

 

[Bigtrout]

Weird, maybe its heater placement, heater size, ambient temp of the outside air.
Im running a 250 and 300 watt in a 75 gallon, the 250 is set for 77G and the 300 set as a backup at 75F. Room temp is usually around 70 in winter.

Yes i have alot of crazy redundancy on the heaters...reason being, had a problem with a heater sticking on and almost cooking fish, and had another fail off and my tank went to 72 before I caught it.

 

[Diamond1]

I'm using a Odyssea 300watt heater and letting reef-pi control it in my 29g. I have the heaters thermostat set to 82 degrees and mine stays nice and steady at 78 + or - .2 degrees.
I've had no problems with it so far other than bad probes. If it hits 79 the heater turns off and a fan turns on.

 

[Bigtrout]

Got some goodies for my build today still waiting on more.
Got 2 meanwell RS-15-5 power supplies 5v@3a each to replace the wall warts and clean up my build a little. They are only 7 dollars on amazon right now.
Got my 4 DFRobot mosfet boards for the pwm of my led lights. These are optically isolated and the opto runs a PChannel mosfet with an RDSon of only .0075 ohms! Can run 10 amps thru without a heatsink and the board is rated to 1khz. Input is logic level. They were all of 4 dollars each and came with a cable. I have to use a p channel because my led fixtures are wired common cathode.
Got a 3rd temp sensor, not the same quality as the first 2, but it will do the job, im using 2 to monitor the aquarium and this 3rd one for ambient air temps. Reef pi can warn me if the furnace goes haywire(sometimes on power outages where the power flicks on and off very quickly it needs reset.)
Still waiting on various connectors and standoffs and such before adding the PWM.

 

[Bigtrout]

Added some things to my build, got rid of the wall warts and put in 2 Meanwell rs-15-5 power supplies, what a difference reading voltages when all relays are pulled in and when they click on and off...at 7 bucks they are a steal and make my build cleaner. The wallwarts were samsung rated at 2 amps, but when relays pulled in and out voltage wavered a bit. The meanwell are 3 amps apiece. One will run the rasp pi, and hat and the uln which is powered seperately on Mike Lanes board. The other will handle my 2 relay boards which can be isolated from the pi.(pull the jd-vcc jumper and add power there which isolates it from the pi completely.
Added another relay board.
Added my 4 dfrobot gravity mosfet modules which can be run on pwm from the hat and switch the high(positive) side of my led lights. The lights are common cathode so I had to find a p channel mosfet board. I have 2 lights. Each light has a blue channel and a white/red/green channel. So 4 channels of pwm control as soon as i determine how im hacking into them. They have a 4 pin connector for the timer which seems propietary but if i could find matching connectors...boom, run a cable for each light into my cabinet and land on the modules...done!

Waiting now for a ph board from the other Troutt, lol!

 

[Diamond1]

That looks great.
I really like the meamwell Power supplies they are rock solid.

 

[Bigtrout]

That looks great.
I really like the meamwell Power supplies they are rock solid.

Yes, I dialed them in to 5.099 volts and every time I check them I get exactly that. And they dont even get as warm as the wall warts.
You didnt have to sell me on meanwell, alot of the machinery I work on use meanwell power supplies.

 

[Ranjib]

Added some things to my build, got rid of the wall warts and put in 2 Meanwell rs-15-5 power supplies, what a difference reading voltages when all relays are pulled in and when they click on and off...at 7 bucks they are a steal and make my build cleaner. The wallwarts were samsung rated at 2 amps, but when relays pulled in and out voltage wavered a bit. The meanwell are 3 amps apiece. One will run the rasp pi, and hat and the uln which is powered seperately on Mike Lanes board. The other will handle my 2 relay boards which can be isolated from the pi.(pull the jd-vcc jumper and add power there which isolates it from the pi completely.
Added another relay board.
Added my 4 dfrobot gravity mosfet modules which can be run on pwm from the hat and switch the high(positive) side of my led lights. The lights are common cathode so I had to find a p channel mosfet board. I have 2 lights. Each light has a blue channel and a white/red/green channel. So 4 channels of pwm control as soon as i determine how im hacking into them. They have a 4 pin connector for the timer which seems propietary but if i could find matching connectors...boom, run a cable for each light into my cabinet and land on the modules...done!

Waiting now for a ph board from the other Troutt, lol!

this is an epic build its like my first two builds (AC socketc, ac dc converters are all part of the controller), but way, way better . That husky enclosure is paying off. Meanwell PSU and the dfrobot power mosfet circuit are also great addition

 

[Bigtrout]

this is an epic build its like my first two builds (AC socketc, ac dc converters are all part of the controller), but way, way better . That husky enclosure is paying off. Meanwell PSU and the dfrobot power mosfet circuit are also great addition

Pwm up next, just trying to find a clean way to wire into my lights. The timer connector is 4 pin=15V+, GND, blue channel, white/red/green channel. The timer just tuns on the two channels. All i need is right there if I can find a matching connector I dont have to touch my light. I can run a 4 wire to my reef pi mosfet module, 15V+ to Vin, Gnd to Gnd, and controlled channel to Vout on the module. The mosfet modules use Pwm pin from pca9685 on the hat, and Gnd to run an opto that switches the pChannel fet. Specs say its good to 1khz pwm. If anyone needs a pchannel to switch high side, the p channel mosfet on these modules has a very low rdson of .0075 ohms, meaning no heatsink unless you take more than 10 amps thru the fet.

 

[Bigtrout]

I really need to get the parts here for the pwm part of my build so I can tone down my lights. Everything is built except how to cable into the lights in a prefessional lookimg manner.
Today was plant chopping day, yes chopping! Used to trim the Vallisneria when it grew to the top and started blocking the light. That was once every 2 weeks, remove a few leaves. Now im up to once a week, taking scissors and lopping off every val at 3/4 tank height and removing runners so it doesnt spread anymore. And my red leaved Amazon swords are making stalks with baby plants on them like spider plant babies...I think I need some Reef pi pwm control!

 

[Ranjib]

These plants help with anything, like nutrient export? in reef tanks mangroves are pretty popular. We use algae based filtration, which does similar thing

 

[Bigtrout]

These plants help with anything, like nutrient export? in reef tanks mangroves are pretty popular. We use algae based filtration, which does similar thing

Yes, the plants soak up the nitrates, i cut them and throw the trimmings away, the plants grow right back removing more.nitrates. Like a cheato filter on steroids. I have other things that help this along, malaysian trumpet snails churn the sand so the plants can root easier...and from going wildly anaerobic. This breaks waste particles up for plant use as well. A good planted tank has alot going on for balance, similar to a reef tank.

 

[Bigtrout]

Received my other set of good temp probes yesterday, now I have 4 of the red silicone insulated, shielded, the probe ends stainless 316 double crimped and filled with thermal conductive grease.
These are great temp probes, all of them test to within .0625C or .1125F of each other with 3 testing exactly the same, and one outlier that tests .1125 degrees low. And they all test within .1 degree of a 2 point calibrated NTC thermistor. These are the probes to get! Saltwater guys may want to still coat the stainless, but it is 316 stainless, and the double rolled crimp on the silicone wire insulation, looks very waterproof.

https://www.amazon.com/DROK-Tempera...SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=drok+ds18b20&psc=1

 

[Ranjib]

Received my other set of good temp probes yesterday, now I have 4 of the red silicone insulated, shielded, the probe ends stainless 316 double crimped and filled with thermal conductive grease.
These are great temp probes, all of them test to within .0625C or .1125F of each other with 3 testing exactly the same, and one outlier that tests .1125 degrees low. And they all test within .1 degree of a 2 point calibrated NTC thermistor. These are the probes to get! Saltwater guys may want to still coat the stainless, but it is 316 stainless, and the double rolled crimp on the silicone wire insulation, looks very waterproof.

https://www.amazon.com/DROK-Tempera...SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=drok+ds18b20&psc=1

woot

 

[Bigtrout]

Woohoo,
The other Troutt is sending a pH board my way!
Guess I better decide on a pH probe!

 

[Bigtrout]

On a cold snowy day, decided to play with adafruit io and making a dashboard, while still waiting for a few odd and ends for my upcoming pwm build. Adafruit io works perfectly!
I may dabble a little with trying to get either home assistant or IFTTT to work with reef pi API. If I can get IFTTT to work then my reef pi could be Alexa controlled!