New controller build thread

[Doglips56]

#reefpi
Even though we are really new to reefing, we (ok, maybe just I) decided that the Apex was not for us. I don’t like the equipment limitations and it’s way overpriced. GHL was suggested but I was warned about support issues. A friend from my local club, @Imm1967, recommended checking into Reef Pi So I have.
What I have

What I’ve purchased that hasn’t arrived yet:

What I’ve received but not touched yet:

Im trying to get up to speed by learning basic computer electronics but could use some input into what skills in particular I will be needing to add equipment. Will I have to write codes? Add hardware? I’m a registered nurse by trade which does require some computer savvy just to work all the monitors and pumps and troubleshoot but this is all new to me!
Can’t t wait to hear from all of you in the #reefpi community

 

[Flippers4pups]

Bump

 

[Pistondog]

The apex is a finished product, designed for novices to use. It is price competitive with other controllers of that caliber, has to be or they wouldn't be in business. If you have a problem you call apex and they help. The apex hardware is superior to reefpi from a reliability perspective.

I perceive reefpi to require a different skillset than apex. Programming skills probably a must. If it is something you want to learn, then go this route, bearing in mind, your errors might harm your tank.
You will spend 5 to 10 times the hours getting it up and running, if you were a programmer. If this is what you want to spend your time doing, then go.

The advantage of reefpi, other than cost is probably flexibility. You can probably do just about anything you can program.

Other members, please correct my mistakes.

 

[Doglips56]

The apex is a finished product, designed for novices to use. It is price competitive with other controllers of that caliber, has to be or they wouldn't be in business. If you have a problem you call apex and they help. The apex hardware is superior to reefpi from a reliability perspective.

I perceive reefpi to require a different skillset than apex. Programming skills probably a must. If it is something you want to learn, then go this route, bearing in mind, your errors might harm your tank.
You will spend 5 to 10 times the hours getting it up and running, if you were a programmer. If this is what you want to spend your time doing, then go.

The advantage of reefpi, other than cost is probably flexibility. You can probably do just about anything you can program.

Other members, please correct my mistakes.

I’ve heard the same things from my many Apex loyal friends. I didn’t say it was a bad product, just said I wasn’t a fan. I’ll stand my ground on it being overpriced, rather spend my money on other things.

Flexibility is definitely why I chose this route, not because it would be easy. Again, cost is an issue with Apex because all equipment has to be Apex ready or compatible.

I’m permanently and totally disabled from working, it totally sucks but it is what it is. I have a bachelors degree in nursing and nothing but time and no way to use my brain these days so why not try something new that can save me some money? I wouldn’t just set it up and hope I did it right to the detriment of the rest of my (our) investment. Just looking for something that will do what we want with the equipment we want and learn something new and have fun at the same time.

#moderator please move this thread to DIY if that is more appropriate as I wasn’t sure.

 

[Pistondog]

I’ve heard the same things from my many Apex loyal friends. I didn’t say it was a bad product, just said I wasn’t a fan. I’ll stand my ground on it being overpriced, rather spend my money on other things.

Flexibility is definitely why I chose this route, not because it would be easy. Again, cost is an issue with Apex because all equipment has to be Apex ready or compatible.

I’m permanently and totally disabled from working, it totally sucks but it is what it is. I have a bachelors degree in nursing and nothing but time and no way to use my brain these days so why not try something new that can save me some money? I wouldn’t just set it up and hope I did it right to the detriment of the rest of my (our) investment. Just looking for something that will do what we want with the equipment we want and learn something new and have fun at the same time.

#moderator please move this thread to DIY if that is more appropriate as I wasn’t sure.

You might search reefpi and read those threads if you haven't already.
I think most raspberry pi intro stuff on YouTube would be helpful.
When testing your program for controlling output sockets, use a nightlight plugged in to see if the output is on or off.
Sounds like you're in for some challenges and rewards.
Getting that 1st program to work is a milestone, even mr blinky or hello world.
Everything builds on that.
Good luck and like you said have fun.

 

[robbyg]

You might search reefpi and read those threads if you haven't already.
I think most raspberry pi intro stuff on YouTube would be helpful.
When testing your program for controlling output sockets, use a nightlight plugged in to see if the output is on or off.
Sounds like you're in for some challenges and rewards.
Getting that 1st program to work is a milestone, even mr blinky or hello world.
Everything builds on that.
Good luck and like you said have fun.

Maybe I am missing something but from what I have read reef-pi is a fully functioning program that is just installed on a raspberry pi system. You can already buy power bars, temp senors, pH probe modules and other pre built hardware for it. As far as I know you only need to punch in values in different menus to program items.
The technical part seems to mostly revolve around getting hardware wired up and possibly knowing some basic code. I think it only becomes somewhat difficult if you want to mess with the source code and add new features or modify existing ones.
The whole idea sounds great for a person who wants to learn and has time on their hands.

 

[Doglips56]

The whole idea sounds great for a person who wants to learn and has time on their hands.

Yup that’s me! I want to lear something new and I unfortunately do have time on my hands. You are correct, I purchased my kit from ROBO TANK and it is Reef Pi with plug and play technology but very expandable to hopefully be able to have it do whatever we want. We shall see!

 

[nomsmon]

I haven't looked at reefpi (will be doing so now!), but I have worked on a number of rasp-pi projects.

Im guessing from your shopping list you're going to need to install the reefpi software of the rasp-pi. I don't know what your tech background is, but you'll need some familiarity with Linux and using the command line.

Depending on how "complete" and "polished" reefpi is you may need to do some scripting or set up a webserver for a UI.

Finding a dedicated forum or maybe subreddit for reefpi builders would probably be helpful.

*Edit*

I took look at reefpi and robotank. To be clear, what you're really buying into is robotanks' hardware system. It's not that different from buying into Apex's hardware system. The rasp-pi is just replacing the micro controller in the Apex and reef-pi is replacing the Apex software. IIUC you may be locked into robotanks' hardware; I wouldn't assume just because my microcontroller was using open source software that my hardware was compatible with other vendors.

 

[Doglips56]

I may have posted this in the wrong forum. There is an entire group on R2R dedicated to these builds. I also may have tagged them wrong. I DM’d the reef pi guru, who was the one that asked me to start this thread. I may need to go back and look and add a tag.
@Ranjib help!

 

[Ranjib]

good to see your build thread. I’m sure mods will move the thread once they notice it . I’ll tag them if not .

 

[Ranjib]

I haven't looked at reefpi (will be doing so now!), but I have worked on a number of rasp-pi projects.

Im guessing from your shopping list you're going to need to install the reefpi software of the rasp-pi. I don't know what your tech background is, but you'll need some familiarity with Linux and using the command line.

Depending on how "complete" and "polished" reefpi is you may need to do some scripting or set up a webserver for a UI.

Finding a dedicated forum or maybe subreddit for reefpi builders would probably be helpful.

*Edit*

I took look at reefpi and robotank. To be clear, what you're really buying into is robotanks' hardware system. It's not that different from buying into Apex's hardware system. The rasp-pi is just replacing the micro controller in the Apex and reef-pi is replacing the Apex software. IIUC you may be locked into robotanks' hardware; I wouldn't assume just because my microcontroller was using open source software that my hardware was compatible with other vendors.

Pretty much spot on. Some minor differences, raspberry pi is a full blown computer , not a micro controller, which makes stuff like web server very easy, hence those things are available out of the box. My perception is reef-pi is less coding than apex, due to macros defined via ui. Installation is very equivalent to two commands in Linux. No other scripting is required, but if you do code, the api allows to integrate reef-pi with almost anything you want. But analog, real-time works are harder. We offload those bots to ancillary ICs.

Robo tank is an open hardware. So , not only others can rebuild it, they can also repair or mod it if they want, It also do not employ proprietary protocols, I won’t call it a locked in system due to these reasons. Most off the shelf hardware around reef-pi are open hardware , it’s one of our ethos. It’s a core value for this community.

 

[robbyg]

good to see your build thread. I’m sure mods will move the thread once they notice it . I’ll tag them if not .

I actually think he/she posted in the right section. Reef-Pi thanks to you is no longer just a Novelty item that just a few DIYers can play with .

Companies like Robo Tank have now made it into a full blown product that can literally be up and running in a few hours. It is becoming a true competitor to the other established controllers so I do not see why it should be limited to the DIY section when these almost complete units can be bought.

 

[pseudorand]

The nice thing about going Raspberry Pi is that it's cheap-ish compared to commercial controllers and if for whatever reason you can't get reef pi working right, you can roll your own code.

I ended up giving up on reef-pi because I couldn't get it to turn on my Lumia 5.2-based DIY lights. To see if I'd wired things correctly, I ended up writing some python code to turn them off and on, which worked fine. I'm not sure if that's a bug in reef pi itself or if I just couldn't figure out the correct boxes to check in the web UI, but my python script worked well enough that I just decided to use that. I wrote a nice function to vary intensity over a 12-hour day on a nice sine wave. Not brain surgery if you've written code before, but perhaps a difficult first task if you haven't. I was using an RPI4 (which is what you purchased), which I think may not have been officially supported by reef pi at the time. I have no idea if that is or isn't related the my issue though.

(Note: Much thanks to Mr. Day (the author of Reef Pi) for answering all my noob questions during that project.)

I assume you've found the setup guides, but I though I'd throw in the link just in case.

 

[robbyg]

Yup that’s me! I want to lear something new and I unfortunately do have time on my hands. You are correct, I purchased my kit from ROBO TANK and it is Reef Pi with plug and play technology but very expandable to hopefully be able to have it do whatever we want. We shall see!

I have been looking at Reef-Pi for the last two weeks trying to learn more, so this thread is perfect.

I do not know how old this GUI demo slide show is but it looks very impressive and Reef-Pi seems to be loaded with features.

I found an easy video for installing Rasberry-Pi. It does have some fluff in it but the teacher is very good.


Lastly I found a video that goes from installing Rasberry-Pi straight into installing Reef-Pi.
Unfortunetly the commentary is not all that great as he seems to be learning as he goes. You can fast forward to the 17 MINUTE mark and just see the Reef-Pi installation. The first half is already covered in the video above.



Overall it seems like it would take maybe two hours to get this up and running.
Please keep us informed.

 

[Doglips56]

The nice thing about going Raspberry Pi is that it's cheap-ish compared to commercial controllers and if for whatever reason you can't get reef pi working right, you can roll your own code.

I ended up giving up on reef-pi because I couldn't get it to turn on my Lumia 5.2-based DIY lights. To see if I'd wired things correctly, I ended up writing some python code to turn them off and on, which worked fine. I'm not sure if that's a bug in reef pi itself or if I just couldn't figure out the correct boxes to check in the web UI, but my python script worked well enough that I just decided to use that. I wrote a nice function to vary intensity over a 12-hour day on a nice sine wave. Not brain surgery if you've written code before, but perhaps a difficult first task if you haven't. I was using an RPI4 (which is what you purchased), which I think may not have been officially supported by reef pi at the time. I have no idea if that is or isn't related the my issue though.

(Note: Much thanks to Mr. Day (the author of Reef Pi) for answering all my noob questions during that project.)

I assume you've found the setup guides, but I though I'd throw in the link just in case.

I have but thank you for the links. I tried to do an interactive online Python workshop and failed miserably- hope that isn’t an omen for this project! I’ve read many of the threads with frustration and failure, almost scared me away but it is an affordable alternative to me. My tank doesn’t HAVE to be fully automated because I’m home most of the time. Just thought it may be a fun way to learn more about everything and especially some new things while enjoying a hobby I’ve really grown to love (reefing). Thanks for the support!
Nancy

 

[Doglips56]

I have been looking at Reef-Pi for the last two weeks trying to learn more, so this thread is perfect.

I do not know how old this GUI demo slide show is but it looks very impressive and Reef-Pi seems to be loaded with features.

I found an easy video for installing Rasberry-Pi. It does have some fluff in it but the teacher is very good.


Lastly I found a video that goes from installing Rasberry-Pi straight into installing Reef-Pi.
Unfortunetly the commentary is not all that great as he seems to be learning as he goes. You can fast forward to the 17 MINUTE mark and just see the Reef-Pi installation. The first half is already covered in the video above.



Overall it seems like it would take maybe two hours to get this up and running.
Please keep us informed.

Wow, you put that together fast! I’ve watched some videos but these look like new material to me. I’m currently reading the manual that came with the Raspberry Pi 4 and realized I hadn’t ordered a MicroSD, got that done preloaded with NOOBS

 

[nomsmon]

Pretty much spot on. Some minor differences, raspberry pi is a full blown computer , not a micro controller, which makes stuff like web server very easy, hence those things are available out of the box. My perception is reef-pi is less coding than apex, due to macros defined via ui. Installation is very equivalent to two commands in Linux. No other scripting is required, but if you do code, the api allows to integrate reef-pi with almost anything you want. But analog, real-time works are harder. We offload those bots to ancillary ICs.

Robo tank is an open hardware. So , not only others can rebuild it, they can also repair or mod it if they want, It also do not employ proprietary protocols, I won’t call it a locked in system due to these reasons. Most off the shelf hardware around reef-pi are open hardware , it’s one of our ethos. It’s a core value for this community.

That's great to hear. I took a look at the reef-pi GitHub; it looks like a very well thought out and well maintained project.

That's a great point about the rasp-pi vs something like a pic based microcontroller; the rasp really is a full computer.

I really love the idea of hardware manufacturers standardizing around an open source platform; often makes for such a better user experience.

 

[Doglips56]

Update: I’ve received my Raspberry Pi 4 (8gb) and my “plug and play” Reef Pi from @robsworld78. Have a screen and keyboard set up but I need to get a mouse. I’m also taking a bona fide certification course to learn Python. I want to really dive deep (pun intended) into this project and work towards being a Reef Pi mentor to others.

 

[robsworld78]

Update: I’ve received my Raspberry Pi 4 (8gb) and my “plug and play” Reef Pi from @robsworld78. Have a screen and keyboard set up but I need to get a mouse. I’m also taking a bona fide certification course to learn Python. I want to really dive deep (pun intended) into this project and work towards being a Reef Pi mentor to others.

Very nice, soon you'll be sending me scripts and I'll be scared.

If you have any questions along the way don't hesitate to ask.

 

[Doglips56]

Very nice, soon you'll be sending me scripts and I'll be scared.
That’s definitely my plan! It’s a certification course for Python, got 100% on my first 2 tests

If you have any questions along the way don't hesitate to ask. Thank you!