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

[Ranjib]

Published the 3D models on Thingiverse, if anyone is interested:

Fan Bracket: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2706693
Plug Panel: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2709392

As stated in previous posts, I've tagged them with 'reef-pi' and it would be nice to do the same if you create and upload a model. It makes it easy to find them in one place: https://www.thingiverse.com/tag:reef-pi

As for my build progress, I grabbed some of those DC-DC voltage regulators, so that should simplify some things. I have prints of the models above, so I can go ahead and finish cutting holes in my enclosure. I can get a few things wired up once that's done. I'm still waiting on the board from robo-tank for the lighting circuit (the ability to change the output signal on the lighting jacks, rather than hardwiring them, is very attractive), and some 4 conductor 3.5mm jacks (couldn't find any locally, so they're coming from China). Once I have those items, I will be able to finish my build, until the Atlas Scientific board support is added. Of course, I will have the hood hacking (to mount the LED panel in the BC29 hood) and wiring left to do. Maybe then I will be able to actually get my tank wet.

Ooh :-) , good stuff.
I So want a 3d printer :-) , only if I had space in my apartment:-(.
One thing in my mind is do a 3d printer based end to end housing for reef-pi 1.0 all in one controller. I’m getting close to that, I’ll share some pics soon. That will also be used for the official guide and will me immensely helpful for anyone who finds the wiring details hard to follow, since this will give a step by step a specific build guide

 

[Ranjib]

Published the 3D models on Thingiverse, if anyone is interested:

Fan Bracket: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2706693
Plug Panel: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2709392

As stated in previous posts, I've tagged them with 'reef-pi' and it would be nice to do the same if you create and upload a model. It makes it easy to find them in one place: https://www.thingiverse.com/tag:reef-pi

As for my build progress, I grabbed some of those DC-DC voltage regulators, so that should simplify some things. I have prints of the models above, so I can go ahead and finish cutting holes in my enclosure. I can get a few things wired up once that's done. I'm still waiting on the board from robo-tank for the lighting circuit (the ability to change the output signal on the lighting jacks, rather than hardwiring them, is very attractive), and some 4 conductor 3.5mm jacks (couldn't find any locally, so they're coming from China). Once I have those items, I will be able to finish my build, until the Atlas Scientific board support is added. Of course, I will have the hood hacking (to mount the LED panel in the BC29 hood) and wiring left to do. Maybe then I will be able to actually get my tank wet.

I’m curious about the robots I feature, can you elaborate a bit? Is it something similar to the voltage regulator ?

 

[HM3105]

@Ranjib I went to install 1.0 in advance of moving my tank on to reef-pi over the holidays and for some reason I can't get the web interface to start up. Did I screw something up?

Also, when I try to access the config file, nothing is there.

 

[Ranjib]

Ive looked at the ATO functionality, including the BOM, and have a few questions:

Are there any particular need for a DC ATO pump, or is it possible to just hook up a 110v AC?

What triggers the ATO pump to stop? Is it only the scan time? 120 seconds in the example. I assume you would set the time so you don’t overflow your tank

Is a pi zero sufficient to run a few controls, probably only ATO and light on/off? Or is it safer to splash out on the PI 3 from day one.

I’m a chemical engineer by trade and design chemical plants for a living. This system have a lot similar components, although I’m used to installing a lot of safety features too

Yes, the ato works by scan time only. So in next scan if the water has reached proper level, it will turn pump off. Dc motor is not required, in fact the logic works on outlets which are mostly ac based. We can hook up dc pumps there as well. My reasoning for just mentioning dc pump was due to my observations that most dc pump are relatively low gph and cheap, can be run straight from the same power source (12v), if future we can control the speed, and most good commercial ato I have seen uses a dc pump. That was it, I didn’t really thought a lot about it while writing he guide :-)
But that brings a very important risk, that ato pump can overflow system, and my life nay recommendation will be to consider pump gph and check frequency carefully, and don’t use bigger ato container (enough to support 3-7 days at max). Always run ato in monitoring mode fieat (true with all such high risk parts).
I will add an auto cut off feature on ato , I had this in mind, just didn’t get time to get to it. Wanted to get the whole thing , with 1,0 out so that I can build a lb aio system and upgrade all my smaller controllers first.

Thanks for bringing this up, reliability is of utmost importance for reef-pi. We don’t mind shelving features for better reliability

 

[Ranjib]

Ive looked at the ATO functionality, including the BOM, and have a few questions:

Are there any particular need for a DC ATO pump, or is it possible to just hook up a 110v AC?

What triggers the ATO pump to stop? Is it only the scan time? 120 seconds in the example. I assume you would set the time so you don’t overflow your tank

Is a pi zero sufficient to run a few controls, probably only ATO and light on/off? Or is it safer to splash out on the PI 3 from day one.

I’m a chemical engineer by trade and design chemical plants for a living. This system have a lot similar components, although I’m used to installing a lot of safety features too

Pi zero is sufficient for most cases. I’ll have a full 1.0 all in one build log using pi zero.
Pi 3 is better if you need the touch screen display (GUI costs a little t of cpu and memory) or you have lots of equipment/timers, all sensors are polling fast (e.g 5s ato). Pi zero setup is bit pain, as you don’t have standard hdmi and usb, but pi zero will cost less, take less space, needs lot less current, and you get to choose the pin style) . If you think you won’t stretch reef-pi limits and can bare with the special usb and hdmi requirement , go with Zero,

 

[Somnifac]

I’m curious about the robots I feature, can you elaborate a bit? Is it something similar to the voltage regulator ?

I'm not sure I follow?

 

[Ranjib]

@Ranjib I went to install 1.0 in advance of moving my tank on to reef-pi over the holidays and for some reason I can't get the web interface to start up. Did I screw something up?

Also, when I try to access the config file, nothing is there.

It’s running. What version you are upgrading from? Everything had moved to UI now, since version .7 , I think :-/.

Also the webui url now has changed to port 80, which is default http, so you won’t need the 8080 part in address, just specify raspberry pi ip in the browser

 

[Ranjib]

I'm not sure I follow?

Darn , autocorrect. I meant robotank features ..

 

[Somnifac]

Darn , autocorrect. I meant robotank features ..

Oh, gotcha. Someone had posted a link to a breakout board (https://www.robo-tank.ca/en/Break-O...gital-to-Analog-Signal-Converter-p138c63.html) that can take the 5v PWM from the PCA9685 board and convert it to anything you need. I've emailed the maker and found that it is configurable via jumpers on the board. That way, if I ever need a different control signal for my lights, it's a matter of changing a couple of jumpers rather than rewiring things. It takes the 5v PWM in from the PCA9685 and a 12v DC input and does the rest.

 

[Ranjib]

Oh, gotcha. Someone had posted a link to a breakout board (https://www.robo-tank.ca/en/Break-O...gital-to-Analog-Signal-Converter-p138c63.html) that can take the 5v PWM from the PCA9685 board and convert it to anything you need. I've emailed the maker and found that it is configurable via jumpers on the board. That way, if I ever need a different control signal for my lights, it's a matter of changing a couple of jumpers rather than rewiring things. It takes the 5v PWM in from the PCA9685 and a 12v DC input and does the rest.

Got it, the lm2596 regulators will let us do that as well, but you have to solder the npn, resistors, mosfets on your own.


One of the thing I am positive now, that even if we don’t get the full HAT immediately, it will be pretty soon that we’ll have a perfboard (with the circuit etched ) for 1.0 , which will reduce the wiring pain significantly and users have to only solder things on it.

 

[Somnifac]

It's not the soldering that is the issue. It's that I'd have to rip out and re-solder if I made a change. In this case, it's all on one pre-made board. There's no need to pull anything out and implement a new circuit. I should be good w/ 10v analog now, but if I change something in the future and need 5v analog? Sure, I can rip out a DIY circuit and implement a new one, OR I could spend $25 now and just have to change jumpers for that channel later. Each channel can be separately converted for output, up to 8 discreet channels, one for each on the PCA9685 board.

 

[HM3105]

It’s running. What version you are upgrading from? Everything had moved to UI now, since version .7 , I think :-/.

Also the webui url now has changed to port 80, which is default http, so you won’t need the 8080 part in address, just specify raspberry pi ip in the browser

that did it! Thank you!

 

[Ranjib]

that did it! Thank you!

Awesome . Let us know how you find the 1.0 ui/features

 

[Ranjib]

I have been working on this all in one build during the weekend, this gave me some rough idea about how long it might take for a new user from start to end , . This is likely going to be in days, if not weeks

Here are some pics of the AIO controller electronics, mostly wiring:
The perfboard, with two transistors for the kessil controller, another 10k resistor circuit for the temeperature sensor , and a pass through circuit for the ato (since dfrobot pr Videos the ato circuit already)

Voltage regulator

Pca9685 board, only with 4 pins exposed

Female panel mount audio and barrel jacks, i solder jumper wires on these things to make it easy on wiring

 

[mhp1972]

Hi Every one

Hope you can help me. I'am having problems connecting reefpi to local:8080 host on my Raspberry pi.

i use releasereef-pi 1.0 and are connectet to Raspberry-pi via vnc from my desktop also i'am connectet via wifi. i've have the reef-pi running on my Raspberry pi.

 

[Ranjib]

Hi Every one

Hope you can help me. I'am having problems connecting reefpi to local:8080 host on my Raspberry pi.

i use releasereef-pi 1.0 and are connectet to Raspberry-pi via vnc from my desktop also i'am connectet via wifi. i've have the reef-pi running on my Raspberry pi.

you should not use 8080 port, just type http://localhost if you are accessing reef-pi from vnc. If you are accessing it from other devices (such as laptop or phone) use raspberry pi IP.

 

[Kampo]

so i've been hunting for a easy to build wifi controller for some lights i'm building and this seems like it may be the ticket. the leds are driven by a Meanwell LDD based drivers, am I correct in assuming the only 2 real components i'll need it a Pi Zero loaded with Reef Pi and a PCA9685 board? the guide on the website had an additional schematic for the kessel but am I correct in assuming if all I need is 5v pwm the pca9685 outputs the correct signal already? I"m a complete newbie to this stuff, I can follow instructions and sorta understand it but its been 10 years since i've actually been a electronics tinker and that was just building computers not circuit level stuff.

 

[Ranjib]

so i've been hunting for a easy to build wifi controller for some lights i'm building and this seems like it may be the ticket. the leds are driven by a Meanwell LDD based drivers, am I correct in assuming the only 2 real components i'll need it a Pi Zero loaded with Reef Pi and a PCA9685 board? the guide on the website had an additional schematic for the kessel but am I correct in assuming if all I need is 5v pwm the pca9685 outputs the correct signal already? I"m a complete newbie to this stuff, I can follow instructions and sorta understand it but its been 10 years since i've actually been a electronics tinker and that was just building computers not circuit level stuff.

you have datasheet for the meanwell driver, if its logic level (5v) then this is kosher :-) . I am assuming theres a dedicated power source for it as well .

 

[Ranjib]

so i've been hunting for a easy to build wifi controller for some lights i'm building and this seems like it may be the ticket. the leds are driven by a Meanwell LDD based drivers, am I correct in assuming the only 2 real components i'll need it a Pi Zero loaded with Reef Pi and a PCA9685 board? the guide on the website had an additional schematic for the kessel but am I correct in assuming if all I need is 5v pwm the pca9685 outputs the correct signal already? I"m a complete newbie to this stuff, I can follow instructions and sorta understand it but its been 10 years since i've actually been a electronics tinker and that was just building computers not circuit level stuff.

This is for a reef tank right ?

 

[Kampo]

This is for a reef tank right ?

one of them will be honestly I have many tanks. my current project is a simple 2 channel light for a small reef tank. if I like this though i'm now playing with the idea of controlling the leds in my fish room with it (12v rigid led strip based so prolly a bit different to wire up)

is this the correct wiring for a LDD drivers till? found it on an old thread

if this is all it takes I could slap a pi zero W plus the PCA9685 board right on the heatsink for the light. (the light is in a makersled slim enclosur) would really make for a slick setup just need to have power in for it and everything else is self contained. would just need to find a way to either drop the 48V main supply voltage down to 5 or just run a seperate psu for the pi.

Driver wise i'm planning LDD-xxxH driver like above or a driver from blueacro which is a bit nicer but electronically compatable with anything that works with a LDD driver (wireing is the same just nicer 2 channel package)