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

[Gareth elliott]

Are you using the standard pi touch display ? Curious about the resolution

reef-pi does not use any custom css as of now, we can certainly add it if need be. As of now, I have kept the static assets to a bare minimum, and include only bootstrap (the omnipotent css library from twitter) for all styling. So any bootstrap styles will be usable as it is.

https://github.com/reef-pi/reef-pi/tree/master/assets

bootstrap is responsive, so there must be we way for us to make individual component render correct on different screens (mobile, desktop & tablets). I know the whole responsive thing in reef-pi UI is absymal. In particular the charts & dialogs (in mobile phones at least). Keep bringing up specific UX/UI issues, I may just ask one of my UI friends to fix them for us in one go :-)

Yes standard pi touch screen so 800x400. Its Is more an issue having to scroll than anything else. I have a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse i use during setup and updating but during regular use its easier to just use the touch screen to see how the tank is at(temp for now lol). And having to scroll to see the temp chart makes that cumbersome.

Will play around some themes and take some ss :)

 

[Kampo]

It is possible, but is there a reason you dont want single reef-pi to control multiple tanks? I am not recommending, just curious. With Pi3 you can churn a whole lotta thing.

Main reason is having a physical wire between the tanks. 2 are on opposite sides of the same room. Other 2 locations are in the basement in totally separate rooms. All told I'd need at least 24 channels of pwm to controll just the lights this doesn't even add in 3 cooling fans so let's call it 27 can you even run multiple pca9686 boards? Another thing I need to research can you control a 12v computer fan with pwm and a mosfet.

The only other module I'm looking at is the ato feature. The schematic for that build is broken on the website though so need to look into it more I'm sure the wiring diagram is somewhere in this thread

 

[Gareth elliott]

How it looks at fullscreen.

 

[mhp1972]

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.

Thank you Ranjib I'am now up and running :) now the fun begins

 

[Ranjib]

Hi!!
I'm just starting with Reef-Pi (and loving it haha). Ive succesfuly managed to get to work the ATO and Temp but i'm having some errors with the camera. When i click "update" to enable the camera the error is {"error":"item 'latest' does not exists in bucket 'camera'"}

and when i click on "take photo" the error is {"error":"exit status 64"}.

What should I do?
Thanks :)

Camera module is experimental :-) . I am glad that you are giving it a go. The docs are still not there .. but here is what you have to do
1) Install raspistill in Raspberry Pi
2) Configure gdrive (only if you want automatic upload of your reef tank photos to be uploaded in google drive, for remote viewing)

Expect some hiccups with this module. its still under heavy development, and not fully chalked out. I made it for a quick fix , because I needed it during my vacation :-)

 

[Ranjib]

Thank you Ranjib I'am now up and running :) now the fun begins

May the force be with you :-)

 

[Ranjib]

How it looks at fullscreen.

I know why is that happening. The charts have hardcoded 600px width, that causing them to overlap. Give me sometime, I'll get a fix out... soon. I want to support the dashboard on pi-touch , definitely. Thats our standard, recommended display, for those who wants one.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Still playing around with the ui theme lol. Anyone else that wants to do the same, will need these commands for terminal.

Sudo chmod 777 /var/lib/reef-pi/assets/ui.jx

Sudo chmod 777 /var/lib/reef-pi/assets/bootstrap.min.css

Allows you to modify these files by changing the permissions

 

[Ranjib]

Still playing around with the ui theme lol. Anyone else that wants to do the same, will need these commands for terminal.

Sudo chmod 777 /var/lib/reef-pi/assets/ui.jx

Sudo chmod 777 /var/lib/reef-pi/assets/bootstrap.min.css

Allows you to modify these files by changing the permissions

You are developing in production my friend :-)

 

[Ranjib]

As I am building the reef-pi 1.0 AIO controller, I made few critical observations :-)
1) The temperature sensor is not as reliable as we want. Sometimes it sends wrong values (like 156 C ), and we don't have any safeguards for that. The connector (audio jack) I use, is just not right. In these connectors often time the male female positive & GND terminal touch each other. When that happens, whole Raspberry Pi does a hard reboot :0( . The system comes back with temp sensor working, but the reboot is a vey bad for disk and unacceptable from controller perspective. I 'll update the guides to recommend rj11 or even jst connectors. If you are using audio connector, power down Raspberry Pi , before connecting the probe/audio jack. I'll add safety check across temperature and ATO controller to auto-disable the sub-system when something out of bound happens.

2) The dfrobot ATO sensor wire is not long enough. I realized after testing it in mybiocube 29 (i was using them on pico tanks for couple of months) the length. The breakout board is somewhere in the middle of the wires. I had to remake the connectors after extending/reducing the wire lengths. Looking at the breakout board, its not that coplex and I may opt for moving that circuit in the perf board itself. That way we can just use any photoelectric sensor. And we can choose the ones with longer wire length (or whatever we prefer)

3) This new aio perfboard is pretty neat :-) , this is the first time I got the whole circuit working in one-shot, and in smaller form factor. I am excited about the etched PCB for reef-pi. This will make so much more sense if we move the ATO circuit inside it as well.

4) The 3 Kessil controller is working like a champ :-) . It was not a smooth ride as well. After the initial setup, I obseved kessil bliking :-/ . Silly of me, this is the third time I repeated this. per channel minimum threshold was introduced to fix this, it just not exposed through web ui. So I never do it, and then this happens, and I use the API ./curl to update the min threshold value. Though there is a workaround, its not acceptable. Given the official LED build guide promises a kessi I l controller, I think we should have that min/max configuration UI, and explicitly call it out in the guide.


So, in summary.. I am working on following things, that will go in 1.1
1) ATO: auto-disable, if pump rums longer than expected. And trigger alert. Recommend some more elbow grease wiring for the sensor.
2) Temperature controller: auto disable if temperature is way out of range, send alert. Check for data consistency using checksum. Dont consider readings that failed on checksum. Update guide to recommend rj11 connector or jst connector.
3) Lighting: UI will allow specifying minimum and maximum threshold. Build guide will be updated to use Kessil A80 or A360 minimum threshold (15 in UI slider which corresponds to 1.5volt)

 

[Kampo]

the min/max for the lights is for drivers/lights that won't dim to 0 correct? the option for drivers like meanwell LDD-H that can dim to 0 will still be available correct?

also just curious what resolution is the PWM dimming? is it the full 12bit the PC9685 allows? or is it in steps of 1-100?

 

[Ranjib]

the min/max for the lights is for drivers/lights that won't dim to 0 correct? the option for drivers like meanwell LDD-H that can dim to 0 will still be available correct?

also just curious what resolution is the PWM dimming? is it the full 12bit the PC9685 allows? or is it in steps of 1-100?

Min value is for leds that dont dim at lower values, and show blinking effect. As far as the driver is concerned they work as expected, it’s not due to them. It’s optional and not enforced unless specified . So, if you have light that can be dimmed to say 1 value of pwm, then you don’t have to do anything.
Pca9685 is 12 bit, which means pwm values can be 0-4096. Reef-pi maps this to 0-100 for simplicity

 

[mhp1972]

Hi again
I'we got my Reef-py working now, but after reboot i can not login to my reef-pi. I get the login screen from local host, but it will not accept user name reef-pi and password reef-pi. I havent changed anything. Can you help me

Best regards Michael

 

[Ranjib]

Hi again
I'we got my Reef-py working now, but after reboot i can not login to my reef-pi. I get the login screen from local host, but it will not accept user name reef-pi and password reef-pi. I havent changed anything. Can you help me

Best regards Michael

Did you update the reef-pi credentials by any chance? Try using blank password and reef-pi user

 

[mhp1972]

Jesus you are right, now i'am in :) thank you

 

[Ranjib]

Jesus you are right, now i'am in :) thank you

I’ll tell you what possibly happened , you clicked update button (may be by mistake) on the credentials part, and since default values in those field is reef-pi and blank, that’s what became new credentials. You should update those from the settings tab

 

[mhp1972]

After reebot and login to reef-pi, My GPIO pins do not turn on my relay function. If i look at the dashboard the relay can switch on and off (red and green) when i hit the button also my temp probe is showing temperature, but no signal is sent to any of my relays. Do i need to do some kind of GPIO cleanup on the raspberry pi after a reboot.

 

[Ranjib]

After reebot and login to reef-pi, My GPIO pins do not turn on my relay function. If i look at the dashboard the relay can switch on and off (red and green) when i hit the button also my temp probe is showing temperature, but no signal is sent to any of my relays. Do i need to do some kind of GPIO cleanup on the raspberry pi after a reboot.

No. Something must be wrong. If reed/pi is showing expected state then it means the gpio is being turned on /off correctly (you can verify that from log), you have to check why it’s not being propagated to relay . Does the relay led switch on/off? If not check relay wiring.

 

[Gareth elliott]

No. Something must be wrong. If reed/pi is showing expected state then it means the gpio is being turned on /off correctly (you can verify that from log), you have to check why it’s not being propagated to relay . Does the relay led switch on/off? If not check relay wiring.

To test relays before i seal up my box i also use my pi app.

Lets me check if simple on/off functions work as expected.

 

[Ranjib]

To test relays before i seal up my box i also use my pi app.

Lets me check if simple on/off functions work as expected.

This thing is opensource?