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

nele · Jan 7, 2018

Ranjib said:
I think pcb mount connectors are better,
thank you . You have any idea how much these boards will cost? OSHPark states 2"x2" is $5 USD , double sided. Dont know if there is a minimum number limit.

I sent something similar to Allpcb.com and 5 boards will be done for 5 USD shipped to my address. I just have few questions. I see on picture of your build that you have 5 resistors and few more connectors compared to original fritzing diagram. I assume that is for two light channels? Do you have fritzing of what you actually did on that board? It would be easier than to decode from the
picture of the board (and more precise).

nele · Jan 7, 2018

Here are Gerber files for production. Final size of board is now 2 inch x 1.2 inch. Audio and DC connector added. There is a place to add temperature controller on same board if necessary. If done on www.allpcb.com it should be 5 USD for 5 boards delivered to address. Please note that I did my best to check all the lines and pcb layout, testing will be on your own risk. If someone find some error please send me info to change drawing files and gbr output.

nele · Jan 7, 2018

And 3D render. I have to solve to show connectors as well. ..

Ranjib · Jan 7, 2018

Kampo said:
Yup works fine. Only issue is 100 percent is off but I think you have a fix for that in 1.1?

The lights are just going to be lights. Only other feature I'm planning on using is putting a camera in them to give me a too down webcam to check health of tank remotely.

I'm playing with the idea if a fishroom controller using this though. What are the chances we can get 2 pca9635s on the same controller?

The humidity and ambient temperature features would be helpful for this controller as well.

pca9685 ICs are chainable, so there is no limitations from the electronics side. Reef-pi software assume only one pca9685 IC, so that needs to be changed. The jack UI also needs to be updated to indicate which pca9685 is been used.
Did you used up all 16 channels

?

reef-pi has a half baked camera module that can take tank images using the official pi camera, and then upload it in google drive (i used when I am in vacation). Since this is not super important, I have not spend much time on it. Couple of my friends are using a modified version of reef-pi with cmucam support (pixy) to track fish movement (for research purpose only), I dont know if its relevant, if we did find some use, I'll add that code sometime in future

Ranjib · Jan 7, 2018

Kampo said:
Yup works fine. Only issue is 100 percent is off but I think you have a fix for that in 1.1?

The lights are just going to be lights. Only other feature I'm planning on using is putting a camera in them to give me a too down webcam to check health of tank remotely.

I'm playing with the idea if a fishroom controller using this though. What are the chances we can get 2 pca9635s on the same controller?

The humidity and ambient temperature features would be helpful for this controller as well.

1.1 has a UI feature, where you can set min , max and start value for each channel (and updated their name as well), set start to 1 and max to 99 and that should fix your problem. Test it to be sure

Ranjib · Jan 7, 2018

nele said:
And 3D render. I have to solve to show connectors as well. ..

If you dont mind, can I add the design files here: https://github.com/reef-pi/Designfiles , you can send a Pull request as well, and preserve your contribution as git history

Do you think we can use the npn transistors in smt package as well, instead of through hole/to-92 ?

This looks very good

Thank you so much

nele · Jan 7, 2018

Ranjib said:
If you dont mind, can I add the design files here: https://github.com/reef-pi/Designfiles , you can send a Pull request as well, and preserve your contribution as git history

Do you think we can use the npn transistors in smt package as well, instead of through hole/to-92 ?

Yes of course you can add it to design files. If I'm not wrong FMMT2222 should be SMD replacement for TO92. Would look much nicer and also will make pcb even smaller.

Kampo · Jan 7, 2018

one issue I've noticed, i'm noticing a noticeable whine now that i moved the light to a more quiet location. i'm guessing its something related to the pwm frequency used? not sure if there is any good fix.

Kampo · Jan 7, 2018

Ranjib said:
pca9685 ICs are chainable, so there is no limitations from the electronics side. Reef-pi software assume only one pca9685 IC, so that needs to be changed. The jack UI also needs to be updated to indicate which pca9685 is been used.
Did you used up all 16 channels ?

i'm thinking about using this to control the lights in my fish room (20 tanks current) would be cool to have each tank dimmable. then possibly put switchable outlets on some pumps and airpumps for waterchanges and such. the ambient tempature/humidity sensor would be nice since I heat the room not the tanks in there. and sometimes I forget to close the door. could possibly set up a notifcation when temp or humidity gets above or below a certain point?

Ranjib · Jan 7, 2018

Kampo said:
i'm thinking about using this to control the lights in my fish room (20 tanks current) would be cool to have each tank dimmable. then possibly put switchable outlets on some pumps and airpumps for waterchanges and such. the ambient tempature/humidity sensor would be nice since I heat the room not the tanks in there. and sometimes I forget to close the door. could possibly set up a notifcation when temp or humidity gets above or below a certain point?

the temperature sensor (ds18b20) works fine even when not sub-merged. You can use current reef-pi as it is to monitor ambient temperature
You tanks have single channel lights? or each light has multiple dimmable channels?

Ranjib · Jan 7, 2018

Kampo said:
one issue I've noticed, i'm noticing a noticeable whine now that i moved the light to a more quiet location. i'm guessing its something related to the pwm frequency used? not sure if there is any good fix.

Is it coming from the meanwell driver? or from pi/pca9685 boards? We can change the pwm clock speed/frequency, but I dont know for sure if thats what causing this.

Kampo · Jan 7, 2018

Ranjib said:
Is it coming from the meanwell driver? or from pi/pca9685 boards? We can change the pwm clock speed/frequency, but I dont know for sure if thats what causing this.

i dunno i need to open it up again while its running, couldn't figure out which while it was all buttoned up. what is the pwm frequency that its running at?

Kampo · Jan 7, 2018

Ranjib said:
the temperature sensor (ds18b20) works fine even when not sub-merged. You can use current reef-pi as it is to monitor ambient temperature
You tanks have single channel lights? or each light has multiple dimmable channels?

currently they are 5 channel lights just bridged to one channel running off a tc420. just rigid 12v led strips. mix of dual channel white/warm white, rgb and plant red/blue strips.

Mandelstam · Jan 8, 2018

Couple of things I've been thinking about concerning possible features.. (yet again lol)

- Tank log/diary. I know reef pi will log sensor data and present that. But I was thinking of the possibility to manually add data as well from any manual test kits etc. That way you could have everything stored in one place and it could maybe be easier to see patterns and causes and effects etc etc. Maybe even a simple little log where you can add little notes. Fish added. 15% water change. Etc. I know there are phone apps where you can log everything like this but it would be sweet to have an all in one solution.

- Emergency mode. Would Reef pi be able to detect if it got changed over to a battery backup in case of a power outage for example? If so it could be possible to maybe have a "emergency mode" program that kicked in to run life support. Life support could just be another setup for every "module" you are running (Light, equipment, etc)

MBellavance · Jan 8, 2018

Good morning!

Just discover this project while looking for a raspberry pi reef controller! Not sure I will be able to help a lot... but would like to make it work...

I have followed the guide step by step. Must have miss something last night while I should have been sleeping instead of working on this project

This is great thanks for all your effort!

Any idea what is not working? (See picture)

Ranjib · Jan 8, 2018

MBellavance said:
Good morning!

Just discover this project while looking for a raspberry pi reef controller! Not sure I will be able to help a lot... but would like to make it work... I have followed the guide step by step. Must have miss something last night while I should have been sleeping instead of working on this project

This is great thanks for all your effort!

Any idea what is not working? (See picture)

Did you download the right package? There are two separate packages for pi 3 ans pi zero. Make sure you use the appropriate one
https://github.com/reef-pi/reef-pi/releases

Remove the existing package first:

Code:

sudo apt-get remove reef-pi -y --purge

MBellavance · Jan 8, 2018

Ranjib said:
Did you download the right package? There are two separate packages for pi 3 ans pi zero. Make sure you use the appropriate one
https://github.com/reef-pi/reef-pi/releases

Remove the existing package first:

Code:

sudo apt-get remove reef-pi -y --purge

Thanks, I’m using pi 3, by the way I run it on a pi 2...

Ranjib · Jan 8, 2018

MBellavance said:
Thanks, I’m using pi 3, by the way I run it on a pi 2...

accroding to the log, you have installed pi zer0 package, do you have the .deb file on pi ? Check the name of the package file, if it ends in pi0.deb, then its wrong., it should end with pi3.deb