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

[Jean-Pierre Renaud]

Things look correctly configured to me. How you have wired your ato? Can you share an image of the build, let’s cross check that.
On the pi, you can see the gpio state as

cat /sys/class/gpio/gpio12/value

This value should be different (1 or 0) , based on whether the probe is inside water or outside, can you verify this?

The ATO controls my outlet number 1, i can manually enable it, i ear the relay click.

so all i need now is the float to send the message

 

[Jean-Pierre Renaud]

OK, using 3,3v and GPIO works.

Thank you very much

 

[Ranjib]

Yes i will do it tomorrow, my 3.3v is taken by the temperature probe, so i will have to splice and solder another lead to it,
i will test in the morning.

So i can use one side to 3.3v and the other wire to the GPIO pin,

no ground or resistor meeded ?

Thanks
again !

It is safer to use a resistor, but I dont think you have to. This is the recommended circuit (check the bread board diagram at the bottom): https://www.hackster.io/babtras/sump-monitor-and-alarm-270351
in short, you want to connect one end of the floatswitch to 5v pin of the Pi, other to GPIO 12 & 10K resistor (other end of which connects to GND)

 

[Ranjib]

OK, using 3,3v and GPIO works.

Thank you very much

Yay

 

[ThorEp]

Trying some PCB https://aisler.net/thorep/my-projec...e-sensor-2eebc128-73d7-48f1-84bd-80d185487032

 

[Ranjib]

Trying some PCB https://aisler.net/thorep/my-projec...e-sensor-2eebc128-73d7-48f1-84bd-80d185487032

you made this?

 

[Jean-Pierre Renaud]

Thonk this would be safer than mechanical float switch ?

https://www.robotshop.com/ca/en/gra...HMd0_d6TaSqI8lTxuW-NJ5VOidSnM2IQaAouXEALw_wcB

 

[ThorEp]

you made this?

Yeah made it this morning, its just for fun Planning on making 1 board that fits all components for several of the build guides

 

[ThorEp]

A little updated..made room for BNC female ( https://www.atlas-scientific.com/product_pages/components/bnc.html ) as well as solder on.
https://aisler.net/thorep/my-projec...e-sensor-2eebc128-73d7-48f1-84bd-80d185487032

 

[ThorEp]

Another update: https://aisler.net/thorep/my-projec...e-sensor-2eebc128-73d7-48f1-84bd-80d185487032

Its designed to handles connections. You print this board and connect 8 channel relay and temp probe to it. You can then connect the Raspberry PI via cable..this way it is easy to disasemle the pi from the rest of the hardware.

 

[Ranjib]

Thonk this would be safer than mechanical float switch ?

https://www.robotshop.com/ca/en/gra...HMd0_d6TaSqI8lTxuW-NJ5VOidSnM2IQaAouXEALw_wcB

I believe so. I am using these

 

[ThorEp]

Here is another version ready for mounting of raspberry pi 3 b and 2x8ch relay and 1x2channel for temp controll. Could not find the position of mounting holes on the relays so these have to be manually drilled. Have not tested this board out.

https://aisler.net/thorep/my-projec...e-sensor-2eebc128-73d7-48f1-84bd-80d185487032

 

[Ranjib]

Here is another version ready for mounting of raspberry pi 3 b and 2x8ch relay and 1x2channel for temp controll. Could not find the position of mounting holes on the relays so these have to be manually drilled. Have not tested this board out.

https://aisler.net/thorep/my-projec...e-sensor-2eebc128-73d7-48f1-84bd-80d185487032

So quick ? You have a pcb milling machine ?

 

[jcmental]

Guys this is a bit off topic and I’m sorry but I can’t proceed with my reef pi build if I can’t get this problem sorted. I bought a 7” touch screen off eBay https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/282682984258
But I can’t get it to fill the screen, there’s a band down the right hand side. I’ve searched the net and followed multipal solutions in the boot/config.txt file but nothing works. Is there something else I can try to fill the screen please?
It’s important because I can’t have a keyboard monitor and mouse sat on top of my fish tank.

 

[Ranjib]

Guys this is a bit off topic and I’m sorry but I can’t proceed with my reef pi build if I can’t get this problem sorted. I bought a 7” touch screen off eBay https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/282682984258
But I can’t get it to fill the screen, there’s a band down the right hand side. I’ve searched the net and followed multipal solutions in the boot/config.txt file but nothing works. Is there something else I can try to fill the screen please?
It’s important because I can’t have a keyboard monitor and mouse sat on top of my fish tank.

You have to specify the correct resolution in config file. Whats the resolution for this screen ?

 

[Ranjib]

Guys this is a bit off topic and I’m sorry but I can’t proceed with my reef pi build if I can’t get this problem sorted. I bought a 7” touch screen off eBay https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/282682984258
But I can’t get it to fill the screen, there’s a band down the right hand side. I’ve searched the net and followed multipal solutions in the boot/config.txt file but nothing works. Is there something else I can try to fill the screen please?
It’s important because I can’t have a keyboard monitor and mouse sat on top of my fish tank.

Well, most of us don’t have keyboard and mouse attached to reef-pi. We access it via WiFi . Your one is not connected to any network ?

 

[ThorEp]

So quick ? You have a pcb milling machine ?

These are just prototypes on Fritzing.org Will order a board soon. Have also ordered a orange plexiglass plate to mount everything on.

 

[Ranjib]

These are just prototypes on Fritzing.org Will order a board soon. Have also ordered a orange plexiglass plate to mount everything on.

Nice. I am still learning pcb designing . My current thoughts are to wait till ph probe, wavemaker , doser , multi ato/temp support is in reef-pi code, and test out things with perfboard, once that’s settled convert the design to pcb. Till then my circuit is subject to changes and that will also give me enough time to hone my pcb skills

 

[ReeferMadness88]

Hey just curious, what would cause the lighting tab to disappear? I just figured out the PWM on my viparspectras and now the tab isn’t there to play with the settings lol

 

[Ranjib]

Hey just curious, what would cause the lighting tab to disappear? I just figured out the PWM on my viparspectras and now the tab isn’t there to play with the settings lol

You have to reload reef-pi, once you have enabled lighting (or any capability) , and then refresh the web page to see the new tab. In addition to that, if the pwm chip is not detected (should see an warning/error message in reef-pi log) then the lighting tab will not appear (since reef-pi cant do any lighting changes without pwm chip support [i.e. pca9685])

So, following are the order of things to do
- Did you reload reef pi and refresh your web browser?
- If that does not solve you issue, can you check the reef-pi log for pwm chip warning? Or just run

i2cdetect -y 1