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

[LionHeart2017]

Second pic

 

[Ranjib]

The pi will be powered by a 5v 3A mains supply.
The relays will be powered by the 12v from the led light supply.

Is that cool?

Thanks for your help

Connect the grounds

 

[COCOBBALL]

I thought maybe my wiring was bad on the db9 adaptor so i simplified it and tried again.

Same thing. When i create the eqipment and go to test i hear the intial click but thats it. No off and on

Any suggestions on what or how i can troubleshoot?

 

[Ranjib]

I thought maybe my wiring was bad on the db9 adaptor so i simplified it and tried again.

Same thing. When i create the eqipment and go to test i hear the intial click but thats it. No off and on

Any suggestions on what or how i can troubleshoot?

Do you have a build thread, if not , it will be really helpful to start one. We can have the discussion coherently.
Now, back to your problem. Do you have multimeter? If you do , can you measure the voltage between GND and one of the input of ULN2803, when the corresponding equipment/outlet is on? You should see 3.3V. Next test the ULN2803 output. +Ve probe of the multimeter should be on 12V+ rail on the -Ve probe on ULN2803 output pin. It should read 12V.
Check the GND pin of ULN2803 is connected to 12V rail

 

[Ryan115]

I thought maybe my wiring was bad on the db9 adaptor so i simplified it and tried again.

Same thing. When i create the eqipment and go to test i hear the intial click but thats it. No off and on

Any suggestions on what or how i can troubleshoot?

Am I missing in your picture where the DB9-GND/COM is connected to the 12V rail? That would be your white wire correct?
Are they jumpered together on the bottom side of the breadboard?
Also are the 2x ground rails on the proto board connected? If not jumper them together.

 

[COCOBBALL]

Do you have a build thread, if not , it will be really helpful to start one. We can have the discussion coherently.
Now, back to your problem. Do you have multimeter? If you do , can you measure the voltage between GND and one of the input of ULN2803, when the corresponding equipment/outlet is on? You should see 3.3V. Next test the ULN2803 output. +Ve probe of the multimeter should be on 12V+ rail on the -Ve probe on ULN2803 output pin. It should read 12V.
Check the GND pin of ULN2803 is connected to 12V rail

voltage between GND and one of the input of ULN2803 = 1.4 volts so that doesnt seem right.

UNL2803 tested 12v at the bottom pin on 12v rail.

I circled what i tested because i wasnt sure if correct.

Last part about GND pin on rail i believe it is. Its the white cable

I tried to follow the guide 100% since i have no clue what im doing.

The white cable is the GND , the 12v wire from the barrel connector goes into the same row right above it.

 

[LionHeart2017]

Second pic

Scrap that, the "something went wrong" message came back and can't hit the config button now lol

 

[Dave's Reef]

So I am trying to do some work on MACROS and ATOs my problem is that I would like to have an ATO shut my main pump off if for whatever reason my overflows get plugged and go to and the issue is that if i run a feed MACRO the ATO kick the pump back on when the ATO times out that is still low. I know I could add another relay to work in series with my pump so both would have to be on to make. But is there any other way around this. maybe add an option to set macros as a master to control relays and ATO as a secondary if not running a macro.
Thanks for the help

 

[LionHeart2017]

voltage between GND and one of the input of ULN2803 = 1.4 volts so that doesnt seem right.

UNL2803 tested 12v at the bottom pin on 12v rail.

I circled what i tested because i wasnt sure if correct.

Last part about GND pin on rail i believe it is. Its the white cable

I tried to follow the guide 100% since i have no clue what im doing.

The white cable is the GND , the 12v wire from the barrel connector goes into the same row right above it.

Wiring looks wrong to me, I don't see a ground connected to UNL2803a

 

[COCOBBALL]

Am I missing in your picture where the DB9-GND/COM is connected to the 12V rail? That would be your white wire correct?
Are they jumpered together on the bottom side of the breadboard?
Also are the 2x ground rails on the proto board connected? If not jumper them together.

In think the first part is correct i get 12v on the pin for the ground

Not sure what you mean by the 2x ground rails. Just to clarify run a wire from bottom ground rail to the top like so?


Thanks
Cory

 

[LionHeart2017]

In think the first part is correct i get 12v on the pin for the ground

Not sure what you mean by the 2x ground rails. Just to clarify run a wire from bottom ground rail to the top like so?


Thanks
Cory

Chip is in wrong way I think

 

[LionHeart2017]

See the notch out at top of chip, ground is left bottom, looks like your chip is this way up in your pictures but your ground is connected top right?

 

[Ranjib]

@Ranjib, regarding the dashboard bug, I have just equipment showing as first picture, if I add a row as second picture and update and go back to dashboard, that's when the error shows "something went wrong" message gets stuck, but I just found out if I refresh and very quickly can hit the configure dashboard button(it flashes up and disappears very very fast) I can get back in and change it back and get a working dashboard, I'm running latest release and a pi0w.

I have added some fixes to address this, but I am not sure if the bug is completely gone . But I’m fairly sure that now the dashboard bug won’t crash the whole ui or not let you navigate to other tabs . Let’s see

 

[COCOBBALL]

See the notch out at top of chip, ground is left bottom, looks like your chip is this way up in your pictures but your ground is connected top right?

Okay this is probably exactly what I did wrong. I didn't know this chip went in a certain direction, I should have known.

Had to run to work but as soon as I get back I'm going to check this thank you so much everyone

 

[Dave's Reef]

I just pushed a change that will sort them by their creation order. Is it make sense to order them by name ?

I would say creation order because you can create them in the order you want them to be by name would kill my OCD lol they need to be in priority order. Just my 2 cents..

 

[COCOBBALL]

Okay this is probably exactly what I did wrong. I didn't know this chip went in a certain direction, I should have known.

Had to run to work but as soon as I get back I'm going to check this thank you so much everyone

This was it! Thanks again for the help. Going to start a build thread per Ranjib

 

[Mwdsonny]

Just wondering if the dosing pump section ever got setup to use nema 17 motors? Im looking at this to run my planted tank/ not a reef tank. but a friend is wanting to set up a hydroponic greenhouse garden. I remembered looking at this like a year ago and thinking it was a good idea, but new to electronics. now I feel comfortable doing this to my tank. I just remembered this cause he was wanting to automate his garden and this came to mind. control lights\fans, and dosing fertlizers.

 

[Ranjib]

Just wondering if the dosing pump section ever got setup to use nema 17 motors? Im looking at this to run my planted tank/ not a reef tank. but a friend is wanting to set up a hydroponic greenhouse garden. I remembered looking at this like a year ago and thinking it was a good idea, but new to electronics. now I feel comfortable doing this to my tank. I just remembered this cause he was wanting to automate his garden and this came to mind. control lights\fans, and dosing fertlizers.

Welcome to reef2reef

 

[Des Westcott]

So I am trying to do some work on MACROS and ATOs my problem is that I would like to have an ATO shut my main pump off if for whatever reason my overflows get plugged and go to and the issue is that if i run a feed MACRO the ATO kick the pump back on when the ATO times out that is still low. I know I could add another relay to work in series with my pump so both would have to be on to make. But is there any other way around this. maybe add an option to set macros as a master to control relays and ATO as a secondary if not running a macro.
Thanks for the help

Macro's just run a set of command in a row until finished. For example - stop equipment A, wait 15 seconds, then start equipment A. After it's done that, the macro goes back to a waiting state to be run again. Macro's aren't for collecting a bunch of settings.

For what you are describing, you want to set up a dedicated ATO with associated float switch/ optical switch. That running as a module to control the pump will work.

Des

 

[LionHeart2017]

Ok, my dashboard bug has gone away after I changed my equipment names, is there a limit on the naming of the equipment?, I had 8 outlets named as blue1, blue2 and so on up to 4, then white1 up to 4 again to make 8, once I changed them to 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 all is good again and it displays under each bar of the dashboard for the equipment now, it didn't really do that how I set it up at first.