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

[bishoptf]

I've done some initial testing about an hour or so with the lights, everything seems to be behaving. Overly cautious concerning the current that is flowing, all of the connections that are pulling the current I used the solid 22awg wiring. I hope that I have enough room for adding the ph component which I may do in the future. The input is a 5a 12v power supply a good one at that, at full power the mosfets didn't heat up much at all, seem to be doing their job.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions for testing further or changes to what I have done, let me know, thanks.

 

[Ranjib]

I've done some initial testing about an hour or so with the lights, everything seems to be behaving. Overly cautious concerning the current that is flowing, all of the connections that are pulling the current I used the solid 22awg wiring. I hope that I have enough room for adding the ph component which I may do in the future. The input is a 5a 12v power supply a good one at that, at full power the mosfets didn't heat up much at all, seem to be doing their job.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions for testing further or changes to what I have done, let me know, thanks.

I so much love looking at these builds . Thank you for sharing. I think 22 awg should be more than enough. I think I have called this out, but having a latching button mounted on the enclosure itself to power on/off is very handy.

 

[Bigtrout]

Im toying with the idea of a feed button...hit button, turn off filters for 10 minutes

 

[rushbattle]

Im toying with the idea of a feed button...hit button, turn off filters for 10 minutes

I have a macro that shuts off the wave/circ pumps, return pump and skimmer, then waits 7 minutes, turn on wave pumps, wait 25 mins, turn on return, wait 2 minutes and turn on skimmer pump. It works really well; I am liking it.

This is for a fishless system to spot feed the coral. Might be a different story if the tank had lots of fish in terms of how long the pumps stay off, etc.

 

[Bigtrout]

I have a macro that shuts off the wave/circ pumps, return pump and skimmer, then waits 7 minutes, turn on wave pumps, wait 25 mins, turn on return, wait 2 minutes and turn on skimmer pump. It works really well; I am liking it.

This is for a fishless system to spot feed the coral. Might be a different story if the tank had lots of fish in terms of how long the pumps stay off, etc.

A macro works for me, but for the wife, I need to put a physical feed button...lol

 

[Dave's Reef]

Would it be possible in a future release to allow ATO to trigger a macro? That would open a whole new world of abilities.

 

[figaro93]

hi guys I made the connection of the temperature probe to my raspberry with reef-pi execution.
I wanted to ask you which string to insert in configure.txt to enable it?
because from the reef-pi screen I can not see the type of probe.
thank you

 

[Dave's Reef]

My newest version I'm addicted to reef-pi you guys have done an amazing job with the program and build guides

 

[Matt Carden]

Hi, I have a question about the UI. We can setup an alert if something is out of normal operation? I setup a heater with integrated controller ( https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/finnex-hmo-heater-w-digital-led-controller.html ), where the wall plug was controlled NC to open in the case of high temperature. Then setup an alert of this abnormal condition. How would I receive this alert?

 

[b4tn]

My newest version I'm addicted to reef-pi you guys have done an amazing job with the program and build guides

I still have to gut my jaebo doser. I’m just running the motor wires from my pi to it.

 

[Ranjib]

hi guys I made the connection of the temperature probe to my raspberry with reef-pi execution.
I wanted to ask you which string to insert in configure.txt to enable it?
because from the reef-pi screen I can not see the type of probe.
thank you

enable one wire using raspi-config tool as mentioned here: https://learn.adafruit.com/reef-pi-installation-and-configuration?view=all

 

[Ranjib]

Hi, I have a question about the UI. We can setup an alert if something is out of normal operation? I setup a heater with integrated controller ( https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/finnex-hmo-heater-w-digital-led-controller.html ), where the wall plug was controlled NC to open in the case of high temperature. Then setup an alert of this abnormal condition. How would I receive this alert?

you have to configure alert settings under Configuration -> Telemetry, with your email credentials. The specifics are described in adafruit guide

 

[Ryan115]

@Ranjib is the alert from ATO functional?
I have received alerts from temp before (when I was on 1.3) and I have confirmed that everything is configured correctly with the test message, but I am not getting an alert when ATO runs for longer than the threshold I set.

 

[dmolavi]

Blah...USPS...My package from Adafruit went to the wrong post office. I'm 2hrs from NYC...grrrrrrr

 

[bishoptf]

Blah...USPS...My package from Adafruit went to the wrong post office. I'm 2hrs from NYC...grrrrrrr

Thats a bummer, been there done that. Actually they are usually pretty decent but when they mess up they usual do it royally. Hopefully it will arrive soon.

 

[bishoptf]

Ranjib I have a couple of questions, I know you get asked a bunch but I am scratching my head still trying to understand fets and I think I have a basic understanding confused concerning the frits diagram you had for the actinic https://learn.adafruit.com/assets/63978 the one on ada fruit had the in front of the gate and appears to be tied to ground. The pwm circuit connected to the resistor and then flowed to the gate pin (actually they showed two ways, one was a NPN transistor and the other was the fet and it did not have a resistor in the circuit). Here is the one that I am referring too - https://learn.adafruit.com/rgb-led-strips?view=all

Just trying to understand the actinic fritz diagram that is in that guide, thanks. Couple more questions, you talked about having a power switch earlier in thread and it's mentioned in the lighting guide, but wanting to know does it just kill power or does it activate a script which then shuts down reef-pi. I have been looking at some scripts to do a graceful shutdown but haven't played with it yet.

Other question is regarding event based controls, I would like to be able to turn off equipment based on something that happens to the system, here is an example: I have a hob filter that the motor is located in the HOB filter and not located in the tank, you fill the hob up to prime it so it can pull water into the filter. If/when you have a power outage, the water from the hob filter siphons back into the tank. Power is restored at some point and since there is no water in the HOB filter depending on how long it runs can burn the motor up. What I would like to be able to do is based on linux event logging etc I would like to create a routine (cron job) that looks for the event, e.g. uptime and based on those conditions take action, in this case I would want the outlet turn off to not burn up the motor. I haven't fully dived into the macro's so I apologize if this is already possible but thought I would ask, I can think of other event based things like leaking water etc that I might want to trigger and outlet. It may be possible to do it outside of reef-pi via api and a cron script just wanting to know what options are available.

Thanks

 

[bishoptf]

I assume you guys have seen this but in the desktop image this package is installed but not in the lite version, easy to do if needed but you can get the pinout via the CLI...


Pretty cool if you ask me...I have a 3 A+ so its not accurate for the layout but the pins are.

Here are the details if you want to add it:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python3-gpiozero

To display the pinout just type "pinout" from the command line, handy way to see all the pins

 

[Ranjib]

@Ranjib is the alert from ATO functional?
I have received alerts from temp before (when I was on 1.3) and I have confirmed that everything is configured correctly with the test message, but I am not getting an alert when ATO runs for longer than the threshold I set.

I'll cross check. I cant recall any changes that would break this functionality.

 

[Ranjib]

I assume you guys have seen this but in the desktop image this package is installed but not in the lite version, easy to do if needed but you can get the pinout via the CLI...


Pretty cool if you ask me...I have a 3 A+ so its not accurate for the layout but the pins are.

Here are the details if you want to add it:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python3-gpiozero

To display the pinout just type "pinout" from the command line, handy way to see all the pins

Thats pretty cool
after building so many thing with Raspberry Pi, I have now most of the pinout memorized

 

[theatrus]

Ranjib I have a couple of questions, I know you get asked a bunch but I am scratching my head still trying to understand fets and I think I have a basic understanding confused concerning the frits diagram you had for the actinic https://learn.adafruit.com/assets/63978 the one on ada fruit had the in front of the gate and appears to be tied to ground. The pwm circuit connected to the resistor and then flowed to the gate pin (actually they showed two ways, one was a NPN transistor and the other was the fet and it did not have a resistor in the circuit). Here is the one that I am referring too - https://learn.adafruit.com/rgb-led-strips?view=all

I’m terrible at reading Fritzing diagrams but the Source of the N FET should be at Ground, and the Drain to whatever you’re controlling.