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

[marekd1]

Could you expand on that? 14 gauge house wiring is rated to safely carry a 15A load. When you're pulling power through that 15A panel breaker, there shouldn't be a way for it to draw more current than the wire can handle. Once it hits the threshold of that 15A breaker, it will trip, preventing you from overloading what the wire is rated for.

Theoretically, a power strip with 100 outlets would be perfectly safe, as long as you're pulling less than 15A through it. Of course, at those extremes, you'd probably have to start seriously considering the resistance introduced by the outlets themselves.

I'm not sure why you'd consider it scary, unless you've done something to your panel to bypass the circuit breaker. Drawing 10 A through a single power enclosure like this is the same as drawing 1A through 10 different outlets on the same circuit as far as power draw & heat concerns go.

The concern is not that you will draw maximum allowed current. Having that large number of outlets running on a single feed and creating opportunity to plug things that in total would exceed 15A is an issue. Your assumption is that the breaker will always trip if you exceed 15A (perfect world). If that was the case there would be no instances of electrical fires. You can have one device that runs say at 20A on a 15A circuit. If the breaker fails to trip due to its failure you will keep on drawing 20A until insulation melts. There is a reason why for example you do not have 8 outlets on extension cords but people would plug in extension to extension to extension.

Better yet show this box to your house insurance inspection agent and see what he tells you.

Just trying to point out some dangerous approaches and be helpful.

 

[marekd1]

Could you mount the optical sensor on the outside of the cup? Maybe mount a "shield" around it to protect it from salt buildup?

Unfortunately no, they need to touch water, this is when the light direction changes and water level is being sensed.

 

[marekd1]

almost yeah. I guess that isn't reliant on Arduino (just give it +5V VCC from a pin)...not a fan that it needs to be power cycled to re-zero it, though (in looking at the docs on the DFRobot pages). I suppose I could have a quick connect that i unplug each time...hmm...

here is something similar.... still 5V but you will have to shift the voltage to the PI's levels.

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

@Michael Lane i was wondering what if you start a dedicated thread on the HATs :) , if you have not already. They are getting popular and its worth consolidating these discussions. Not a bad plan. Fwiw, he helped by pm and I'm now on the waitlist to get a lighting adapter from his tindie store.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Schreiber]

The concern is not that you will draw maximum allowed current. Having that large number of outlets running on a single feed and creating opportunity to plug things that in total would exceed 15A is an issue. Your assumption is that the breaker will always trip if you exceed 15A (perfect world). If that was the case there would be no instances of electrical fires. You can have one device that runs say at 20A on a 15A circuit. If the breaker fails to trip due to its failure you will keep on drawing 20A until insulation melts. There is a reason why for example you do not have 8 outlets on extension cords but people would plug in extension to extension to extension.

Better yet show this box to your house insurance inspection agent and see what he tells you.

Just trying to point out some dangerous approaches and be helpful.

Again, not an electrician, so I may be wrong on this.... But what is the difference between having these 16 outlets in one enclosure vs having 16 outlets in different enclosures? They'd still be pulling from the same circuit on the same power wire.

If I overloaded my wiring's current rating & caused a fire due to a failed circuit breaker, it isn't because all the outlets were close together. I would have overloaded it if I'd plugged 16 things into 16 separate wall outlets as well. As long as the enclosure has wiring rated to handle the same amps that the house wiring is, there shouldn't be a problem.

Circuit breakers are a nice fail-safe, but it's always up to you to ensure you're pulling a safe amount of current. Sure, a 16 outlet enclosure makes it easier to add on too much current draw, by the virtue of having more outlets to draw from. But the outlet number isn't the problem, it's the amps. This 16 outlet enclosure running 16 1/2 amp power heads would be perfectly safe. But a 2 outlet enclosure running 2 12 amp heaters has the potential to catch fire if the circuit breaker fails.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

almost yeah. I guess that isn't reliant on Arduino (just give it +5V VCC from a pin)...not a fan that it needs to be power cycled to re-zero it, though (in looking at the docs on the DFRobot pages). I suppose I could have a quick connect that i unplug each time...hmm...

How did I know what you were going to say before you said it? Lol

It's all I could come up with based on your not wanting to use an optical or float sensor. Plus, I was in a hurry when I replied. Plus, there was an earthquake... a flood... and locusts! ;)

 

[burningbaal]

Just a reminder about the new facebook discussion group, head on over there and join in!

www.facebook.com/groups/reefpi/

 

[Bigtrout]

Just a reminder about the new facebook discussion group, head on over there and join in!

www.facebook.com/groups/reefpi/

Id love to but dont and WONT ever put the Facebook Virus on any device I own.

 

[dmolavi]

How did I know what you were going to say before you said it? Lol

It's all I could come up with based on your not wanting to use an optical or float sensor. Plus, I was in a hurry when I replied. Plus, there was an earthquake... a flood... and locusts! ;)

Haha actually there is a simliar (Amazon product) one that isn't Arduino specific that I found online, and since (I think) these need to be permanently affixed to the surface, quick disconnects would be the way to go to enable emptying and cleaning.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Haha actually there is a simliar (Amazon product) one that isn't Arduino specific that I found online, and since (I think) these need to be permanently affixed to the surface, quick disconnects would be the way to go to enable emptying and cleaning.

Nice! I think I caught a glimpse of those on eBay in a package of 10, or something like that, for cheap.

 

[marekd1]

Again, not an electrician, so I may be wrong on this.... But what is the difference between having these 16 outlets in one enclosure vs having 16 outlets in different enclosures? They'd still be pulling from the same circuit on the same power wire.

If I overloaded my wiring's current rating & caused a fire due to a failed circuit breaker, it isn't because all the outlets were close together. I would have overloaded it if I'd plugged 16 things into 16 separate wall outlets as well. As long as the enclosure has wiring rated to handle the same amps that the house wiring is, there shouldn't be a problem.

Circuit breakers are a nice fail-safe, but it's always up to you to ensure you're pulling a safe amount of current. Sure, a 16 outlet enclosure makes it easier to add on too much current draw, by the virtue of having more outlets to draw from. But the outlet number isn't the problem, it's the amps. This 16 outlet enclosure running 16 1/2 amp power heads would be perfectly safe. But a 2 outlet enclosure running 2 12 amp heaters has the potential to catch fire if the circuit breaker fails.

Here you nailed it....

"Circuit breakers are a nice fail-safe, but it's always up to you to ensure you're pulling a safe amount of current. Sure, a 16 outlet enclosure makes it easier to add on too much current draw, by the virtue of having more outlets to draw from "

How many people do you know check the wattage of stuff being plugged in? That is all that I am saying and this is my point, forget everything else. Anyway forget about my comment if its causing you a heartburn.

 

[Barclay]

Ciao a tutti, sono nuovo in Raspberry e reef Pi è un controller molto bello, (il mio inglese :(:(:(:(), voglio provare a creare un controller per la luce, posso usare il driver weel medio LDD700 per la mia luce.
Funziona con questo controller? Conosco l'HDD a 5 / 6v PWM non a 10V come il progetto, qualcuno che mi aiuti?
Grazie a tutti

ADMIN EDIT for translation:
Hi everyone, I'm new to Raspberry and reef Pi is a very nice controller, (my english :( :( :( :(), I want to try to create a controller for the light, I can use the LDD700 medium weel driver for the my light.
Does it work with this controller? I know the 5 / 6v PWM HDD not 10V like the project, someone who can help me?
Thank you all

 

[Schreiber]

Here you nailed it....

"Circuit breakers are a nice fail-safe, but it's always up to you to ensure you're pulling a safe amount of current. Sure, a 16 outlet enclosure makes it easier to add on too much current draw, by the virtue of having more outlets to draw from "

How many people do you know check the wattage of stuff being plugged in? That is all that I am saying and this is my point, forget everything else. Anyway forget about my comment if its causing you a heartburn.

No heart burn, lol. It's a valid point, but as always, for a 2, 8, or 16 outlet connection, it comes down to what the user plugs in, not the strip itself. I was just genuinely curious if there was an actual reason it wouldn't be safe. Wanted to make sure I wouldn't come home to a toasty tank!

 

[Ranjib]

If the power draw is high, its better to keep a power conditioner between the load and GFCI outlet, I think.

Having more outlets is beneficial. Once can have lower wattage devices (most electronics devices including modern pumps are low watage.. except lights probably). For me, often time some of the outlets are inaccessible due to the shape/size of wall warts.
BTW, Im using the new Kasa smart plugs with current monitoring and I'm really looking forward to exploring more of this. Various equipment and their power draw etc. reef-pi exposes the current consumption values as analog inputs (ph ). We'll see if I can use them as it is, or they require calibration etc..

 

[thoeffe]

in reef-pi, the ato should always turn off corresponding pump before being disabled. You can use the first sensor to control the ato pump (equipment target) and the second sensor to control a macro (target macro) thats in turn disable the first ATO. Macros are versatile and can do more. Theres a disable on alert checkbox under individual ato setup that can be used to specify a total pump time run, beyond which reef-pi will disable the ato, if used. Its hourly, and will only work at hourly limits and when auto-disabled you have to either wait for the next hour or recreate the ato to re-enable it immediately.

Thanks for all the responses. I got the port fixed again and finally have all the wires soldered and heat shrink cable finished. I am still struggling to get the switch #2 to control a macro. I went to macros but just cant figure out how to set one up with the switch. I dont see any option for inputting a switches gpio number or anything. I am considering just doing them in series but was hoping to do it on the software side. Is there a benefit to doing it in software vs doing it by hardware wiring as series. Thanks again

 

[Ranjib]

Thanks for all the responses. I got the port fixed again and finally have all the wires soldered and heat shrink cable finished. I am still struggling to get the switch #2 to control a macro. I went to macros but just cant figure out how to set one up with the switch. I dont see any option for inputting a switches gpio number or anything. I am considering just doing them in series but was hoping to do it on the software side. Is there a benefit to doing it in software vs doing it by hardware wiring as series. Thanks again

Are you using 3.1, macro target for ATO was introduced only the latest release

 

[thoeffe]

Are you using 3.1, macro target for ATO was introduced only the latest release

yup

 

[marekd1]

If the power draw is high, its better to keep a power conditioner between the load and GFCI outlet, I think.

Having more outlets is beneficial. Once can have lower wattage devices (most electronics devices including modern pumps are low watage.. except lights probably). For me, often time some of the outlets are inaccessible due to the shape/size of wall warts.
BTW, Im using the new Kasa smart plugs with current monitoring and I'm really looking forward to exploring more of this. Various equipment and their power draw etc. reef-pi exposes the current consumption values as analog inputs (ph ). We'll see if I can use them as it is, or they require calibration etc..

If you are looking for more options with lower cost check this out...

Tasmota: Sonoff Pow Power Monitoring Switch Local Control - DO IT YOURSELF BLOG - HOBBYTRONICS PK

A Step by step guide to achieve Sonoff Pow Local Control without internet using Sonoff Tasmota Firmware, MQTT, Domoticz Dashboard

blog.hobbytronics.pk

 

[burningbaal]

so it appears I was an idiot and don't remember the password I set on the pi after I (re)set it up on Christmas day. Any way i can get into the .db from ssh to set the pw?

 

[kdx7214]

That's wild! What all are you running?? I'm going to guess there are either multiple metal halides or seriously heavy duty pumps/heaters involved. My setup at peak (all pumps, powerheads, lights, heaters, etc. at their absolute highest power draw they're rated for) is less than 7 amps. Not sure what the actual current draw is though. Sounds like you're about to have 90 amps of circuitry installed!!

When I was designing my enclosure, I did some research to find what people with smart plugs typically see as their actual current draw for their tanks. The typical current draw for an average reef tank seems to sit in the 2.5-3A range. I saw only 2 responses using above 5A, both were using multiple metal halide lights.

Absolute highest response I found was a guy running about 25 amps, with 3 250W metal halides, 4 60" T5s, huge 3.5A return pump, 800W 9A heater, & more. This was for a 375 gallon SPS tank.

I guess what I'm getting at, is unless you're running a fish store, or the equivalent, in your house.... 90A is *major* overkill. The 4 circuits at 60A miiiight be necessary if you've got a crazy setup & a lot of other power-hungry electronics on the same circuit as well. I'd be curious to hear what all you've got on that one circuit & why he thinks 60A would be the minimum. I'm not a professional electrician, so I'm not saying he's wrong... but for a figure like that, there'd better be a good reason :oops:

Ironically I'm not running anything right now. About 12 years ago we had a house in a small town and I was transferred to a much larger city. Cost of living is VASTLY different here and we had to move into an apartment. We're now in the market for a house and hoping to get a 300-500 gallon reef tank up and going with around 300 gallons of sump space in the basement.

Haven't fully decided on lighting yet as that will partially depend on the space in the house and the availability of halide bulbs. I'd love to have a hybrid with metal halide and T5s with maybe some led for moonlight, but that may or may not happen.

Part of the goal is to have a variety of separate tanks in the basement. A large refugium to grow pods (I want mandarin's for once), a decent sized frag tank, and maybe one for a seagrass style tank. Mangroves would be interesting as well.

I think that my buddy is mostly over-calculating things (he does that), but that might also be because he knows me :D

 

[kdx7214]

Hope you live near me in Chicago! I need an elechicken to check my work, but they charge wayyyyyy too much by the hour around here. Seriously called a guy, and for a run of 12' linear, I was quoted 650

I'm not surprised, but alas I'm quite a ways from Chicago :( I did live there for a year though and the cost of living (and traffic) convinced me to not stay.