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

[dmolavi]

Very nice!

FWIW - had to go to YouTube to watch the video due to your YouTube settings. I presume you already know this but, just in case you do not, figured I would let you know.

Yeah I have embedding disabled, for now.

 

[Ranjib]

Yeah I have embedding disabled, for now.

I can see it fine.

 

[dmolavi]

I can see it fine.

I enabled embedding :)

 

[burningbaal]

I was thinking more in the line of after every N seconds (or minutes or hours). Simple and intuitive.

Certainly is straightforward that way. I was thinking it would be a little tricky to deal with that system across system reboots and things, but certainly a solvable problem by storing the last run time in the db

Speaking of, it looks like the 'seconds' field in a few places (like 'turn equipment back off after X seconds' in the timers) is supposed to be a dropdown to select other options (minutes/hours), but I can't seem to click it...is that supposed to be a dropdown? Perhaps that's a feature I could work on for v4

 

[Michael Lane]

Certainly is straightforward that way. I was thinking it would be a little tricky to deal with that system across system reboots and things, but certainly a solvable problem by storing the last run time in the db

Speaking of, it looks like the 'seconds' field in a few places (like 'turn equipment back off after X seconds' in the timers) is supposed to be a dropdown to select other options (minutes/hours), but I can't seem to click it...is that supposed to be a dropdown? Perhaps that's a feature I could work on for v4

The seconds label isn't a drop down yet, but the UI design was intended to eventually support a unit selection. It would be nice to create a time duration component.

 

[Schreiber]

So, I've got one of the @Michael Lane pH boards & I'm having an issue I can't seem to eliminate. Whenever my return pump kicks on or off, I see a huge spike in pH that drops back down over the span of a minute or so.

At first, I thought it may be an issue with my power supplies, like @Bigtrout was seeing in his build. So, I stopped using those buck converters all together & switched to powering the Pi through a quality USB plug. No luck, same issue.

Then, I got to thinking it may be an issue with my Leviathan board design. I had thought the ground planes would have prevented any interference, but to check, I took it out of the equation. At this point, all I have connected is the USB power & the pH board directly to the Pi. Same issue.

Then, I thought maybe since the USB brick & return pump are on the same power strip, there might be some weird coupling interference between the two, so I took the brick off that strip & simply plugged the USB into my laptop. So, I'm now completely isolated from the pump, no wires are anywhere near it. Same issue.

Well, now all I can think of is some sort of electrical interference being transferred over-air when the pump shuts off. So, I wrap the pH board in multiple layers of aluminum foil to shield it.... you guessed it, same issue.

My last resort was to wrap the cup of pH buffer solution I was calibrating the probe in as well, in case the probe itself was what was picking up the interference. No surprise, no dice.

I don't have this issue with *any* other equipment. What in the world could be causing this??

I've spent days troubleshooting this issue & am about to just give up, set the pH check interval to >1 minute, & just leave it be. But that still has the possibility of picking up a reading when it's artificially low... I'm stumped.

 

[Bigtrout]

The return pump could be causing intereference back thru the AC mains...that was my issue.

 

[Schreiber]

The return pump could be causing intereference back thru the AC mains...that was my issue.

How did you eliminate that?

Also, if that's the issue, shouldn't have my Pi & probe completely isolated (powered by my laptop running on battery) solve it?

 

[Bigtrout]

In theory yes...that would eliminate spikes thru the mains

Is it an ac or dc pump?

 

[Schreiber]

In theory yes...that would eliminate spikes thru the mains

Is it an ac or dc pump?

It's AC. It's also very old. I got it used 3 years ago & it already looked pretty well-worn then. I've already got a backup on standby, so I may just go ahead & switch it out.

 

[Bigtrout]

It's AC. It's also very old. I got it used 3 years ago & it already looked pretty well-worn then. I've already got a backup on standby, so I may just go ahead & switch it out.

Is the pump leaking voltage into the water?
It may not be enough to caise a shock but only a couple of volts could cause this.
It wouldnt take much because ph is read in millivolts.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Anyone on 3.1 having issues with the Dashboard and displaying temp readings? Was working fine in 3.0. I did a clean install of 3.1 on a new SD card.

Every time I add current or historical Temp readings to dashboard, nothing shows up...just a blank page. Health check seems to display current and historical info fine. Temp does not. Going directly to temp probes in Temperature tab, shows correct reading and graph.

 

[thaistalyn]

It's AC. It's also very old. I got it used 3 years ago & it already looked pretty well-worn then. I've already got a backup on standby, so I may just go ahead & switch it out.

Since the spike is coinciding with the return pump it is likely EMI (electromagnetic interference) created by the current draw of the pump (right hand rule - field is inducing into your pH signal). A few posts above I recommended installation of ferrite cores/beads on current drawing devices. These ferrite cores act as filters to the noise generated. Other options include use of single pole filters which use capacitors or inductors connected to ground at the connector.

Another option, which you "kinda" went after was shielding the pH cable. However, you need the shield to be grounded. When you wrapped the pH cord in aluminum you created an antenna (some people call it the pigtail effect). The best option is to use a shielded cable that is grounded 360 deg to the housing like the image below. The housing is then grounded to the connector and common circuit ground at the plug.

 

[Garold R Seifert]

Anyone on 3.1 having issues with the Dashboard and displaying temp readings? Was working fine in 3.0. I did a clean install of 3.1 on a new SD card.

Every time I add current or historical Temp readings to dashboard, nothing shows up...just a blank page. Health check seems to display current and historical info fine. Temp does not. Going directly to temp probes in Temperature tab, shows correct reading and graph.

Yea I am having a similar issue with trying to show my light control on the dashboard. I can not get it to save ans show up, just the health check will show.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Yea I am having a similar issue with trying to show my light control on the dashboard. I can not get it to save ans show up, just the health check will show.

@Ranjib any ideas on what could cause this?

 

[Schreiber]

Is the pump leaking voltage into the water?
It may not be enough to caise a shock but only a couple of volts could cause this.
It wouldnt take much because ph is read in millivolts.

It looks like this was the issue. I swapped out the pump & now everything is smooth sailing. It actually fixed the calibration bug I was encountering too, where it kept telling me to enter a valid value. Thankfully, with the pump being in my sump, I didn't zap any fish over the last few years!

 

[Des Westcott]

It looks like this was the issue. I swapped out the pump & now everything is smooth sailing. It actually fixed the calibration bug I was encountering too, where it kept telling me to enter a valid value. Thankfully, with the pump being in my sump, I didn't zap any fish over the last few years!

Glad you sorted your issue out. What still doesn't make sense to me though is why you would experience spikes, when the return pump would have been leaking voltage into the tank water 24/7.

 

[Des Westcott]

Since the spike is coinciding with the return pump it is likely EMI (electromagnetic interference) created by the current draw of the pump (right hand rule - field is inducing into your pH signal). A few posts above I recommended installation of ferrite cores/beads on current drawing devices. These ferrite cores act as filters to the noise generated. Other options include use of single pole filters which use capacitors or inductors connected to ground at the connector.

Another option, which you "kinda" went after was shielding the pH cable. However, you need the shield to be grounded. When you wrapped the pH cord in aluminum you created an antenna (some people call it the pigtail effect). The best option is to use a shielded cable that is grounded 360 deg to the housing like the image below. The housing is then grounded to the connector and common circuit ground at the plug.

How would you suggest using the ferrite core like you suggested above?

 

[Des Westcott]

Deleted - duplicate

 

[Des Westcott]

I have started a separate thread specifically for the discussion of UI issues / requests HERE

The idea isn't to take away from this main development thread, but to help keep track of things.