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

[Ranjib]

Hi all:

I just submitted a pull request to add an Equipment Switch Panel as a dashboard widget. I hope it's useful and that it will be accepted.

Cheers,

It will be super duper useful to all of us.

 

[JFReyes]

Did you submit the sorting you added to equipment tab?

Yes Rob, the natural sorting by name instead of id was applied to pretty much all of of the lists. It also rounds to 2 decimals the pH chart values and tooltip and includes some Spanish translations. Thanks!

 

[phasezero]

Has anyone else experienced a blank screen when trying to access their reef pi with certain devices? All my apple devices work fine but I'm getting a blank screen on a Nook color HD and an ARM based Microsoft surface running windows RT. I'm getting a DNS error when using the .local address on the surface and nook and then I get a blank screen when I use the ip address.

 

[tmbarbour]

I'm new and just putting together a new build with Robo-tank set up. What a great community, I've been following and catching up as I've been setting up my system. After getting it up and running, I had some glitchy data that was messing up the nice graphs, so I read up on using the reef-pi db command to export the data, edit and then re-import to clean things up.
After using the command line interface, I decided to write a Bash completion script to make using the reef-pi db command even easier. It provides full <tab><tab> command line completion options for all the reef-pi subcommands. It will introspectively provide suggestions for configured items in your system, eliminating the need to first list to get the id, before showing the values.
It's available on my GitHub. It's just one script that needs to be copied to the bash completions directory.
GitHub - reef-pi Bash Completion Script

 

[Des Westcott]

Has anyone else experienced a blank screen when trying to access their reef pi with certain devices? All my apple devices work fine but I'm getting a blank screen on a Nook color HD and an ARM based Microsoft surface running windows RT. I'm getting a DNS error when using the .local address on the surface and nook and then I get a blank screen when I use the ip address.

What I have found strange is that I can access reef-pi from my laptop (Windows 10), Phone (Iphone latest IOS), Samsung Tab10.1 and wife and son's PC and others.

BUT

I can't get it to connect from my SmartTV (LG SmartOS) or an old Samsung Tab or an old Android box I have on another TV. I've tried all the combination of IP addresses and .local combinations possible, but some of those older devices just wont access the IP address of the webserver.

 

[phasezero]

What I have found strange is that I can access reef-pi from my laptop (Windows 10), Phone (Iphone latest IOS), Samsung Tab10.1 and wife and son's PC and others.

BUT

I can't get it to connect from my SmartTV (LG SmartOS) or an old Samsung Tab or an old Android box I have on another TV. I've tried all the combination of IP addresses and .local combinations possible, but some of those older devices just wont access the IP address of the webserver.

Good to know I’m not the only one. Bummer I’ll need to source another tablet device.

 

[GaryE]

I just picked up a couple of Chinese Black Box LED fixtures for cheap.. They came with two of these LED Drivers in them, so it got me thinking.. How can I connect these to the reef-pi to control them....


I'm thinking I should be able to connect the PWM wire to an open pin on the pca9685 and control it that way....

If so, this opens up a nice lighting option..

Amazon product ASIN B07DFLPJY4

 

[GaryE]

Confirmed.. Connected directly to the JST connector plugged in here with 3.3v from the pi, ground and PWM0 on the pca9685 and setup the driver and jack as normal.. Am able to control the brightness of this light via PWM from reef-pi.

Also, as seen in the photo, I connected directly to the board with the pot on it, it worked controlling that way as well, however, the pot had to be turned all the way down to get control of the light. Max the pot out and it went full bright. That might not be a bad thing...

Next step will be to drill a hole in the case and mount an aviation connector for my control wire. With a 4 conductor cable, I should have no trouble controlling both the white and blue channels on this light.

Next up I need to build a mount.. :(

 

[robsworld78]

Confirmed.. Connected directly to the JST connector plugged in here with 3.3v from the pi, ground and PWM0 on the pca9685 and setup the driver and jack as normal.. Am able to control the brightness of this light via PWM from reef-pi.

Also, as seen in the photo, I connected directly to the board with the pot on it, it worked controlling that way as well, however, the pot had to be turned all the way down to get control of the light. Max the pot out and it went full bright. That might not be a bad thing...

Next step will be to drill a hole in the case and mount an aviation connector for my control wire. With a 4 conductor cable, I should have no trouble controlling both the white and blue channels on this light.

Next up I need to build a mount.. :(

I love to see lights that are easy to hack, thanks for sharing.

 

[GaryE]

I love to see lights that are easy to hack, thanks for sharing.

I was waffling for days between this light and a Viparspecta. I have seen others hack that one and it seemed to be a bit more involved. I'm very happy this one didn't really require much. I think the hardest part will be making the cable to connect from the aviation connectors to the JST connectors.

I don't see this being more than a 1/2 hour job to complete. And that's for 2 lights. It'll probably take longer and be more a pain in the butt to build the mounts for these lights.

 

[robsworld78]

I was waffling for days between this light and a Viparspecta. I have seen others hack that one and it seemed to be a bit more involved. I'm very happy this one didn't really require much. I think the hardest part will be making the cable to connect from the aviation connectors to the JST connectors.

I don't see this being more than a 1/2 hour job to complete. And that's for 2 lights. It'll probably take longer and be more a pain in the butt to build the mounts for these lights.

Yeah this is almost too good to be true, the driver even tells the color code and they give a spare JST for each channel, wow. I also like the fact you can over ride with knob, great for maintenance if you want to turn up the lights. Hope you don't mind but I'm downloading your excellent pics. :)

 

[GaryE]

Yeah this is almost too good to be true, the driver even tells the color code and they give a spare JST for each channel, wow. I also like the fact you can over ride with knob, great for maintenance if you want to turn up the lights. Hope you don't mind but I'm downloading your excellent pics. :)

I don't mind at all.. If you want more pics, I'd be happy to provide you with whatever you want.. They used a lot of screws, but this light is pretty easy to tear down.

 

[robsworld78]

I don't mind at all.. If you want more pics, I'd be happy to provide you with whatever you want.. They used a lot of screws, but this light is pretty easy to tear down.

Thanks, I've been meaning to put something together listing compatible lights and how to connect to PWM output. If you have more pics of it finished or anything special to remove to access those JST's but these are more than enough to get the job done.

 

[bishoptf]

Looking for input regarding ATO and check frequency, I have nano tanks and using floats I am trying to minimize salinity swings and think that my longer check frequency leads to a greater swing. I'm a newb for sure and learning more and more and one thing that I am wanting to accomplish is to get my ATO better dialed in. It works fine, multiple floats but Ive noticed depending on where the water level is on the float and evaporation before it kicks on the salinity will go up so I'd like to minimize the swing. Here is what I am planning on doing which is probably obvious but set the water level just above where it will turn on the ATO.

The second part is the check frequency for reefpi, I would assume I would want a low check frequency to that it keeps the water level as close to the same as possible, thereby minimizing swings. I am thinking of going with a 5s check frequency but was looking for any suggestions.

Thanks :)

 

[bishoptf]

Here is what I have been playing with concerning grafana, I have notes and will post all of my information when I am closer to getting things laid out but here is a screen shot of what I have been playing with concerning equipment on and off times for Dosing and UV.

Close up of my Kalk Dosing graph:

Any questions let me know. :)

 

[Martin Lowry]

http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:9090/x/metrics

Thanks, I managed to get it running. I have a basic Dashboard with temps and PH so far. :)

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Confirmed.. Connected directly to the JST connector plugged in here with 3.3v from the pi, ground and PWM0 on the pca9685 and setup the driver and jack as normal.. Am able to control the brightness of this light via PWM from reef-pi.

Also, as seen in the photo, I connected directly to the board with the pot on it, it worked controlling that way as well, however, the pot had to be turned all the way down to get control of the light. Max the pot out and it went full bright. That might not be a bad thing...

Next step will be to drill a hole in the case and mount an aviation connector for my control wire. With a 4 conductor cable, I should have no trouble controlling both the white and blue channels on this light.

Next up I need to build a mount.. :(

Does this dim to 0 via PWM without flickering?

 

[GaryE]

Does this dim to 0 via PWM without flickering?

Yes it does.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Yes it does.

Nice. Might be a good alternative if you don't have ML viparspectra boards; and especially so if you're changing up the layout.

IMO, the spectrum of the Wills is a little lacking, compared to Viparspectras (too much red, no violet, no blue, too heavy on warm white (3000K). But, should be easy enough to swap them out assuming they didn't go thr way of Mars Aqua and use the 3030 package LEDs instead of thr ol' egg type "epistar" diodes.

 

[GaryE]

Nice. Might be a good alternative if you don't have ML viparspectra boards; and especially so if you're changing up the layout.

IMO, the spectrum of the Wills is a little lacking, compared to Viparspectras (too much red, no violet, no blue, too heavy on warm white (3000K). But, should be easy enough to swap them out assuming they didn't go thr way of Mars Aqua and use the 3030 package LEDs instead of thr ol' egg type "epistar" diodes.

Yeah, they'll be very simple to swap out. I'll be swapping out some of the reds for sure. Need to add some 410s and I have some 365s that I may toss in for fun...