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

[Ranjib]

Right, same idea.

The TI chips usually have a trio of slightly overlapping inputs, for example the often used DRV8825:

Setting ENBL, or putting the device in reset or sleep, would drop power consumption and allow the motor to just free wheel. If nothing else, do it for the power consumption unless of course you're doing something like a very slow continuous water change.

Using a disable function will reset the indexer (e.g., lose the microstepping position), but you can't hold a microstep position without active power, and this isn't like a precision zeroed CNC setup so the point is moot.

for titration this will matter though.
The current implementation only turns on the enable pin, it does not turn those pins off. I still dont know how all this will play out in real life. Hence as i mentioned, i want to run it for some time and then circle back with improvements/bug fixes. The stepper details are already bit too much on the doser page, and should be migrated to driver/hal layer,

 

[theatrus]

for titration this will matter though.
The current implementation only turns on the enable pin, it does not turn those pins off. I still dont know how all this will play out in real life. Hence as i mentioned, i want to run it for some time and then circle back with improvements/bug fixes. The stepper details are already bit too much on the doser page, and should be migrated to driver/hal layer,

Yeah, while the titration is running. But I’m between, different story.
Agree, trying to map this at a different level makes a ton of sense, need a Stepper class driver and individual drivers below that.

 

[theatrus]

@Tom Bishop ViaSpectra boards showed up. Haven't done anything but take a picture :)

I realized I had 4 pin XH headers on hand, but not 3 pin. Lots of JST headers are hit or miss if they're in stock.

 

[bishoptf]

@Tom Bishop ViaSpectra boards showed up. Haven't done anything but take a picture :)

I realized I had 4 pin XH headers on hand, but not 3 pin. Lots of JST headers are hit or miss if they're in stock.

Woot!

I can send you some JST headers I have a bunch of them, let me know. I can also solder my own headers, I am modding a vipar right now that I could use some boards, my pcb assy are still in work, lol. Looks like your option was way faster. I finally got in touch with @Michael Lane his only request was if selling them to remove his ML silkscreen, something to keep in mind if I make anymore up. Ah I spy that you added your blueacro silk to the board, that would also distinguish the difference, nice touch. I need to learn how to use kicad to do stuff like that.

I'm itching to get a hold of some, let me know how I can help, not even sure how you do a QA check on them. Do the diodes appear to be going in the right direction?

Update: well I thought I had a bunch but I only have 5 of the 3 pin XH connectors have a bunch of the 4 pin on hand. Oh and I updated a post in the vipar thread that I am hoping you can chime in on, I tagged you there also. :)

 

[pais]

Hello I'm not a new user but from few years I'm running reef-pi and I like it very much, as the continuos improvements and versions continues amaze me. I'm actually running reef pi 5.0 or similar (I cannot determinate the version no more from configuration-about, idk why...). However I always put myself in troubles trying things... I connected a hand-made circuit to pwm1 on RPI pi3 b+ and managed to control pwm signal using reef pi. Everything worked fine for a while, but maybe after a reboot stopped working (voltage from pwm1 pin stayed on 0V for every setting of pwm). So I thinked I could have damaged the pin. I checked creating a reef-pi output in same pin and was working indeed. So I checked from command prompt pin configuration and manually changed the pin to pwm mode. Now everything seems to work fine from reef-pi, but I get a delay from when I change light value to when change (1 second or less). However I was getting no visible delay before all changes , so im asking do you know what's going on ? Was it the right way changing pin mode from command line ?
Thank you !

 

[theatrus]

Woot!

I can send you some JST headers I have a bunch of them, let me know. I can also solder my own headers, I am modding a vipar right now that I could use some boards, my pcb assy are still in work, lol. Looks like your option was way faster. I finally got in touch with @Michael Lane his only request was if selling them to remove his ML silkscreen, something to keep in mind if I make anymore up. Ah I spy that you added your blueacro silk to the board, that would also distinguish the difference, nice touch. I need to learn how to use kicad to do stuff like that.

I'm itching to get a hold of some, let me know how I can help, not even sure how you do a QA check on them. Do the diodes appear to be going in the right direction?

Update: well I thought I had a bunch but I only have 5 of the 3 pin XH connectors have a bunch of the 4 pin on hand. Oh and I updated a post in the vipar thread that I am hoping you can chime in on, I tagged you there also. :)

I powered one up with just a power supply, and things appear to be set up roughly the right way.

Op-amp is powered, reference is putting out about 3.2V, so the protection diodes are at least in the right way :)

Somehow, in importing the project, the silk screen text became microscopic, so its a bit hard to sort out what is what from the silk alone. I didn't catch this earlier. Happy to send you a few for testing - haven't tried the PWM to voltage part yet, but I suspect it should just work.

 

[bishoptf]

I powered one up with just a power supply, and things appear to be set up roughly the right way.

Op-amp is powered, reference is putting out about 3.2V, so the protection diodes are at least in the right way :)

Somehow, in importing the project, the silk screen text became microscopic, so its a bit hard to sort out what is what from the silk alone. I didn't catch this earlier. Happy to send you a few for testing - haven't tried the PWM to voltage part yet, but I suspect it should just work.

I'm chomping at the bit, I have a vipar that I am modifying led wise and need a board to complete it, shoot me a PM and let me know how to get you some $$. :)

 

[im_jeremy5]

Anyone have a suggestion for a trustworthy buck converter (or any trustworthy way to convert from 12v 2a to 5v 3a)?

Right now I am using this buck converter, similar to what was used in the adafruit thread. Now that I am up and running and running my entire tank off of it I feel I need something a little more... robust as it is a single point of failure for my entire system (tank included) since the pi runs my heaters and pumps.

I have a 12v 2a power supply coming in that runs the darlington arrays/relays, relay powerstrip (the one from the adafruit thread), some indicator leds etc, then the buck converter that runs it down to 5v to run the pi. It is noticeably warm. However I am assuming that is normal since it has a heatsink on it.

I am just curious if people trust these Chinese generic buck converters to keep everything alive (and not burn the house down) or if there are other better options.

 

[Ranjib]

Afternoon all. I just found this thread and I'm looking to possibly give this a shot. Where would you guys recommend that I start? Are the links on the first post still valid?

Are you thinking of a scratch build, through the guides? or some pre fab board? what type of features you are planning to use? since reef-pi is just a project, there are various ways of building and using it. If you can share some more specifics we can help you better. If you are taking this as electronics hobby, definitely take the scratch build route , except for the power strip (use dli, adj or kasa instead). If you are very new to electronics and want something relatively quick and with less effort, robotank or any of the prefab boards (I'm not sure if brandon or theatrus have any in stock) is better.

Due to supply chain issues, I am also worried about the general availability of electronics parts (raspberry pi, ph boards etc), you may have to do little extra work to get through those..

start a build thread if you plan to invest more time, seek help and learn with us. similar to tank builds it helps us get the context. I love those :0) ,

godspeed

 

[Ranjib]

Anyone have a suggestion for a trustworthy buck converter (or any trustworthy way to convert from 12v 2a to 5v 3a)?

Right now I am using this buck converter, similar to what was used in the adafruit thread. Now that I am up and running and running my entire tank off of it I feel I need something a little more... robust as it is a single point of failure for my entire system (tank included) since the pi runs my heaters and pumps.

I have a 12v 2a power supply coming in that runs the darlington arrays/relays, relay powerstrip (the one from the adafruit thread), some indicator leds etc, then the buck converter that runs it down to 5v to run the pi. It is noticeably warm. However I am assuming that is normal since it has a heatsink on it.

I am just curious if people trust these Chinese generic buck converters to keep everything alive (and not burn the house down) or if there are other better options.

UBEC https://www.adafruit.com/product/1385 are good for 3A or less,
pololu has this https://www.pololu.com/product/2851
and any of the xl4015 ic based converter should be fine. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=XL4015&i=electronics .

The best common power supplies are made by meanwell, a taiwanese company. Cheaper components are generally bad, irrespective of their origin.

 

[GaryE]

Anyone have a suggestion for a trustworthy buck converter (or any trustworthy way to convert from 12v 2a to 5v 3a)?

Right now I am using this buck converter, similar to what was used in the adafruit thread. Now that I am up and running and running my entire tank off of it I feel I need something a little more... robust as it is a single point of failure for my entire system (tank included) since the pi runs my heaters and pumps.

I have a 12v 2a power supply coming in that runs the darlington arrays/relays, relay powerstrip (the one from the adafruit thread), some indicator leds etc, then the buck converter that runs it down to 5v to run the pi. It is noticeably warm. However I am assuming that is normal since it has a heatsink on it.

I am just curious if people trust these Chinese generic buck converters to keep everything alive (and not burn the house down) or if there are other better options.

Amazon product

I've been using these for about 2 years with no issues..

I like that they are easily adjustable and have a display to show the output voltage without needing a multimeter..

 

[theatrus]

UBEC https://www.adafruit.com/product/1385 are good for 3A or less,
pololu has this https://www.pololu.com/product/2851
and any of the xl4015 ic based converter should be fine. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=XL4015&i=electronics .

The best common power supplies are made by meanwell, a taiwanese company. Cheaper components are generally bad, irrespective of their origin.

"You get what you pay for" is real. Its hard to really screen what you're getting if shopping Amazon since the quality is so variable.

Outside of two AC->DC power supplies (one for 5V one for 12V, connect the grounds) you can also buy quality modules for DC/DC from Meanwell.

RSD-30G-5 MEAN WELL USA Inc. | Power Supplies - External/Internal (Off-Board) | DigiKey

Order today, ships today. RSD-30G-5 – Enclosed DC DC Converter 1 Output 5V 6A 36V Input from MEAN WELL USA Inc.. Pricing and Availability on millions of electronic components from Digi-Key Electronics.

www.digikey.com

If you're wondering why its so much more expensive, outside of the case and terminals, its actually going to survive running at full power over its full temperature range. The little converter boards absolutely don't get the same amount of testing and QA processes. Its also an isolated converter, which does mean you'll need to string the grounds back together. The isolation drives the cost up.

 

[im_jeremy5]

Hello all,

I have built my reef-pi from scratch on a pi0 with reef-pi 5.1. It has been a blast and I about have this thing dialed in. I am in the process of automating water changes and I have a few questions. Maybe a few bugs? Looking for a work around.

Problem: macro hangs when it is supposed to shut off an ato. Once this happens I have to reboot before I can manually turn on or off any atos.

My setup: I have a float in my salt reservoir (resfloat) to detect if there is enough saltwater made before it starts. I have a float near the bottom of my sump. (Wclowfloat) I have another float at the fill level (wchifloat) and then my normal ato float. The idea is to shut off the sump, drain to a point, fill it back up, turn the sump back on. Make the normal ato float control the salt water fill pump until everything levels back out, then return to normal operation.

I have a wc out pump (wcoutpump) wc in pump (wcinpump) and then the other standard equipment.

Below is a screenshot of my attempted macros. My plan was to have it check the reservoir before starting, so I have a macro that turns on an ato that checks the float in the reservoir, then turns it off seconds later, if the reservoir is full enough, it triggers the wc macro, if not it just shuts back off and does nothing. (I wish I could set this float up with an else/or argument to send me a message if its low and doesn't trigger the macro)

That macro works fine but once the auto wc macro is triggered it seems to hang when it is supposed to shut off the (actual) ATO. My skimmer shuts off, and my temp control shuts off, and thats it. I go to the ato page and it didn't shut off the ato and nothing else happens. And I am no longer able to manually turn on or off any atos until a reboot.

I have been able to reboot and manually trigger the auto wc macro and it worked, once. Other than that it always hangs on shutting of the ato and freezes my ato page.


Thank you for any help or suggestions.

 

[im_jeremy5]

Ok, I've tried a million ways, the problem is I can't get a macro to reliably control an ato. And it leads to the ato page freezing 99% of the time.

 

[bishoptf]

Ok, I've tried a million ways, the problem is I can't get a macro to reliably control an ato. And it leads to the ato page freezing 99% of the time.

Not sure this will help but @Des Westcott did a lot of poking around with macros in the past, this post may have some good information in it if you haven't seen it yet - https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/r...ler-based-on-raspberry-pi.289256/post-7104116

 

[hubcap]

Man, this thread is huge.
I really want to get into this because I have experience making toasters into reflow ovens and thats fairly easy with the right gear and training.
But, man.......Almost 900 pages?

It might have already been addressed, but, is all the code you guys and gals make on github (or something similar)
To be blunt, I dont even want to start down this road if Im going to code. Ill do everything else.
Coding makes me mental.

rock on reefers.

-cap

 

[bishoptf]

Man, this thread is huge.
I really want to get into this because I have experience making toasters into reflow ovens and thats fairly easy with the right gear and training.
But, man.......Almost 900 pages?

It might have already been addressed, but, is all the code you guys and gals make on github (or something similar)
To be blunt, I dont even want to start down this road if Im going to code. Ill do everything else.
Coding makes me mental.

rock on reefers.

-cap

It's all Opensource and on github, but @Ranjib and others have published the software you just have to make the hardware or purchase one of the pre-built units...pretty much plug and play.

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

An opensource reef tank controller based on Raspberry Pi - reef-pi/reef-pi

github.com

 

[Ranjib]

Man, this thread is huge.
I really want to get into this because I have experience making toasters into reflow ovens and thats fairly easy with the right gear and training.
But, man.......Almost 900 pages?

It might have already been addressed, but, is all the code you guys and gals make on github (or something similar)
To be blunt, I dont even want to start down this road if Im going to code. Ill do everything else.
Coding makes me mental.

rock on reefers.

-cap

As Tom mentioned , everything is GitHub . You can find the starting guides on the very first page of this thread. For sustained help, start a build thread and we can help you on the way

 

[bishoptf]

Lookie what showed up from Blueacro today, Big thanks to @theatrus...

These are the viparspectra adapter boards that @Michael Lane designed, @theatrus had some built and I have some being built and own there way. Will be a couple of days before I get to test one of them but looks pretty good to me. Really appreciate @theatrus putting the order in and sending me some to kick around.

If anyone is interested in these boards reach out to me or @theatrus, I am short on JST connectors at the moment and need to order some but give me a PM if you are interested.

See this thread for all the details - https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/controlling-viparspectra-lights.698216/

:)

 

[Lslusar]

Hello . Raspberry pi difficult to buy in our country. And long delivery. But I can buy orange pi today. Is it possible to use this board instead of raspberry pi?