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

[Ranjib]

@Ranjib the strange thing is that the time offset seems to appear only on the ATO last run time. Everything else is working fine...

that is very strange. let me check

 

[ChrisNH]

What is the scale of the performance graph? I am troubleshooting an issue with my reef pi (network on the pi, not reef-pi per se) and realized I wasn't sure what it was representing.

 

[Simonv92]

that is very strange. let me check

Hi @Ranjib, Did you find anything useful to solve the issue? Thank you!!
Simone

 

[hectorespert]

Hi @Ranjib ! I just wanted to ask if you have any plans to release a new stable version of the reef pi project. Thanks!

 

[disaster999]

Stumble across reef pi and see it seems like it fits my needs perfectly as I just want a pH monitor to give me real time data and a meaningful trend of the pH in my tank. Im totally new to the whole raspberry pi and DIY controller/monitor and AI has been a great help walking me through the hick ups but I still require some assitance.

I have pretty much bought everything I need to make the pH monitor and followed the guide here. The first issue I have is the wiring diagram contradicts with its own information presented in the guide. On the EZO pH board, the TX should go to the SDA on the pi, and the RX should go to the SCL,

but according to the wiring diagram, and cross referencing the pin out of the pi, they had the wires wired backwards.

Once I sort that out and booted everything up and went into reef pi, the UI is slightly different due to the different versions. Setting up the pH probe was confusing but with the help of AI I THINK I sorted that out. Im not sure what the address should be but from the guide they put 99 so I did the same

Then in connectors tab, I added the pH probe under analog inputs but no idea what the pin should be and it didnt give me anything other than zero to choose so thats what I used.

Then in the pH tab I config the pH probe

I didnt calibrate the pH probe yet as I wanted to confirm everything is working first so after I saved everything, I looked at the charts and everything was reading zero.

I noticed the EZO board was constantly flashing blue and green alternatively so did another searched and it seems like the EZO pH board is "shifting its communication mode" between UART and I2C and I have to jump the TX and the PGND pin together while powering it on to force it into i2c since this is the protocol reef pi uses to gather data.....but this isnt mentioned the guide.

Ive confirmed i2c is enabled in raspi-config and running some i2c tests confirmed i2c is enabled but it doesnt seem to be getting any data from the EZO board. I havent did the pin jumping thing yet as it was already 1am when I got reef pi running and I dont trust my eye and hands at the point and I want to make 100% sure that i have to jump those 2 pins together before I short anything and potentially fry everything.

What else should I be doing?

 

[larrybari]

Hi all! Looking forward to the potential work being done on reef-pi again!
I'm just reinstalling reef-pi after frying a pi2 with a water leak...
What is the best way to control the sump pump (I have a sainsmart 8ch relay setup already) within the reef-pi software?
I will have a hardwired float-switch for the low-water level, (and already have a float-switch for my ato pump).

 

[larrybari]

Hi all! Looking forward to the potential work being done on reef-pi again!
I'm just reinstalling reef-pi after frying a pi2 with a water leak...
What is the best way to control the sump pump (I have a sainsmart 8ch relay setup already) within the reef-pi software?
I will have a hardwired float-switch for the low-water level, (and already have a float-switch for my ato pump).

@Ranjib Is there a better way in 6.0 for controlling equipment on some logic signal (mine is on a GPIO pin) and staying off?

 

[Sral]

@Ranjib Is there a better way in 6.0 for controlling equipment on some logic signal (mine is on a GPIO pin) and staying off?

What do you mean with "better way" ? E.g. what specifically do you want to achieve ?

 

[larrybari]

What do you mean with "better way" ? E.g. what specifically do you want to achievei

What do you mean with "better way" ? E.g. what specifically do you want to achieve ?

Well, I'm trying to turn off my sump pump in case the water level goes below where it should signifying the overflow is blocked. I've got an ATO running at the moment, but it's going to keep turning on and off. I've reversed it so the switch is on when the pump is turned off.

 

[larrybari]

Well, I'm trying to turn off my sump pump in case the water level goes below where it should signifying the overflow is blocked. I've got an ATO running at the moment, but it's going to keep turning on and off. I've reversed it so the switch is on when the pump is turned off.

And there's a Sainsmart relay switch to turn it on (off), but the only way to do this is with an ATO. In this case, I've set the alarm to go if it is on for longer than 100s (check frequency is 60s). So, if it's off for longer than one check cycle, there's a blockage problem and I'll get an email (my tank is not at home, but at my school where I work.

 

[Sral]

And there's a Sainsmart relay switch to turn it on (off), but the only way to do this is with an ATO. In this case, I've set the alarm to go if it is on for longer than 100s (check frequency is 60s). So, if it's off for longer than one check cycle, there's a blockage problem and I'll get an email (my tank is not at home, but at my school where I work.

Hmmm, yeah, iirc this isn't easily done natively in ReefPi (yet). When I looked at this in the past one needed to use macros but those were bugging out rather easily, at least when I tried it back in 2023.

 

[Sral]

@disaster999 Did you solve your issue ? You will have to do the pin work you mentioned, but it would be best to do that on a non-connected breadboard, like described here

 

[disaster999]

@disaster999 Did you solve your issue ? You will have to do the pin work you mentioned, but it would be best to do that on a non-connected breadboard, like described here

Aside from the wrong wiring diagram given in his guide, it also does not tell you to set the form of communicating protocol for the EZO circuit. So after sorting out the I2C mode I was able to get the pH to give me some reading. I then placed the probe in the tank and realized the reading given was super noisy and was reading all over the place. You probably know what happened next from my messages on another thread but basically I asked EZO for help since no one here or anywhere knows about this issue and they pretty much said the guide is completely wrong, cant use perfboards, needs an isolated circuit.

I bought the correct carrier board but still getting +/-0.2 fluctuations on the pH readings and working with EZO to sort that out.

 

[larrybari]

Aside from the wrong wiring diagram given in his guide, it also does not tell you to set the form of communicating protocol for the EZO circuit. So after sorting out the I2C mode I was able to get the pH to give me some reading. I then placed the probe in the tank and realized the reading given was super noisy and was reading all over the place. You probably know what happened next from my messages on another thread but basically I asked EZO for help since no one here or anywhere knows about this issue and they pretty much said the guide is completely wrong, cant use perfboards, needs an isolated circuit.

I bought the correct carrier board but still getting +/-0.2 fluctuations on the pH readings and working with EZO to sort that out.

Do you have an isolated carrier board? I've got an isolated carrier board, and a pH chip installed in my reef-pi circuit, but need a probe still to test it.

 

[larrybari]

Hmmm, yeah, iirc this isn't easily done natively in ReefPi (yet). When I looked at this in the past one needed to use macros but those were bugging out rather easily, at least when I tried it back in 2023.

Yeah, righto thanks. I've created a python script / daemon to switch off the return pump in case of an emergency blockage and to send an email. Couldn't get ATO / macros to talk reliably either.

 

[Sral]

Aside from the wrong wiring diagram given in his guide, it also does not tell you to set the form of communicating protocol for the EZO circuit. So after sorting out the I2C mode I was able to get the pH to give me some reading. I then placed the probe in the tank and realized the reading given was super noisy and was reading all over the place. You probably know what happened next from my messages on another thread but basically I asked EZO for help since no one here or anywhere knows about this issue and they pretty much said the guide is completely wrong, cant use perfboards, needs an isolated circuit.

I bought the correct carrier board but still getting +/-0.2 fluctuations on the pH readings and working with EZO to sort that out.

Curious, though it seems that if you get those fluctuations even with the isolated carrier board your whole setup or tank might have an issue. You could create a separate thread for the troubleshooting and I can try to see if I can help you out.

If you don't find any solution I could write you a file driver that averages a few readings together and see if that helps removing the fluctuations.

 

[Sral]

Yeah, righto thanks. I've created a python script / daemon to switch off the return pump in case of an emergency blockage and to send an email. Couldn't get ATO / macros to talk reliably either.

Neat ! Would you be willing to create a thread and share that solution ?

 

[kdx7214]

@Ranjib Is there any chance of getting an update for reef-pi that works on Raspberry Pi OS that's newer than 4 years old? I just tried it on trixie and broadwell and can't get it see the gpio ports at all. I'm guessing this is due to the debian 13 gpio changes.

[  475.529097] w1_slave_driver 00-900000000000: Device registration [00-900000000000] failed. err=-17
[  475.529124] w1_master_driver w1_bus_master1: w1_attach_slave_device: Attaching 00-900000000000 failed.
[  476.228519] w1_master_driver w1_bus_master3: Family 0 for 00.900000000000.11 is not registered.
[  476.228630] sysfs: cannot create duplicate filename '/bus/w1/devices/00-900000000000'
[  476.228642] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 377 Comm: w1_bus_master3 Tainted: G         C          6.18.39+rpt-rpi-v7 #1 VOLUNTARY  Raspbian 1:6.18.39-1+rpt1
[  476.228655] Tainted: [C]=CRAP
[  476.228658] Hardware name: BCM2835
[  476.228662] Call trace:
[  476.228669]  unwind_backtrace from show_stack+0x18/0x1c
[  476.228691]  show_stack from dump_stack_lvl+0x60/0x84
[  476.228704]  dump_stack_lvl from sysfs_warn_dup+0x60/0x6c
[  476.228719]  sysfs_warn_dup from sysfs_do_create_link_sd+0xec/0xf0
[  476.228732]  sysfs_do_create_link_sd from bus_add_device+0x88/0x1b4
[  476.228750]  bus_add_device from device_add+0x308/0x7ac
[  476.228765]  device_add from w1_attach_slave_device+0x1e4/0x428 [wire]
[  476.228801]  w1_attach_slave_device [wire] from w1_slave_found+0x140/0x148 [wire]
[  476.228842]  w1_slave_found [wire] from w1_search+0x1c0/0x24c [wire]
[  476.228883]  w1_search [wire] from w1_search_process_cb+0x6c/0x10c [wire]
[  476.228924]  w1_search_process_cb [wire] from w1_process+0x1a4/0x1f0 [wire]
[  476.228965]  w1_process [wire] from kthread+0x110/0x26c
[  476.228994]  kthread from ret_from_fork+0x14/0x28
[  476.229005] Exception stack(0xbb9b9fb0 to 0xbb9b9ff8)
[  476.229012] 9fa0:                                     00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
[  476.229020] 9fc0: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
[  476.229026] 9fe0: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000013 00000000
[  476.229048] w1_slave_driver 00-900000000000: Device registration [00-900000000000] failed. err=-17
[  476.229076] w1_master_driver w1_bus_master3: w1_attach_slave_device: Attaching 00-900000000000 failed.