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

[Ranjib]

Too much text and electronics , it’s time to neutralize this thread with some coral photos :). Never forget what’s most important and what brings all of us together ;-)

Some of the sps from my biocube 29, of course powered by reef-pi

Millepora

No name tenius

Top down shot of my zoa /play island

 

[jcmental]

Too much text and electronics , it’s time to neutralize this thread with some coral photos :). Never forget what’s most important and what brings all of us together ;-)

Good call :rolleyes:
This is what I'm hopping to control

Nice polyp extension BTW wish mine would look like that

 

[Ryan115]

Just looking at the board, Can PWM be done 0-12V ? See red circles.

I think that is just the power that is running the control board. Some multi-meters have a frequency analyzer as well, but like Ranjib said it should get you close just measuring DC voltage.

 

[Ryan115]

Nice coral shots Ranjib.
I'll play along. Here are some of the pieces that I was building for this tank, which delayed the electronics.
Here is the stand and canopy. Besides the doors, the entire shell of the stand slides off, for full access underneath. The whole canopy front flips up for easy access as well.

Here is the table that houses my top off reservoir and a few other supplies.

 

[Ranjib]

Nice coral shots Ranjib.
I'll play along. Here are some of the pieces that I was building for this tank, which delayed the electronics.
Here is the stand and canopy. Besides the doors, the entire shell of the stand slides off, for full access underneath. The whole canopy front flips up for easy access as well.

Here is the table that houses my top off reservoir and a few other supplies.

That’s a very clean setup

 

[Ranjib]

Good call :rolleyes:
This is what I'm hopping to control

Nice polyp extension BTW wish mine would look like that

Wow. Nice big tank . I wish I could get something like that one day. Would love to have couple of tangs and anthias. My tiny apartment is a pain :-/

 

[Ranjib]

Amazon has run out of atlas scientific ph probe kit, i was hoping for ph probe integration for next minor release... so I am thinking of something else now

The camera sub system is rather primitive (should say unusable to be fair ) currently. I may take a stab at that for the next minor releas (1.4 ) . Thinking of adding a decent image browser (such as react-images) inside reef-pi, that will allow users to browse through their tank images captured by pi camera. What else you think might be useful in camera sub-system? Currently it has on demand and periodic photo shooting capability already . May be a automatic selection of photos as well? To keep disk space usage in check ?

 

[Ranjib]

Another big thing to work for on is support for multiple ato and temperature sensor. That will definitely break 1.0 api. I have to be careful about it. It will also make the whole dashboard and other logic very more complicated . I am thinking about the possible changes we may need for this, and I may roll out the required changes before , rolling out actual support for multiple temperature and ato sensor. Things like customizable dashboard etc

 

[Gareth elliott]

Found the other day a company that sells a combination ph,ec, orp submersible probe. http://www.vl-pc.com/index.cfm/industrial/ph/submersibles/
No idea what this costs but if cheaper than say separate probes + separate isolated connections this could make the build easier.

 

[jcmental]

Sorry guys I love to share and talk about our tanks after all it's why I have just spent a fortune on getting all the bits n pieces together to try to build this controller. And this is it..... I'm on my 3 days off so want to get as much done as possible.
So this morning once I'd dragged myself out of bed n had a shower after such a grouling week pulling machines apart to fix them. I'm ready for battle.

So here goes.
I took my lighting moduel apart the other night (see a few posts back) Well I wasent happy with what I concluded and decided that theirs more to my black box lights that just a power supply some fans and a tiny control board. I was right. I've taken the "power Unit" apart, from what I can see it was designed for 2 different types of control. So here is my first question. I know the theory behind how PWM works on, off cycle. but I'm not to hot on how to tell it this cycle. So my first question is:-
On the board in my power units there is an unused plug right next a plug my control board is plugged into, it's marked "PWM 12+, GRN, No/Off" does this look like a standard in put for PWM control? See photo.
I'm thinking if it is then I could use that and link it to my 16 channel / voltage boost board controlled via the reef pi control.

Also is there a way of doing a simple test with a battery. I'm assuming I'd need to link out the on/off pins and supply 12v on to the 12v+ and ground pin?

 

[jcmental]

Ok found this out about the lights controller, it's a signal generation controller, dose that mean anything to you chaps?

http://www.welitpower.com/index.php?case=archive&act=list&catid=62

 

[Ryan115]

Found the other day a company that sells a combination ph,ec, orp submersible probe. http://www.vl-pc.com/index.cfm/industrial/ph/submersibles/
No idea what this costs but if cheaper than say separate probes + separate isolated connections this could make the build easier.

Those do look interesting. The only problem I see with those is that one of them is 48" long, and the smaller one doesn't have conductivity (and it is 1.25" diameter).
I would have to guess that the price range would be rather elevated as well. I work with a good bit of marine electronics, and for the most part field/survey grade components are $$$.

 

[Ryan115]

Sorry guys I love to share and talk about our tanks after all it's why I have just spent a fortune on getting all the bits n pieces together to try to build this controller. And this is it..... I'm on my 3 days off so want to get as much done as possible.
So this morning once I'd dragged myself out of bed n had a shower after such a grouling week pulling machines apart to fix them. I'm ready for battle.

So here goes.
I took my lighting moduel apart the other night (see a few posts back) Well I wasent happy with what I concluded and decided that theirs more to my black box lights that just a power supply some fans and a tiny control board. I was right. I've taken the "power Unit" apart, from what I can see it was designed for 2 different types of control. So here is my first question. I know the theory behind how PWM works on, off cycle. but I'm not to hot on how to tell it this cycle. So my first question is:-
On the board in my power units there is an unused plug right next a plug my control board is plugged into, it's marked "PWM 12+, GRN, No/Off" does this look like a standard in put for PWM control? See photo.
I'm thinking if it is then I could use that and link it to my 16 channel / voltage boost board controlled via the reef pi control.

Also is there a way of doing a simple test with a battery. I'm assuming I'd need to link out the on/off pins and supply 12v on to the 12v+ and ground pin?

I dont believe you would be able to have both the front control and the custom circuit connected at the same time (at least not the PWM pin). An easy way to see if the to connectors are connected would be to use your multimeter to the pins that are side by side and check the resistance between them.

 

[jcmental]

I dont believe you would be able to have both the front control and the custom circuit connected at the same time (at least not the PWM pin). An easy way to see if the to connectors are connected would be to use your multimeter to the pins that are side by side and check the resistance between them.

Just got back from my scientific expedition and here's my findings (I'm Awesome BTW)
The 2 sockets on that board are both linked so I was testing the socket and wiring from the control board to the driver board and this is what I found, I must say if you confirm my findings I'm feeling like I might make a YouTube account and show the whole world how to do this as I have found nothing on line that shows you how to do the Viparspectra lights.
I'm concluding that All I need is to connect the PWM +12 and the PWM GND to the amp board that Ranjib has posted.
Although I tested the voltages and found that the meter is only showing 10.07 V DC across the PWM pins. and looking at the suppliers website most of there "Dimming" units are 0 - 10V this could explain why these lights only ever get warm and not hot enough to need a solid heat sink. I think there made for 12v PWM and only get 10V PWM max so there less likely to burn out the LED chips.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Those do look interesting. The only problem I see with those is that one of them is 48" long, and the smaller one doesn't have conductivity (and it is 1.25" diameter).
I would have to guess that the price range would be rather elevated as well. I work with a good bit of marine electronics, and for the most part field/survey grade components are $$$.

I did not see 48” long haha. Guess thats how there is no interference between the 3 lol. Can rule that piece out.

 

[Gareth elliott]

i have just received my el cheapo chinese probe and ph sensor board will play around with that and some supplied code on pi forums see if i can get that working. The sensor chip is similar to the adafruit one.

Side note i ordered this in november lol.

 

[Brad Cox]

Amazon has run out of atlas scientific ph probe kit, i was hoping for ph probe integration for next minor release... so I am thinking of something else now

The camera sub system is rather primitive (should say unusable to be fair ) currently. I may take a stab at that for the next minor releas (1.4 ) . Thinking of adding a decent image browser (such as react-images) inside reef-pi, that will allow users to browse through their tank images captured by pi camera. What else you think might be useful in camera sub-system? Currently it has on demand and periodic photo shooting capability already . May be a automatic selection of photos as well? To keep disk space usage in check ?

I would also like to be able to view the cameras remotely. Say if i have two cameras. One in my sump area and one in the main tank.

Would be sweet to pull reef pi up in a app or webpage and be able to view a problem if say on vacation.

Once the ato has multiple sensors for less failure maybe the two camera setup wouldnt be needed. But right now i could check on my water level wnd activate my ato remotly to fill up my sump. If the sensor fails.

 

[jcmental]

Right I’m trying to wire up my pcs9685 to my pi 3
I’ve been looking on the net but keep finding conflicting diagrams for the wiring. The drawing I’m looking at is this one but is it correct please

 

[Ranjib]

Right I’m trying to wire up my pcs9685 to my pi 3
I’ve been looking on the net but keep finding conflicting diagrams for the wiring. The drawing I’m looking at is this one but is it correct please

Use the reef pi lighting guide diagram . We have tested that one

 

[jcmental]

Thanks @Ranjib Looks like I got something right.
I've even learnt how to scrot look
Buzzin!

Now All I have to do is make that circuit board in your build guide and try it on a light