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Current progress on the reef-pi PCB:
I've added an isolated pH sensor circuit. Of course, in my attempt to "put everything on the board", ...
Current draw for the PWM signal is negligible. I would recommend using the supply inside the BB if possible. Once less thing to deal with. That is assuming you will have this circuit housed inside of the light housing. If not, then disregard.
The transistor I used was a PN2222 from Adafruit (I had these already)
Current draw for the PWM signal is negligible. I would recommend using the supply inside the BB if possible. Once less thing to deal with. That is assuming you will have this circuit housed inside of the light housing. If not, then disregard.
This may help a bit, sorry I forgot to include earlier. Notice traces between pads on the boards that I used.
awesome
Currently reef-pi uses ezo circuit for ph . For this board to work with reef-pi, we have to implement calibration as well voltage to ph value conversion logic , am I right?
I assume that will be a lot. :-/ , I’ll let @theatrus answer this. But the board itself without any components was 30-50$
Reinstalled and finally up and running and my diy led light with 10 channels
Are there future plans for larger tank boards?
More sensor and light inputs?
This looks awesome, great work!
I 'll echo my thoughts on this, as I did the slack channel.Yes, how that’s done is a bit TBD.
One way is to simply add add-on modules that can be attached to the HDMI connectors as it already has I2C on it: think adding a PCA PWM controller there, or multiple pH channels, as a double-ended module so you can stack them. There are also <$10 HDMI breakout adapters which can be added to add your own circuitry, etc.
I’m also keen on experimenting with adding a CAN bus using the same protocol as AquaBus down the road. The UART on the Pi Zero W that isn’t used for the Bluetooth module however is extremely limited and won’t work for this.
Or go up even bigger on the main board.
Not to mention, @theatrus has led the charge on pico pcb designs, so all this tremendously resides on his availability, priorities and wishlistI 'll echo my thoughts on this, as I did the slack channel.
I think of three flavors (main boards):
- Pico: Aimed for 5-10G pico tanks. Minimal cost, minimal features (4-8 outlets, temperature, 2 pwm [using pi itself], 1 ato). Our aim here is to support a low-cost pico tank (softies, lps mostly).
- Nano: Aimed for tanks up to 30G. Everything therein pico + ph + doser . More outlets, more pwm (pca9685 integration). I am still not decided on what the exact number of outlets (probably 8-16) and PWM jacks will be.
- Standard: Aimed for 120G+ tanks. Provides everything that reef-pi can do, including the experimental things (every feature of nano in higher volume, i.e. more outlets, ph probes, dosing pumps, wave makers). This assumed a multiple physical unit system. I have very little idea about how this will be, I am likely to think about this more as and when pico board is done, and we have learned some lessons, and nano board's idea is solidified.
Not to mention, it is possible to combine multiple of these units. Also, I am making its explicitly possible each module is independently buildable with DIY perfboard/protoboard and through hole components. A combination of these two approaches should address most needs, albeit at the cost of some extra elbow grease.
The manual dimmers that were used in the SBReef BB had 12v coming from an internal supply (the same that is powering the fans). I used that to power this circuit.Hmm...I'm trying to imagine what you mean by that? I thought you had to supply a 12 volt external psu to the pca9625 board. Are you saying you are using your on/off line inside your black box as a 12 volt input for your perf board, into your regulator?
This is awesome and massiveReinstalled and finally up and running and my diy led light with 10 channels
The manual dimmers that were used in the SBReef BB had 12v coming from an internal supply (the same that is powering the fans). I used that to power this circuit.
Where does your dimmer circuit draw its power from?
To test the output on the V+, put the multimeter across V+ and GND on the 2pin connector. I cant remember whether the on/off pin get pulled to V+ or GND to turn the system OFF. For mine, I left that pin disconnected.Yeah i guess that makes sense. The dimmers are powered by the 4 pin connection in my driver below labeled as on/off and V+ I presume. Is the safest way to test that it's 12 volts is use a multimeter to measure across V+ and on/off?
You are probably right that there is a good chance it's 12 Volts, considering what's coming out of the 2 pin jst next to it drive the fans at presumably 12 volts too [it's marked that and so are the fans]. The 3rd set of wires all the way to right go to the led module tray that holds all the reflectors and leds. What voltage reading do you think I would get across the wires going to the led tray?