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

[wykat]

Do you know what all you want to control? I if it’s only pi, ph, temperature and ato , then a 5v 3amp power supply will be enough. If you want to control kessil or some other equipment that require higher voltage (say 10v) , then go with 12v 2 amp supply and use lm2596 to step down each different low voltage requirement

Hi Ranjib,
I want to control as much as possible but I've just started to re-read my reef book ;). I've ordered some LM2596 this morning, but they are normally only up to 3A and I know from other applications that the Raspberry is really sensitive to it's power supply. Nevertheless I have some time to test after they arrive. Thanks for your support.
Wykat

 

[wykat]

This is where I fall short. I'm an ex machinist, have a full wood shop, and a 3D printer but I'm a novice at CAD and not a very good designer. I'm waiting for some talented person to design an enclosure/s. I can build anything along as I have the plans.

I have some experience with Sketchup and have been thinking about housing as well. Main question is what should all be included, there are so many options. I did some PCB design a long time ago as well but have no clue what kind of applications are available today, will need to dive into that.
Wykat

 

[Ranjib]

Hi Ranjib,
I want to control as much as possible but I've just started to re-read my reef book ;). I've ordered some LM2596 this morning, but they are normally only up to 3A and I know from other applications that the Raspberry is really sensitive to it's power supply. Nevertheless I have some time to test after they arrive. Thanks for your support.
Wykat

3 amp should be sufficient for most use cases

 

[wykat]

3 amp should be sufficient for most use cases

Started to work with KiCad today, seems to be a nice tool to make a PCB lay-out and it helped me better to understand the power supply, sensors and Reef-Pi UI while making the schematics. KiCad has an example for a Raspberry hat and I'm trying to integrate the PCA9685 board on this hat.

Only question is based on the PH probe, it requires an additional gravity interface board (BNC to 4 wire interface). Are the DFRobot gateway sensors compatible with Reef-Pi (via PCA9685) as they appear to use the same connections for the I2C bus)?

 

[Ranjib]

Started to work with KiCad today, seems to be a nice tool to make a PCB lay-out and it helped me better to understand the power supply, sensors and Reef-Pi UI while making the schematics. KiCad has an example for a Raspberry hat and I'm trying to integrate the PCA9685 board on this hat.

Only question is based on the PH probe, it requires an additional gravity interface board (BNC to 4 wire interface). Are the DFRobot gateway sensors compatible with Reef-Pi (via PCA9685) as they appear to use the same connections for the I2C bus)?

We use the Ezo board from Atlas scientific and connect it to the same i2c bus as pca9685. The Ezo circuit has BNC connector pins as wel as a pic based analog voltage to ph value conversion module. reef-pi just uses i2c based calls to get ph values and perform calibration

 

[sector9]

I found this bug, sorry about this, bad mistake from my side. Fixed right now, https://github.com/reef-pi/reef-pi/pull/379

How urgently you need this? I was planning to fix couple of more things before making another release, but if you need this to get your ato going, I'll cut a release now. ATOs cant be offline for a day.

Awesome! No rush Ranjib, I just reversed the outlet that it is controlling as a temporary solution and it is working fine. Thanks!

 

[philshel]

I have some experience with Sketchup and have been thinking about housing as well. Main question is what should all be included, there are so many options. I did some PCB design a long time ago as well but have no clue what kind of applications are available today, will need to dive into that.
Wykat

The many possible build options is one of the main problems and it starts at the very beginning. "All-in-one" or "modular"? I favor an all-in-one design but see the benefits of going modular. I suspect that if someone designs an enclosure, it will have to be modular to fit everyone's builds, or be very customizable from the beginning. I'm afraid my only option would be to print something, hate it, and print a new one over and over again.

 

[Ranjib]

The many possible build options is one of the main problems and it starts at the very beginning. "All-in-one" or "modular"? I favor an all-in-one design but see the benefits of going modular. I suspect that if someone designs an enclosure, it will have to be modular to fit everyone's builds, or be very customizable from the beginning. I'm afraid my only option would be to print something, hate it, and print a new one over and over again.

This will be a common challenge with reef-pi. And I do not necessarily dislike it. I do think we should come up with at least one enclosure design that supports a standard all in one controller (2 ato, 2 kessil, 4 doser, 3 temperature , power controller) and corresponding PCB. Folks will likely to build their own housing and circuit. I definitly will prototype individual module specific circuit & housing as well (just power controller, just temperature monitor etc), but they might not be a standard thing. I expect in the long run reef-pi will have a 3d printing community as well, sharing all the common contraptions and what not. We'll be more like bazaar, less like a cathedral.

This is a great read to understand this philosophy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cathedral_and_the_Bazaar

 

[Ranjib]

The latest release of reef-pi is built with react16, it’s a new version of the ui framework that should significantly improve the performance (cpu and memory usage of browser while running reef-pi ui) and responsiveness. Let me know if you all feel any difference . I’ll probably start updating my builds tonight or during the long weekend

 

[wykat]

The many possible build options is one of the main problems and it starts at the very beginning. "All-in-one" or "modular"? I favor an all-in-one design but see the benefits of going modular. I suspect that if someone designs an enclosure, it will have to be modular to fit everyone's builds, or be very customizable from the beginning. I'm afraid my only option would be to print something, hate it, and print a new one over and over again.

My thinking so far is to split the high voltage (relais) from the brain (lower voltage Raspberry, sensors, etc). I'm not sure yet how to handle these additional interface boards like for PH. Mechanically it should be simple to connect the HV housing with the 'brain' and electrically via a flat cable. There could be different HV housings: 4/8 relays, US/EU/other? plugs (Ranjib's Bazaar principle).
I like Ranjib's proposal (2 ato, 2 kessil, 4 doser, 3 temperature , power controller) to come to a kind of basis connections, meaning a list of connections to the GPIO and PWM/I2C interfaces while leaving sufficient ports for extension. 2 Kessil would require 2 PWM (from 16), 3 Temperature 3 GPIO (from I think 23), etc. So with all your experience, what kind of connections would be needed? Maybe if all reef-pi users could list their requirements, we could come to a kind of 'basis'
So far I only read a book about reef one time and only thing I remember is that a small aquarium is more critical than a larger one, forgot all the other details :cool:, so will have to re-read with the possibilities of reef-pi in the background.
I will need some time to understand reef and KiCad and as Ranjib said, it's learning by doing:)

 

[Ranjib]

This is my current all in one controller with one ato, One kessil controller, two temperature sensor and a db9 connector (for power/ac equipment). It’s powered by 12v 2 amp wall wart. Power strip is adj srp2 8 channel.

This arrangement keeps my ac and dc parts separate .

 

[Ranjib]

Currently I use dremel to cut holes fornconnectors and standoff’s (to mount circuit). I think having a 3d printed or cnc made housing with all these holes pre-cut simplify the build process

 

[sector9]

What are you all doing for PWM-controlled doser builds?

 

[wykat]

This is my current all in one controller with one ato, One kessil controller, two temperature sensor and a db9 connector (for power/ac equipment). It’s powered by 12v 2 amp wall wart. Power strip is adj srp2 8 channel.

This arrangement keeps my ac and dc parts separate .

Most of your setup is clear with exception of the chip on the hat. Is this just a buffer to safeguard the GPIO ports?

 

[MaccaPopEye]

I really like your build Ranjib, it's really clean and I do like being able to see the wiring like that.

I made a little bit of progress the other night and started on the main enclosure for my build. I was a bit overzealous and just added as many sockets as I could fit and I plan to cut it down to those i will actually use before i print it out :p

So I will have to go back and actually decide what I will actually use and remove some, but if I am not sure I would rather have them there than need to re-print another enclosure in the future.

So far the main enclosure will have ports for (before cutting it down):
- A/C power in (with a fused switch)
- 3x 8-outlet power boards (one RJ-45 socket and 1 DC socket per power board)
- 2x pH ports (I'll only be using one for the tank but I included another for the future if I ever want a calcium reactor)
- 2x other BNC ports for the future if Reef-Pi ever includes ORP and Salinity
- An RJ-45 socket to go to the LED control module (which will be up in the light canopy)
- An RJ-45 socket for an external doser (I am happy with my current 4 channel doser for the big 3 elements, but the port is there if I ever change my mind)
- An RJ-45 socket for some temp probes (one RJ-45 socket should be able to support 3 temp probes correct? or should I split them up and use one socket per probe?)
- 4x other RJ-45 sockets for anything else (I'm considering removing these as I'm not sure if they are needed or not)
- And lastly 10x 3-pin audio sockets (for multiple float switches / optical sensors)

Things I am still trying to decide on:
- Too many power board ports? I put space for a 3rd power board as well but I don't think I will ever use it - or if it is even possible to have more than 16 outlets with Reef-Pi so I will likely take that one away.
- The 4x BNC ports. Is adding 2x pH probes or ORP / Salinity something that will ever be done with Reef-Pi? I'm in no rush and likely won't even want to buy any more than just 1 pH probe for at least a year or more or so but if it is a possibility I'd like the ports to be there.
- I have put an additional 4x RJ-45 sockets there, but I can't actually think of anything to use them for haha If I can't think of anything / no one can think of a use for them I will remove them. Only thing I can think of is if I was to split up the multiple temp probes and give each one it's own socket in which case I would have 3 or 4 (tank, sump, cabinet and maybe room temp?).
- The 10x 3-pin audio sockets. How many float switches / optical sensors could Reef-Pi theoretically support? I can think of a use for almost all 10 if it can eventually support that many (mostly fail safes for skimmer / sump / overflow box etc. and to notify me if there is an issue)
- And lastly, could there be a reason to make space for a Pi-Zero in addition to the Pi3 that I already have? I have a big tank, lots of power outlets, lots of dosing, lots of float switches. If what I have planned is way too much for the Pi3 (as I think there is not enough GPIO pins?) then could I run a Pi-Zero in tandem with the Pi3 for half of the functions I want? Even if I don't need it now it wouldn't be the worst idea for future expand-ability.

Inside there is currently mounting holes for an A/C to D/C buck converter, a Pi3, a protoboard, and lots of room wiring / other boards if needed.

 

[Sam Rowe]

So, your issue is resolved now ?

I hadn't had a chance to look into it fully until this morning.
Rebooting the pi didn't work and for the most I can gather is there was something not marrying up with the old database as I deleted the database and it now works of sorts.
Had this pop up while sorting settings out but its fine now.

Just have to reprogram the pins used later.

 

[Ranjib]

Most of your setup is clear with exception of the chip on the hat. Is this just a buffer to safeguard the GPIO ports?

uln2803, its a darlington array to convert 3.3v gpio digital output to 12v , for the powerbar/relay

 

[wykat]

This is exactly were I'm puzzled, why not using a stable 5V for the RB and then step up voltage converters for control. Basically you're doing the same ??

 

[wykat]

uln2803, its a darlington array to convert 3.3v gpio digital output to 12v , for the powerbar/relay

Hi Ranjib,
This is where I'm puzzled as I wrote before, use a stable 5V for RB and step up for the sensors. Basically that's what you're doing. What I'm missing?

 

[Ranjib]

This is exactly were I'm puzzled, why not using a stable 5V for the RB and then step up voltage converters for control. Basically you're doing the same ??

I am not able to understand what you mean.
the ADJ SRP2 8 channel power bar works on 12v signal passed via a db9 cable. Thats why I am using the uln2803 darlignton array to map the 3.3 v gpio output to 12v