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

[Ranjib]

Hi Ranjib it looks ok to me but when i go to browser and type in the IP address nothing happen.

This site can’t be reached
192.168.1.3 refused to connect.

Try:

• Checking the connection
• Checking the proxy and the firewall

ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED

Is the ip correct ? Can you share the output of these two commands

ifconfig

And

sudo netstat -tulnp

 

[DaveMorris]

Back from my trip over seas and had a couple Amazon packages waiting for me. :)

A few more bits and a little spare time (Yeah, right) and I will be able to embark on my build. I'm looking forward to learning as I go.

 

[wykat]

Reef-PI_PWM module assembled (but not electrically tested yet). Physically it does fit perfectly, except the large capacitor is too high to add more boards and as expected the space between the connectors is too small if I can't find a better 2.5mm mono plug.

;Happy

The modules are from bottom to top, Raspberry PI, Reef-PI_HAT and Reef_PI_PWM and provide following functions:
16 digital outputs (for external relays board)
2 ATO interfaces for optical sensors
2 Dosing pump interfaces
DS18B20 interface for multiple temperature sensors
16 PWM interfaces

At the moment the 12->10V converter is missing on the Reef-PI_PWM module (but I can start testing with 12V) as well as the DS18B20 and Relays connectors on the Reef-PI_HAT.

After I've checked the PWM module I will start some updates, but first I want to have this module working.:D

 

[janos]

Hi Ranjib ther it is :

 

[janos]

IP scanner show 192.168.1.2 is my first reef-pi is working,and the light is grren and the second 192.168.1.3 ip shows but light is blue on the IP scanner.Do not know it is something or i just get paranoid.

 

[Zekth]

@wykat sexy setup

 

[Ranjib]

@Ranjib I think I found a bug.

so I added my new ULN2803A board today. it was super easy to solder the pins on and then I just ran connectors from them to another new toy board I got today too. It is a GPIO expansion to give me solderless access to the pins. (yea Im lazy and scared to mess up what I have) Anyways, once I got it all connected and buttoned up and booted up. I added these 8 new "connectors" in the config page. I am labelingg them 2-1, 2-2, 2-3 etc. each time I hit add, it saves them as 2-1 and then shows in use. a refresh of the page and going back in solves this. But also they are not in numerical order as I entered them either here.

As Michael mentioned, we are aware of this one and expect a fix in next release. If I understand correctly, you were able to get it working at the end. The ordering is something I'll look into as well

 

[Ranjib]

Hi Ranjib ther it is :

ok. so 192.168.1.3 is the IP of this Raspberry Pi, and reef-pi is running as well

 

[Ranjib]

IP scanner show 192.168.1.2 is my first reef-pi is working,and the light is grren and the second 192.168.1.3 ip shows but light is blue on the IP scanner.Do not know it is something or i just get paranoid.

blue means no port open, which is kinda fishy (since reef-pi is listening on port 80, we expect that to be open, similar to the other Pi

 

[Ranjib]

@janos i think i understand your problem now. That reef-pi (192.168.1.3) is bound to localhost, hence can only be accessible from the browser running on that Pi. You have to either access reef-pi UI from that Pi's browser itself and update the "address" configuration to 0.0.0.0:80, save and reload, like this:

Or you can stop reef-pi, remove the data base and start it again, that will reset the address settings. Thanks for not giving up, and keep trying. Intelligence is overrated, grit is what matters in the long run :-) . So keep trying.. we are here for you

 

[Ranjib]

Reef-PI_PWM module assembled (but not electrically tested yet). Physically it does fit perfectly, except the large capacitor is too high to add more boards and as expected the space between the connectors is too small if I can't find a better 2.5mm mono plug.

;Happy

The modules are from bottom to top, Raspberry PI, Reef-PI_HAT and Reef_PI_PWM and provide following functions:
16 digital outputs (for external relays board)
2 ATO interfaces for optical sensors
2 Dosing pump interfaces
DS18B20 interface for multiple temperature sensors
16 PWM interfaces

At the moment the 12->10V converter is missing on the Reef-PI_PWM module (but I can start testing with 12V) as well as the DS18B20 and Relays connectors on the Reef-PI_HAT.

After I've checked the PWM module I will start some updates, but first I want to have this module working.:D

WHOA, this is awesome,. Are you concerned that there will be too many wires attached to a single housing/enclosure?
Very nice work. Cant wait to see this in action.

 

[janos]

Thank you Ranjib i know you never give up,so that is my duty not to give up.Start to do what you told me,and thank you again not to let me down.

 

[wykat]

WHOA, this is awesome,. Are you concerned that there will be too many wires attached to a single housing/enclosure?
Very nice work. Cant wait to see this in action.

No, it's great to have a physical device in front of me, that helps me to think how to proceed, both in terms of software and housing.

A solution for the 2.5mm plug I've found already, so I'm not going to change that.

Just as a BRAINSTORMING exercise, this is my thought so far:

From a housing point of view, put the PCBA's on their USB/NIC as bottom, try to avoid moving salt water to go 'upstair'. Technically we can avoid any connections from the upper part shown when turned left. Presently salt water is my biggest concern. Ideally some over-pressure from the outside (living room) into the top of the housing could be ideal, both for cooling and keeping salt away.

Electronically, change the Reef-PI_HAT into just a power supply and 16 channel digital IO board. Then no power supply directly to the Raspberry PI would be required (as you are using) and moving any connections away from the top side of the shown picture (which would be on the left side when turned as proposed). Yes the Reef-PI_PWM module has connections there, but who needs more then 8 PWM connections and ultimately it would be possible to use 2 Reef-PI_PWM modules;)

From software point of view move ATO and Dosing Pumps to separate boards like the Reef-PI_PWM with an MCP23017 (I2C), Then basically we're unlimited. (not sure about ATO interface at the moment, analog?)

PH/BNC boards would also be possible.

Back to housing, if we can agree on a sequential range of boards (e.g. PI, HAT, PWM, PWM2, BNC, ATO, Dosing,....), people could install the boards which they require, while 'over jumping' missing boards with just a 6 pin connector. All output connectors could then be on the same housing in a different configuration.

Again, this is just a brainstorming in coming to a flexible but compact and rigid solution involving Software, Electronics and Housing. :D

 

[sfgabe]

From a housing point of view, put the PCBA's on their USB/NIC as bottom, try to avoid moving salt water to go 'upstair'. Technically we can avoid any connections from the upper part shown when turned left. Presently salt water is my biggest concern. Ideally some over-pressure from the outside (living room) into the top of the housing could be ideal, both for cooling and keeping salt away.

This looks great, nice and tidy. However, you might want to brainstorm a fan into it. The pi processor is right in the center of that stack and with everything going on I think it would quickly effect performance. Unless you want it to double as a water heater as well. :)

 

[brycebba]

I'm terribly sorry if this has been asked, I used the search but didn't find info on these 2 things

1. I have enabled the camera module and in the config there is a upload option for Google drive. How do set this up for my drive account?
2. Again with the camera module, the display only shows the last picture taken, not a live video feed. How would I configure this camera display to use a live feed like a Webcam would be?

Thanks so much! This is awesome so far

 

[Zekth]

I'm terribly sorry if this has been asked, I used the search but didn't find info on these 2 things

1. I have enabled the camera module and in the config there is a upload option for Google drive. How do set this up for my drive account?
2. Again with the camera module, the display only shows the last picture taken, not a live video feed. How would I configure this camera display to use a live feed like a Webcam would be?

Thanks so much! This is awesome so far

2. About the camera it directly depends on the API provided by the camera. Not really sure about this part but i used to work with cameras providing last picture API which needs to be refreshed, other provides iframe support for players and others provides streams. We may have to investigate about this feature too. Any opinion @Ranjib ?

 

[pickupman66]

As Michael mentioned, we are aware of this one and expect a fix in next release. If I understand correctly, you were able to get it working at the end. The ordering is something I'll look into as well

Correct. once I hit refresh it showed up with the proper naming.

 

[stefanm]

@Ranjib would a pi zero w be able to run the following?

Lights via pca9685 own and an 8 channel relay (4 dosing pumps ((jebao dp4-s)), chiller, heater and sump lights via the timer), also a pair of ds18b20's.

I have all the above, except the raspberry pi zero, I'm having problems with my Arduino builds, little misshap today and no lights, far too many wires with screens, rtc's, potentiometer and rotary encoder.

Without all the excess stuff, it'll be so much easier, though having said that, do I just need to install the software and link to the internet and nothing else?

Please advise, thanks...

 

[Ranjib]

No, it's great to have a physical device in front of me, that helps me to think how to proceed, both in terms of software and housing.

A solution for the 2.5mm plug I've found already, so I'm not going to change that.

Just as a BRAINSTORMING exercise, this is my thought so far:

From a housing point of view, put the PCBA's on their USB/NIC as bottom, try to avoid moving salt water to go 'upstair'. Technically we can avoid any connections from the upper part shown when turned left. Presently salt water is my biggest concern. Ideally some over-pressure from the outside (living room) into the top of the housing could be ideal, both for cooling and keeping salt away.

Electronically, change the Reef-PI_HAT into just a power supply and 16 channel digital IO board. Then no power supply directly to the Raspberry PI would be required (as you are using) and moving any connections away from the top side of the shown picture (which would be on the left side when turned as proposed). Yes the Reef-PI_PWM module has connections there, but who needs more then 8 PWM connections and ultimately it would be possible to use 2 Reef-PI_PWM modules;)

From software point of view move ATO and Dosing Pumps to separate boards like the Reef-PI_PWM with an MCP23017 (I2C), Then basically we're unlimited. (not sure about ATO interface at the moment, analog?)

PH/BNC boards would also be possible.

Back to housing, if we can agree on a sequential range of boards (e.g. PI, HAT, PWM, PWM2, BNC, ATO, Dosing,....), people could install the boards which they require, while 'over jumping' missing boards with just a 6 pin connector. All output connectors could then be on the same housing in a different configuration.

Again, this is just a brainstorming in coming to a flexible but compact and rigid solution involving Software, Electronics and Housing. :D

ATO sensors are all digital I/O based, mcp23017 should work just fine, we just have to do some additional work on the software side.
I think its ok to recommend using jumper/ribbons to connect multiple boards horizonally, or just dont model the boards as HAT, and instead go for bigger PCBs with 20x4 headers to plugin in a Raspberry Pi.
I have no clue what others would prefer etc.. Its better to do a poll to get such data. If you plan to sell any of these, you should also consult r2r guidelines on whats the right way to go about it

 

[Ranjib]

This looks great, nice and tidy. However, you might want to brainstorm a fan into it. The pi processor is right in the center of that stack and with everything going on I think it would quickly effect performance. Unless you want it to double as a water heater as well. :)

Unless you are running a GUI/desktop environment, reef-pi should be well under 30% CPU and 1% memory (10MB ) in normal setups (8 outlets, 2 ato, 4 LED channel, 2 temp sensors , 2 dosing pumps). I have not do a thorough load testing, expect some of those data to appear soon after 2.0 release.
So, unless you are maxing out all the connectors, probably you are fine. If you are using GUI on the pi itself (or even camera) then definitely put a heatsink early on.