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

[Ranjib]

I have a light adjustment question. When the lights are in Auto mode do you need to set the minimum and maximum in the top bar? Or do you just adjust the individual sliders? for instance I was wondering if you set min to 0 and max to 50 in the top bar then the slider only gives you 50% max when its set to 100.

You dont have to set the min/max values, they default to 0 and 100. When applied, they are always per channel. you dont have to adjust individual slider. reef-pi will make sure the values are applied only when they are above min and reset to max when they go above max. if you have adafruit.io enabled, you should be able to see this in action

 

[Ranjib]

I have a light adjustment question. When the lights are in Auto mode do you need to set the minimum and maximum in the top bar? Or do you just adjust the individual sliders? for instance I was wondering if you set min to 0 and max to 50 in the top bar then the slider only gives you 50% max when its set to 100.

Nope. The sleder is not 50% of the max, its 50% of the 100, its always representing the entire range (0-100), min/max threshold are applied after calculating the values from slider against the entire range (100). Let me know if its clear now,

 

[b4tn]

So basically I can ignore minimum and max threshold? If I set one of the sliders to be 75% it will be 75% of 100% regardless of what’s in the threshold?

 

[Ryan115]

So basically I can ignore minimum and max threshold? If I set one of the sliders to be 75% it will be 75% of 100% regardless of what’s in the threshold?

I believe that it will try to put in the 75%, but it will be capped at whatever the threshold is that you set.
So if you capped at 60, it would stop there.

My lights are not able to dim to 0 (they go full brightness), so I set my min to 1. Now if one of the sliders is set to 0 it will still only go down to 1.

 

[bishoptf]

I believe that it will try to put in the 75%, but it will be capped at whatever the threshold is that you set.
So if you capped at 60, it would stop there.

My lights are not able to dim to 0 (they go full brightness), so I set my min to 1. Now if one of the sliders is set to 0 it will still only go down to 1.

I have my min set to 10, so even though the pwm auto setting ramps up, they do not come on until the value gets to 10, same with the shutoff, when it hits 10 my lights shut off. I have my min and max to 10 and 60, since I do not want my valuse to go below or above those values.

I think Ranjib has mentioned that he intends to have more flexibility in a future version, I would like the ability to stay at my top number longer than an hour but shorter than two.

 

[bishoptf]

Yup! Thanks for the welcome all. This is a great project and community. I will definitely share my build soon :)

Welcome I'm a freshwater build also, I don't have my co2 regulator built completely but that is my goal. I do have three temp probes and my heaters running as a fail safe and my lights running from reef-pi. I want to add a ph sensor as a failsafe for co2 when I start running co2.

Welcome!

 

[bishoptf]

I know I should ask this in another thread but is it possible to do a nano saltwater build on a budget? Looking at all of the builds for you guys really has me intrigued, I already have a RODI setup that I use for my freshwater setup but seeing all the pretty pictures starts the wheels turning in my mind, but it sure does seem to be on a whole nother level.

:)

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

The ADJ Power strips have the ability to chain multiple strips together. Does anyone know if there is a way to leverage that for use with the Reef-Pi?

 

[dmolavi]

The ADJ Power strips have the ability to chain multiple strips together. Does anyone know if there is a way to leverage that for use with the Reef-Pi?

You're really limited by the number of available GPIO pins. The 'standard' Pi only makes 20-something out of the 54 GPIO pins available to the user (the BCM SOC has 54 GPIO. I think the compute module makes 30-something available). It would depend on what other functionality you had implemented on your Reef-Pi, which dictates how many GPIO are available. You could always use a Pi-zero and 'cluster' the Reef-Pi, I suppose...use one Pi for power strips, and another Pi for everything else.

 

[dmolavi]

I know I should ask this in another thread but is it possible to do a nano saltwater build on a budget? Looking at all of the builds for you guys really has me intrigued, I already have a RODI setup that I use for my freshwater setup but seeing all the pretty pictures starts the wheels turning in my mind, but it sure does seem to be on a whole nother level.

:)

Absolutely. My first saltwater was a 20-gallon nano. Got the tank at the Petco Dollar-per-gallon sale, picked up the matching stand for cheap. Small size = small pumps, etc. I think the most expensive part was my lights, because I had coral. If you're going FOWLR, you don't need spendy lights, either. I have some equipment from that setup leftover, too (HOB skimmer, Koralia pumps)...if you pull the trigger, PM me and i can send pix if you'd like to buy them.

 

[stefanm]

A couple of quick questions, how do I set the time zone correctly, do I need to do it on the console or within reef pi?

Secondly how to set a static ip address? mine keeps changing depending on how many devices are connected to the router.

 

[Ryan115]

You're really limited by the number of available GPIO pins. The 'standard' Pi only makes 20-something out of the 54 GPIO pins available to the user (the BCM SOC has 54 GPIO. I think the compute module makes 30-something available). It would depend on what other functionality you had implemented on your Reef-Pi, which dictates how many GPIO are available. You could always use a Pi-zero and 'cluster' the Reef-Pi, I suppose...use one Pi for power strips, and another Pi for everything else.

I believe one of the upcoming additions to reef-pi will allow multiple PCA9685s and will allow the individual PWM pins to be set as Output pins (set at 0% or 100% duty cycle).
These could be used to control the triggering of extra relays.
If that is the case, you could control upwards of 1000 relays on the single system.
@Ranjib, is all of this correct for the future upgrades?

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

You're really limited by the number of available GPIO pins. The 'standard' Pi only makes 20-something out of the 54 GPIO pins available to the user (the BCM SOC has 54 GPIO. I think the compute module makes 30-something available). It would depend on what other functionality you had implemented on your Reef-Pi, which dictates how many GPIO are available. You could always use a Pi-zero and 'cluster' the Reef-Pi, I suppose...use one Pi for power strips, and another Pi for everything else.

Makes sense. I'm maxing out my power strip, but I don't have anything else that needs to be powered/controlled. Do you know how those pin assignments work through the daisy chain configuration that ADJ allows, or would they both need their own dedicated DB9 connector?

 

[stefanm]

I believe one of the upcoming additions to reef-pi will allow multiple PCA9685s and will allow the individual PWM pins to be set as Output pins (set at 0% or 100% duty cycle).
These could be used to control the triggering of extra relays.
If that is the case, you could control upwards of 1000 relays on the single system.
@Ranjib, is all of this correct for the future upgrades?

I thought they could be daisy chained anyway?

 

[dmolavi]

A couple of quick questions, how do I set the time zone correctly, do I need to do it on the console or within reef pi?

Secondly how to set a static ip address? mine keeps changing depending on how many devices are connected to the router.

You can SSH into your pi and use raspi-config to set the timezone, I believe.

WRT a static IP, you have 2 options - one is via the Pi itself (if you have the desktop version of Raspian, use the network config gui. if not, the 'ip addr' command is your friend). Or, you can go into your router and statically assign an IP to your Pi's MAC address, so that anytime it queries for an address, the router will give it the same one each time. Refer to your router documentation on how to do that (usually it's "MAC binding" or "DHCP reservations" or some such similar term).

 

[Ryan115]

I thought they could be daisy chained anyway?

The i2c PCA9685s can be daisy chained, but running multiple devices is not currently supported in reef-pi. Each device would also need it own address, which is also not currently supported, reef-pi defaults to the standard Adafruit PCA9685 address.

 

[Ranjib]

I believe one of the upcoming additions to reef-pi will allow multiple PCA9685s and will allow the individual PWM pins to be set as Output pins (set at 0% or 100% duty cycle).
These could be used to control the triggering of extra relays.
If that is the case, you could control upwards of 1000 relays on the single system.
@Ranjib, is all of this correct for the future upgrades?

yes

 

[theatrus]

Makes sense. I'm maxing out my power strip, but I don't have anything else that needs to be powered/controlled. Do you know how those pin assignments work through the daisy chain configuration that ADJ allows, or would they both need their own dedicated DB9 connector?

You can daisy chain, but both relays will simply fire on the same control signal.

I’m knocking up some extender modules for 3.0, including more relay control. The multiple PCA solution will also work with 3.0 as multiple PCA adapters can be supported.

 

[b4tn]

You can daisy chain, but both relays will simply fire on the same control signal.

I’m knocking up some extender modules for 3.0, including more relay control. The multiple PCA solution will also work with 3.0 as multiple PCA adapters can be supported.

This will be super cool. I’m looking forward to this as an easy way to add a bunch of outlets.

 

[ScottF83]

Sorry guys but I cannot figure this out myself, I am too inexperienced with the operation of the Raspberry Pi and Reef Pi

Could you please spare a moment to take a look at my thread?

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/automatic-chilled-feeding-doser-reef-pi-raspberry-pi.545972/

I am trying to configure the macro but cannot crack it. I am so close to finishing this project! :(

Thank you
Scott