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

[trackerit]

hello, after assembling my reefpi, the ph module which was working correctly, by mistake I have connected only tx and rx, the 5v and the gnd do not connect them, now that I have reconnected the led of the module ph ezo, turn blue and green and blink between green and blue, the command sudo i2cdetect -y 1 the whole table comes out in 00, will it have been damaged? What other tests can I do?

forget to say that now the module does not work just blinks between green and blue

 

[Brad Cox]

I have a very old version of reefpi. Its 1.5.

Id like to upgrade to the newest but what is the best way to proceed?

 

[Ranjib]

Is there an easy way to build the power, temp, ato, pH and dosing all on one raspberry pi? Does anyone have a guide for this? If not is there a way to link all of these so they can be seen and controlled in one dashboard?

I am using three builds with power , temp , ato combined. Dosing and ph are independent modules. Theres is no limitation in the software, you are fine on that side, but you have to be extra careful on the circuit side of things. With so many components involved you have to design the power supply unit carefully and add a lot of passives (capacitors, resistors etc) for safety. I always have issues with pwm signals getting bad in complex circuits, i mostly think its due to my primitive circuit setups. The same configuration works just fine on pico board, which is designed by theatrus and has whole lotta passives.

 

[Ranjib]

I have a very old version of reefpi. Its 1.5.

Id like to upgrade to the newest but what is the best way to proceed?

Take a screenshot of your setup (for reference during new version configuration) and then stop reef-pi, delete the database and install the latest version and re-setup everything. Unfortunately the 2.0 version has a lot of new things (multiple ato, temp sensor etc) and the database is not compatible.

https://reef-pi.github.io/additional-documentation/upgrade/

 

[Ranjib]

I have a very old version of reefpi. Its 1.5.

Id like to upgrade to the newest but what is the best way to proceed?

Curious, how long its been running? 1.5 is almost a year old release :-0),

 

[Ranjib]

The guides show pH and dosing separate from the rest so I am not sure how it would need to be wired up to work all in one. Or just use one gui to control all of them.

The guide shows it because it refers to my own build (all the images etc). I dont think there will be any issue in running them combined. Just make sure you have ample power, and wiring etc are proper.

 

[Ranjib]

hello, after assembling my reefpi, the ph module which was working correctly, by mistake I have connected only tx and rx, the 5v and the gnd do not connect them, now that I have reconnected the led of the module ph ezo, turn blue and green and blink between green and blue, the command sudo i2cdetect -y 1 the whole table comes out in 00, will it have been damaged? What other tests can I do?

stop reef-pi and use the python library provided by atalas scientific to check if the ezo circuit is configured to work in i2c mode and that you can read data. if not, configure it to work in i2c mode and then start reef-pi again. atals scientific ezo documentation details the steps

 

[Brad Cox]

Curious, how long its been running? 1.5 is almost a year old release :-0),

It has been running since then or maybe a week or so after you released it. Im using it for the ato and my lights and its been flawless. Never had to restart or anything. Only time it ever got rebooted was before i put my tank on a ups.

I hope the new version is as stable.

 

[Ranjib]

It has been running since then or maybe a week or so after you released it. Im using it for the ato and my lights and its been flawless. Never had to restart or anything. Only time it ever got rebooted was before i put my tank on a ups.

I hope the new version is as stable.

Should be ok. Keep the 1.5 database file as backup. there are couple of bugs we have encountered in 2.x releases around pwm. Anything specific you are looking it use in 2.x ?

 

[trackerit]

stop reef-pi and use the python library provided by atalas scientific to check if the ezo circuit is configured to work in i2c mode and that you can read data. if not, configure it to work in i2c mode and then start reef-pi again. atals scientific ezo documentation details the steps

Ok its working again

 

[AquaRaider44]

Anyone know if something like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/Liquid-PH-...b7d2:m:mDK3tz9hRWeKeCorod60hcA&frcectupt=true could be used to measure the pH? This is like 90% cheaper than building a ph module.

 

[trackerit]

My build reefpi,

 

[Ranjib]

My build reefpi,

Looks awesome :-) . Thank you for sharing

 

[Michael Lane]

Anyone know if something like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/Liquid-PH-...b7d2:m:mDK3tz9hRWeKeCorod60hcA&frcectupt=true could be used to measure the pH? This is like 90% cheaper than building a ph module.

I looked at those boards since they are so inexpensive, but I decided against trying it. It's not compatible with the current reef-pi software, and it would require an additional analog to digital converter. Even after solving those 2 problems, it would probably still need to be isolated in order to get consistent readings. I think it would be interesting to play with, but I wouldn't trust it to run anything on my aquarium. Besides, I think the ADC and isolator are the majority of the cost in the better ph boards.

 

[Ranjib]

Anyone know if something like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/Liquid-PH-...b7d2:m:mDK3tz9hRWeKeCorod60hcA&frcectupt=true could be used to measure the pH? This is like 90% cheaper than building a ph module.

These are not worth if you are planning to have some accuracy in the reading . Your cost will be 50% on probe and 50% on circuit board. Without voltage isolator your reading will have jitter and they will be in accurate by one or two . You will be able to visualize the daily cycle though.
The ph board is aimed to solve this (lower cost circuit) . It’s still expensive as the probe is 40-50$

 

[Ranjib]

Some updates on the ph board. I had to revert some changes made in the ph board driver to make it work continuously . With those changes the pico board will have issues after a couple of readings and the ph board will not work at all. After that’s reverted I was able to run the ph board based build overnight ,, it’s still running. The value is around -8100. I’m not sure if it’s correct , the probe can be wrong or my tanks ph is genuinely low (I highly doubt ) , but the reading is same as the original c code shared by @Roberto_b . My next step will be to test out the calibration module and probably get a decent probe (brs or atlas) and do another round of tests .
I’ll keep you all posted :-) , excited to see progress on this front , as it’s being dragging is for some time .

 

[PaulJ2303]

i'm just about to build the power module for my reef pi.
this is the first step for me so i wonder if you guys could help.
i keep seeing on youtube thees kind of video's showing a direct connection from the pi to the relay for example:

is there any reason why i shouldn't do this ? it seems really simple and less cluttered than the tutorial build on adafruit's website.

Also one last thing how do i tell if the relay module is good quality, i.e going to last me more than a couple of weeks ?

 

[AquaRaider44]

i'm just about to build the power module for my reef pi.
this is the first step for me so i wonder if you guys could help.
i keep seeing on youtube thees kind of video's showing a direct connection from the pi to the relay for example:

is there any reason why i shouldn't do this ? it seems really simple and less cluttered than the tutorial build on adafruit's website.

Also one last thing how do i tell if the relay module is good quality, i.e going to last me more than a couple of weeks ?

I was just looking at this yesterday and I am really not sure why this wouldn't work as it is significantly less complicated and would cost less than building the whole circuit thing. I wonder if anyone else has tried this? Also I have had many relays for other projects and I do not see any reason why any are better or worse than others.

 

[Ranjib]

i'm just about to build the power module for my reef pi.
this is the first step for me so i wonder if you guys could help.
i keep seeing on youtube thees kind of video's showing a direct connection from the pi to the relay for example:

is there any reason why i shouldn't do this ? it seems really simple and less cluttered than the tutorial build on adafruit's website.

Also one last thing how do i tell if the relay module is good quality, i.e going to last me more than a couple of weeks ?

I have not gone through this exact video , but this is pretty much how I recommended building reef-pi power module till 1.0. The new adj powerstrip route is beginner friendly and avoids dealing with ac circuitry which is a huge safety concern and risky step for beginners. That’s pretty much the only two reason (safety and ease of use) for recommending this route, and we are aware that its mostly valid for only US. We also know that ADJ powerstips are not the best in terms of build quality. But they are cheap, and the relays used are good enough for most use cases.

With this said, I absolutely love that folks (including myself) build their own power modules (scratch build as I call them), this gives us the flexibility to choose the relay (solid state, voltage and current ratings etc) , default on/off mechanism and form factor (number of outlets). You are most welcome to take this route if you can :-)

 

[Ranjib]

I was just looking at this yesterday and I am really not sure why this wouldn't work as it is significantly less complicated and would cost less than building the whole circuit thing. I wonder if anyone else has tried this? Also I have had many relays for other projects and I do not see any reason why any are better or worse than others.

The best way to understand the quality of relays is by reading their datasheet. You are looking at wear an tear rate (how many mechanical operations they are rated for), and their current/voltage rating. General recommendation from electronics community (in stack exchange) has been to always use components that are twice rated, or use a relay rated for twice the current that you think you'll draw form single equipment. Use the wear and tear value (cant recall exactly what its called, but its around mechanical operations) and an estimate of how many times will be on/off daily,, that gives you a rough estimate of how long you can expect the relay to run.

Most of these boards uses 12V or 5V songle relays, which are rated for 10^7 switches. Although most documents on internet say its variable and several known experiments exceeded the limit.

http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=223929.0