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

[Bigtrout]

I understand controlling this is easy, but my concern is this has the typical problem of being specific for this vendor. So, unless this is very popular, affordable and available across different regions, it won’t be be something we can recommend. It will be harder to maintain (test and improve) various drivers that I don’t personally use ... let’s see if there’s enough interest on this power bar

A more universal answer would to be control of Sonoff devices...there are outlets, relays, temp controls, humidity controls etc...the devices can be flashed easily with 3rd party firmware as well. Mostly based off esp 8266 hardware and Sonoff is universally available and used in a ton of smarthome applications and have a fairly easy API as well.

https://www.itead.cc/smart-home.html

Google tasmota and espeasy for alternative firmware and such

 

[Ranjib]

A more universal answer would to be control of Sonoff devices...there are outlets, relays, temp controls, humidity controls etc...the devices can be flashed easily with 3rd party firmware as well. Mostly based off esp 8266 hardware and Sonoff is universally available and used in a ton of smarthome applications and have a fairly easy API as well.

https://www.itead.cc/smart-home.html

Google tasmota and espeasy for alternative firmware and such

all of them has this. tplink, idevice .. all of them have whole range of sensors, outlets, garage door opener, sprinkler etc.. on top of that there are meta players like google home and apple home kit .. all of them has the same offering but little bit different. What I am looking for is what will cover most audience, meet the quality standard for us (10A for example, for outlets) and preferably opensource friendly (none that im aware of).

 

[Bigtrout]

Sonoff alternative firmwares are opensource...look up ESPeasy...and sonoff switch modules are rated 10 amps and 16 amps...before I found reef pi i was seriously considering using sonoffs...the best thing is with the alternative firmware allow you to control on your own network and not depend on some vendors "cloud" where you are tied to their app and servers

https://www.letscontrolit.com/wiki/index.php/ESPEasy

https://github.com/letscontrolit

 

[Ranjib]

Sonoff alternative firmwares are opensource...look up ESPeasy...and sonoff switch modules are rated 10 amps and 16 amps...before I found reef pi i was seriously considering using sonoffs...the best thing is with the alternative firmware allow you to control on your own network and not depend on some vendors "cloud" where you are tied to their app and servers

That is indeed good information. Let me read about it. I'll definitely do the necessary if this is a good choice for us

 

[Bigtrout]

Oh and the modules are inexpensive compared to the big players, which is always a plus

But i agree that there are way too many brands etc, to try and cover so the choice has to be one type to fold into reef pi. Picking the best universal solution is where we need to go so it does not get too complicated!

 

[Bigtrout]

In other news the 2.4 release has been stable and working well for me, especially the pca9585 pwm.

3 temp probes, 2 controlling heaters, 4 channels of light dimming, 8 equipment outlets and several macros, along with adafruit io feeds and mem usage has been a steady 8 percent and cpu usage negligable.

Got called to work out of town and forgot to order my pH probe, so when it finally gets here I will load 3.0 alpha and test the acid range of pH driver in freshwater!

 

[Ranjib]

Meanwhile pwm profile enhancements are in progress... first stage is to have dedicated api for pwm profiles.. and implement the current features with new gears (similar to HAL overhaul). Here are some graphs of the diurnal, auto and fixed profile in action with different time period and min/max threshold

One of the thing I pay attention to is if the min/max threshold is preserved across threshold, and in correct fashion. Here is an example of diurnal setting with min -max set to 9-77 . Seems like reef-pi is doing the right thing here...

more to come.. this is the feature that will unlock fine grained light control (30 min or 15 interval settings), wave makers etc. If any of you have some information on how to generate those curves (reef crest for wave maker for example), please share those, it will be tremendously useful

 

[Ranjib]

In other news the 2.4 release has been stable and working well for me, especially the pca9585 pwm.

3 temp probes, 2 controlling heaters, 4 channels of light dimming, 8 equipment outlets and several macros, along with adafruit io feeds and mem usage has been a steady 8 percent and cpu usage negligable.

Got called to work out of town and forgot to order my pH probe, so when it finally gets here I will load 3.0 alpha and test the acid range of pH driver in freshwater!

:-) Thats nice to here . I hope you got value for your money from this build. We (reef-pi comunity) certainly got a whole lotta help from your guidance.

 

[Bigtrout]

:) Thats nice to here . I hope you got value for your money from this build. We (reef-pi comunity) certainly got a whole lotta help from your guidance.

Thanks!

I have a great controller for the money! Rivals any 1000 dollar reef controller for less than 20 percent of the cost. Its fun to build and tinker with as well!

If reef pi alerts me early or helps me avert just one major tank emergency(you know the stuck heater, ph bomb etc etc) it will have paid for itself!

With my leds lighting glowing brightly and dimming on schedule, i think all the neighbors think im growing something that ends with eed!!!

 

[Bigtrout]

Meanwhile pwm profile enhancements are in progress... first stage is to have dedicated api for pwm profiles.. and implement the current features with new gears (similar to HAL overhaul). Here are some graphs of the diurnal, auto and fixed profile in action with different time period and min/max threshold

One of the thing I pay attention to is if the min/max threshold is preserved across threshold, and in correct fashion. Here is an example of diurnal setting with min -max set to 9-77 . Seems like reef-pi is doing the right thing here...

more to come.. this is the feature that will unlock fine grained light control (30 min or 15 interval settings), wave makers etc. If any of you have some information on how to generate those curves (reef crest for wave maker for example), please share those, it will be tremendously useful

I dont know how to make the curve but heres a pic of a graph of actual sun output...its a nice parabola...with finer lighting control I can get close enough!

 

[Ranjib]

I dont know how to make the curve but heres a pic of a graph of actual sun output...its a nice parabola...with finer lighting control I can get close enough!

This is super duper helpful. Can you link the source? I tried getting this data without any luck..

I can take care of the curve. Dealing with time series analysis and building graphs (or breaking down existing graphs) is something i do as part of my job. If you are curious about the details, we can either find a suitable function (cubic spline or some forms of bezier) that represent this curve (this one looks typical sine curve to me), or break it down into smaller pieces and find suitable functions for individual sections (piece wise bezier/b-spline etc). I'll add this as a new profile and report back :0)
thank you again,

 

[trackerit]

This is super duper helpful. Can you link the source? I tried getting this data without any luck..

I can take care of the curve. Dealing with time series analysis and building graphs (or breaking down existing graphs) is something i do as part of my job. If you are curious about the details, we can either find a suitable function (cubic spline or some forms of bezier) that represent this curve (this one looks typical sine curve to me), or break it down into smaller pieces and find suitable functions for individual sections (piece wise bezier/b-spline etc). I'll add this as a new profile and report back :0)
thank you again,

@Ranjib prometheus its avaliable? How activated it?

 

[Bigtrout]

This is super duper helpful. Can you link the source? I tried getting this data without any luck..

I can take care of the curve. Dealing with time series analysis and building graphs (or breaking down existing graphs) is something i do as part of my job. If you are curious about the details, we can either find a suitable function (cubic spline or some forms of bezier) that represent this curve (this one looks typical sine curve to me), or break it down into smaller pieces and find suitable functions for individual sections (piece wise bezier/b-spline etc). I'll add this as a new profile and report back :0)
thank you again,

Ask and ye shall recieve.
Heres the link to the research

https://www.researchgate.net/figure...nd-northern-hemisphere-regions_fig1_297675120

 

[Ranjib]

@Ranjib prometheus its avaliable? How activated it?

Yes :-). In 3.0 prerelease you have to click on the Prometheus checkbox under Configuration -> Settings page and reload reef-pi. Once that happens, reef-pi will provide all metrics under /x/metrics endpoint. which is then you can configure in Prometheus for scraping. Finally, grafana is configured against Prometheus to fetch and chart the centrally collected data.
Let me know if you need any help with this. If theres any interest, i'd be happy to post detailed end to end setup instruction.

 

[trackerit]

Yes :-). In 3.0 prerelease you have to click on the Prometheus checkbox under Configuration -> Settings page and reload reef-pi. Once that happens, reef-pi will provide all metrics under /x/metrics endpoint. which is then you can configure in Prometheus for scraping. Finally, grafana is configured against Prometheus to fetch and chart the centrally collected data.
Let me know if you need any help with this. If theres any interest, i'd be happy to post detailed end to end setup instruction.

Thanks, if you can post a guide of how, i will be happy [emoji2]

 

[trackerit]

I have installed the version 3.0, in picoboard, i so happy, ph module work ok, 1wire ok, pwm native ok, 9684pwm works fine, i test 0,1 of pi, and one external p9684 0,1,2,3 works ok, i love its

 

[Bigtrout]

Yes :). In 3.0 prerelease you have to click on the Prometheus checkbox under Configuration -> Settings page and reload reef-pi. Once that happens, reef-pi will provide all metrics under /x/metrics endpoint. which is then you can configure in Prometheus for scraping. Finally, grafana is configured against Prometheus to fetch and chart the centrally collected data.
Let me know if you need any help with this. If theres any interest, i'd be happy to post detailed end to end setup instruction.

Interest!!!

 

[trackerit]

I have installed the version 3.0, in picoboard, i so happy, ph module work ok, 1wire ok, pwm native ok, 9684pwm works fine, i test 0,1 of pi, and one external p9684 0,1,2,3 works ok, i love its

I know i know, [emoji2] sorry is pca9685

 

[Bigtrout]

Reef-pi 3.0 alpha 2 loaded and configured to give it a run.

So far so good, temps sensors, light pwm, equipment all working. Ph board configured and reading -32768 when no probe connected and with the probe pin shorted out reading close to 0. Yay! The phboard @Jonathan Troutt built for me works....

Now to order a ph probe, any suggestions?

 

[Ranjib]

Reef-pi 3.0 alpha 2 loaded and configured to give it a run.

So far so good, temps sensors, light pwm, equipment all working. Ph board configured and reading -32768 when no probe connected and with the probe pin shorted out reading close to 0. Yay! The phboard @Jonathan Troutt built for me works....

Now to order a ph probe, any suggestions?

i have milawukee, american marine pinpoint and atlas scientific ... all are good. Atlas scientific one is running for more than a year now, while the other two are for couple of months.