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

[Ranjib]

Been testing out the Kasa hs300 powerstrip for few days in my garge tank (test tank). Its been working mostly, all the outlet controls (equipment on/off) are working as expected, the current monitoring bits are also working mostly but i see occassional failure in network communications, but it mostly benign and at worst will cause few missing data points in the chart. I am seeing sometime the tplink driver is failing to register during reload, which is something I have to take a look at. . I suspect this due to the network or boot sequence (reef-pi trying to connect the hs300 device before network is up etc.

Here is a screen shot of the setup, note, all current monitoring is modeled as ph sensor

I think the usage is measured in miliamps, plug5, bottom right corner is running heater and I can see the usage spiking to 240 everytime it turns on. The controller (reef-pi) itself is drawing 24 miliamps. This build is power by a 12V 3A power adapter and circuit involves a pi zero, one temp sensor, one fload switch, one kessil control (two lm2596) and an hs300 powerstrip. I'll try to post a photo of the test tank soon.
Overall, I think the tplink driver is usable, but could use some more hardening.

 

[Bigtrout]

Been testing out the Kasa hs300 powerstrip for few days in my garge tank (test tank). Its been working mostly, all the outlet controls (equipment on/off) are working as expected, the current monitoring bits are also working mostly but i see occassional failure in network communications, but it mostly benign and at worst will cause few missing data points in the chart. I am seeing sometime the tplink driver is failing to register during reload, which is something I have to take a look at. . I suspect this due to the network or boot sequence (reef-pi trying to connect the hs300 device before network is up etc.

Here is a screen shot of the setup, note, all current monitoring is modeled as ph sensor

I think the usage is measured in miliamps, plug5, bottom right corner is running heater and I can see the usage spiking to 240 everytime it turns on. The controller (reef-pi) itself is drawing 24 miliamps. This build is power by a 12V 3A power adapter and circuit involves a pi zero, one temp sensor, one fload switch, one kessil control (two lm2596) and an hs300 powerstrip. I'll try to post a photo of the test tank soon.
Overall, I think the tplink driver is usable, but could use some more hardening.

This is fantastic news. I have an extra pi zero laying around, maybe I need to get an HS300 to play around with. If this becomes reliable its an easy way for people to get a working reef pi without messing around with mains voltages.

 

[youngblood421]

OKAY SO I LEAVE TOMORROW TO GO OUT OF TOWN AND I NEED THIS CONTROLLER WORKING TO HELP MY WIFE WHILE IM GONE WITH THE TANK. SO I HAVE THE RASPBERRY PI ZERO W with the ML Hat and i have a new ADJ SRP8 outlet when i turn the outlets on and off on the reef-pi screen the lights on the HAT turn on and off so i think that part is setup correctly. im assuming either the wiring is wrong on the serial or i messed up elsewhere or a setting maybe? any ideas?

 

[Ranjib]

OKAY SO I LEAVE TOMORROW TO GO OUT OF TOWN AND I NEED THIS CONTROLLER WORKING TO HELP MY WIFE WHILE IM GONE WITH THE TANK. SO I HAVE THE RASPBERRY PI ZERO W with the ML Hat and i have a new ADJ SRP8 outlet when i turn the outlets on and off on the reef-pi screen the lights on the HAT turn on and off so i think that part is setup correctly. im assuming either the wiring is wrong on the serial or i messed up elsewhere or a setting maybe? any ideas?

Do you have a thread where I can check how is your setup ?

 

[youngblood421]

Do you have a thread where I can check how is your setup ?

yeah let me update everything and ill send it

 

[youngblood421]

Do you have a thread where I can check how is your setup ?

Hey everyone starting a reef pi build

looks ok to me. double check the uln2803 direction, its not very clear from the image. Given you are soldering the IC directly on the permaproto board, fixing any mistake will be lot of work Nothing appears to be touching there I made a mistake and got impatient my nice soldering stuff is at...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Mad_Deuce]

Hi Ranjib what the fq rate are you controlling your kessil light at. I only need 3 pwm control device so getting a 16 channels ic seems waste of room. So I try to figure if I can run the kessil with software pwm. As of now I'm running at 100hz but it not quite stable.

 

[Ranjib]

Hi Ranjib what the fq rate are you controlling your kessil light at. I only need 3 pwm control device so getting a 16 channels ic seems waste of room. So I try to figure if I can run the kessil with software pwm. As of now I'm running at 100hz but it not quite stable.

320 hz and intensity can only be dimmed till 13. Below that it starts to Flickr. I have also noticed if the circuit involves other sensors/components , you may have to add extra passives.

 

[Ernie E]

Hey guys,

Has anyone tested the accuracy of the ds18b20 temperature probe? I just got it hooked it up to reef-pi and I'm getting a steady temperature of 76.6F. I have a cheapo digital temperature probe that I've been using for a few months now that is currently reading 79.0.

Discrepancy of 2.4F

Not really sure which one is accurate.

 

[Bigtrout]

Hey guys,

Has anyone tested the accuracy of the ds18b20 temperature probe? I just got it hooked it up to reef-pi and I'm getting a steady temperature of 76.6F. I have a cheapo digital temperature probe that I've been using for a few months now that is currently reading 79.0.

Discrepancy of 2.4F

Not really sure which one is accurate.

I had a calibrated temp probe controller that i used to control heaters before reef pi, i tested the ds18b20 DROK probes against it and my 4 ds18b20 were all within .2 degrees of the calibrated probe, and all within .1 degrees of each other.

If you have doubts. Make an ice water bath, see how close each of them read to 32f.

 

[Ernie E]

I had a calibrated temp probe controller that i used to control heaters before reef pi, i tested the ds18b20 DROK probes against it and my 4 ds18b20 were all within .2 degrees of the calibrated probe, and all within .1 degrees of each other.

If you have doubts. Make an ice water bath, see how close each of them read to 32f.

Just looked up the ice bath technique. Will try that with both of them tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[Bigtrout]

Just looked up the ice bath technique. Will try that with both of them tomorrow. Thanks!

I think a feature of reef pi 3.0 is the ability to calibrate the temp sensors but @Ranjib could elaborate better on that.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

I had a calibrated temp probe controller that i used to control heaters before reef pi, i tested the ds18b20 DROK probes against it and my 4 ds18b20 were all within .2 degrees of the calibrated probe, and all within .1 degrees of each other.

If you have doubts. Make an ice water bath, see how close each of them read to 32f.

That's interesting, I did it this morning, and it seems to work as intended. Confirmed my suspension that one of my probes wasn't as sensitive as the other and took longer to get down to the known temp and still wasn't as on, but still within <0.5F

Temp1 seems to acclimate faster and is more "accurate" than two. Might have to grab 2 more probes and run two of the best and others as back up.

 

[Ernie E]

@Ranjib

Hey, not sure if you already know but if have spaces in your device name, telemetry to adafruit spits back a URL not found error and the feed doesn't update.

I had named my temperature probe "Reef Temperature" and while it did initially create the feed on adafruit IO, it never updated it. I then renamed it to "Reef" and the error went away and the updates started passing.

I'm on 2.5 pi3.

On another note: I also tried 3.0 pre-alpha 2 and the PWM hz function wasn't taking. I would update the PI PWM hz setting in the configuration and reload but the setting never updated, so I reverted back to 2.5.

 

[tankaholic]

Is there a general shopping list available?
I was going to do a build but issues came up but wanting to get this going again

 

[Ranjib]

@Ranjib

Hey, not sure if you already know but if have spaces in your device name, telemetry to adafruit spits back a URL not found error and the feed doesn't update.

I had named my temperature probe "Reef Temperature" and while it did initially create the feed on adafruit IO, it never updated it. I then renamed it to "Reef" and the error went away and the updates started passing.

I'm on 2.5 pi3.

On another note: I also tried 3.0 pre-alpha 2 and the PWM hz function wasn't taking. I would update the PI PWM hz setting in the configuration and reload but the setting never updated, so I reverted back to 2.5.

The adafruit io issue is a regression. I'll file a bug to track this.
I am yet to pull in the pwm fixes that were shipped in 2.5 to 3.0 branch, so that bug is expected. I'll make sure we have it fixed in next 3.0 prereleases.
Thank you so much for testing and reporting these.

 

[Ranjib]

Is there a general shopping list available?
I was going to do a build but issues came up but wanting to get this going again

Check out my list on Amazon

a.co

I just noticed i have messed up the BOM link during the recent website update. I'll make it visible there.

 

[Ranjib]

Check out my list on Amazon

a.co

I just noticed i have messed up the BOM link during the recent website update. I'll make it visible there.

Darn. I just checked, and most of the items from the list is gone. Not sure if this is due to missing items. Give me some time to consolidate this list again. I have to check first if the links in the individual guides (they are direct amazon links of specific parts) are still intact. If they are, we have to just consolidate them.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

How are you guys mounting temp and pH probes in your tanks/sumps?

 

[Ranjib]

How are you guys mounting temp and pH probes in your tanks/sumps?

I’m using a 3d printed contraption. Before that I was using a bracket from intank.