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

[peejay]

Can anyone tell me how to get the raspberry pi camera to work in Reef-Pi? I have checked that it is functioning correctly on the Pi but when I click on the Camera tab in Reef-Pi it just says "Something went wrong. TypeError: Cannot read property '0' of undefined " And then it lists a lot of stuff "in t. in div." etc.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[Ranjib]

Can anyone tell me how to get the raspberry pi camera to work in Reef-Pi? I have checked that it is functioning correctly on the Pi but when I click on the Camera tab in Reef-Pi it just says "Something went wrong. TypeError: Cannot read property '0' of undefined " And then it lists a lot of stuff "in t. in div." etc.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I have not tested the camera subsystem in 3.0 release. I was hoping to remove it going forward. I have not used it recently (most of my use cases are offloaded to dedicated cameras). If possible, try alternatives.
That being said, we have not done anything actively to break the camera feature as well. My guess will be some small changes (like raspistill command line argument etc) is causing the issue. I can take a look and fix it if you are if you plan to use it. Without continuous use it becomes harder for me to keep the functionality well tested. For most other modules I'm able to personally test them since I am actively using them across my tanks.

 

[Ranjib]

Problen fixed i did as you proposed Des. Thank you very much

sorry for the annoyance there, its an ui bug, we'll be fixing it in 3.1

 

[Ranjib]

Hi dear reefers
Just DL latest version of reef- pi, and trying to set up heater control. But getting this message Hysteresis value must be provided. Can you explain to me what to type in this box. I do not understand the meaning off this box :)

Best Regards
Michael

Thd hysteresis value reduces the flapping of equipment (repeated on/off). When you set hysteresis 0.2 and heater threshold to 78, ree-pi will only switch on/off heater when the temperature goes beyond (78+/- 0.2). You should be able to play with the values and see the effect in heater usage chart.

 

[peejay]

I have not tested the camera subsystem in 3.0 release. I was hoping to remove it going forward. I have not used it recently (most of my use cases are offloaded to dedicated cameras). If possible, try alternatives.
That being said, we have not done anything actively to break the camera feature as well. My guess will be some small changes (like raspistill command line argument etc) is causing the issue. I can take a look and fix it if you are if you plan to use it. Without continuous use it becomes harder for me to keep the functionality well tested. For most other modules I'm able to personally test them since I am actively using them across my tanks.

I would really appreciate it if you can look into it. I purchased a Pi camera for the job and would like to be able to use it if possible.
Many thanks for your reply.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

I would really appreciate it if you can look into it. I purchased a Pi camera for the job and would like to be able to use it if possible.
Many thanks for your reply.

Honestly, if you can, I would return the pi camera and grab a Wyze from amazon for $24. You will get a more robust camera, with better picture and controls than the pi cam.

I've tried to use the pi cam in 2.4 and it was a huge serource hog and was not worth the problems it caused though the resource drain.

I'd be surprised if there is more than a handful of people that use that functionality of the pi, because there simply much better options out there ie. Wyze.

 

[Des Westcott]

Which of the Wyze cams do you guys recommend?

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Which of the Wyze cams do you guys recommend?

Amazon product

I've got 2 of these. They go on sale from time to time, I grabbed them when they were $20 each.

I also have a Nest cam (mostly for the dog :p). The Nest picture is better, but they're not in the same $$ category. For $24 it's hard, if not impossible, to beat the Wyze.

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

Was wondering if you guys have messed with this before:

Gen 2 Electrically Isolated USB EZO™ Carrier Board | Atlas Scientific

The Gen 2 Electrically Isolated USB EZO™ Carrier Board Allows you to connect your Atlas Scientific circuit directly to your computer or Raspberry Pi.

www.atlas-scientific.com

Converts straight from BNC to USB. Not cheap though. I was thinking of picking a few up and trying to make a sort of modular plug-n-play monitoring system (I am shying away from the breadboards for now lol).

The adapter says it's compatible with their 'EZO' line but it appears just to be a BNC interface. So I'm not sure if it will work with other probes or not -- and their branding/marketing is so terrible it's pretty hard to determine what, exactly, that thing works with anyways (they have different colored PCBs in their marketing to demonstrate the products it works with yet you can only order one color PCB for that adapter).

 

[Ranjib]

Was wondering if you guys have messed with this before:

Gen 2 Electrically Isolated USB EZO™ Carrier Board | Atlas Scientific

The Gen 2 Electrically Isolated USB EZO™ Carrier Board Allows you to connect your Atlas Scientific circuit directly to your computer or Raspberry Pi.

www.atlas-scientific.com

Converts straight from BNC to USB. Not cheap though. I was thinking of picking a few up and trying to make a sort of modular plug-n-play monitoring system (I am shying away from the breadboards for now lol).

The adapter says it's compatible with their 'EZO' line but it appears just to be a BNC interface. So I'm not sure if it will work with other probes or not -- and their branding/marketing is so terrible it's pretty hard to determine what, exactly, that thing works with anyways (they have different colored PCBs in their marketing to demonstrate the products it works with yet you can only order one color PCB for that adapter).

This is the same thing with USB adapter. It may make the circuit little easier (though ezo circuit only needs female female jumpers) but its pricy. 51$ just for the carrier+voltage isolator, add actual ezo circuit, which 40$, so 90$ just on the ciruit. Its almist 3 times more expensive that ph board and 20$ than the stock ezo circuit. You loose an usb port, which is generally useful for setup /troubleshooting etc.

The plug and play format is pretty nice. I 'll check out the driver. I am hesitant to add USB based drivers due to their smaller ecosystem, but if theres more apetite for it.. then why not.

 

[Ranjib]

Amazon product

I've got 2 of these. They go on sale from time to time, I grabbed them when they were $20 each.

I also have a Nest cam (mostly for the dog :p). The Nest picture is better, but they're not in the same $$ category. For $24 it's hard, if not impossible, to beat the Wyze.

Amazon product
Amazon product
Amazon product


Let me know how it goes. I'm using wyze currently. I keep looking for RTSP support, so i may switch to something else in future

 

[peejay]

Honestly, if you can, I would return the pi camera and grab a Wyze from amazon for $24. You will get a more robust camera, with better picture and controls than the pi cam.

I've tried to use the pi cam in 2.4 and it was a huge serource hog and was not worth the problems it caused though the resource drain.

I'd be surprised if there is more than a handful of people that use that functionality of the pi, because there simply much better options out there ie. Wyze.

Unfortunately I cant use a wifi camera in my setup. I have some Wyze cameras and agree they are very good.

 

[raketemensch]

Woo, @Michael Lane has hats back in stock, I ordered one this morning.

ML reef-pi hat goby by ML Reefkeeping on Tindie

ML reef-pi breakout hat for aquariums (goby)

www.tindie.com

 

[Octocat]

Woo, @Michael Lane has hats back in stock, I ordered one this morning.

ML reef-pi hat goby by ML Reefkeeping on Tindie

ML reef-pi breakout hat for aquariums (goby)

www.tindie.com

Thanks for the reminder- I just ordered one as well!

Also, huge thanks to @Ranjib, @Michael Lane, and everyone else contributing to the reef-pi project! I set mine up using the guides on adafruit, and have been up and running for a few months with little trouble.

That said, I am running into one problem that I really don't know how to solve. I run metal halide lighting with two 250-watt IceCap ballasts. The problem is, whenever the lights are on, I stop getting readings from my temperate sensors, and my ph probes give inaccurate readings (using interfaces from @Michael Lane). The affect is immediate when the lights come on. This is not a stray voltage in the tank issue, rather is seems the ballasts create some interference across the power line. I was hoping someone might have some insight into what is happening here.

 

[Ranjib]

Thanks for the reminder- I just ordered one as well!

Also, huge thanks to @Ranjib, @Michael Lane, and everyone else contributing to the reef-pi project! I set mine up using the guides on adafruit, and have been up and running for a few months with little trouble.

That said, I am running into one problem that I really don't know how to solve. I run metal halide lighting with two 250-watt IceCap ballasts. The problem is, whenever the lights are on, I stop getting readings from my temperate sensors, and my ph probes give inaccurate readings (using interfaces from @Michael Lane). The affect is immediate when the lights come on. This is not a stray voltage in the tank issue, rather is seems the ballasts create some interference across the power line. I was hoping someone might have some insight into what is happening here.

Anyway you can isolate the power line from rest of the setup. i.e. run the lights from a separate socket/extension?

 

[buddy.]

Thanks for the reminder- I just ordered one as well!

Also, huge thanks to @Ranjib, @Michael Lane, and everyone else contributing to the reef-pi project! I set mine up using the guides on adafruit, and have been up and running for a few months with little trouble.

That said, I am running into one problem that I really don't know how to solve. I run metal halide lighting with two 250-watt IceCap ballasts. The problem is, whenever the lights are on, I stop getting readings from my temperate sensors, and my ph probes give inaccurate readings (using interfaces from @Michael Lane). The affect is immediate when the lights come on. This is not a stray voltage in the tank issue, rather is seems the ballasts create some interference across the power line. I was hoping someone might have some insight into what is happening here.

I had the exact same problem. As soon as I turned on the MH it would knock out all of my sensors. My solution was to go to LEDs in the end.

 

[daveCB]

Ranjib - I will be creating a new thread for my Reef-Pi re-build. My original implementation was a complete DIY hat. Its been working very well for a year, but I now have invested in Mikes Reef-Pi Hat Goby and also the Mars-Aqua board. I am looking forward to the rebuild and will have some questions.

Concerning V3, I have a question; What are Jacks vs Inlets and Outlets? Super simple question that I can not seem to locate an answer for. When would you use Jacks as opposed to the other two?

 

[dmolavi]

Happy Holidays everyone!!

I posted this on the slack channel, but there doesn't seem to be much (non-bot) traffic there.

I have a lot of time off and want to get the DLI Web Switch Pro working in ReefPi. The TPLink addition actually makes this a lot easier (DLIs authentication is simpler, and the interface is all RESTful, so it shouldn't be too hard).

But, I can't find any docs anywhere on how to get a dev environment setup that will allow for this. I see the standard dev environment docs, but doing a make/etc doesn't seem to pull in anything new that I do. What additional steps do I need to do?

Thanks :)

 

[hhaase]

I wonder, for those having issues with the halides and such, if a isolation transformer on the lamps may be what you need? Pretty common piece of equipment in older arcade games and pinball machines, they are used to isolate the control electronics from the CRT tubes of the TV's.

-Hans

 

[Octocat]

Anyway you can isolate the power line from rest of the setup. i.e. run the lights from a separate socket/extension?

I tried running an extension cord into my kitchen to see if a running off a different circuit would fix the problem. Unfortunately, it did not:(

I had the exact same problem. As soon as I turned on the MH it would knock out all of my sensors. My solution was to go to LEDs in the end.

The thought has crossed my mind. As is, I can't use the pi as a heater controller, which is a big problem. But, I'd really like to make the halides work.

I wonder, for those having issues with the halides and such, if a isolation transformer on the lamps may be what you need? Pretty common piece of equipment in older arcade games and pinball machines, they are used to isolate the control electronics from the CRT tubes of the TV's.

-Hans

Thanks for sharing this! If I end up finding a solution, I'll be sure to share it here.