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

[Cali9dub]

Wonder if any of you gurus could take a new vertex cerebra VII and get it functioning? They are out of business and never finished the raspberry pi based controller. It has a brain, touchscreen and controllable powerbar. I know a guy who got stuck with quite a few and might let someone get one to see what they can do. Just curious ....

 

[Alaa]

Hi
@Ranjib, @Michael Lane, @BenB
Thanks for all your help, i connected a second PCA9685 as suggested earlier and it is working fine, i was not brave to use 5V from the goby hat since it is the max PCA can handle so i thought it is best to use 3.3V as standard.

 

[Ranjib]

Wonder if any of you gurus could take a new vertex cerebra VII and get it functioning? They are out of business and never finished the raspberry pi based controller. It has a brain, touchscreen and controllable powerbar. I know a guy who got stuck with quite a few and might let someone get one to see what they can do. Just curious ....

We can tinker with it and salvage what's usable. It will be really cool if we can get reef-pi running in one of those. I dont know how many custom components it has, and how easy it will be to get those working with reef-pi. If its a lot of work, its probably not worth , since theres only a handful of these units present. But without testing out, its hard to say how much effort involved

 

[Ranjib]

Hi
@Ranjib, @Michael Lane, @BenB
Thanks for all your help, i connected a second PCA9685 as suggested earlier and it is working fine, i was not brave to use 5V from the goby hat since it is the max PCA can handle so i thought it is best to use 3.3V as standard.

woot :-) , keep us posted

 

[Des Westcott]

HELP!!

Got up this morning and the reef-pi is dead. Nothing running. NOt sure when this happened. Was fine last night at around 23H00 but no Alerts from the 05H30 water change that should have happened this morning.

Rebooted the Pi and got the following from the screen connected to it.

Has the card died?

 

[Ranjib]

HELP!!

Got up this morning and the reef-pi is dead. Nothing running. NOt sure when this happened. Was fine last night at around 23H00 but no Alerts from the 05H30 water change that should have happened this morning.

Rebooted the Pi and got the following from the screen connected to it.

Has the card died?

From the log it looks like Sd card got corrupted

 

[Des Westcott]

From the log it looks like Sd card got corrupted

Thanks Ranjib

That's what I surmised. In the process of setting up a new card.

I really wish I had got round to backing up / making a .img of the old card.

Live and learn I guess.

 

[redwayjay]

There you go.

Thanks, Des. Out of curiosity besides the tinkering factor do you think this will still be viable option to Apex once the Coralife Hydros 4 is released?

 

[BenB]

Can someone tell me what the resistance is? 1K or 10K??

It is in the light guide but not discribed: https://learn.adafruit.com/reef-pi-lighting-controller/circuit-construction

 

[Des Westcott]

From the log it looks like Sd card got corrupted

Bought a new card and started it from scratch. All up and running again.

I must say, Raspbian does seem a lot more responsive on my touch screen. Who know how long this card was on it's way out.

I bought two identical cards. Once I'm happy with the setup, I will cut an .img and flash the other card and keep it as a spare. Should have done that ages ago.

 

[Des Westcott]

Thanks, Des. Out of curiosity besides the tinkering factor do you think this will still be viable option to Apex once the Coralife Hydros 4 is released?

I'm afraid I am not familiar at all with the Apex unit at all. In South Africa, they are prohibitively expensive. I doubt there are more than a handful in the whole country.

Apart from the tinkering factor, that is my main reason for going the reef-pi route.

 

[lilgrounchuck]

Bought a new card and started it from scratch. All up and running again.

I must say, Raspbian does seem a lot more responsive on my touch screen. Who know how long this card was on it's way out.

I bought two identical cards. Once I'm happy with the setup, I will cut an .img and flash the other card and keep it as a spare. Should have done that ages ago.

Probably not too long. It’s not like mechanical drives that die a slow death. SDcards, m2, SSDs usually just go belly up all of a sudden. The new card may just have have better r/rw than the last one.

 

[Schreiber]

Can someone tell me what the resistance is? 1K or 10K??

It is in the light guide but not discribed: https://learn.adafruit.com/reef-pi-lighting-controller/circuit-construction

Based on the color code, it's a 1K. I haven't built a moonlight controller myself to confirm that's correct though.

 

[Matevz Savarin]

I have found out one very odd thing.. If I connect led pwm signal wire to raspberry then my ph rises to 12;) I control leds with ir520 mosfet. This was just a test, so I can build new light fixture. So seams like something is making noise hire.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Is there a way to go manually via terminal and delete an ATO from reefpi? Trying to avoid resetting config.

I can't seem to be able to delete ATOs from the UI. I've tried untying them from any equipment and sensors and still won't delete.

 

[Urtoo]

Can you remove rows until ATO is cleared and then ReAdd the panels you want?

 

[Bzar]

agree they are pretty good and affordable alternative. but i doubt they can be as precise as stepper motors, which is what we need for very precise volume dosing to experiment with things involving titration, other than general dosing.
In fact after running ATO via DC motor based peristaltic pumps and using tropical marine all in one, i think i will not need stepper based dosing pumps purely for dosing regimen. The ATO based dosing is pretty effective when I know whats my ATO consumption at weekly cadence

Any progress on stepper interface? With this type of control we could do so much :) Easy reliable precise motors for things like skimmer cup cleaners, dosing, auto feeders, maybe even a reefpi based reefbot for water testing :)

 

[redwayjay]

I'm afraid I am not familiar at all with the Apex unit at all. In South Africa, they are prohibitively expensive. I doubt there are more than a handful in the whole country.

Apart from the tinkering factor, that is my main reason for going the reef-pi route.

Hopefully the Hydros from Corallife will make its way to S.A., looks promising.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Hopefully the Hydros from Corallife will make its way to S.A., looks promising.

Took a look at it and it seems pretty neat and definitely more affordable than the Apex, but slightly less features (unless you get Control 4 which is $400). That being said, if you've got a bit of DIY in you, I would argue ReefPi blows the pants off of anything on the market as far as features vs price. Granted if you want set it and forget it, Hydros is definitely a great alternative.

Curious to see the price of the add-ons/sensors.

 

[redwayjay]

Took a look at it and it seems pretty neat and definitely more affordable than the Apex, but slightly less features (unless you get Control 4 which is $400). That being said, if you've got a bit of DIY in you, I would argue ReefPi blows the pants off of anything on the market as far as features vs price. Granted if you want set it and forget it, Hydros is definitely a great alternative.

Curious to see the price of the add-ons/sensors.

For 399 you get hydros 4 one power switch box pH probe and a temp sensor.
The 4 power switch I thought was suppose to be like 35.00.
The wave control is 299.00
ATO I heard was around 100.00