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

Michael Lane

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 11, 2018
Messages
677
Reaction score
1,123
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Will do, thanks.
Another question... I guess the optical sensors need light to work properly? My sump area is very dark and the sensor can detect when the water drops but it does not detect when the sensor is submerged again, so that the ato pump stays on.
The optical sensors typically use an integrated IR LED, so they do not need to be in a lit environment. I'm not sure why your sensor does not recognize when the water level is raised again. Usually, the problem with optical sensors is the other way around, a droplet stays on the sensor which causes it to not recognize the level drop.
 

Michael Lane

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 11, 2018
Messages
677
Reaction score
1,123
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Ranjib,

Tried to program my feeder to run on day 1,3,5,7 but it appears that day 7 is not allowed. Is this a bug or am my missing something? Please see the attached screenshots.

Also, I've noticed that some time back you have removed use of fractional seconds to full second stepping for Duration on Dosing.
Would it be possible to reenable this option as it provides more accurate means of tuning to say 1ml, 2ml, 3ml. Speed by itself does not always allow for this level of tuning. In the past I was able to select say 1.2 or 1.5, etc. seconds for duration and in conjunction with speed adjustment this worked really well. In the current one second increments I can never calibrate my pumps to 1ml, or 2ml, etc exact dosage. Instead setting turns out to be anything but like 1.3, 1.6, etc.

day 1357.JPG error day 1357.JPG
Cron uses 0 as the starting number for days of the week, so 7 would be out of range. Take a look at crontab.guru to test some expressions (even though it does parse 7 as Sunday...).
 

bishoptf

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
1,344
Reaction score
1,720
Location
Missouri
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I keep getting this error, been running over 1 week now:
1D0DC6E1-B484-47AD-96B7-4B8D74EFE806.png

The error is there for a few seconds, then goes away, and will reappear later.

What version of reef-pi are you running, several us have had temp probe issues with the latest 3.4 code, you can roll back to 3.3 and see if it corrects the issue, that is what I did and I have had no more temp probe issues. Not sure if @Ranjib or anyone ever figured out the issue in 3.4 but several of us were seeing the issue.

:)
 

bishoptf

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
1,344
Reaction score
1,720
Location
Missouri
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have some time on my hands and thinking about trying to do something in regards to documentation. I know we have the build threads but thought it might be nice to have something per function that goes over all of the options and what and how they can be used. Does anyone know if this has been started or if anyone is working on something like this?

Would this be something that others would be interested in? Would love to have it on a wiki page but I guess those are old school but that would be a nice way to host it and allow updates.

Let me know what folks think!

:)
 

waynel

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
May 22, 2020
Messages
264
Reaction score
266
Location
Kentucky
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
What version of reef-pi are you running, several us have had temp probe issues with the latest 3.4 code, you can roll back to 3.3 and see if it corrects the issue, that is what I did and I have had no more temp probe issues. Not sure if @Ranjib or anyone ever figured out the issue in 3.4 but several of us were seeing the issue.

:)
Yes, 3.4
 
OP
OP
Ranjib

Ranjib

7500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 16, 2016
Messages
9,825
Reaction score
17,041
Location
Pleasant Hill, Concord
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Will do, thanks.
Another question... I guess the optical sensors need light to work properly? My sump area is very dark and the sensor can detect when the water drops but it does not detect when the sensor is submerged again, so that the ato pump stays on.
Nope, I don’t think optical sensors require light. They should work in dark places just fine.
 
OP
OP
Ranjib

Ranjib

7500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 16, 2016
Messages
9,825
Reaction score
17,041
Location
Pleasant Hill, Concord
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have some time on my hands and thinking about trying to do something in regards to documentation. I know we have the build threads but thought it might be nice to have something per function that goes over all of the options and what and how they can be used. Does anyone know if this has been started or if anyone is working on something like this?

Would this be something that others would be interested in? Would love to have it on a wiki page but I guess those are old school but that would be a nice way to host it and allow updates.

Let me know what folks think!

:)
I would super duper appreciate any and every help on documentation side. Let me know if I can be of any help. It will be awesome if we can do it in a way where community users can incrementally add their learnings
 

GaryE

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 12, 2020
Messages
992
Reaction score
1,384
Location
Coatesville, Indiana
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I would super duper appreciate any and every help on documentation side. Let me know if I can be of any help. It will be awesome if we can do it in a way where community users can incrementally add their learnings

Can you setup a wiki type site for docs?
 

robsworld78

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 14, 2020
Messages
952
Reaction score
1,280
Location
Edmonton, Canada
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have some time on my hands and thinking about trying to do something in regards to documentation. I know we have the build threads but thought it might be nice to have something per function that goes over all of the options and what and how they can be used. Does anyone know if this has been started or if anyone is working on something like this?

Would this be something that others would be interested in? Would love to have it on a wiki page but I guess those are old school but that would be a nice way to host it and allow updates.

Let me know what folks think!

:)

Here's a manual myself and a few others have helped with, it's not perfect but has been helpful to quite a few. You can edit it directly or post on a wiki if you want.

 

bishoptf

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
1,344
Reaction score
1,720
Location
Missouri
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Here's a manual myself and a few others have helped with, it's not perfect but has been helpful to quite a few. You can edit it directly or post on a wiki if you want.


Thanks I am thinking about doing a wiki where we could pour everything into one location and have easy access and updates. This will help get things going, once I have things working I will post the details and hopefully it will only get better and better and be a useful resource for anyone wanting to go down the #reefpi path.

:)
 
Last edited:

waynel

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
May 22, 2020
Messages
264
Reaction score
266
Location
Kentucky
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Twice now, the ATO from my reef-pi has ran much longer than it should. The first time it ran for over a minute, the second, it ran for a little over 20 seconds. It's not the float sticking. My setup:
Reef-pi 3.4 running on pi zero w. ATO consists of small 120VAC submersible pump powered by reef-pi via adj power strip, marinedepot float switch, and a 5 gallon bucket of RODI water. I have reef-pi configured to check the float switch every 7 seconds and to alert me if runs more than 10 seconds.
In testing, this worked great, and typically, 7 seconds is enough time to top off from evaporation with the pump I'm using. When I got alerted the first time, it kept running for a little over 1 minute and I got alerted multiple times. I got to the tank shortly after, and the float was up, so I don't know what happened. The second time, I was in the house when I got alerted, ran to the tank, the float again was up, but it was still pumping, the water level was well above where it should be. It stopped after running a little over 20 seconds.

Can reef-pi handle checking every second? I'm wondering if it's not checking often enough our quickly enough. Can it miss a cycle?

I've also added a second float and set reefpi to monitor it - if the water level gets to high, it should detect it on this float, and I have a macro it will trigger to shut off power to the ATO pump and return pump.
 

bishoptf

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
1,344
Reaction score
1,720
Location
Missouri
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Twice now, the ATO from my reef-pi has ran much longer than it should. The first time it ran for over a minute, the second, it ran for a little over 20 seconds. It's not the float sticking. My setup:
Reef-pi 3.4 running on pi zero w. ATO consists of small 120VAC submersible pump powered by reef-pi via adj power strip, marinedepot float switch, and a 5 gallon bucket of RODI water. I have reef-pi configured to check the float switch every 7 seconds and to alert me if runs more than 10 seconds.
In testing, this worked great, and typically, 7 seconds is enough time to top off from evaporation with the pump I'm using. When I got alerted the first time, it kept running for a little over 1 minute and I got alerted multiple times. I got to the tank shortly after, and the float was up, so I don't know what happened. The second time, I was in the house when I got alerted, ran to the tank, the float again was up, but it was still pumping, the water level was well above where it should be. It stopped after running a little over 20 seconds.

Can reef-pi handle checking every second? I'm wondering if it's not checking often enough our quickly enough. Can it miss a cycle?

I've also added a second float and set #reefpi to monitor it - if the water level gets to high, it should detect it on this float, and I have a macro it will trigger to shut off power to the ATO pump and return pump.

Which version of #reefpi are you using? I have a new setup with ATO and its been solid (*cough* except for when I forget to turn it off during my water change, oops). I have a pretty small usb based pump and have mine setup to run for 17secs and thats all it runs. I have three floats on the ATO, 2 in the sump, one primary and then a backup as a failsafe, then there is an additional float in the ATO container that will turn the ATO off when the water level gets low. I have an additional ATO circuit in the ATO container that lights a LED when the water level gets low to alert me to fill the container (it also emails me).

Seems like something is not quite right with the float switches, at least that is my guess I have yet to see mine run past the set time its pretty consistent right now. What kind of switches are you using and how did you mount them? You can look at my build thread to see how I have mine mounted, I used cpvc and the tube is dry to keep water from the wire connection on the back end, I have several of mine fully submerged and I wanted to keep the wire side connections dry.

Thats my best guess at the moment, someone else may have some better ideas of things to check/verify.

:)
 
Last edited:

bishoptf

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
1,344
Reaction score
1,720
Location
Missouri
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Which PH module is being used the most these days, that is one of the last additions and wasn't sure which ones tend to be the ones to use?

Thanks
:)
 
OP
OP
Ranjib

Ranjib

7500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 16, 2016
Messages
9,825
Reaction score
17,041
Location
Pleasant Hill, Concord
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Twice now, the ATO from my reef-pi has ran much longer than it should. The first time it ran for over a minute, the second, it ran for a little over 20 seconds. It's not the float sticking. My setup:
Reef-pi 3.4 running on pi zero w. ATO consists of small 120VAC submersible pump powered by reef-pi via adj power strip, marinedepot float switch, and a 5 gallon bucket of RODI water. I have reef-pi configured to check the float switch every 7 seconds and to alert me if runs more than 10 seconds.
In testing, this worked great, and typically, 7 seconds is enough time to top off from evaporation with the pump I'm using. When I got alerted the first time, it kept running for a little over 1 minute and I got alerted multiple times. I got to the tank shortly after, and the float was up, so I don't know what happened. The second time, I was in the house when I got alerted, ran to the tank, the float again was up, but it was still pumping, the water level was well above where it should be. It stopped after running a little over 20 seconds.

Can reef-pi handle checking every second? I'm wondering if it's not checking often enough our quickly enough. Can it miss a cycle?

I've also added a second float and set reefpi to monitor it - if the water level gets to high, it should detect it on this float, and I have a macro it will trigger to shut off power to the ATO pump and return pump.
1s check interval for ATO is OK, as long as you don't have many other things running at same smaller duration. Best is to check the CPU usage graph and its safe as long as cpu usage is not going above 70%.
Theres was a bug in ATO's disable on alert feature, which I fixed recently. Before that feature would work only on the first hour of ATO setup :-( . Its fixed and released now ..
 

waynel

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
May 22, 2020
Messages
264
Reaction score
266
Location
Kentucky
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Which version of #reefpi are you using? I have a new setup with ATO and its been solid (*cough* except for when I forget to turn it off during my water change, oops). I have a pretty small usb based pump and have mine setup to run for 17secs and thats all it runs. I have three floats on the ATO, 2 in the sump, one primary and then a backup as a failsafe, then there is an additional float in the ATO container that will turn the ATO off when the water level gets low. I have an additional ATO circuit in the ATO container that lights a LED when the water level gets low to alert me to fill the container (it also emails me).

Seems like something is not quite right with the float switches, at least that is my guess I have yet to see mine run past the set time its pretty consistent right now. What kind of switches are you using and how did you mount them? You can look at my build thread to see how I have mine mounted, I used cpvc and the tube is dry to keep water from the wire connection on the back end, I have several of mine fully submerged and I wanted to keep the wire side connections dry.

Thats my best guess at the moment, someone else may have some better ideas of things to check/verify.

:)
I'm running 3.4, installed about 3 weeks ago. The two float switches I'm using are this type (https://www.marinedepot.com/marine-...agnetic-mounting-bracket-for-auto-top-off-ato). I did change my reef-pi ato settings to check the switches every 1 second.

I'll get some screen shots of my settings and pictures of the setup this evening, maybe you'll see something I'm doing incorrectly or a better way to do it.
 

waynel

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
May 22, 2020
Messages
264
Reaction score
266
Location
Kentucky
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
1s check interval for ATO is OK, as long as you don't have many other things running at same smaller duration. Best is to check the CPU usage graph and its safe as long as cpu usage is not going above 70%.
Theres was a bug in ATO's disable on alert feature, which I fixed recently. Before that feature would work only on the first hour of ATO setup :-( . Its fixed and released now ..

I'll check the CPU utilization this evening, but pretty sure it's staying below 20%. I have ti running my viparspectra lights, 3 temp sensors, 2 float switches, and my ADJ power strip.

I'm running 3.4 which I downloaded about 3 weeks ago. Is that the latest? Is it possible to update to get any patches directly to a running version? Just do another wget -c https://github.com/reef-pi/reef-pi/releases/download/0.5/reef-pi-x.x-pi0.deb and dpkg to install it over top the running version?

I'm not using the disable on alert feature at the present. I just have one ATO added to check the first float switch once per second and it enables the outlet assigned to the ATO pump if the switch is enabled (indicating low water level), and once the water level rises enough to raise the float, that ATO check should turn off that outlet. I've added a second ATO check for the second float as a backup - if the water level goes too high, it will turn off the ATO pump outlet and the main return pump and alert me via email that there's an issue.

These are working, it's just that the first ATO setup runs too long sometimes, like the reefpi isn't seeing that float switch is up again. I've checked the switch and it's not stuck when this happens. The water level is getting way above the switch when this happens, enough that my backup switch is engaging. Is there a log I can look at that shows what reef-pi is seeing/doing?
 

waynel

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
May 22, 2020
Messages
264
Reaction score
266
Location
Kentucky
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
One other issue that just came up - I started getting alerts:
Temperature sensor failure. Error: First line of device file does not ends with YES

Temperature sensor failure. Error: open /sys/bus/w1//devices/28-3c01b556cc6e/w1_slave: no such file or directory

Getting these for all three temp probes, started about 1 hr ago. Getting them every few seconds. I'm at work, called my wife and walked her through rebooting the reef-pi, still getting the errors.
 

bishoptf

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
1,344
Reaction score
1,720
Location
Missouri
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
One other issue that just came up - I started getting alerts:
Temperature sensor failure. Error: First line of device file does not ends with YES

Temperature sensor failure. Error: open /sys/bus/w1//devices/28-3c01b556cc6e/w1_slave: no such file or directory

Getting these for all three temp probes, started about 1 hr ago. Getting them every few seconds. I'm at work, called my wife and walked her through rebooting the reef-pi, still getting the errors.

The temp probe issue is a known 3.4 issue (its just a nag and shouldnt cause any issues), I would try rolling back to 3.3, it will solve your temp issue and maybe give a different result on your ATO issue, easy enough to try. @Ranjib can correct me but if you copy your database out and then downgrade to 3.3 you should be able to restore the database and no have to re-create everything, I think that should work for 3.4 -> 3.3.

For looking at the log you want to use journalctl for that, see this link - https://reef-pi.github.io/additional-documentation/troubleshooting/

:)
 
Last edited:
Back
Top