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

Yov · Sep 23, 2020

Mandelstam said:
You're probably right above the temp reading being affected by the evaporation... And maybe cooling it could cause further condensation issues too... Good point. I'm going to have separate temp sensors in the tank as well though so it wouldn't be too big of an issue in my case. But the fan cooling the sensor might be counter productive.

I guess I'll just have to play around with it when it's all set up and see how it behaves.

It wil have the same effect as when blowing on youre hand when it's wet! You instantly feel cooler there. Also becous the constant flow of air i think you wil have some sort of "micro" climate that tends to be les humid, misreading the info and then maybe driving up the humidity in the rest of the vivarium thinking "its to dry".

Ranjib · Sep 23, 2020

DeeEmm said:
Is it possible to trigger a macro from an external input or sensor value?

I note that it's possible to create a simple driver using a text file to read an input into the system, but is it possible to use this in an if-this-then-that type of scenario. Or even do the same from an input from the GPIO.

I have a built in switch on the case I'm using and I'm thinking of using it to trigger things like feeding mode. So when the switch is pressed it can trigger a 'feed' macro or start a timer that calls a feed macro.

The macro would turn my power heads off, reduce return pump flow (more on that later), turn my roll filter off and optionally other stuff.

TIA

/DM

Should be. Model the switch as ato sensor with a target macro

DeeEmm · Sep 23, 2020

Ranjib said:
Should be. Model the switch as ato sensor with a target macro

Cool, except I cannot see a way to select a macro, only 'equipment'.

Screen Shot 2020-09-23 at 6.31.59 pm.png

Weasel1960 · Sep 23, 2020

acanfor420 said:
hello
new to the hobby and have looked at the apex system setup but its out of the question.
Been trying to read thru the multi hundred pages. does get over whelming
Is the a shopping list of items needed? like what probes are the best? what connectors are best?
is there a compiled shopping list?

I did the same a few weeks ago. Started reading the first 20 and last 20 pages. Ranjib is very helpful with questions as are many others

Ranjib · Sep 23, 2020

DeeEmm said:
Cool, except I cannot see a way to select a macro, only 'equipment'.

Use 3.5

DeeEmm · Sep 23, 2020

acanfor420 said:
hello
new to the hobby and have looked at the apex system setup but its out of the question.
Been trying to read thru the multi hundred pages. does get over whelming
Is the a shopping list of items needed? like what probes are the best? what connectors are best?
is there a compiled shopping list?

I've just jumped in to this as well. It appears there there are some items that will work 'out of the box' whereas other items may need some configuration / assembly to get working. There's also the option of using a number of reef-pi 'hats' to help make the connection process easier.

Things I have noted so far:

The preferred temp probes are DS18B20's
For PWM control the PCA9685 16 channel driver seems to be the one to use
A variety of relay options are available for equipment control (such as heaters) but all require some assembly. There are however some pre-packaged solutions available too such as Robo Tank.
I used the typical Arduino 8 way relay boards but I'll need to make an interface to get them to work.

I guess it depends on how much actual DIYing you want (or are able) to do. The 'Hats' make it more of a plug and play exercise or just roll up your sleeves and dive in.

There's a list of build threads here - https://reef-pi.github.io/additional-documentation/resources/ I got a pretty good idea of what was involved by reading through these

EDIT: Just reading the changelog and note that there are some smart outlets supported -

Smart outlets & powerstrip support. (TPlink-HS110, HS103, HS300), with current monitoring capabilities

DeeEmm · Sep 23, 2020

Ranjib said:
Use 3.5

Ahhh, perfect. Thank you :)

Working now.

Think I must have used an old guide. (D'oh )

DeeEmm · Sep 23, 2020

Ranjib said:
I have released reef-pi 3.4. Following is the summary:

...I have also added a new subsystem called "journal" for manual testing like workflow where users want to record specific values on-demand, manually. At this time its API ready with minimal UI support. i.e users can only create/update/delete the journal parameters (e.g. alk test results) but not enter their values via UI (API is done, UI still pending). We intend to wrap up the UI in next release.

Ranjib, Is there any more info on this feature? Does this allow us to be able to manually journal test results?

I currently use Aquarimate Live and would love to be able to junk it in favour of being able to log test results on my Reef-Pi and chart them on the dashboard.

~~Is there any more info on your API?~~

EDIT: Just found the link in the footer ;) :)

Smin · Sep 23, 2020

Hi @Ranjib
Thanks for the update, it's great!

I have a suggestion for lighting. At the moment I have a DIY light with 6 channels 3 different whites and RB(+V)G(+Aqua).
At the moment I have each channel set up as a jack on a PCA9685, then I have created a light for each channel eg:
1) Cool white 2)Warm White 3) Very Warm white 4)Red 5)Green 6) Blue
I then set the timings for each channel throughout the day.

However, while messing around with the new profiles I found that I can create mixes eg
Sunrise, Afternoon, Moon by creating a Jack that has multiple pins on the PCA9685.
When I add that Jack I can set the values for each pin and then get reefpi to dim - this seemed great.
After doing sunrise I went on to do Morning.
What I found is reefpi always sets the channels to the last light in the list even if the channels should be on in another combination light.
Would there a way in the future to stop reefpi iterating through all the channels and taking the last set of values?

If I've not made sense I'll try to take some screenshots!

Mandelstam · Sep 23, 2020

Yov said:
It wil have the same effect as when blowing on youre hand when it's wet! You instantly feel cooler there. Also becous the constant flow of air i think you wil have some sort of "micro" climate that tends to be les humid, misreading the info and then maybe driving up the humidity in the rest of the vivarium thinking "its to dry".

Yes, didn't think about the cooling aspect. Not really a big issue for me as I'm using other temp sensors as well and can just disregard that one. The air should have the same humidity though as the rest of the viv. At least as the other parts of the viv that's open and subject to the same air circulation. Of course you can have pockets where air is stagnant and where humidity can rise much higher.

Starting to get too off topic here I think lol. I'll get my build thread up quite soon and I can start reporting my experiences there instead.

Ranjib · Sep 23, 2020

Smin said:
Hi @Ranjib
Thanks for the update, it's great!

I have a suggestion for lighting. At the moment I have a DIY light with 6 channels 3 different whites and RB(+V)G(+Aqua).
At the moment I have each channel set up as a jack on a PCA9685, then I have created a light for each channel eg:
1) Cool white 2)Warm White 3) Very Warm white 4)Red 5)Green 6) Blue
I then set the timings for each channel throughout the day.

However, while messing around with the new profiles I found that I can create mixes eg
Sunrise, Afternoon, Moon by creating a Jack that has multiple pins on the PCA9685.
When I add that Jack I can set the values for each pin and then get reefpi to dim - this seemed great.
After doing sunrise I went on to do Morning.
What I found is reefpi always sets the channels to the last light in the list even if the channels should be on in another combination light.
Would there a way in the future to stop reefpi iterating through all the channels and taking the last set of values?

If I've not made sense I'll try to take some screenshots!

Give me some time to test and reproduce this. If you are correct it’s a bug. I’ll get back to you shortly.

andieasy · Sep 24, 2020

Hi @Ranjib
Thank you for the Reef-pi, It is really great, very helpful, and makes all things possible and affordable.

i have a suggestion anyway, do you think it is possible to have the temperature set up in certain points? i mean Exactly what we want to see in a range (for example, i like to see it between 24 C to 29 C range).

as you can see here, the range is always start on 0 C, while its never possible to have such condition. it prevent us from seeing the detail of fluctuation. well its just and idea for observational only.
Another one, i think its too long for the time legend.
well just want to share my thought. Once again it is a really great app and thank you for that.

Ranjib · Sep 24, 2020

andieasy said:
Hi @Ranjib
Thank you for the Reef-pi, It is really great, very helpful, and makes all things possible and affordable.

i have a suggestion anyway, do you think it is possible to have the temperature set up in certain points? i mean Exactly what we want to see in a range (for example, i like to see it between 24 C to 29 C range).

as you can see here, the range is always start on 0 C, while its never possible to have such condition. it prevent us from seeing the detail of fluctuation. well its just and idea for observational only.
Another one, i think its too long for the time legend.
well just want to share my thought. Once again it is a really great app and thank you for that.

@andieasy we plan to make this range configurable in future version. The recent change was introduced to fix a different bug

robsworld78 · Sep 24, 2020

Ranjib said:
@andieasy we plan to make this range configurable in future version. The recent change was introduced to fix a different bug

Whatever you fixed seems to have cured that issue I was seeing with 3.4, now I'm back to thinking it was a code issue as it only happened with 3.4 and those who got the error don't get it anymore with 3.5. :) Maybe it only happened with a fresh install of 3.4 (no update) if that's possible.

Matevz Savarin · Sep 25, 2020

Hi all! Its been too long and I totally forgot about pwm lights I recived my 3 black boxes and I will change some leds. I noticed that drivers are pwm driven. There is 3.3v, pwm and ground. So if I wire this to mikes hat this should work. Ok ground and pwm. What do I do with 3.3v coming out of driver? Sorry its been a while..thank you for the help!

waynel · Sep 25, 2020

Des Westcott said:
On another note though, I have also tested the alert feature as a step in a Macro and think it's great. Thanks.

I second this. It fixed my alerting issue for monitoring the level of my topoff water. Now I need to setup and configure dosing.

Matevz Savarin · Sep 26, 2020

as I thought it works like a charm with this drivers, pwm and ground from driver to mikes hat;) ok percentage isnt great from 65% on is same intensity to 100%, but it does turns off and starts at 9%.