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

[Carlo Rios]

Hi don't mean to hack the post but I have questions about temperature sensors. I change my raspberry pi 4 b to an 3b+ because of all the temp sensor problems I been having. My Question is which sensors are better or what brand, fellow reef pi refers have had success whit. And witch one work better whit Pi 3+ thanks. And Reef Pi made my life easier. And my animals life too.

 

[DeeEmm]

The DS18B20 seems to be the most commonly used type, although it would appear that some additional water-proofing is a good idea.

 

[theatrus]

Hi don't mean to hack the post but I have questions about temperature sensors. I change my raspberry pi 4 b to an 3b+ because of all the temp sensor problems I been having. My Question is which sensors are better or what brand, fellow reef pi refers have had success whit. And witch one work better whit Pi 3+ thanks. And Reef Pi made my life easier. And my animals life too.

Reef-Pi works with DS18B20 1-wire digital temperature probes. There are a lot of probes, but they're a crap-shoot how well they work especially at the common import pricing. Most of the sensor ICs contained in these probes are fake:

GitHub - cpetrich/counterfeit_DS18B20: How to tell original from fake DS18B20 temperature sensors.

How to tell original from fake DS18B20 temperature sensors. - cpetrich/counterfeit_DS18B20

github.com

Previously, the "Drok" probes from Amazon (with the 10ft red silicone jacket) were the go to probes,; they used good steel caps (some sensors were not at all stainless steel), good quality cables, and real sensor ICs.

I wanted to do some value add screening on sensors since a lot of people had problems with sensors in general, so I bought a new lot of Drok probes from Amazon (20 or so) and... ended up having Drok cables with fake sensors AND with out of spec temperature performance (1C out with self-heating). (See: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/r...controller-boards.499890/page-34#post-7998672 )

Most people use the fake sensors as its all there is available, and most actually do actually work, but you may have to try a few to sort out ones which are good in your setup yourself, and verify the temperature performance is correct (which you shouldn't have to do, but here we are). I want to make some better probes with actual Maxim chips, but its going to take a bit longer to qualify them. I'd subscribe to the thread if you're interested.

 

[Ranjib]

Hi don't mean to hack the post but I have questions about temperature sensors. I change my raspberry pi 4 b to an 3b+ because of all the temp sensor problems I been having. My Question is which sensors are better or what brand, fellow reef pi refers have had success whit. And witch one work better whit Pi 3+ thanks. And Reef Pi made my life easier. And my animals life too.

Ds18b20 from drok or canakit. We have better experience with them, but nothing is full proof. Counterfeit chips are found in some of them still ..

 

[Kurtzisa]

Your hysteresis is 0 in the picture, I do not think that will work, maybe better change it to 0.1 like Ranjib mentioned!

I cannot change the hysteresis, all the numbers I enter, are saved as zero... a DB wipe possible solution?

 

[Ranjib]

I cannot change the hysteresis, all the numbers I enter, are saved as zero... a DB wipe possible solution?

It’s is a possible solution but It’s also a nuclear option and I will not recommend it since I don’t understand what’s going on, hence not sure whether that will fix it. But if your config is disposable , do it, you can always keep the old dB aside, instead of just deleting it and restore if needed.

 

[youngreefer10g]

error when enabling display:
{"error":"open /sys/class/backlight/rpi_backlight/bl_power: no such file or directory"} | HTTP 404

 

[Ranjib]

error when enabling display:
{"error":"open /sys/class/backlight/rpi_backlight/bl_power: no such file or directory"} | HTTP 404

do you have touchscreen (pi touch) installed?

 

[youngreefer10g]

do you have touchscreen (pi touch) installed?

im using a monitor. connected via hdmi

 

[youngreefer10g]

the 18 pin IC socket is sold out could i buy this one https://www.adafruit.com/product/2206 for the power strip?

 

[theatrus]

the 18 pin IC socket is sold out could i buy this one https://www.adafruit.com/product/2206 for the power strip?

No, as the width is twice as wide (jumps to 0.6" commonly at 20 pins and up). You can grab a relevant DIP socket from anywhere, e.g. https://www.digikey.com/product-det...amp-connectors/1-2199298-5/A120350-ND/5022042

 

[DeeEmm]

just bumping this.

Finally getting around to testing the input triggering a macro but in testing I have found that I am not getting a reliable signal.

Then I found this comment...



Are the pins set with the internal Pull-DOWN enabled?

Meaning that I need to raise input potential to trigger the input?

/DM

Are the any guides for connecting inputs? I cannot see anything in the documentation

/DM

 

[Carlo Rios]

Reef-Pi works with DS18B20 1-wire digital temperature probes. There are a lot of probes, but they're a crap-shoot how well they work especially at the common import pricing. Most of the sensor ICs contained in these probes are fake:

GitHub - cpetrich/counterfeit_DS18B20: How to tell original from fake DS18B20 temperature sensors.

How to tell original from fake DS18B20 temperature sensors. - cpetrich/counterfeit_DS18B20

github.com

Previously, the "Drok" probes from Amazon (with the 10ft red silicone jacket) were the go to probes,; they used good steel caps (some sensors were not at all stainless steel), good quality cables, and real sensor ICs.

I wanted to do some value add screening on sensors since a lot of people had problems with sensors in general, so I bought a new lot of Drok probes from Amazon (20 or so) and... ended up having Drok cables with fake sensors AND with out of spec temperature performance (1C out with self-heating). (See: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/r...controller-boards.499890/page-34#post-7998672 )

Most people use the fake sensors as its all there is available, and most actually do actually work, but you may have to try a few to sort out ones which are good in your setup yourself, and verify the temperature performance is correct (which you shouldn't have to do, but here we are). I want to make some better probes with actual Maxim chips, but its going to take a bit longer to qualify them. I'd subscribe to the thread if you're interested.

Funny I had just purchased a set of Drok" probes from Amazon and they are giving me problems. It looks like I just buy original chips and make my own or buy some Adafruit to see if those are any good but I think I'll just build my own seems to be the best route for me this way It will be legit. Tan is for the info guy and again keep up the excellent work.

 

[Des Westcott]

just bumping this.




Are the any guides for connecting inputs? I cannot see anything in the documentation

/DM

Im using one of Michael Lane's hats which uses the pull-ups built into the Pi if that helps. I have no additional resistors on any of my 3 x ATO systems and they work great.

 

[Des Westcott]

I'm getting strange "Temp sensor failure" Alerts for all 3 of my temps since last night. They seem to have dropped out at roughly the same time. Been on 3.5 for 5 days now.

Seems like all 3 sensors are just unavailable. My Temp setups don't have any Sensors listed anymore and I can't find any to edit existing ones or set up new.

 

[Des Westcott]

I'm getting strange "Temp sensor failure" Alerts for all 3 of my temps since last night. They seem to have dropped out at roughly the same time. Been on 3.5 for 5 days now.

Seems like all 3 sensors are just unavailable. My Temp setups don't have any Sensors listed anymore and I can't find any to edit existing ones or set up new.

Reloading and Rebooting reef-pi didn't help anything, But I have now done a hard power cycle and it seems to have made things work again.....

 

[theatrus]

Reloading and Rebooting reef-pi didn't help anything, But I have now done a hard power cycle and it seems to have made things work again.....

I suspect one of the sensor probes "latched up" and held the bus, so none of the remaining sensors could respond. Killing the power fixed it of course.

You could use a Raspberry Pi GPIO pin to control the power to the sensors so you can at least soft restart it when it does fail. Normally, the Maxim sensors shouldn't do this (they can only hold the bus for short bursts).

 

[Ranjib]

im using a monitor. connected via hdmi

got it. that brightness can not be controlled by reef-pi. reef-pi display features are only for pi touch.

 

[Ranjib]

just bumping this.




Are the any guides for connecting inputs? I cannot see anything in the documentation

/DM

https://raspberrypihq.com/use-a-pus...Raspberry Pi's general,pin 1 using a resistor. does this help? you can also search for how to connect float switches to pi. or check the design of dfrobot's photoelectric sensor breakout board.

 

[robsworld78]

Reloading and Rebooting reef-pi didn't help anything, But I have now done a hard power cycle and it seems to have made things work again.....

I never liked a single bus for multiple sensors especially as there's lots of junk, anything can happen. A few months ago I looked into multiple buses and to my surprise it's really easy to setup, just need to change the config.txt file. Then you can connect one sensor to one pin, if one goes down the others won't. The beauty is all sensors show up in reef-pi from as many buses as you want, I've tested 3.

Multiple 1-Wire Buses on the Raspberry Pi · The Odd Bit

The DS18B20 is a popular temperature sensor that uses the 1-Wire protocol for communication. Recent versions of the Linux kernel include a kernel driver for this protocol, making it relatively convenient to connect one or more of these devices to a Raspberry Pi or similar device. 1-Wire devices...

blog.oddbit.com