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

[Matevz Savarin]

Anyone have any thoughts with this one? I may end up with other "Standard black boxes" but I just want to be prepared

I bought 3 amazon lights philzone, they have pwm led drivers, so all you need it to wire pwm and ground to pi..
I have one question about pwm. In the morning my blue channel is on 15% and it works, but in the evening I have them on 20%but they start to flicker.. helps if I increase percentage, but its too bright for moonlight.. Driver is set to 1000hz any ideas why this happens?

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

I bought 3 amazon lights philzone, they have pwm led drivers, so all you need it to wire pwm and ground to pi..
I have one question about pwm. In the morning my blue channel is on 15% and it works, but in the evening I have them on 20%but they start to flicker.. helps if I increase percentage, but its too bright for moonlight.. Driver is set to 1000hz any ideas why this happens?

Flicker is due to drivers not delivering enough power at the set %; the power delivery/pwm on these lights is pretty janky. The fact that it works on 15 but not at 20 is interesting. If you manually set to 20 does it still flicker? Or does it only flicker when it ramps down to 20% or 0%?

My viparspectra will flicker but only when ramping down from 1% to 0; the last 10-15 sec prior to lights cutting off (0) they'll flicker.

 

[Matevz Savarin]

They turn on at9%, but when percentage goes down by the hour or so from 35 to 20 they flicker, if I turn them on 25 its ok.. strange..in the morning its ok..

 

[Ranjib]

I've always shied away from including a ph sensor due to the high cost for little perceived value, but with the ADC i could use cheap chinesium sensor+board kits for 20€ and maybe upgrade to a better probe later, how practicable is that?

Or would that be so useless that i shouldn't even bother?

I am concerned about the quality of readings from such setup, but don’t have data to back this up. If you end up setting this up, It will be awesome if you share your findings.

 

[theatrus]

I've always shied away from including a ph sensor due to the high cost for little perceived value, but with the ADC i could use cheap chinesium sensor+board kits for 20€ and maybe upgrade to a better probe later, how practicable is that?

Or would that be so useless that i shouldn't even bother?

From experience, the super cheap import sensors have terrible stability - you will probably need to figure in recalibration every week or so. I wouldn't use it as an active control element (CO2 dosing, calcium reactor), or make any changes based on the readings it gives you without some other test (which you shouldn't be doing anyway - don't chase pH directly). For some trends and basic monitoring with frequent calibration they'll work fine.

 

[pais]

Hello, i've seen you implemented ADS1115 support in your project and that is a great thing. Only thing i want to ask is how many bits of data does the ADS1115 sends to the rpi via i2c ? Which is the format of that bits ? I've seen the reading from the pi is the bare fraction of voltage. I wanted also to point out that i tried the economic kind of analog ph-meter with very very poor results, i think for interference but im not sure.

 

[Ranjib]

Hello, i've seen you implemented ADS1115 support in your project and that is a great thing. Only thing i want to ask is how many bits of data does the ADS1115 sends to the rpi via i2c ? Which is the format of that bits ? I've seen the reading from the pi is the bare fraction of voltage. I wanted also to point out that i tried the economic kind of analog ph-meter with very very poor results, i think for interference but im not sure.

2 bytes. Here is the code: https://github.com/reef-pi/drivers/blob/master/ads1x15/channel.go#L105

 

[theatrus]

2 bytes. Here is the code: https://github.com/reef-pi/drivers/blob/master/ads1x15/channel.go#L105

16 bits / 2 bytes. The value you get however depends on how you setup the ADC: which reference and which gain setting you use for the conversion.

 

[Mandelstam]

I've just finished getting my lights to work properly with reef-pi. They are led strips and controlled with a mosfet low side driver and pwm signal. When using the pwm from PCA9685 there was a high pitched humming getting louder and louder the more channels that were active. Theatrus helped me by pointing in the pwm frequency direction and after a bit of experimenting I got rid of the humming/noise by changing to hardware pi pwm and setting the frequency to 25kHz (above audible range). It's the same issue I was prepared for for my pwm controlled fans and had been planning to use the pi's 2 pwm channels for.

This is not a reef-pi issue really but the limitations on pwm frequency on the PCA9685 board (max 1kHz) is a bit of a bummer.

For my fans I think I'll just add another pi zero with reef-pi and run them off that.

Other than that a huge shout out to all the devs, setting up and running reef-pi has been a breeze if you don't count the noob mistakes from my part.

 

[Zippyfear]

Someone may have asked this, but - When I went from 3.4 to 3.5, the temp scaling seems to be gone, and it just goes from 0 to 80 now.. is there some way to get that back?

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

Someone may have asked this, but - When I went from 3.4 to 3.5, the temp scaling seems to be gone, and it just goes from 0 to 80 now.. is there some way to get that back?

Yes. This is a new bug. It’s being fixed in 3.6.

 

[Schreiber]

I'm nearly done building my canopy for the new tank & am excited to try out 3.5!!! Thanks @Ranjib & @Michael Lane for all the incredible work!

One question I had before getting into it this weekend- Is there any sort of documentation for using the ADS1015 with Reef Pi? I'm super interested in the LUX meter aspect of it. I just finished building a hybrid T5/LED fixture & the bulbs for it should be arriving next week. I have no idea what to expect when I flip that switch & I'm trying not to bleach everything out.

 

[Stephen2]

Hi
Has anyone tried to connect a zetlight to the reef pi?
I saw it has a 3.5 mm input jack. Almost like the kessils

 

[Des Westcott]

Hi
Has anyone tried to connect a zetlight to the reef pi?
I saw it has a 3.5 mm input jack. Almost like the kessils

Not that I'm aware . It is supposed to me "Apex Ready" so it should be able to work - even if it needs something intermediary.

 

[Smin]

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

Hi Ranjib, just wondering if you managed to reproduce this? if not I'll have another go at setting it up and capture what is going on.
The alternative would be being able to have more setpoints during the day in the interval setting or having the lights fade between the setpoints automatically if either is possible?

 

[KorD]

Read though most of this thread.. I don’t know if I’m over thinking this or just don’t understand..
I’m great at tinkering, and building, but lost as all get out.

Who want to build me one
Just want one that will probe for Ak/Ca/Mg

If anyone has one, send me a list and setup step by step of what’s need and what goes we’re..
I’ll send you my Halloween candy in trade!

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

Read though most of this thread.. I don’t know if I’m over thinking this or just don’t understand..
I’m great at tinkering, and building, but lost as all get out.

Who want to build me one
Just want one that will probe for Ak/Ca/Mg

If anyone has one, send me a list and setup step by step of what’s need and what goes we’re..
I’ll send you my Halloween candy in trade!

Don’t try to read this thread to understand how to build one. Instead reads someone’s build thread. I had no clue when I started and I now have two controllers running. I don’t know anyone probing for ak/ca/mg though. I’m not sure there is a sensor for that.

 

[KorD]

Don’t try to read this thread to understand how to build one. Instead reads someone’s build thread. I had no clue when I started and I now have two controllers running. I don’t know anyone probing for ak/ca/mg though. I’m not sure there is a sensor for that.

Good call.. I'll have to search something up. I'm not sure if I want is possible, but it is worth a shot in trying to figure it out

 

[92Miata]

Good call.. I'll have to search something up. I'm not sure if I want is possible, but it is worth a shot in trying to figure it out

The trident/khdirector are both basically doing hanna-checker style liquid tests. Suck in water, baseline reading, add a reagent, do an LED based colorimeter comparison.

Not aware of any probes for those things.

 

[KorD]

The trident/khdirector are both basically doing hanna-checker style liquid tests. Suck in water, baseline reading, add a reagent, do an LED based colorimeter comparison.

Not aware of any probes for those things.

Looks I got some inventing to do.. LOL