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

[b4tn]

Does PH send data to adafruit IO? Just added a PH board and I’m not getting any data send to IO

Figured it out. Had to many feeds :)

 

[Gav0]

Welcome to r2r. Can you share what you see in i2c detect and the driver configuration for pca9685 ?

Nevermind it was on my end had a loose ground working like a charm now thanks @Ranjib

 

[Alaa]

Hi

Have not posted for a long time, but following the great progress, upgraded to reef-pi 4 with no troubles and working great. Many thanks to @Ranjib and all the others for their effort and endless support.

For my new project I’m planning to add a battery backup for my tank and auto frozen food feeding system



I came with the following design, I need advice and suggestion from those with more knowledge before I start ordering parts.

I plan to run 2 reef-pi the main one and a second one for data collection and frozen food feeder control, I’m also thinking to keep both PIs powered by the battery for assurance for continuous work and not to keep my battery without use for a long time as we don’t experience frequent or long power outage (the main reason I wanted to start this is to prepare for vacation where I have to leave the tank for 3-4-weeks).

I figure that the pi will not use much power and is the battery is easily maintained by the charger.

For circulation I will connect my backup return pump and one wave maker (both run on 24V)

I will also keep the fridge for frozen food feeding connected to the backup system to preserve the food in case of power outage, It is current rated for 0.05 A and 65W so I think.

The attached diagram shows the way I figured to setup my battery backup

All ideas and suggestions are welcomed and sorry for the long post

Regards

 

[sfgabe]

Ranjib,

Thank you for adding the MQTT support . I am having issues when I enable and configure it. Not sure if I am doing something wrong but I have same results across 3 separate Reef-Pi's

The Mosquito server is working fine, I have about 60 devices talking over MQTT, just can't get the Reef-Pi to communicate.

Any ideas....

Thanks Mark

I've also run into this a few times, at random I think. What worked for me is a reboot / wait a bit / reload in config panel. It seems to retry on it's own if it doesn't connect right away, I wonder if it's overloading the MQTT server or something?

 

[zab34]

This is probably a stupid question. I was setting up my Reef-pi a few months ago but it has since taken a backseat. I am attempting to get it going again.

I have two float switches set up. How should the programming on the dashboard look for these? I guess Ideally I would use on to control the on/off and one as an emergency shut off?

Any ideas?

 

[magikfly]

Hey guys, I had a reef-pi set up and running like a dream for a few weeks. Today I finally got around to building an enclosure and since then reef-pi has been generating incorrect pH values. Polling the probe straight from I2C shows 8.1 (correct) but reef-pi seems to insist its 7.7! Disabling and going to the calibration screen in reef-pi also shows the correct values in the "current readings" field. Anyone know what's wrong here?

 

[Alaa]

Hey guys, I had a reef-pi set up and running like a dream for a few weeks. Today I finally got around to building an enclosure and since then reef-pi has been generating incorrect pH values. Polling the probe straight from I2C shows 8.1 (correct) but reef-pi seems to insist its 7.7! Disabling and going to the calibration screen in reef-pi also shows the correct values in the "current readings" field. Anyone know what's wrong here?

Hi
That is strange, I have the same problem since yesterday but with a different story.
My ph was reading 8 and doing ok, but since it is over 10 months since last calibration I decided to calibrate
The process went smooth and reading after calibration from the calibration fluids were 7.02 and 9.98
When I fixed the prob in the tank same place as before I got reading of 7.6, I decided to wait and as I still got the same readings today I did testing with 2 different test kits and and reading were 8
The prob is reading the test solutions (new pack) accurately but when I return it to the tank I still got the reading 7.7 even if I change the position
I hope other may be able to help

 

[magikfly]

Hi
That is strange, I have the same problem since yesterday but with a different story.
My ph was reading 8 and doing ok, but since it is over 10 months since last calibration I decided to calibrate
The process went smooth and reading after calibration from the calibration fluids were 7.02 and 9.98
When I fixed the prob in the tank same place as before I got reading of 7.6, I decided to wait and as I still got the same readings today I did testing with 2 different test kits and and reading were 8
The prob is reading the test solutions (new pack) accurately but when I return it to the tank I still got the reading 7.7 even if I change the position
I hope other may be able to help

Did you verify those are the values the probe is generating? In my case I think reef-pi is messing with the generated values. At least, the ones that get logged to the dashboard and the prometheus metrics feed

 

[Alaa]

Did you verify those are the values the probe is generating? In my case I think reef-pi is messing with the generated values. At least, the ones that get logged to the dashboard and the prometheus metrics feed

I don't know how to differntiate i tested with standard solution of both 7 and 10 and the readings on reef pi were accurate then when I return to tank it reads 7.6 to 7.7 and as I said I tested tanks water with 2 different test kits and both read around 8, so I think those are the values generated by the prob and not related to reef pi

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

I don't know how to differntiate i tested with standard solution of both 7 and 10 and the readings on reef pi were accurate then when I return to tank it reads 7.6 to 7.7 and as I said I tested tanks water with 2 different test kits and both read around 8, so I think those are the values generated by the prob and not related to reef pi

If your probe is reading test solution accurately, I would say that your tank is closer to 7.7 than it is to 8.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

So im waiting for my Robotank board to come, but curious about using it with my Icecap gyre controller that needs 0-10V input. Ive already figured out i can make a cable like this to get the 2 0-10V signals to my icecap controller.

Alternate Gyre Mode Modified Cable for Gyre Interface Module

This 6.5ft cable allows you to run your Maxspect Gyre in both forward and reverse direction by using one full Variable Speed port on your Apex to connect two 0-10v signals to a single IceCap Gyre Interface Module. When using the Neptune Apex with the Gyre Interface module it allows complete...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

But being a reefpi newbie im not 100% sure about this description and how you do it in ReefPi

This cable allows you to run your Maxspect Gyre in both forward and reverse direction by using one full Variable Speed port on your Apex to connect two 0-10v signals to a single IceCap Gyre Interface Module.

On your APEX, you will need to set up two Variable Speed outlets to control a single Gyre pump. The first variable speed outlet will control the speed of the pump. You can set speeds ranging from 20% to 100%. The second variable speed outlet will control the direction of the pump. Set it to 0% and the pump will rotate in a forward direction. Set it to 100% and the pump will rotate in a reverse direction.

Note: Requires a full Variable Speed port on your APEX Controller

Not having anything plugged in, i assume i use the light controls and i can do something like this to be able to control both the speed and rotation? I dont quite understand how it works electronically, if its only a 0-10V input, how are there two controls(speed + direction) being applied from the Apex? Polarity? I'm hoping i can control both speed + direction, but if i can only apply speed i'd still be happy.

Also looking at that cable trying to zoom in on the picture it appears there's 4 pins on the cat5 end connected? Voltages + 2 grounds? I cant really tell though from the image. If it is 4, both grounds would just go to the same sleeve on the jack so seems redundant? Not sure if any of you have one of these types of cables or more details, i assume i just need to wire the 0-10V to the tip and ring, and the sleeve to gnd like this

 

[elysics]

if its only a 0-10V input, how are there two controls(speed + direction) being applied from the Apex? Polarity? I'm hoping i can control both speed + direction, but if i can only apply speed i'd still be happy.

It's not only a 0-10V signal, it's two 0-10V signals on one of those apex ports. So one for speed, one for direction, though my guess is that you don't really need 0-10V for direction, only 0V or 10V. But with the robotank you are spoiled with so many signal outputs anyway, that you should have 2 free 0-10V channels. One channel at the tip, one at the ring, ground at the sleeve. But definitely don't wire tip and ring together, without knowing the innards of that pump controller, it's a possibility that that could fry it or damage the pump somehow.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Yea i need to ask on the Coralvue page i think to understand what the inputs are.
There is only 1 physical port to plug into, but in the software there is Input_1 and Input_2. My assumption was that there were 2 0-10V coming in, on the tip and ring, one for Input_1 and one for Input_2.

I found video showing the cat5 connection end, and there is definately 4 pins connected, i assume the 2 black are going to the same ground (sleeve) and the red to either tip or ring. Maybe its just cheaper for them to do that to use the same cat5 end setup for single or Y split cables.

I'm a bit more lost than i was before, i need to figure out if the 2 0-10V inputs can independently control each pump, or if i can only communicate with both pumps at once, which is what im trying to get past. For whatever reason their stupid controller software only allows you to set settings per controller, not per pump. So i cant have 1 pump at 50% reverse and 1 pump at 100% forward. Only both at 50% reverse, or both at 100% forward. Needless to say its very annoying and limiting to what patterns you can create with 2 gyre pumps.

 

[marekd1]

I've also run into this a few times, at random I think. What worked for me is a reboot / wait a bit / reload in config panel. It seems to retry on it's own if it doesn't connect right away, I wonder if it's overloading the MQTT server or something?

thanks I will try this. Since the message said that MQTT was not loaded that would indicate that it will not retry. I least that was my thinking

 

[dmolavi]

Its the Digital Loggers web power switch: https://www.digital-loggers.com/lpc.html . Its one of the beefiest, made in USA power strip :-) . As of now I think only I and @dmolavi are using this. Let us know how it goes if any of you give this a try

@Ranjib how do I use this driver? What do I select for the GPIO pin, etc?

 

[dmolavi]

@Ranjib how do I use this driver? What do I select for the GPIO pin, etc?

Ah, the pin is the outlet number, zero indexed. Got that.

Now...let's say I want to set a GPIO high (or low) depending on whether an outlet is on or off to drive LEDs...any way to do that?

 

[marekd1]

thanks I will try this. Since the message said that MQTT was not loaded that would indicate that it will not retry. I least that was my thinking

Still no luck on the MQTT. Tried any possible combination and the MQTT fails to initialize. At this point I think there has to be something in the code as all my other MQTT devices are talking without any issues.

 

[marekd1]

thanks I will try this. Since the message said that MQTT was not loaded that would indicate that it will not retry. I least that was my thinking

 

[zab34]

@Michael Lane

using the Jebao slave dosed. Not sure on how to wire the board.
12v for power
cat6 to the jebao
Where are the other 5 pins wires to? All other connection have 4 pins on the hat.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

@Michael Lane

using the Jebao slave dosed. Not sure on how to wire the board.
12v for power
cat6 to the jebao
Where are the other 5 pins wires to? All other connection have 4 pins on the hat.

Do you have Michael lanes dosing board?

pump 5-8 are pwm signals.