I’m good as of now. I’m using this opportunity to build some more pi 3 based systems.
Mostly just trying to mimic the apex. I'd like to get all the features on the basic guide up and running. Just wanted to know if there was cheap enough premade boards or anything that were popular and not overpriced.
There are several vendors that have various levels of builds, robotank - https://www.robo-tank.ca/ leviathan - https://www.leviathanautomation.com/ and probably some others out there...I am not endorsing one over the other but there are several options out there.. :)
I have an unused pi4 high speed (can't remember which exact one, I think 8gb?)
If you want to go down the DIY path, I have some hats that I am working on, just depends on how much stuff you want - I just had some @Michael Lane hats built for spares and some purposes. I will have some boards left over and will sell them. This is @Michael Lane old tindie store that has most of the information - https://www.tindie.com/products/ranthalion/ml-reef-pi-hat-goby/
I have a challenge for you, if you can price a setup basically the equivalent of my controller for cheaper I will give you a set of DIY boards. I think it's impossible no matter how you cut it. An isolated pH circuit alone is $80.
www.robo-tank.ca
You know what, I noticed the pH board was ~$46 up front and I clicked on all the other parts (I thought), didn't realize the carrier board was also $40.I have a challenge for you, if you can price a setup basically the equivalent of my controller for cheaper I will give you a set of DIY boards. I think it's impossible no matter how you cut it. An isolated pH circuit alone is $80.
You have $115 to get all the features.
Reef-pi Deluxe Aquarium Controller - DIY Kit
This is the deluxe controller with pH circuit and includes one 8 outlet AC power bar for Reef-pi fully assembled. Although plug and play you still need to load Reef-pi on your Raspberry Pi and plug it into the controller. The controller board will be moun
Yeah unfortunately that carrier board is important as it does the isolation, you could also use the $28.99 board they have but it has an SMA connector so not as many probes would be compatible without an adapter.
I work with SMA cables every day, everything involved with them starts getting pricey, so I wouldn't bother with that board, adapters would easily bring you back up to $40.
I see what you're saying with the power bar. I moved on from basic circuits and stuff about 7-8 years ago now and I mostly work in high frequency applications. Dipping back into that stuff takes some adjustment time. I think I'll just purchase the plug and play power strip and the boards. I guess I'm at the point where I have more money than time and your prices can't really be beat. I'm sure in the future I'll get tinkering and change some things, but for now I'll use this as a very strong starting point. I've also been doing a lot of programming lately, so I might dip a toe into that as well. Cheers man, this has been a great conversation! Can't wait to try this out!Yeah all the little extra parts required starts to add up, DIY isn't always the cheapest route but you get exactly what you want plus the satisfaction of building something.
Only advantage my power bar has is it's plug and play and possibly better relays, not sure what DJ uses. Even though the DJ power bar has a DB9 it can't be plugged in. That power bar doesn't have any circuits built in for the relays so you would need to build one out yourself like this one. The DB9's out of my controller are straight from GPIO pins on the Pi so they can be multipurposed without much trouble. I keep saying I'm going to make an adapter board that would get it working but without one to test I haven't done it yet.
reef-pi Guide 2: Power Controller
This guide will walk through the build process of controlling AC equipment using an automated power strip (power controller). The power controller allows scheduled and on-demand control. Power controllers are simple and inexpensive to build and it acts as a foundational layer for temperature or...learn.adafruit.com
The case downloads also include the Sketchup Make design files if you wanted to make any changes. I'm a DIY guy at heart without a lot of money so I'll do whatever I can as I know that's half the reason to get into reef-pi.
It's too bad DJ didn't have a basic circuit built in so it could be connected directly to Pi/Arduino pins as it looks like a decent power bar at a good price. If you are only thinking plug and play to avoid assembly you can order just the boards without cases and I can send things assembled as there isn't much to do these days. If that's the case just put a note on the order if you place one.
Yeah I like them since they are self contained but they were intended for DJ setups and nothing like we are using them for, lol. @JachPot keep in mind the Kasa Tplink wireless strips work really well also, I have one of each in my setup and pros and cons to both of them, lots of options for sure.
Thank you Brandon. Wishing you best for the leviathan next version. I read through the news , and website. It’s very very exciting
