Reef-Pi Controllers: New all-in-one with power bar, and the original Pico

Sophisticated Reefer

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Thnx for the reply!

I see the board is in beta at the moment and i was wondering if there are any bugs or malfunctions in this phase, because i live in the netherlands shipping back and forward doesnt seem like a great idea.

Is it worth for me to get the board right now when its still in beta or is it better to wait till the full release?

Greetz
 
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theatrus

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Thnx for the reply!

I see the board is in beta at the moment and i was wondering if there are any bugs or malfunctions in this phase, because i live in the netherlands shipping back and forward doesnt seem like a great idea.

Is it worth for me to get the board right now when its still in beta or is it better to wait till the full release?

Greetz

There are two known defects:

- 0-10V is 0-11V
- the 0-10V pinout doesn’t match a Kessil cable (not a huge deal for others)

There are two unvalidated areas:

PH support is TBD
No one has tried the I2C expander header

One caveat:

Support of some optical float switches requires external components
 

Sophisticated Reefer

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There are two known defects:

- 0-10V is 0-11V
- the 0-10V pinout doesn’t match a Kessil cable (not a huge deal for others)

There are two unvalidated areas:

PH support is TBD
No one has tried the I2C expander header

One caveat:

Support of some optical float switches requires external components
Thankyou,

What exactly is TBD?

And about the optical float switch, will i be able to use an optical sensor with a float switch for when the optical sensor fails so my aquarium wont over flow?

Or will i be able to do this with software programming, like when it runs more then one minut the software will switch the relay of the ato pump


Greetz
 
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theatrus

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Thankyou,

What exactly is TBD?

And about the optical float switch, will i be able to use an optical sensor with a float switch for when the optical sensor fails so my aquarium wont over flow?

Or will i be able to do this with software programming, like when it runs more then one minut the software will switch the relay of the ato pump


Greetz

The firmware on the board is in place and the circuit functions, but ReefPi testing and software support is still pending.

The Pico board has two digital inputs, but you can also series wire the float+optical sensor to act as a backup which will only consume one input.

ReefPi has an ATO time cutoff in the software as well.
 

dmolavi

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The sense circuit resistors won’t matter, as we are drawing nano amps of bias from the digital input circuit. You can use 10k and up for dividers.
Would 10k and 6.9k be ok for the purposes of this? Drops the voltage to about 4V (from the 10V I measured at the osmolator).
 

dmolavi

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Hm looks like adding:

dtoverlay=gpio-shutdown

To /boot/config.txt will remove the need for a python script/service for shutting down, and momentarily shorting (via momentary switch) will start up. If I can somehow use SCL for this w/o conflict, then I'm good to go :)
Looks like GPIO3 (pin 5) is what Pi uses for shutdown and startup. This is an I2C pin on the Pico, brought out on the COMBICON header. I won't have a problem using this, will I? Or will the upcoming pH monitor conflict in any way?
 

dmolavi

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Another question...the "input" block on the board has 2 pins labelled 5v out...those output 5v, correct (vs being 5v inputs)? GPIO19 and 26 can be used for inputs up to 5v?
 
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theatrus

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Another question...the "input" block on the board has 2 pins labelled 5v out...those output 5v, correct (vs being 5v inputs)? GPIO19 and 26 can be used for inputs up to 5v?

Correct. On a RevD, the 5V bus outputs are limited to 500mA total. The inputs are all 5V tolerant.
 
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theatrus

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Looks like GPIO3 (pin 5) is what Pi uses for shutdown and startup. This is an I2C pin on the Pico, brought out on the COMBICON header. I won't have a problem using this, will I? Or will the upcoming pH monitor conflict in any way?

The I2C bus is used to communicate to the SMC (reset controller, though nothing will use this by default) and pH sensor through the I2C isolator. The header is buffered by an active I2C redriver IC.
 

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@theatrus the ph board driver is on master and I can use your help in two things
1. Update the code to convert milivolt to ph value (I think I know the equation , but it’s good to get another eye/finger :) )
2. If I understand correctly baseboard just needs a different multiplier in that equation. Perhaps we can model that as one of the parameter ph board configuration and the reuse the same driver across ph board and base board
 
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theatrus

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@theatrus the ph board driver is on master and I can use your help in two things
1. Update the code to convert milivolt to ph value (I think I know the equation , but it’s good to get another eye/finger :) )
2. If I understand correctly baseboard just needs a different multiplier in that equation. Perhaps we can model that as one of the parameter ph board configuration and the reuse the same driver across ph board and base board

Will take a stab at it. We don’t really need any rescaling as we will calibrate the span anyway.
 
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theatrus

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@theatrus the ph board driver is on master and I can use your help in two things
1. Update the code to convert milivolt to ph value (I think I know the equation , but it’s good to get another eye/finger :) )
2. If I understand correctly baseboard just needs a different multiplier in that equation. Perhaps we can model that as one of the parameter ph board configuration and the reuse the same driver across ph board and base board

Good news!

With one small driver tweak we can read pH values nicely from the Pico adapter.

Feb 10 17:08:44 raspberrypi reef-pi[6388]: 2019/02/10 17:08:44 ph sub-system: Probe: ph Reading: 16905
Feb 10 17:08:49 raspberrypi reef-pi[6388]: 2019/02/10 17:08:49 ph sub-system: Probe: ph Reading: 16906
Feb 10 17:08:54 raspberrypi reef-pi[6388]: 2019/02/10 17:08:54 ph sub-system: Probe: ph Reading: 16911
Feb 10 17:08:59 raspberrypi reef-pi[6388]: 2019/02/10 17:08:59 ph sub-system: Probe: ph Reading: 16914
Feb 10 17:08:59 raspberrypi reef-pi[6388]: 2019/02/10 17:08:59 health check: Used memory: 9.82 Load5: 0.06


Will see if we can use the same register read for the other pH board (the Reef-Pi expects the I2c register 0x0 to be read, while the pH board driver is currently wired for 0x10), or if we need to make a quick config option for the driver.
 

DirtDiggler2823

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Good news!

With one small driver tweak we can read pH values nicely from the Pico adapter.

Feb 10 17:08:44 raspberrypi reef-pi[6388]: 2019/02/10 17:08:44 ph sub-system: Probe: ph Reading: 16905
Feb 10 17:08:49 raspberrypi reef-pi[6388]: 2019/02/10 17:08:49 ph sub-system: Probe: ph Reading: 16906
Feb 10 17:08:54 raspberrypi reef-pi[6388]: 2019/02/10 17:08:54 ph sub-system: Probe: ph Reading: 16911
Feb 10 17:08:59 raspberrypi reef-pi[6388]: 2019/02/10 17:08:59 ph sub-system: Probe: ph Reading: 16914
Feb 10 17:08:59 raspberrypi reef-pi[6388]: 2019/02/10 17:08:59 health check: Used memory: 9.82 Load5: 0.06


Will see if we can use the same register read for the other pH board (the Reef-Pi expects the I2c register 0x0 to be read, while the pH board driver is currently wired for 0x10), or if we need to make a quick config option for the driver.

Exciting news!
 

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@theatrus
I see that your baseboard has an RTC built in namely the pcf8523. Was looking on adafruit at the RTC modules, could I add one to my reef pi installation thru i2c, and enable it like the adafruit guide suggests?
This would be a great addition to my build where I get frequent power and or internet connectivity losses.
Is there a reason you went with that vs the ds3231?
 
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theatrus

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@theatrus
I see that your baseboard has an RTC built in namely the pcf8523. Was looking on adafruit at the RTC modules, could I add one to my reef pi installation thru i2c, and enable it like the adafruit guide suggests?
This would be a great addition to my build where I get frequent power and or internet connectivity losses.
Is there a reason you went with that vs the ds3231?

Yup! It should just work following that guide.

The NXP chip was due to availability and cost.
 
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