Reef Pi Build

[Ranjib]

Thanks for the tip on the rosin mess I was wondering about the best way to do that.

@Ranjib do you see any issues with the way I have the power circuit wired?

circuit wise I don't see any issue. I'd prefer to use two straight jumpers instead of one long S shaped jumper to connect the 12V rail with ULN2803, just because they look nicer

 

[Diamond1]

I was having my coffee this morning and decided to do a cost analysis of where I'm at so far in this build.

Raspberry pi Kit - $63.00
8 Channel relay - $8.00
LM2596 - $3.00
50 gph water pump - $5.75
3 foot db9 cable - $4.00
DB9 terminals - $6.00
12 volt power supply - $10.00
Electrical outlets - $8.00
Electical outlet face plates $5.00
ULN2803 - $1.95
IC socket - $0.95
Male header pins - $0.50
Male to female jumper wires - $3.95
Panel mount TRS jack - $0.75
Male 3.5mm stereo plug - $0.95
DS18B20 temp probe - $9.95
Perma proto pi hat -$7.00
Water level sensor - $6.75
Nylon standoffs - $8.90
22AWG wire - $15.99
Male power socket - $7.49
Helping Hands - $14.99
Soldering Iron and solder - $12.00
Romex wire - $10.00

TOTAL: $214.69

As of now with the modules I have
8 channel power supply
Temp probe and heater control
ATO system

I'm at $215.00 US including the tools and supplies I bought.

Not bad.

Comparing this to an Apex Jr at $240.00, I get 4 more channels of switched power and an ATO system.
Now that I have the tools and supplies to build one I could knock the price down by about 50 bucks bringing the price of just parts to around $165.00.
Also the knowledge and experience from building this myself is priceless.
Of course the price will go up once I add the ph monitoring and dosing pumps but even if that adds $200 or $250 to the total cost the price still comes in at less then an Apex base model.

 

[crusso1993]

I was having my coffee this morning and decided to do a cost analysis of where I'm at so far in this build.

Raspberry pi Kit - $63.00
8 Channel relay - $8.00
LM2596 - $3.00
50 gph water pump - $5.75
3 foot db9 cable - $4.00
DB9 terminals - $6.00
12 volt power supply - $10.00
Electrical outlets - $8.00
Electical outlet face plates $5.00
ULN2803 - $1.95
IC socket - $0.95
Male header pins - $0.50
Male to female jumper wires - $3.95
Panel mount TRS jack - $0.75
Male 3.5mm stereo plug - $0.95
DS18B20 temp probe - $9.95
Perma proto pi hat -$7.00
Water level sensor - $6.75
Nylon standoffs - $8.90
22AWG wire - $15.99
Male power socket - $7.49
Helping Hands - $14.99
Soldering Iron and solder - $12.00
Romex wire - $10.00

TOTAL: $214.69

As of now with the modules I have
8 channel power supply
Temp probe and heater control
ATO system

I'm at $215.00 US including the tools and supplies I bought.

Not bad.

Comparing this to an Apex Jr at $240.00, I get 4 more channels of switched power and an ATO system.
Now that I have the tools and supplies to build one I could knock the price down by about 50 bucks bringing the price of just parts to around $165.00.
Also the knowledge and experience from building this myself is priceless.
Of course the price will go up once I add the ph monitoring and dosing pumps but even if that adds $200 or $250 to the total cost the price still comes in at less then an Apex base model.

@Diamond1 - Thanks, so much, for sharing this pricing build sheet!

When I start building my entire system (tanks, lights, pumps, etc.), I plan on keeping track of spending using either Google Docs Spreadsheet or MS Excel. Although, this might not be such a great idea as I may not want to know the money I'll spend for building, upgrades, maintenance, etc. It could become a little self-defeating! Lol

 

[Diamond1]

No problem I really wanted to make this thread as thorough as I could.

And yes I would hate to tally up all the money I've spent on this hobby since I started in 92'.

 

[Diamond1]

Got some more done today on the hardware. I prepped the main unit box and got it ready for the electronics to go in.

I have a big sheet of black 1/16" thick pvc that I use for making pick guards, pickup rings and input jack plates in my guitar builds.

I cut a piece of the pvc to the inside dimensions of the box to use as an isolation board to mount all the electronics up and away from the wood of the box in case the box gets wet or damp from humidity.

I used stand off blocks and vibration dampeners to lift the pvc off the box. Drilled some holes where the Pi , buck converter and the water level sensor board were located and mounted every thing to the board.

I cut in the side of the box where the input jacks will go and cut another piece of the pvc sheet to cover that part of the box I cut out and opened holes for the input jacks, db9 and power supply.

Slid the board in place, screwed everything down and connected all the wiring and input/output connections.

The green wire is a ground wire that connects to the ground from the 12v power supply through the proto hat and runs to the power module. It is connected to the relay board and then the ground wire on the fused power switch. I did this so that the ground was common to the power supply the relay board and the raspberry pi. This also allows me to use only one 12 volt 2 amp power supply to run the whole system instead of using a power supply for the power module and the raspberry pi.

I left myself a bunch of room on the right side of the enclosure for the upgrades I'm planning.

All packaged and put together except for the temp probe. I either have a bad probe or the jack isn't working properly. The pi is not recognizing the sensor when it's plugged in.

.

 

[Erica-Renee]

Looks awesome... Thank you for sharing

 

[Diamond1]

Looks awesome... Thank you for sharing

Thanks. Now I get to see if I can get everything working as it should.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

So in addition to keeping a reef tank I am teaching myself woodworking and guitar building. (There's a point to this...Really!!)

I turned this...

into this...

LOOK you can actually see a reef tank in this pic

Some of the instruments I've built.

If you look in the last pic there are 2 cigar box guitars.
If you've never heard of them go to you tube and check them out. They are easy to make and a blast to play.

Again I digress...

I have a bunch of cigar boxes out in my shop and was moving them to make room on my bench to work on a box for my reef pi when it dawned on me that instead of making an enclosure for the pi I could use a cigar box.

So I have a couple different boxes I was thinking might work.

I kinda like the one with the moose just chillin but the other 2 would match my stand better and I could use one for the controller and the other for the power outlets. I checked all the boxes to see If I could fit everything inside and any of them would work.

I finally got my 8 channel relay today so I can start working on the power outlets this weekend.

Padron makes one heck of a cigar!

 

[Diamond1]

I also got my water level sensor ready to go today.
I just took the nylon nut and super glued it to the end of pvc pipe sealed the ends and used a couple of suction cups from a heater to hold it in place. Not the prettiest but it should do the job just fine. It's also very easy to slide the pipe up and down to make adjustments to where it sits.

Since the controller is going to be mounted on the side of the stand I didn't have to extend the cord length on the sensor and it just reaches my sump. If it was any farther away I would have had to extend the wires from the sensor.

 

[Diamond1]

Padron makes one heck of a cigar!

Indeed they do!

 

[Diamond1]

A little more progress today. I'm trying to work out some issues with my ATO sensor and temp controller. So in the meantime I got some work done on getting the units mounted to the stand.

I used French cleats to mount both units to the stand. Basically the units just hang on the side.

Of course the whole operation was being supervised by the tank queen. I think she approves.

 

[Diamond1]

Big shout out to Erica for helping me figure out what was going on with my ATO.

 

[Diamond1]

So I spent a good part of the day trying to figure out what was going on with my ATO sensor. I was getting a weird error message and having some issues with the sensor turning the pump on but not turning it off after the water reached the sensor and the telemetry data was not showing up on the dashboard.
I broke out the multi meter and checked all the circuit wiring and everything seemed to check out. Still I was getting the same messages every time the sensor was taking a reading and the pump would turn on and not turn off. I ended up tearing the whole thing down and constructing the circuit on a bread board and running it straight from the raspberry pi thinking maybe there was a fault in the board or my not so great soldering skills. Still did the same thing.

I was getting very frustrated by this time not being able to figure it out. I went to Ranjib's thread on reef pi and posted my issues. Erica and Ranjib were all over it.

It wasn't a bug in the software or a bad circuit it was a short between the switch and the floor. I rebooted the pi, reconfigured the dashboard and actually turned the ATO on in the dashboard (I had missed turning the ATO on in the dashboard configuration) and everything started to work as it should.

It was 7:00 on a Sunday night and Ranjib and Erica jumped right in to help me figure this out. I would like to see any commercial controller manufacturer's customer support do that.

After all of this I was able to get everything configured and working I actually have it on the tank and running.

I still need to figure out the temp probe, but in the process of checking out the circuits for the ATO I checked those and I think I have a bad solder joint on the board. I'm thinking I will just get a small pcb and do the circuit separate from the pi hat then just wire to the pi.

 

[MaccaPopEye]

A little more progress today. I'm trying to work out some issues with my ATO sensor and temp controller. So in the meantime I got some work done on getting the units mounted to the stand.

I used French cleats to mount both units to the stand. Basically the units just hang on the side.

Of course the whole operation was being supervised by the tank queen. I think she approves.

Your build is looking really good mate, those boxes look like they were made to sit there

 

[Ranjib]

Very nice

 

[Diamond1]

Your build is looking really good mate, those boxes look like they were made to sit there

Thanks! I will be watching your build thread. I would really love to have a 3D printer to make enclosures like you have.

 

[crusso1993]

Looking good and the idea that the "tank queen" approves makes it all that much better!

 

[Erica-Renee]

So I spent a good part of the day trying to figure out what was going on with my ATO sensor. I was getting a weird error message and having some issues with the sensor turning the pump on but not turning it off after the water reached the sensor and the telemetry data was not showing up on the dashboard.
I broke out the multi meter and checked all the circuit wiring and everything seemed to check out. Still I was getting the same messages every time the sensor was taking a reading and the pump would turn on and not turn off. I ended up tearing the whole thing down and constructing the circuit on a bread board and running it straight from the raspberry pi thinking maybe there was a fault in the board or my not so great soldering skills. Still did the same thing.

I was getting very frustrated by this time not being able to figure it out. I went to Ranjib's thread on reef pi and posted my issues. Erica and Ranjib were all over it.

It wasn't a bug in the software or a bad circuit it was a short between the switch and the floor. I rebooted the pi, reconfigured the dashboard and actually turned the ATO on in the dashboard (I had missed turning the ATO on in the dashboard configuration) and everything started to work as it should.

It was 7:00 on a Sunday night and Ranjib and Erica jumped right in to help me figure this out. I would like to see any commercial controller manufacturer's customer support do that.

After all of this I was able to get everything configured and working I actually have it on the tank and running.

I still need to figure out the temp probe, but in the process of checking out the circuits for the ATO I checked those and I think I have a bad solder joint on the board. I'm thinking I will just get a small pcb and do the circuit separate from the pi hat then just wire to the pi.

I have learned a lot about microelectronics from my own Reef-pi build . I have been a bit more cautious then most about hooking it up to run my tank. But then again i have been super busy since early last year . I have a BUILD That is in service running on my NOT Yet installed new sump.. Its going to be part of my system very soon..

EVERY NEW Build rather by someone experienced in electronics or not Helps progress the Reef-pi Software and hardware . Every slight modification and just posting hey can we do this .. helps..

Thank you .

 

[hockeyhead019]

Fantastic build thread! And the cost sheet is great too. I'll be revisiting this if I ever move away from my DA Reefkeeper Lite.

 

[Erica-Renee]

Fantastic build thread! And the cost sheet is great too. I'll be revisiting this if I ever move away from my DA Reefkeeper Lite.

if you start now it will be ready to go into use when it does.. It will die they all do.. Boohooo