Robo tank possible build

[lstmysock11]

Hi

Wanting to look into a Robo tank build. Already getting stuff with Reef pi and Rasbery pi to control my LED lights. But want to use robo tank to control my return pump, Run my Ato, Keep track of PH and temp. Maybe even monitor flow and control power heads. Would also want to add a little screen to keep a eye on everything at a quick glance.

Had looked at Neptune Apex but they are so expensive and at this point one would cost more then my entire tank. Considering for a 75 gallon tank, Stand, canopy and 20 gallon sump I got for 150 dollors US.

Andrew

 

[lstmysock11]

Question is what would I need to do this? I know the robo tank and another rasbery pi with sd card.

 

[robsworld78]

Question is what would I need to do this? I know the robo tank and another rasbery pi with sd card.

Hi Andrew, the ATO, pH and temp won't be a problem, you would need sensors and preferably DC pump for ATO, DS18B20 temp sensors and any pH probe with a BNC connector.

Reef-pi doesn't directly support flow meters but in a day or two I'll be posting a script to work with them, they connect easy just need a little setup on software side.

Power heads you can possibly connect depending on the type but you'll have limited control as reef-pi doesn't have a set of features specifically for them. If they have 0-10v control you can use light timers to ramp them up and down during the day, if you get creative with light schedules you can probably do some neat things.

LED's is also hard to answer, depends on the light and most need to be hacked in some way as they all want to sell their controllers. If you have something specific I can see what I can find.

 

[lstmysock11]

Hi Andrew, the ATO, pH and temp won't be a problem, you would need sensors and preferably DC pump for ATO, DS18B20 temp sensors and any pH probe with a BNC connector.

Reef-pi doesn't directly support flow meters but in a day or two I'll be posting a script to work with them, they connect easy just need a little setup on software side.

Power heads you can possibly connect depending on the type but you'll have limited control as reef-pi doesn't have a set of features specifically for them. If they have 0-10v control you can use light timers to ramp them up and down during the day, if you get creative with light schedules you can probably do some neat things.

LED's is also hard to answer, depends on the light and most need to be hacked in some way as they all want to sell their controllers. If you have something specific I can see what I can find.

As far as the Leds would be for .

@GaryE is coming up with directions on how to use Rasebery PI and reef PI to control them, He has already done it himself. Do you know any power heads that are possible to control?

 

[attiland]

As far as the Leds would be for .

@GaryE is coming up with directions on how to use Rasebery PI and reef PI to control them, He has already done it himself. Do you know any power heads that are possible to control?

As per powerhead on the cheap end jaebo ws series has 0-10v control on the side. I think all the new ones have it too. I haven’t tried it yet but in the making...

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Hi Andrew, the ATO, pH and temp won't be a problem, you would need sensors and preferably DC pump for ATO, DS18B20 temp sensors and any pH probe with a BNC connector.

Reef-pi doesn't directly support flow meters but in a day or two I'll be posting a script to work with them, they connect easy just need a little setup on software side.

Power heads you can possibly connect depending on the type but you'll have limited control as reef-pi doesn't have a set of features specifically for them. If they have 0-10v control you can use light timers to ramp them up and down during the day, if you get creative with light schedules you can probably do some neat things.

LED's is also hard to answer, depends on the light and most need to be hacked in some way as they all want to sell their controllers. If you have something specific I can see what I can find.

Not to jack the thread, but flow meters would be awesome! (for UV use especially).

 

[robsworld78]

Not to jack the thread, but flow meters would be awesome! (for UV use especially).

I have a program working for them, now just trying to make it simple to setup, not so easy on a Pi. I'll be starting a thread soon.

 

[robsworld78]

As far as the Leds would be for .

@GaryE is coming up with directions on how to use Rasebery PI and reef PI to control them, He has already done it himself. Do you know any power heads that are possible to control?

Yeah @GaryE posted some pics on the main reef-pi thread.

I have a couple Jebao WP-10's that I've run off an Arduino, if I remember correctly they are 0-5v PWM.

On the higher end Octo Pulse have 0-10v input as well.

Octo Pulse 2 Wave Pump (1600 GPH)

Move up to 1600 GPH with only 10 watts! Recommended Tank Size - 20 to 80+ Gallons Adjustable magnetic mount Rare earth magnets Compact and powerful Silent operation Includes Octo Pulse Controller 4 preset pulsing modes 0-10V control 15 and 60 minute feed modes Fully controllable and...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[attiland]

Yeah @GaryE posted some pics on the main reef-pi thread.

I have a couple Jebao WP-10's that I've run off an Arduino, if I remember correctly they are 0-5v PWM.

On the higher end Octo Pulse have 0-10v input as well.

Octo Pulse 2 Wave Pump (1600 GPH)

Move up to 1600 GPH with only 10 watts! Recommended Tank Size - 20 to 80+ Gallons Adjustable magnetic mount Rare earth magnets Compact and powerful Silent operation Includes Octo Pulse Controller 4 preset pulsing modes 0-10V control 15 and 60 minute feed modes Fully controllable and...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Jabao is 0-10v. I have checked mine it is not printed on mine and the documentation is not by hand but on the net I have found this.

 

[lstmysock11]

I emailed the company to ask if they can be controled by reef pi with the 0-10v connection.

Also managed to get a rasbery pi 3 today and got reef pi installed on it!

 

[robsworld78]

Jabao is 0-10v. I have checked mine it is not printed on mine and the documentation is not by hand but on the net I have found this.

Thanks for confirming, it's been a while when I had them connected, I guess I used a 0-10v converter.

 

[lstmysock11]

Yeah @GaryE posted some pics on the main reef-pi thread.

I have a couple Jebao WP-10's that I've run off an Arduino, if I remember correctly they are 0-5v PWM.

On the higher end Octo Pulse have 0-10v input as well.

Octo Pulse 2 Wave Pump (1600 GPH)

Move up to 1600 GPH with only 10 watts! Recommended Tank Size - 20 to 80+ Gallons Adjustable magnetic mount Rare earth magnets Compact and powerful Silent operation Includes Octo Pulse Controller 4 preset pulsing modes 0-10V control 15 and 60 minute feed modes Fully controllable and...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Is there an alternative to the Jebao wp-10's, They do not seem to be sold much of any place any more. Guessing they are not being made any longer. I really do not want to go with the expensive ones that go for 200 or more each.

 

[robsworld78]

Is there an alternative to the Jebao wp-10's, They do not seem to be sold much of any place any more. Guessing they are not being made any longer. I really do not want to go with the expensive ones that go for 200 or more each.

I guess that's likely, it's many years since I bought them. Did you ever hear back from them?

Looking at the TW-10 the controller is the same as what I have for the wp-10 so maybe they just changed model to look like an update. I notice the larger TW pumps have different controllers but probably same. As I don't know first hand it's your call. I'm going to do some more searching for verification.



This is how I connect, first I bought some cheap 3 pin connectors on eBay but they didn't fit, pins had slightly different spacing so I removed the pig tail going into the controller and added a 5.5mm power socket so I didn't have to cut the connector on the pump but that is an option.

Blue is ground, brown is +24v and green is signal. The red tail is to connect common ground to controller, yeah not best color choice. I plug the green connector in controller, 24v power supply from pump into power socket and plug in the pump. You should verify the output on each pin though using a volt meter as good chance they use different color wires on batches.

 

[attiland]

Is there an alternative to the Jebao wp-10's, They do not seem to be sold much of any place any more. Guessing they are not being made any longer. I really do not want to go with the expensive ones that go for 200 or more each.

The rw series are good replacement and available on Ali or Amazon

 

[robsworld78]

It's been a while so I did some testing on original Jebao controller, the one I have, WP-10, is 2.5v - 5v, the controller never goes lower than 2.5v or higher that 5v. The signal definitely isn't PWM so 0-5v analog is best although no difference is observed with either. I connected to controller and once I go below 50% in reef-pi the pump does sound like it's working harder and it stops about 15% or so but won't start until 30% or so. Due to that you wouldn't want to go below 50%. With the pump out of water I couldn't really feel any difference between 50-100% but in water it's a major difference. Pump hangs straight at 50%, 75% it goes to top of water and 100% it's bouncing all over.

You can verify 0-5v or 0-10v with any volt meter, set the controller on high and measure the signal and ground pin.

 

[lstmysock11]

I guess that's likely, it's many years since I bought them. Did you ever hear back from them?

Looking at the TW-10 the controller is the same as what I have for the wp-10 so maybe they just changed model to look like an update. I notice the larger TW pumps have different controllers but probably same. As I don't know first hand it's your call. I'm going to do some more searching for verification.



This is how I connect, first I bought some cheap 3 pin connectors on eBay but they didn't fit, pins had slightly different spacing so I removed the pig tail going into the controller and added a 5.5mm power socket so I didn't have to cut the connector on the pump but that is an option.

Blue is ground, brown is +24v and green is signal. The red tail is to connect common ground to controller, yeah not best color choice. I plug the green connector in controller, 24v power supply from pump into power socket and plug in the pump. You should verify the output on each pin though using a volt meter as good chance they use different color wires on batches.

Still not sure how I would connect this to the robo tank. Maybe you can go into more detail?

 

[robsworld78]

Still not sure how I would connect this to the robo tank. Maybe you can go into more detail?

If you remove the tail from the controller like I did you'll have 3 wires, +24v, ground and signal.

The +24v and ground go to the 24v power supply that comes with the power head and the ground also connects to a ground pin on controller. Then you run signal wire to any of the PWM/Analog ports. That puts two wires on controller, ground and signal. The power supply is only for the power head as it normally is.

The difficult part is you need to remove the connector tail from Jebao controller or cut the connector off the pump but that's not ideal.

 

[lstmysock11]

So need to splice into the signal wire and run that to the robotank pwm/analog port and the ground wire? Unless I am understanding this wrong.

 

[robsworld78]

So need to splice into the signal wire and run that to the robotank pwm/analog port and the ground wire? Unless I am understanding this wrong.

Yeah that's right, for ground there's a 2 pin port available or any sensor port ground will work.

 

[attiland]

Yeah that's right, for ground there's a 2 pin port available or any sensor port ground will work.

So how do you set up a wave pattern after you have connected your powerhead to your reef-pi?