Widgetlords Controller - Node-Red, Raspberry Pi Controller Build

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MaddyP

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And the valves are operational! Also confirmed the failsafe valve closes on power failure.

65E6C2D9-18DD-4B53-8F9B-45C39EE35124.jpeg
 
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Temp probes arrived and second RTD board is setup. Still trying to work through some graphing issues though...ChartJS can be frustrating sometimes!

F5AF15A2-0B30-4C61-B4C7-B52F3A78DC9B.jpeg
 
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Temp probes are tracking within 0.5 degrees of one another!

1593019099082.png


Atlas Scientific Ezo-RTD boards with their PT-1000 probes all mounted on a Whitebox Labs Tentacle T3.

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1593019315913.png


Considering dipping the temp probes in some sort of liquid silicone for added protection against saltwater.
 

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Temp probes are tracking within 0.5 degrees of one another!

1593019099082.png


Atlas Scientific Ezo-RTD boards with their PT-1000 probes all mounted on a Whitebox Labs Tentacle T3.

1593019281411.png
1593019315913.png


Considering dipping the temp probes in some sort of liquid silicone for added protection against saltwater.


It would appear AquaLogic takes the standard probe that comes with Ranco and encloses it in a short piece of Titanium tubing using some sort of thermal epoxy. Just an idea.
 
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It would appear AquaLogic takes the standard probe that comes with Ranco and encloses it in a short piece of Titanium tubing using some sort of thermal epoxy. Just an idea.
Haven’t yet decided if I’m going to try to encapsulate these. The data sheet says explicitly these are saltwater safe, but we all know how saltwater wears on almost everything...
 
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Progress continues at a slow pace. Node-red-dashboard couldn't accomplish exactly what I wanted in a clean way, so I have transitioned to using node-red-contrib-uibuilder to build out a local site using Vue.js / Bootstrap-Vue. Getting the hang of Vue.js has been challenging, but the result is worth it!


1594418497272.png
 
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Quick update since it's been a while...

Although UIBuilder was fantastic, it still couldn't accomplish what I needed, so I've been working the last two months (when time allowed) to develop a full stack website to support my project. This has required a lot of learning and research so it's going much slower than I would like, but it's coming along!

For those interested, the project is a MEVN stack (Mongodb, Express, VueJS, NodeJS). I'm hoping to develop it in a way to eventually allow others to utilize the client side much like Reef-Pi but specific to Widgetlords/Ezo components.
 

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Still following this MaddyP.. After allot of work travel, I'm back on my project finally. Focused on the actual aquarium/stand build... I'm back to the Node-Red work this weekend. I've already mastered calibration (well learned that from your work here) and temp/pH control. My focus now will be evap topoffs, water changes with a dosing regimen, and integrating my RO prep and storage. Might be some tricks I'll learn that I can share.

Looking forward to seeing your improvements.
 
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Still following this MaddyP.. After allot of work travel, I'm back on my project finally. Focused on the actual aquarium/stand build... I'm back to the Node-Red work this weekend. I've already mastered calibration (well learned that from your work here) and temp/pH control. My focus now will be evap topoffs, water changes with a dosing regimen, and integrating my RO prep and storage. Might be some tricks I'll learn that I can share.

Looking forward to seeing your improvements.

Glad to hear! I don't yet have anything to show on the website as I'm still developing the server side. Once I start on the client side, I'll share the progress!
 

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Looking good. Take its easy on yourself. The front end frameworks have a bit of learning curve. We went with react, which supposed to be the easiest one, still it took months if not years to get the whole thing going. We still hit issues, but thankfully have a few folks in the project with very good UI skills to help us out.
 
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Looking good. Take its easy on yourself. The front end frameworks have a bit of learning curve. We went with react, which supposed to be the easiest one, still it took months if not years to get the whole thing going. We still hit issues, but thankfully have a few folks in the project with very good UI skills to help us out.

Thanks for the encouragement! I’ve been playing around with Vuejs and find the learning curve not as steep as I thought it would be. Register and login UI is done, but that is just the surface. Lol
 

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I was just thinking about the stack of Widgetlords board I had purchased a few years back for my build and was wondering why they were not used in aquarium controllers more ... and then I stumbled on this thread. Wow. Hats off, you are setting the standard for using these boards. I just hope my hardware (boards) are still current.

To be honest, the Node-Red stuff seems confusing to me (as a developer), but I will wait to see if there are benefits over direct coding.

I am waiting to see how the Atlas Scientific boards work. Again I purchased a bunch of those years ago and ran into some trouble using them in a aquarium controller setting, but they have apparently fixed the issues by adding full isolation. I look forward to confirmation that this is the case.

Lastly the modulating valve actuators look like exactly what I have been searching for. Looking forward to hearing how they work out and any sourcing info on them would be appreciated.** Update **, nevermind on the sourcing. Reading your nano thread I found the reference to the Chinese version and Ebay as the source.

Dennis
 
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I was just thinking about the stack of Widgetlords board I had purchased a few years back for my build and was wondering why they were not used in aquarium controllers more ... and then I stumbled on this thread. Wow. Hats off, you are setting the standard for using these boards. I just hope my hardware (boards) are still current.

To be honest, the Node-Red stuff seems confusing to me (as a developer), but I will wait to see if there are benefits over direct coding.

I am waiting to see how the Atlas Scientific boards work. Again I purchased a bunch of those years ago and ran into some trouble using them in a aquarium controller setting, but they have apparently fixed the issues by adding full isolation. I look forward to confirmation that this is the case.

Lastly the modulating valve actuators look like exactly what I have been searching for. Looking forward to hearing how they work out and any sourcing info on them would be appreciated.** Update **, nevermind on the sourcing. Reading your nano thread I found the reference to the Chinese version and Ebay as the source.

Dennis

I completely agree! For projects like the Reef-Pi or other DIY controllers, the Widgetlords boards offer nearly everything we need except probe inputs. Maybe @Ranjib would consider adding support for these on Reef-Pi?

Node-Red does have a bit of a learning curve, but once you understand the basics it becomes much easier. For those not well versed in pure code development it offers a really flexible platform. The reason I moved away from Node-Red was the inability to create a flexible schema, it requires new nodes to be added manually for additional components. On top of that, Node-Red is a resource heavy platform especially if using the built in dashboard nodes. It also introduces unnecessary redundancy in some of the node flows. All these issues can be reduced, if not eliminated, by pure code development.

The Atlas Scientific boards have come a long way from the initial introduction and do seem to work adequately for our purpose, though there is the odd board which gives interesting readings. Also, the price isn't ideal for a hobby level product.

I'm quite happy with the valves so far. I've had them powered up (although dry) for several months and they have held position within 0.5 degrees. One interesting thing though, I have both the 0-10V and 0-20ma versions and the 0-20ma seems to be much more stable and reach the programmed position with a higher degree of finality. The 0-10V seems to hesitate when reaching the set position almost as if it is questioning whether it's at the right position. Maybe something to do with the ma to V conversion circuit inside? In the future, I'll be upgrading to true AVA actuators as they offer better build quality and support.
 

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I am waiting to see how the Atlas Scientific boards work. Again I purchased a bunch of those years ago and ran into some trouble using them in a aquarium controller setting, but they have apparently fixed the issues by adding full isolation. I look forward to confirmation that this is the case.
Dennis

As a user of the Atlas-Sci sensors/circuits since the beginning (back when the called them stamps), I can attest to the strides they've made with signal integrity.. the isolation helps.. it gets a little expensive purchasing the individual circuits and then the appropriate carrier boards... But then I recall the time I used to spend designing and putting together my own solutions which were entirely inferior!. I'm done re-inventing the wheel and don't mind throwing a little money at a well designed solution to a problem (something about cost/benefit analysis...). With Atlas-Sci stuff I feel more like a systems integrator, rather than a DIYer...

Glad to hear! Once I start on the client side, I'll share the progress!

I'm sticking with Node-RED and even it's dashboard as I already have the device in use. I've modified my flows to resemble yours in the way that I message over the i2c bus... I like the way you scan the bus, fetch addresses and read in the DeviceIDs and run with those to determine your sensor context within your code. I'm using more EZO devices than you and even multiple examples of the same type (eg. EZO pumps), so I I'm working on the extra step of fetching the NAMES to use as my differentiator throughout the flows/code, rather than just the burned in DeviceID. I have a USB carrier that I use to setup each EZO Stamp's initial configuration through Termite.. so that's when I'll set the NAMES and Addresses to differentiate the devices (eg. PMP1, PMP2, RTD1, RTD2, FLO1, FLO2). It's not documented, but the NAME function works over i2c just like UART. (Checked with Ephram and Jordan and they intend to maintain the NAME function for i2c in the EZO circuits).

Relays, PWM, AnalogIN boards, I'm staying with NCD.. even though they are a bit more expensive... it keeps me on the i2c bus and I'm comfortable with it. So far I find the 8channel relay board very reliable.
 
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As a user of the Atlas-Sci sensors/circuits since the beginning (back when the called them stamps), I can attest to the strides they've made with signal integrity.. the isolation helps.. it gets a little expensive purchasing the individual circuits and then the appropriate carrier boards... But then I recall the time I used to spend designing and putting together my own solutions which were entirely inferior!. I'm done re-inventing the wheel and don't mind throwing a little money at a well designed solution to a problem (something about cost/benefit analysis...). With Atlas-Sci stuff I feel more like a systems integrator, rather than a DIYer...



I'm sticking with Node-RED and even it's dashboard as I already have the device in use. I've modified my flows to resemble yours in the way that I message over the i2c bus... I like the way you scan the bus, fetch addresses and read in the DeviceIDs and run with those to determine your sensor context within your code. I'm using more EZO devices than you and even multiple examples of the same type (eg. EZO pumps), so I I'm working on the extra step of fetching the NAMES to use as my differentiator throughout the flows/code, rather than just the burned in DeviceID. I have a USB carrier that I use to setup each EZO Stamp's initial configuration through Termite.. so that's when I'll set the NAMES and Addresses to differentiate the devices (eg. PMP1, PMP2, RTD1, RTD2, FLO1, FLO2). It's not documented, but the NAME function works over i2c just like UART. (Checked with Ephram and Jordan and they intend to maintain the NAME function for i2c in the EZO circuits).

Relays, PWM, AnalogIN boards, I'm staying with NCD.. even though they are a bit more expensive... it keeps me on the i2c bus and I'm comfortable with it. So far I find the 8channel relay board very reliable.

Can you expand on the name changing with Termite? I wasn't aware the burned in data could be changed.
 
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