DIY Reef Controller
- Thread starter nkd5024
- Start date
Oh right. Whoops.
I'll check the last page.
EDIT: Okay everybody, I just checked the last page.
What are Nick's boards? Are they those $100 controller boards? I believe I can interface with them pretty easily, but my own project is pretty cheap, so you might have to give me some time on them.
Most people seen to have Megas and touchscreens. The 5" screen will work with my controller, but the screen will only display in a 320 x 240 portion of it. So it won't look very suave. And judging from the amount of time it would take to add in detection software for larger screens, it's unlikely that it will ever happen without converting the coordinates of the buttons and pictures to fractions of the total screen size. And that would be a project on its own.
Also, for those with the Due, you will need logic level shifters to change the outputs from 3.3v to 5v.
I'll check the last page.
EDIT: Okay everybody, I just checked the last page.
What are Nick's boards? Are they those $100 controller boards? I believe I can interface with them pretty easily, but my own project is pretty cheap, so you might have to give me some time on them.
Most people seen to have Megas and touchscreens. The 5" screen will work with my controller, but the screen will only display in a 320 x 240 portion of it. So it won't look very suave. And judging from the amount of time it would take to add in detection software for larger screens, it's unlikely that it will ever happen without converting the coordinates of the buttons and pictures to fractions of the total screen size. And that would be a project on its own.
Also, for those with the Due, you will need logic level shifters to change the outputs from 3.3v to 5v.
Last edited:
overexposed
Acroholic
I wouldn't say "very little" but there is tons more to be done, needless to say. If you look at the code on his Google project page there is a fair amount there. And there may be more that he hasn't published due to it not working - developers tend to release code as they create compilable/working solutions. It's just highly unfortunate that he has disappeared before getting to the state where he was ready to release the next version of his codebase.
As I've mentioned before I unfortunately don't have tons of time to work on the project, but I am happy to contribute and share ideas/code with people when I can. I plan on keeping my project posted publicly via GitHub - where I currently have an empty project sitting.
I am in the process of cobbling together my own controller using the aforementioned parts and re-purposing code from various projects such as this one, Jarduino, Open Reef, Hydra, Arduarium, etc...
First order of business for me is getting the 5" screen wired up along with an RTC and a protoshield that lets me access the remaining Due pins. Then get the screen to run at full resolution with some kind of framework UI in place. Second, get some sensors connected and display the data. Then get it communicating with my Mega and controlling my LEDs. Then my web interface (actually this may come sooner as I just came across some code that makes this part seem incredibly easy.) A project like this really is a huge task though and I don't anticipate getting even close to completion by the end of the year.
Skip the Web interface; it is prohibitively expensive to the point where buying a controller becomes more viable.
The best way to access extra pins is to simply remove the female headers entirely.
I hope your controller comes through!
shark boy
New member
If I'm reading this right, you are planning on using a Due and Mega is that right?
marspeed
Member
one of these would work with the mega has it's own processor
http://www.4dsystems.com.au/products/?cat=41
http://www.4dsystems.com.au/products/?cat=41
overexposed
Acroholic
I think I've already spent enough that I could own a top end controller
! For me, this is more about the fun of the build than about being economical. I like making things. What do you mean by "The best way to access extra pins is to simply remove the female headers entirely." Are you referring to the female headers on the Due board or the male pins on the ITB_02 shield?
What I was thinking of doing is setting up a protoboard that makes use of the pins not used by the ITB shield (mainly need to have pins available for I2C communication and the RTC chip) and then put stackable headers on that protoboard so that I can plug the ITB shield on top of that.
I also wouldn't bother with the web interface. That can be phase 2
Seems like it will be easy enough, looking at this code: http://www.openreefs.com/webserver-example-explained
But if it doesn't go smoothly the first time I try - it will simply be pushed aside until later!
That's correct!
Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
So, has anyone heard from Nick? Has he officially thrown in the towel? Or is it due to his absence you are speculating that he’s done with the project?
WSPepsilon
New member
To my knowledge no one has heard from him "." I emailed him to no response so hopefully he's just moved on and is okay... hard to tell unless someone has his phone number or knows him irl.
I tried the protoboard route, but it didn't work. The spacing of the accesable pins is different. It's hard to describe.I think I've already spent enough that I could own a top end controller
What do you mean by "The best way to access extra pins is to simply remove the female headers entirely." Are you referring to the female headers on the Due board or the male pins on the ITB_02 shield?
What I was thinking of doing is setting up a protoboard that makes use of the pins not used by the ITB shield (mainly need to have pins available for I2C communication and the RTC chip) and then put stackable headers on that protoboard so that I can plug the ITB shield on top of that.
Seems like it will be easy enough, looking at this code: http://www.openreefs.com/webserver-example-explained
But if it doesn't go smoothly the first time I try - it will simply be pushed aside until later!
!
And I meant remove the female headers. Just yank and the plastic part should come off, and you'll see some y-shaped pieces sticking out of the board. Then you desolder those and add whatever headers you want. You can safely remove, to my knowledge, the Analog pins that are blocked and the PWM pins that are blocked.
Oh, and that ethernet interface seems quite easy! I might pick one up on ebay....
anyone know how to test if the SD card to see if its working? I have the sainsmart mega/LCD setup and I did the mod with re-wiring pin-out but no display when I load the aquaporn sketch. I was trying to play with the sketch but no output after uploading. I used to have jarduino loaded but I don't think it uses the SD card. I would appreciate your input.
So after much fiddling today I've got a Arduino Mega, DS1307 RTC and so far one DS18B20 temp sensor working on a 3.2 TFT (With SD Card)
I build a shield which connects to the TFT to the Arduino out of veroboard. It really looks a mess but it works fine
To get the basics going I did the code from scratch for the date/time and and reading of the temp (I could have borrows it from one of the open source projects but the best way to learn is it start from scratch)
It also reads a SD card.
@cichlidtx - correct, the jarduino doesnt use the SD card. Put in a fat32 card with some files on it and load up the example SD Cardinfo from arduino.
I build a shield which connects to the TFT to the Arduino out of veroboard. It really looks a mess but it works fine
To get the basics going I did the code from scratch for the date/time and and reading of the temp (I could have borrows it from one of the open source projects but the best way to learn is it start from scratch)
It also reads a SD card.
@cichlidtx - correct, the jarduino doesnt use the SD card. Put in a fat32 card with some files on it and load up the example SD Cardinfo from arduino.
