DIY Reef Controller

[nkd5024]

Elguap,

Yes any probe will work with the pH and ORP parts of this build as long as it has a BNC connection. As of right now the controller will only dim via pwm drivers, not 0-10v analog.

Photobug,

Yes the outlet box will house the 8 outlets, an 8 relay board, and a shift register board. You can put the LCD screen where ever you like, although it takes 30 wires to connect the lcd screen to the arduino, so you'll have to run 30 wires up there. I will put you down for the boards, do you plan on using 8 or 16 outlets?

 

[dwolson2]

Dwolson,

I am not sure if that would fix the problem as I can't be sure whether the problem with the sainsmart sd card reader is on the shield PCB or on the PCB with the screen. If you buy that and the problem is actually on the screen PCB than you would have wasted $10. If you just buy an sd card reader it takes no extra work to use and it only costs $15 and you'll known for sure that it will work.

I looked on ada fruit and didn't see it. Don't I have to remove some of the pins on the connector to get it to plug into those original pins?

 

[nkd5024]

I don't know if I'm allowed to post link to these so let me know and I'll remove it.

Here is the SD card breakout board from adafruit.

http://www.adafruit.com/products/254

Yes you will have to remove pins 50,51,52, and 53. You can use these to hook up your screen.

http://www.adafruit.com/products/825

You'll need these extensions anyway as pins 42-49 aren't used by the screen, as are the +5v and gnd on the double header.

For the next update of the program you'll have to move the touch screen pins from 6,5,4,3, and 2 to 42,43,44,45, and 46. This frees up 5 pwm pins for leds/moonlights.

If you go here:
http://hifiduino.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/iteadstudio-tft-display-for-arduino/

There is a pin diagram for the lcd screens and will show you which pins aren't used and can be removed.

 

[dwolson2]

OK thank you! I will look at radio shack first and see if they have it, if not, I will go for that one.

 

[ladybugs]

@NKD5024.

i like your controller can you share the script for me thanks

 

[Photobug]

Photobug,
I will put you down for the boards, do you plan on using 8 or 16 outlets?

I am not sure how many I would need. I guess my question depends on whether PWM controlled items need outlets and relays or do these get hardwired?

Our tank is 55g moving to 90. I currently have a timer to control my T5 lights. Eventually I will have 3 pairs of T5s and 3-4 series of LEDs to control, still trying to figure out the LED setup. Will I be needing to use relays and outlets for all these, or just the T5s? ATO is handled by a timer and Toms aqualifter.

Other than that my tank has a

1. Skimmer
2. Return pump
3. Heater
4. Main Powerhead
5. Powerhead setup for surge/wave

I can't imagine needing 16 outlets but also could not imagine having a 90 gallon tank when I started with a 25 gallon tank 8 months ago.

 

[nkd5024]

Ladybugs,

You can download the current version of the software from http://code.google.com/p/reef-aquari...downloads/list

Photobug,

Yes all pwm controlled devices need to be plugged into an outlet. Remember you don't have to have 16 outlets if you only need to control 8 devices. Are you really going to need to turn off a skimmer? Anything that doesn't need controlled can be plugged into a regular power strip. As of right now the price for an power outlet box for this project is around $40 without the cost of an enclosure.

The BOM for the outlet boxes will be posted on the google code page in about 30 minutes. This won't include the materials for the enclosure as I am still decided what to use for that, although I am looking at black ABS sheets as it seems they will be easy to work with, unless anyone has a better idea?

 

[dwolson2]

Nick, Some skimmer need to be turned off when the return pump is turned off for feeding. If you don't the skimmer will overflow(my bosses is like that)
I assume you were just using that as an example though, as not everything needs to be controlled(power for my vortechs for instance)

 

[nkd5024]

Yes, I was using that as an example. Although you are correct my skimmer is the same way when I wet skim and have it set higher up. I've forgotten about that too many times!

Does anyone know of a product that can be used to connect 9 wires together? I am trying to find what they are called and am having no luck. It would basically be like a power rail on a breadboard except able to handle 120V at 15A.

 

[Krazie4Acans]

Yes, I was using that as an example. Although you are correct my skimmer is the same way when I wet skim and have it set higher up. I've forgotten about that too many times!

Does anyone know of a product that can be used to connect 9 wires together? I am trying to find what they are called and am having no luck. It would basically be like a power rail on a breadboard except able to handle 120V at 15A.

It's called a bus bar or a ground clamp. Krazie:jester:

 

[ladybugs]

Thanks i will try it.

 

[nkd5024]

Thank you very much Krazie, I really thought these would be more common.

 

[Photobug]

Nick, Some skimmer need to be turned off when the return pump is turned off for feeding. If you don't the skimmer will overflow(my bosses is like that)
I assume you were just using that as an example though, as not everything needs to be controlled(power for my vortechs for instance)

In this case it makes sense to run both the main return pump and skimmer from the same outlet,so that the skimmer turns off with the main pump.

 

[nkd5024]

You will be able to declare the outlet your skimmer is plugged into as a pump outlet and have it shut off under the same conditions as your return pump.

 

[dwolson2]

For those type of skimmers, you usually delay the skimmer on by 5 minutes after the return pump turns on, so the level in the sump can go down.

 

[nkd5024]

I am currently working on the sunrise/sunset and led dimming code. I was originally planning to have the sunrise/set times change each day by a specific number of minutes to simulate the seasons. Is there a specific place anyone wants me to based the numbers off of?

I was thinking indonesia would be good as it is roughly smack dab in the middle of the info-pacific.

From this year, the earliest sunrise was at 5:48 towards the end of November and the latest was at 6:35 towards the end of July. This would result in a change of around 15 seconds a day.

How does that sound?

 

[ELGUAP0]

I think that sounds just about perfect. Expecially since most if not all of the species of coral I will have come from that area.

 

[rott]

I don't believe for my personal tank that it would matter. since all of my corals are frags from swaps or LFS and have never seen the open ocean. I am sure people have great wild corals and think they will benefit from 15 second a day difference. I would be more happier with being able to set my own times for tank lights to come on and off. I would like it better to be able to adjust how my lights come on and off and in what order and duration that they are on individually.

 

[nkd5024]

I just ordered 3 sheets of ABS plastic (12"x24"x3/32")

I decided to build my own project enclosures instead of buying them since its around $24 for boxes big enough to house 8 outlets plug the replay boards. Plus building my own will give me more flexibility to make it look like I want it to.

I also bought some panel mount 2.1mm dc barrel jack, USB type B jack, din5 (180) jacks and some two and four conductor 3.5mm audio jacks.

These will be used to connect the outlet boxes(din 5), power(dc barrel), temperature sensors and either the Etape or a float valve(3.5mm audio). The nicest part will be the usb port. This will allow for firmware updates without having to even move the controller from where its mounted!

My winter break starts on Tuesday and the enclosure material should be here on thursday with the components for the PCB's and the PCB's arriving sometime next week. So check back for updates with loads of photos.

I am hoping to have a working prototype that can control temp, water level, 8-16 outlets, and run the leds with all the functions by the end of my break, which is four weeks away. I still have a bunch of code to write and will have to redo some of the UI after thinking more in depth of how the led control will be accomplished. After that I will start working on adding pH and ORP control and eventually adding support for the vortech.

I am also thinking about adding an atmega328 chip (arduino UNO chip) with the arduino bootloader into the version 2 of the main board. I think that this increase the reliability of the controller as the atmega328 would actually control the outlets, and take in the reading from the temperature probes, ATO probes, etc.

 

[woganaga]

woganaga,

That is very upsettings I was quite excited to try it out. I haven't actually hooked it up yet and am thinking of doing so right now to test it out. My hope in using it was to not have to rely on a float switch as they can fail as well. I am really looking forward to your pressure sensor photo. They all seemed to be around $15 on digikey so that'd be nice compared to $40 for the Etape. Thanks for the heads up!

Back in town - here is the datasheet for the ones i have:
http://cache.freescale.com/files/sensors/doc/data_sheet/MPXV5004G.pdf


Here is how it is setup... the airline tube that is attached to the gray pipe is the pressure tube that goes into the pressure sensor. When you put the tube into the water, it should already be attached to the sensor (so it doesn't fill with water). The water level changes the pressure in the airgap in the tube which is monitored by the sensor. There are two backup float switches, which act as a failsafe. The white pipe that everything is attached to is the emergency drain. The sensing tube goes into the pressure sensor, which you can see the port hole in my ghetto circuit container. You want a good seal between the tube and the porthole, that is where you can run into problems with drift. It is ultimately controlled by the PCB below which i had made at Seeedstudio. On my next revision the sensor will be on the board.

regards,
David