der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
That would definitely help whoever is interested in building such an add on, but (for now at least) it's probably not going to be part of the core hardware we release for this project.
Must-haves for EASY DIY controller?
- Thread starter der_wille_zur_macht
- Start date
sanddune600
Premium Member
well I got most of my hardware built still need to take out my circuit in the relay strip and add a few resisters and a cap. As I went off Dustins original designs and some suggestions where made later. I modified them to fit my wants one of the things I wanted was minimal wires going from the controller to the relay strip. If you notice there is a 5 pin socket added to my relay strip this is for 5+, 12+, ground, sda and scl and I have added all my transistors and i/o port expander into the relay strip. I also made my regulated power supply seperate this will make adding additional hardware super easy. Let me know what you think of how I did it.
TitaniuIVI
New member
ORP & Salinity Shields
ORP & Salinity Shields
drillsar, If you're interested in adding ORP, you should check out this BNC Shield. The website sells the PCB's, or you could make it yourself as the Eagle files and BOM are posted on the site. It's an Arduino shield that can just be plugged in to the Hydra and only uses 1 analog output which is user selectable. As for the salinity, the web site you posted is actually an older link to this which also includes the Eagle files, so if know how to use Eagle, you should be able to move some parts around and turn it into a shield and stack it on top of the BNC shield. This is probably what I plan on doing once I figure out how to use Eagle, unless someone beats me to it, which would be quite simple since I don't have very much of a clue about electronics. It would be nice to have both of those straight on the board, but that would make the main board larger, in turn making it more expensive, and make my head explode cause I would have no idea how to do that.
BTW, Hello to everyone here, I've been reading through the entire post for a couple of weeks now and love what you guys are doing. Thanks for putting in all your time into this. I wish I could help with the electronics, but it's definitely not my strong suite. I have written programs for Arduino before so if you guys need help with the code, let me know.
ORP & Salinity Shields
drillsar, If you're interested in adding ORP, you should check out this BNC Shield. The website sells the PCB's, or you could make it yourself as the Eagle files and BOM are posted on the site. It's an Arduino shield that can just be plugged in to the Hydra and only uses 1 analog output which is user selectable. As for the salinity, the web site you posted is actually an older link to this which also includes the Eagle files, so if know how to use Eagle, you should be able to move some parts around and turn it into a shield and stack it on top of the BNC shield. This is probably what I plan on doing once I figure out how to use Eagle, unless someone beats me to it, which would be quite simple since I don't have very much of a clue about electronics. It would be nice to have both of those straight on the board, but that would make the main board larger, in turn making it more expensive, and make my head explode cause I would have no idea how to do that.
BTW, Hello to everyone here, I've been reading through the entire post for a couple of weeks now and love what you guys are doing. Thanks for putting in all your time into this. I wish I could help with the electronics, but it's definitely not my strong suite. I have written programs for Arduino before so if you guys need help with the code, let me know.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Ground planes are made by drawing polygons in the appropriate copper layer, then renaming them to GND or whatever your ground traces are named. Once you do that, it figures it out for you. You may have to hit the ratsnest icon (near the bottom of the left toolbar) to get it to actually fill in the polygon. It's certainly not obvious. 
I would probably not use the autorouter. Unless you carefully configure it, it's not smart enough to do a good job. It's daunting to route a board from scratch the first time, but once you get the hang it's not really that bad.
I would probably not use the autorouter. Unless you carefully configure it, it's not smart enough to do a good job. It's daunting to route a board from scratch the first time, but once you get the hang it's not really that bad.
DustinB
New member
As suggested, definitely try and route it yourself. As simple as the board is, auto-route will do it horribly wrong. When I played with it I was easily able to get 90% just on the top layer. As DWZM suggested, start with the power traces first and get them the correct size. From there start moving on to the things that are close to each other, as you get further along you will start to see what works and what doesn't or what could be better.
A comment on the ground planes. When you do it, use the polygon tool and not the rectangle tool. Draw all the way around on your outline, don't try to get it set inside the outline a bit. Draw one ground plane with the top layer selected, then draw another with the bottom layer selected. Hit the ratsnest button, then right click on one of the lines at the edge of the board, click rename. Name it "GND". If it gives you an error, get the name tool and click on the line. I don't know why it does this sometimes.
A comment on the ground planes. When you do it, use the polygon tool and not the rectangle tool. Draw all the way around on your outline, don't try to get it set inside the outline a bit. Draw one ground plane with the top layer selected, then draw another with the bottom layer selected. Hit the ratsnest button, then right click on one of the lines at the edge of the board, click rename. Name it "GND". If it gives you an error, get the name tool and click on the line. I don't know why it does this sometimes.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Basically when you rename things you're falling in to one of two situations:
1) You're renaming it to something new and unique
2) You're renaming it to a name that exists already, in an attempt to combine the two nets.
In the second case, it wants you to use the rename tool, instead of using the info tool and changing the name. Not sure why, but that's why you sometimes get the error.
Which brings up an important point. For this to work, you need to rename the ground planes to a name that your ground net already has, it else your "ground" planes will form their own independent net and won't actually work as ground planes.
Thanks TitaniuIVI
I see that he has boards already made which is what I might do; since Im not very good at soldering, is it real difficult to solder on PCB? Any tutorials?
I priced it though and almsot can buy a commercial controller for the amount or am I wrong here?
I would need I guess this:
Arduino Mega 2560 Kits $65.00
4 Shields $130.75
That dont include the web shield, which I think is being worked on.
Will this project have built boards to buy as well or no?
Thanks
I see that he has boards already made which is what I might do; since Im not very good at soldering, is it real difficult to solder on PCB? Any tutorials?
I priced it though and almsot can buy a commercial controller for the amount or am I wrong here?
I would need I guess this:
Arduino Mega 2560 Kits $65.00
4 Shields $130.75
That dont include the web shield, which I think is being worked on.
Will this project have built boards to buy as well or no?
Thanks
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Soldering on a PCB is very simple once you get the hang of it. There are lots of tutorials and guides out there, a google search should yield plenty of reading. Sparkfun has a really good set of tutorials on hobby electronics, you might want to start there.
If you want to get in to a detailed discussion about another controller (i.e. the one TitaniuIVI posted) you might want to start a separate thread to avoid confusion.
Regarding premade boards - that's not currently within the scope of this project. We're concentrating on developing a design for people who want to "roll their own," not building and selling controllers.
If you want to get in to a detailed discussion about another controller (i.e. the one TitaniuIVI posted) you might want to start a separate thread to avoid confusion.
Regarding premade boards - that's not currently within the scope of this project. We're concentrating on developing a design for people who want to "roll their own," not building and selling controllers.
TitaniuIVI
New member
I am defiantly by no means trying to discuss any other controllers. I am 100% on board with the Hydra and just waiting for a final build to make my own. In fact the links I posted are for Arduino shields which the hydra project is compatible with. I mentioned these because drillsar asked if this controller would have salinity and ORP. Since the Hydra does not have these features available, I simply mentioned that those features could be added in very easily to the current Hydra project with easy plugin shields. If you would like additions, such as shields for the Hydra, to be made on separate post, I would gladly oblige, but I thought it would be relevant, and bring in more people, if they knew that the Hydra board was easily expandable to cater to their needs. 
DustinB
New member
drillsar: This project is a standalone controller that does not require an arduino. All necessary hardware is built on the board, including ethernet. The good thing is that it is based on the arduino and has all the pinouts as headers on the board which allows you to easily hook up many different things such as a temp sensor or in this case, an ORP sensor.
If you went with one of those ORP shields, you would just connect it to the hydra.
As for cost, if you just want a basic controller then you may be better served to buy a reefkeeper lite or similar, however they do not have ethernet.
If you want a full functional controller with the ability to add nearly any option you could want for roughly $200 to $2000 less than the commercial equivalent, then the hydra may be an option. The hydra itself is roughly $90 or so complete with LCD/board/everything. Then you have temp sensors, ph probe, and a relay board option. I believe I'm in roughly $175 give or take for everything needed.
Keep in mind though this project is not extremely easy, especially in it's current state. It will take time and work to have a fully functional controller. Even when in a proper state, the project still won't be "extremely" easy. It will be a project that if you can solder, you can have a basic functional controller. From there it will be up to you to go over examples of what other people have done to assemble various equipment and to program the controller for the equipment. It will be a good project for anyone that doesn't mind learning something new and saving a good bit of money in the process.
If you went with one of those ORP shields, you would just connect it to the hydra.
As for cost, if you just want a basic controller then you may be better served to buy a reefkeeper lite or similar, however they do not have ethernet.
If you want a full functional controller with the ability to add nearly any option you could want for roughly $200 to $2000 less than the commercial equivalent, then the hydra may be an option. The hydra itself is roughly $90 or so complete with LCD/board/everything. Then you have temp sensors, ph probe, and a relay board option. I believe I'm in roughly $175 give or take for everything needed.
Keep in mind though this project is not extremely easy, especially in it's current state. It will take time and work to have a fully functional controller. Even when in a proper state, the project still won't be "extremely" easy. It will be a project that if you can solder, you can have a basic functional controller. From there it will be up to you to go over examples of what other people have done to assemble various equipment and to program the controller for the equipment. It will be a good project for anyone that doesn't mind learning something new and saving a good bit of money in the process.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Absolutely no worries. Not trying to shut down the discussion - just don't want it to get confusing - drillsar started mentioning prices for components "he would need" (to implement a controller using those shields based on an off the shelf mega, i.e. nothing to do with the Hydra project) and I don't want people skimming the thread to think he's talking about things you need for the Hydra, that's all.
Names Brucey
New member
Trying to pull the BOM but it keeps running me in a loop or opening a series of sub-folders that are html format. Any ideas. Haven't ever had a problem in the past but for some reason can't get it to open now.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
