My Neptune Apex web interface compatible DIY reef controller

[mpots]

Yep, I get LEDs blinking on both stamps in the correct start-up sequence during & before initialization but then init fails when in serial mode. Once I wire them up in I2C it works fine (after switching stamp over to I2C mode too). I figured that serial would be better since better bandwidth across each stamp but it doesn't look bogged down so maybe I'll just leave it in I2C...

[mpots]

Have a question for you about the circuit you built to control your powerheads... have looked through your builds but not able to find one and I haven't had success tinkering or searching elsewhere.

I'm wiring the PWM pump 0 plug on ardiuno to pwm wire on powerhead, then hooking in the powerhead's 24v psu to the + / - wires for the powerhead. Have a wire from PSU ground to ardiuno ground to give common ground. But powerhead doesn't spin, looks like it moves a fraction of an inch and then moves back.

Did you wire your circuit differently or is there something I'm missing? I'm running a PP-4 powerhead (it's the new version of rw-4). Thinking maybe the issue is that it may use a similar proprietary signal to the new jebao pumps that you've been working on?

[d0ughb0y]

the wiring is exactly as you described. only the crossflow pump uses the bldc motor controller, the pp-4 should be straight pwm control. make sure the connections are correct (for 24v, pwm and gnd). The pump takes 5v pwm signal.

[d0ughb0y]

update. the board I was testing last year got damaged. not sure how, but the teensy board is running hot (like something is shorted) but I did not find any shorted pins. Since the teensy is soldered to the pcb board, I am unable to salvage it so I had to assemble a new board. This time I used a socket to hold the teensy and the esp8266. I ran into some issues, but discovered that was due to using the older teensy 3.1, which had a hardware issue if pin33 is used. I have one more teensy 3.2 that I will try next.

[mpots]

Thanks for confirming -- time to triple check those connections and make sure there wasn't a loose wire

[teslo]

Originally Posted by teslo

As I live in Europe at -1h CGT I change in config.h setting and on main web page hour and date is shown correct.
For example now 06-24-2014 14:44:00
Still when I change one outlet setting and then check in Outlet log I see all log entries are made for past time so in outlet log I see 06/24/2014 5:44:00 ?

Where and how to change also this to be accurate and sync to current time?

It takes time but finnaly I found where and what I had to change to get EU style date and time

in Index.htm file in Index.gz
line around line number 1495 where is:

var ts=checkTime(td.getMonth()+1)+'-'+checkTime(td.getDate())+'-'+td.getFullYear()+' '+checkTime(td.getHours())+':'+checkTime(td.getMinutes())+':'+checkTime(td.getSeconds());

should be changed to:

var ts=checkTime(td.getDate())+'-'+checkTime(td.getMonth()+1)+'-'+td.getFullYear()+' '+checkTime(td.getHours())+':'+checkTime(td.getMinutes())+':'+checkTime(td.getSeconds());

Then on footer date and time is shown in format daymonth-month-year hh:mm:ss

So for today 16-01-2017 21:33:30 instead of 01-16-2017 21:33:30

small change but maybe some other will find this useful !

[tparlette]

I finally got everything up and running but every time I try to go to any tab in the site I get unable to connect to apex. Any thoughts or help would be great.

[teslo]

Originally Posted by tparlette

I finally got everything up and running but every time I try to go to any tab in the site I get unable to connect to apex. Any thoughts or help would be great.

You got this error when you work from computer connected to cable local network?
Sometimes you will get this error if connection from your device (mobile, tablet or laptop on wifi) is weak, slow and not strong.

From computer connected with cable to same local network should work normally also with local house wifi if you are in good range place.
But when you are far away from your Wifi AP then signal is weak and those errors start.

[tparlette]

Originally Posted by teslo

You got this error when you work from computer connected to cable local network?
Sometimes you will get this error if connection from your device (mobile, tablet or laptop on wifi) is weak, slow and not strong.

From computer connected with cable to same local network should work normally also with local house wifi if you are in good range place.
But when you are far away from your Wifi AP then signal is weak and those errors start.

I figured out the issue my ad card was corrupt. A new one came in today and now it finally works. But for some reason my temp probe doesn't read correctly it just displays 185. I manually tested it with the onewire ds18B20 example and it reads correctly. Do I have to specify the address in the config.h file?

[tparlette]

Ok so I specified the address for the temp sensor and now it just reads 0. So I went back to the onewire example and it reads fine. I can't figure out what is going on?

[teslo]

Originally Posted by tparlette

Ok so I specified the address for the temp sensor and now it just reads 0. So I went back to the onewire example and it reads fine. I can't figure out what is going on?

If you wrote correct address of your sensor then check also other definitions in config.h


first uncomment this

#define _TEMP //comment out if no temp probe


then regarding of your use this:

#define CELSIUS //uncomment if using celsius unit


And in your case use also 1 here

#define MAXTEMP 1 //number of temp sensors, up to 3 max, over 3 not recommended


if you use only one sensor you should wrote your sensor id here:

#define TEMPDEF { {"AqTemp",{0x10, 0x1E, 0x63, 0xBF, 0x00, 0x08, 0x00, 0x91}} }


and don't forget to change value here if you want that default settings of your controller will be refreshed at next reset

#define EEPROMSIG 0xA1 //change this every time you want the eeprom defaults to change

This value change to 0xA2 and next time back.

So after you set all this correctly then try!

[tparlette]

Originally Posted by teslo

If you wrote correct address of your sensor then check also other definitions in config.h


first uncomment this

#define _TEMP //comment out if no temp probe


then regarding of your use this:

#define CELSIUS //uncomment if using celsius unit


And in your case use also 1 here

#define MAXTEMP 1 //number of temp sensors, up to 3 max, over 3 not recommended


if you use only one sensor you should wrote your sensor id here:

#define TEMPDEF { {"AqTemp",{0x10, 0x1E, 0x63, 0xBF, 0x00, 0x08, 0x00, 0x91}} }


and don't forget to change value here if you want that default settings of your controller will be refreshed at next reset

#define EEPROMSIG 0xA1 //change this every time you want the eeprom defaults to change

This value change to 0xA2 and next time back.

So after you set all this correctly then try!

Ok I checked everything you said and I realized that after I changed EEPROMSIG it finally started working.

Thanks again for all of the help

[ronnyking]

Glad I found this thread! I am currently starting, as a compkete novice in both reef aquaria and programming, to build a controller based on a teensy 3.1. I think I might actually wait until you got this running, it seems like a great work!

At the moment I only have a simple touchscreen and some code to control my led lamp fixture... ��

[senne76]

Hi I am trying to adapt the existing code to have led functionality. Since I need 7 PWM signals I was going to use the remaining 3 PWM ports and a slave I2C arduino uno for 6 extra PWM ports.

I saw that you chose to not use I2C but an external controller. Did you do it because i2c is much slower?

[yevgenb]

Originally Posted by d0ughb0y

the wiring is exactly as you described. only the crossflow pump uses the bldc motor controller, the pp-4 should be straight pwm control. make sure the connections are correct (for 24v, pwm and gnd). The pump takes 5v pwm signal.

Interesting, I took my RW-4 stock controller today and checked it's with oscilloscope - it shows 0-10v analog signal, not 5v (PWM)! Surprise - I thought why is my pumps slower with DIY controller than with stock.

Can someone prove if my findings are correct?

[d0ughb0y]

maybe they changed it.
I have WP and RW pumps, but not the PP. But I think the PP only has a different magnet mount. I am running the RW on my diy controller, so that is using 5v pwm. I am using the stock RW controller on my WP to mix salt, and I don't notice the WP running any faster than usual.
You can just add a transistor circuit to convert the 5v pwm to 10v if you think that is what your pump needs.

[yevgenb]

Yeah, I'll try to up it to 10v - just interesting. I found on reef angel site mention of 10v too.

[d0ughb0y]

going by my old post note, post #67 in this thread
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...5&postcount=67

When I analyzed the stock controller circuit, the pwm is 5v pwm, and it only adds a resistor capacitor to turn it to 5v analog. I tested using 5v pwm as is worked so I left out the resistor/capacitor.

I can check again when I resume working on the v2 controller. (need to finish doing my taxes first). For the v2 controller, the pwm outputs are 5/10v selectable.

[spookydooky]

Great work on this!!
I have assembled my controller and its up and running.
I have a problem though, I get "Get NTP failed" every time + that on the LCD it showing "Network down" but not in the log.
I can access the controller locally and outside on the web, but it just wont update my RTC.
Another strange thing is that it aotuadjusts my RTC to DST every night.

Here`s my log:

first the autoadjust:

01:00:17 Ethernet and Webserver reset.
01:20:17 Ethernet and Webserver reset.
01:40:17 Ethernet and Webserver reset.
03:00:00 Auto adjusted DST time.
03:00:00 Current time is 03/24/2017 03:00:00
03:00:18 Ethernet and Webserver reset.
03:20:17 Ethernet and Webserver reset.
03:40:18 Ethernet and Webserver reset.
04:00:17 Ethernet and Webserver reset.

then the startup:

08:20:42 Get ntp failed.
08:20:42 Using RTC as sync provider.
08:20:42 RTC time 03/24/2017 08:20:42
08:20:42 System initializing...
08:20:44 Ethernet and Webserver reset.
08:20:45 Found Temp 0
08:20:46 Temp sensor initialized.
08:20:49 pH initialized. ph 0
08:20:51 ORP sensor init failed.
08:20:55 Conductivity sensor initialized.
08:20:56 Outlet Timers initialized
08:20:57 Doser pumps initialized.
08:20:57 Doser0 dosed volume since reset is 14
08:20:57 Doser1 dosed volume since reset is 14
08:20:58 ATO water level 104
08:20:58 Initialization Completed.
08:20:58 4069
08:21:00 Alarm Event: Temp:21.00 pH:7.58 Cond:0.00 Orp:-8.90 Cal:14.00 Alk:14.00 Sonar:104%

I can´t figure this out, any ideas?

[spookydooky]

Never mind!
I solved it.
It was a conflict with the mac-adress.

[d0ughb0y]

I was out for 2 week vacation in Australia and my original controller stopped working more than a week before my return. Good thing I have someone to help me move the outlets to a power strip and do manual feedings and top off till I return.

The problem was a melted rocker switch. Not sure how it happened. The switch is rated 20amps. I just ordered replacement from Digi-Key. This is what the switch looked like



Went to Great Barrier Reef and saw the bleached corals. The main sps coral is blue staghorn and pretty much about 40% were completely white, maybe 30-40% brown. What's left that is still blue looked really nice though. Where we went, the fishes were not as much variety and not very colorful. I had better experience in Hawaii and Philippines, and even Florida. The skyrail ride over the rainforest canopy was great.

[ronnyking]

wow, i'm jealous of suck a vacation!

How's the work on chauvet 2 going?

[stephen67]

Jerry unfortunately I can PM you because I do not have 10 post's yet. Thanks for all the hard work. I accidentally stumbled on this thread a few days back searching for a Pi
DIY version. This has all the needs and then some. I Finally read the whole thread. How is the chauvet 2 going. Is the PCB ready for prime time yet and released? I was going to try my hand at designing my own PCB. But why reinvent the wheel if it isn't broken. I run a CM so I am all familiar with the fab and build process. Also I might be able to help get you fabs faster and a bit cheaper. Is the current PDF of the schematic the latest and greatest on github. Thanks for all the hard work you really killed this!

[evokid511]

this is such an awesome build! great work man

[stephen67]

I am a nu bee and just started getting all my parts in. Like it's been said many time start out slow and add one thing at a time. I was just trying to compile with just a temp sensor and I get a compiler error. I went back over the initial instructions on what files to edit etc. and don't see anything that stands out. I do not have verbose enabled, Here is the error:

This report would have more information with
"Show verbose output during compilation"
enabled in File > Preferences.
Arduino: 1.0.6 (Windows NT (unknown)), Board: "Arduino Mega 2560 or Mega ADK"
Network.ino: In function 'void logNetworkAccess(TinyWebServer&)':
Network:552: error: 'class EthernetClient' has no member named 'getRemoteIP'

TIA