DIY nano reef controller.

Best of luck with this - watching your progress with interest!:thumbup:
Especially to see when the less skilled (liked me) can place orders with you for reef controllers! :whistling:
 
Thanks.
I too am still learning and have very limited understanding of how these things work.
 
Hi guys, this controller is coming on in bit and pieces, just need advice on a few things.:)
Has anyone added a float switch to there skimmer cup, to notify you when it is full?
I want to mount one to the lid of mine but the problem is I want to still be able to remove the lid easily for cleaning. So any ideas would be appreciated.

I want the controller to be seperate from the plug and I need Ideas for cabling, I have an 8 channel relay. I would prefer for the relay to be on the controller but that means I need a cable that can handle 220v and has multiple cores.

Did anyone else have problems uploading code to the mega2560? I am having a few problems but I think its the bootloader, I am going to try install a new one today.

Any ideas where I can get a box to enclose all this?
 
Mc said:
Started working on the lcd and managed to get a little progam running on it, that that prints text out to the screen. Going to try and hook the RTC up a bit later, Im just a bit confused as mine has a digital pin labeled DS and Im not sure which socket I should wire it too or if it even matters.

Has anyone tried buliding there own pH circuit? I found a few diagram for them on the net.
Click to expand...

Some of the RTC modules have a temp sensor on board, usually the DS18B20 which works over the 1-wire protocal, so the DS pin is for the Onboard sensor if it has it.

A pH buffer amp circuit is very simple in theory, but needs some special attention in design and layout. Let me know if you need some help!
 
Mc said:
Has anyone added a float switch to there skimmer cup, to notify you when it is full?

Guys have spoken about it, but not sure how many have actually done it?

I want to mount one to the lid of mine but the problem is I want to still be able to remove the lid easily for cleaning. So any ideas would be appreciated.

Due to the fact that you need to removed the cup and lid for cleaning, doesn't make life easy. ether way, you going to have to remove the switch or put a connection plug on it.

I want the controller to be seperate from the plug and I need Ideas for cabling, I have an 8 channel relay. I would prefer for the relay to be on the controller but that means I need a cable that can handle 220v and has multiple cores.

I'm not 100% sure on what you mean here, Are you trying to isolate the 220V from the Arduino, or just seperate the "parts/devices" in the sense of some space/distance?

I assume you are talking about the latter, it would depend on the design/connection interface of the relay board. If the board has a pin for each relay input then you would have to use a multicore cable, something like they use for running alarm cables, as there is little current, it doesn't have to be thick at all. Otherwise if you want to get fancy you could use a I2C expander to drive the relay board, this way you will only need 4 wires, of which 2 are power supply, this would also only use 2 pins on the arduino board, and can run on the same bus as other I2C devices.

Did anyone else have problems uploading code to the mega2560? I am having a few problems but I think its the bootloader, I am going to try install a new one today.

Any ideas where I can get a box to enclose all this?
Click to expand...

Click on the compile button before you upload, this way you can confirm there is no problem with the code.

Ohhh, and where the pics.
 
Thanks lIghty.

Im sure I can think of some way to mount it, just thought I would see if someone has done it already.

You are right its for the distance. If I understand this correctly unless I put the actual relay in the plug box the cable will be carrying the full voltage and current of all plugs on the tank, that are linked to the controller and I don't think the cable you are talking about could handle that. Or am I missing something. Is it a better option to but the relay in the plug box and then you would only need a cable that carries 5v.

I did click the compile button and it was fine it even send to the controller but then I get a random timeout error, I have researched it a bit and seems I'm not the only one with this error. They say it can be fixed by reloading the bootloader.

Will upload a pic of the birdsnest of wires soon.:p
 
Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear.

The connection between the arduino and the relay board is all low voltage low current. just that there are 2 popular methods on interfacing the 2 together.

1- ("analog / TTL") is where 1 pin from the Arduino is connected to 1pin the relay board. therefore for a 8 channel relay board you would need 8 wires (1 for each relay) + 1 ground wire and possibly a +5V (design dependent), therefore you would need a 9 or 10 core cable. Again, this is all low voltage low current, so thin cable can be used.

2 - (digital) is where the signal is send from the Arduino to a relay board with a built in "decoder" that then converts the digital signal to a TTL which will control each relay. A common method would be using the 2 wire protocal (actually 4 wires used, 2 for the digital signals, +5V and Ground)

The nice think about the 2nd option is that is uses only 2 IO pins on the board, and these same 2 wires can be connected to another relay board or I2C device. you can actually run up to 254 seperate devices on the same 2 wires, as each device has its own ID which the Arduino will direct communications too!

Hope that makes sense.
 
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Thanks I understand now.
I think I found the perfect cable, Its an old monitor cable. I also have the connectors male and female so I can make it dettachable. It will be wired as in your first example.
 
Another question.
There is not that much info on these relays.
If using the controller as the power source for the relay, would the jumper be over gnd-vcc or
jd-vcc?

Heres a pic of a few wires.
50064f8b1ba2b6910.jpg
 
Anyone know if using the controller as the power source for the relay, would the jumper be over
gnd-vcc or jd-vcc?
Maybe @Manic its the same relay you are using.
 
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My controller had a problem, so I had to order a programing chip. The problem is it got lost in the post when we had a postal strike a while back and I haven't gotten round to ordering another one.
I will probably start this again when I have finished studying for my next exam.
 
Thanks Biovolt I normally do but I didn't have a tracking number on it.
Its ok, it wasn't really expensive under R100.
 
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