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raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 4:22 pm
by lnevo
That would make RA the best thing in the universe!!!

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 8:23 pm
by dcartier
I would be willing to give this a try. I am a Linux guy in my day job.

Before I bought the RA I was looking at the PI and thinking hmm, a Linux single board computer (with Ethernet and HDMI) would make one heck of a reef controller. I would take the wired Ethernet over WiFi any day.

As it as ARM based it will have way more horsepower for doing the heavy lifting to and from the net than the AVR in the RA. As well all your favourite scripting languages are already available in the package manager (Python, Perl, Java, etc.).

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 8:50 pm
by rimai
Cool.
So basically, the first thing we need is to have some sort of java or any other application that would read UART and send it straight to the portal server. This would take care of sending data to server.
This is the easy part.
The more complex part would be incoming data. When someone connects to PI, we need the webserver to relay messages to RA over UART too.
So, let's say PI webserver is using 192.168.0.100 and port 2000 and you browse http://www.192.168.0.100:2000/ What PI needs to do is send GET / to RA via UART, read the response from RA and relay the reply to the browser.
Do you think you would be able to get this part done?

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 3:33 am
by dcartier
I have put myself on the waiting list for a PI at Adafruit.

No need to wait for the PI though. It is a long weekend here, so I will build a small Linux box to start testing with and we can move to the PI once it is available. Hopefully with a working glue layer already to go.

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 3:49 am
by dcartier
Anyone know the pinout for the TTL UART port on the RA? I assume it is 5V rather than 3.3V? I was just thinking that connecting my FTDI board to the RA might be the easiest method of gaining access to test some stuff.

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 7:40 am
by cypho
dcartier wrote:Anyone know the pinout for the TTL UART port on the RA? I assume it is 5V rather than 3.3V? I was just thinking that connecting my FTDI board to the RA might be the easiest method of gaining access to test some stuff.
http://elinux.org/Rpi_Low-level_periphe ... .28GPIO.29
The production Raspberry Pi board has a 26-pin 2.54 mm (100 mil)[1] expansion header, marked as P1, arranged in a 2x13 strip. They provide 8 GPIO pins plus access to I²C, SPI, UART), as well as +3.3 V, +5 V and GND supply lines. Pin one is the pin in the first column and on the bottom row. [2]
GPIO voltage levels are 3.3 V and are not 5 V tolerant. There is no over-voltage protection on the board - the intention is that people interested in serious interfacing will use an external board with buffers, level conversion and analog I/O rather than soldering directly onto the main board.

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 8:40 am
by binder
dave and i started on something that would interface a computer to the controller via the serial interface. feel free to look through it and use the code if you want.

https://github.com/curtbinder/rawebserver

it may be helpful or not. doesn't matter to me if you use it, just trying to help prevent you from reinventing the wheel if possible. :)

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 8:47 am
by rimai
Yes, UART on RA is 5V.

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:47 am
by topjimmy
This should take care of that problem

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8745?

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:07 pm
by fatman
So, when will it be in the store? I'll sell my beer cans and order one! ;-)

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 8:51 am
by symon_say
If i get hard wire internet, put my in, I hate the wifi module.

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 6:48 pm
by 00Warpig00
symon_say wrote:If i get hard wire internet, put my in, I hate the wifi module.
I'll second that!!

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 1:06 am
by bondolo
I am interested to hear more about mixing ra and pi as I have been playing with programming both.

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 9:49 am
by rimai
You could connect both UART ports together and use a java app on PI as a ethernet packet relay.
Technically, you could even run a remote shell to run avrdude and upload codes remotely.

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 10:19 am
by Amos Poh
Looking forward for this to be in stores! :)

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 9:54 am
by binder
has anybody made any progresson this? i ask because i own 2 pi's now and a usb wifi module for the pi. of course i have all of my extra ra equipment for testing as well. if anybody has anything coded up, please let me know so i can start helping out on it. who knows, maybe i can get what we want done for some remote programming or data logging or something.

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 8:41 pm
by dcartier
I did eventually get a Pi, but my unit proved to be flaky. It would only run for 10 minutes regardless of the power supply I used. I am just waiting to get another.

I started on a Python program running on a laptop over a FTDI breakout to the RA. I got it to the point where it could update the portal and was working on getting it handling requests from the portal when I got busy with work. Hopefully I will get back to it in the future and have something for when I finally get a working Pi.

Dennis

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2013 8:53 pm
by cypho
I have been thinking about this more and begun to wonder about another approach to it, instead of having a PI talk to the RA head unit, could a PI replace the head unit entirely?

Is there any reason why one could not connect a RA expansion hub directly to a PI and then connect various RA Expansion Modules to the hub?

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2013 10:08 pm
by rimai
You can do that too :)

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 12:09 am
by thekameleon
rimai wrote:Cool.
So basically, the first thing we need is to have some sort of java or any other application that would read UART and send it straight to the portal server. This would take care of sending data to server.
This is the easy part.
The more complex part would be incoming data. When someone connects to PI, we need the webserver to relay messages to RA over UART too.
So, let's say PI webserver is using 192.168.0.100 and port 2000 and you browse http://www.192.168.0.100:2000/ What PI needs to do is send GET / to RA via UART, read the response from RA and relay the reply to the browser.
Do you think you would be able to get this part done?
Would the easiest way to push the querystring to RA or instead create a Serial library that can read/write data in a simpler format?

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 9:15 am
by rimai
If you are trying to have a Pi module that replicates the wifi attachment, you need to make it as the Pi is a Serial to TCP converter.

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 3:21 pm
by rufessor
I too have been looking at the Pi... in terms of replacing the RA processor with the Pi- big issue is PWM output ... Pi has only 1 channel although there are some work arounds for this in software https://projects.drogon.net/software-pw ... pberry-pi/ but it eats clock cycles and of course uses up the other output pins... I believe I found a hardware (USB maybe) board that can interface for multi channel PWM ouput on the Pi but now its two pieces of hardware.. Would be nice to have something with enough PWM channels and outputs for everything else in 1 box... with internet!
Gotta love the memory though.

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 1:08 pm
by cypho
rufessor wrote:I too have been looking at the Pi... in terms of replacing the RA processor with the Pi- big issue is PWM output ... Pi has only 1 channel although there are some work arounds for this in software https://projects.drogon.net/software-pw ... pberry-pi/ but it eats clock cycles and of course uses up the other output pins... I believe I found a hardware (USB maybe) board that can interface for multi channel PWM ouput on the Pi but now its two pieces of hardware.. Would be nice to have something with enough PWM channels and outputs for everything else in 1 box... with internet!
Gotta love the memory though.
How about this add-on chip. Adds 16 PWM channels should be more than enough.

http://www.adafruit.com/products/815

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2013 9:28 am
by rimai
Take a look at these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-te4qkbh28
http://www.doctormonk.com/2012/04/raspb ... duino.html
The first one show the Arduino IDE running on the Pi and the 2nd one shows how we can leverage the wifi framework we already have and use Pi as a internet bridge.
We just need a python script, I guess... :)
Who know python really well?

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 9:27 am
by rimai
Ok, so I got my PI a couple days ago and here is what I got so far :)
http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx25 ... cb4643.jpg

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 3:23 pm
by dcartier
cypho wrote:
How about this add-on chip. Adds 16 PWM channels should be more than enough.

http://www.adafruit.com/products/815
Yep, those do work fine with the Pi. I have 2 of those hooked up to mine along with 2 x 16 bit GPIO, 1 x 12 bit 4 Channel ADC and 2 x 12 bit DAC for my 2 (soon to be controlled) WP40s. At some point the Pi will be hooked to the RA.

Which brings me to the reason I stopped by. I built an ATO/AWC with 4 water level sensors using the MPXV5004G chip. I noticed that the sensor in the sump seems to drift higher by 4% over a couple of days. If I lift the sensor from the water exposing it to the air, once submerged, the reading becomes accurate again. At first I though I had a leak that was allowing the water level to rise in my tube, but after thinking about it, that would cause the reading to be high, not low.

I am now leaning toward changes in barometeric pressure between when the sensor is lifted, and reset to ambient pressure, and when the ambient pressure changes over the course of a few days.

Is anyone using the RA version of the water level sensor seeing anything similar, and does the RA version take into account the ambient pressure at the time of calibration?

I am probably over thinking this. :?

Dennis

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 3:36 pm
by thekameleon
Actually I think it could be an air leak. If you sensor is reading a higher water level, I think that means the air pressure exerted on the sensor by the water pressure would lower which should result in a higher water level. If you can use a clear plastic tube and see if water is climbing into the tube... It really shouldn't happen very much.

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 3:53 pm
by dcartier
That was my first thought as well. But the sensor is reading a lower reading after a few days when the water level is at the target. Unfortunately the sensor tube is CPVC, so it is opaque. I re-cut the end of the PVC hose that connects through a Watts connector to the sensor tube this morning, so we will see if it has any effect in a few days.

I am concerned as I don't want my AWC to increase the salinity over time.

The other long shot I was thinking of is micro bubbles that are traversing the baffle where the sensor is adding to the trapped air in the sensor tube. This seems like a very remote explanation though.

Dennis

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 4:33 pm
by dcartier
Actually I think I described it wrong. The sensor is reading higher, but the actual water level at that point is lower. So it is reading more pressure in the sensor tube then the water level would normally exert.

Dennis

Re: raspberrypi expansion module

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 3:21 pm
by rimai
Wow... That was not easy... lol
But I finally got the Arduino IDE to compile our libraries.
I just didn't upload to test it yet...
The weird thing is that the compile size is very different...
Windows:
Binary sketch size: 42,588 bytes (of a 258,048 byte maximum)

Pi:
Binary sketch size: 40,464 bytes (of a 258,048 byte maximum)