Sorry - Another "what do I need" thread

[wolffman64]

Hi, sorry for creating another one of these posts, but I do need some help before I order my RA.

I have a Red Sea Max500 tank, with an additional Jebao WP-40 (will be 2 in the near future) and am waiting for my retrofit LED upgrade from Steve's LED (when I finally get them to answer my emails)

A short description of what I want to achieve:
To Measure:

• 2 x Temperature (in tank and in sump)
  PH
  Salinity
  Water level in sump (high warning)

Equipment to control:

• Heater
  Chiller
  Chiller Pump
  Jebao WP-40
  3 circulation pumps (switch on and off as one total unit)
  Return Pump
  Skimmer
  LED upgrade from Steve's LED with 3 "channels" (white, Royal Blue, and another type of blue I can't remember name of)

With the above in mind, I was going to order the following equipment:

• RA+ controller
  Salinity Expansion
  Jebao Cable Harness
  Wifi Attachment
  additional Temperature probe
  Socket adaptors (since I live in Australia)

The questions I have:

• Is the equipment above correct for what I want to do?
  Do I need the PH expansion module if I just want to measure it in one place, since the RA+ seems to come with a PH probe and port?
  If I don't need the PH expansion module above, do I still need to get an expansion hub for now?
  Do I need to get the Dimming expansion? It seems to me that the standard RA+ only can control 2 channels?
  Is there a way for me to warn me about a low water level in my ATO, since the RSM500 has a completely "enclosed" ATO tank, and I will not be able to get a full float switch in the tank.
  Do I still need to plug the power to the WP-40 into the power board, since I will control it through the cable harness?
  How do I connect the control cable for the WP-40, is that Through the dimming ports? If so, I guess that will answer the question above about the Dimming expansion - I will definitely need it then.

Guys, very grateful for all the help you can give me. I have been told that this forum is what makes the RA so great

[lnevo]

Yes the jaebos are controlled through the dimming ports so i would recommend the dimming expansion and the hub since you'll have two expansion. You don't need the ph expansion which would be good for another tank or a calcium reactor setup. You dob't NEED to plug in the wp-40 pump but you may want to. As far as ATO, if you can drill a hole you can insert the pipe for the water level sensor or maybe you can insert the pipe where you fill it? I love monitoring my ato reservoir this way. I think that was all your questions. If i missed any let me know.

[wolffman64]

Thanks for your excellent answers!

Just one more question (for now ). How does the water sensor work? I assume that it's not the float switch you are referring to?

[Sacohen]

The water level sensor is a 1/2 PVC pipe (9" pipe is supplied). It can be any length you need.
There is an adapter on top that a piece of airing tubing is attached to (again a piece is supplied, but it can be any length you need).

It works on air pressure in the PVC pipe, so you need an air tight seal.
As the water level drops there is more air in the tube and it shows you what % of the tube is full.
0% being empty and 100% full to the point it was calibrated at.

Nice piece of equipment and very accurate.

I have 1 for my sump and I'm going to get the multi water level expansion to monitor my ATO and Salt Water bins fo water changes.

[wolffman64]

Brilliant! That sounds just like what I need to monitor the ATO tank, and it will not require any mods to my tank either, since it will all fit into the refill hole. I assume that the sensor itself should not be in the water....

[Sacohen]

Yes. It should not.
The airing tubing actually runs to the module that you can have mounted some where "dry" and then attaches to the expansion hub or directly to the RA if there is only 1 expansion module.

Here is a link to the manual for it.
http://www.reefangel.com/files/Water%20 ... _1.1.0.pdf

Manuals for all the modules can be found in the downloads section, under the Manuals tab.
http://www.reefangel.com/download.aspx

[wolffman64]

Cheers for all the help. Getting really excited now!

[wolffman64]

Excited!

Have ordered, and been notified that it's being shipped(!):
RA+ controller
Wifi Attachment
Expansion Hub
Salinity Expansion
Dimming Expansion
2 x Jebao Cable Harness
2 x additional Temperature probes
Socket adaptors

Now I just need to try and figure out how to program it and set it up. Bit worried about that....

[lnevo]

Thats what the wizard is for. Have no fear, we'll help you through.

[wolffman64]

Can you download the wizard and have a look at it without having received the actual RA?

[lnevo]

Yep

[Sacohen]

Yes you can.

[ReefingHavoc]

Yup. There are also some pretty good tutorials in the forums that can help get you familiar with Arduino if you want to really start customizing.

When I started I spent some time looking at code others have posted and simply "borrowed" it for myself. Simply search for what you want to do and you'll probably find some code already written. This is of course after you've run the wizard.

[wolffman64]

Thanks guys!

Yep, I have been trawling through the forum the last couple of days, bookmarking all sections with interesting parts of code that I want. I'll download the software and play around with the wizard today.

Just got a notification from UPS that my RA has left SF and it on it's way to OZ!!!!

[wolffman64]

Just tried the wizard and had a look at the code it generated. Looks easy enough, and the wizard is great!
My programming days are apparently not over.... LOL

[wolffman64]

One more question:
I configured the code with plugging my Jebao WP40's into the power relay, but since I have bought the Jebao Cable harness (which will be plugged into my dimming expansion), I will not use the control box, and therefore have no power cable to plug in? Or am I completely missing something here?

[Sacohen]

The power supply from the Jebao plugs into the wiring harness.

[rimai]

I split Steve's post from here.
Here is his post: http://forum.reefangel.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=4429

[Sacohen]

Roberto.

Those images are not mine. I copied them from another post I found online, so who know's how long they will stay up.

I'll take pictures of the different ends over the weekend and replace the images.

[wolffman64]

Ah, ok, cheers,now I understand!

[wolffman64]

I think I have made a bit of a mistake here. I have my LED retrofit kit from Steve's LED for my RSM500 on the way to Australia, and I was naïve enough to think that it could just be hooked up to my Dimming Expansion module. Today I found on Steve's website that they now sell a "Aquarium Controller Interface Harness for Steve's LEDs Drivers", which I haven't ordered

Do I need this to connect my Steve's LED's to my Dimming Expansion module, or is there something else I can do?

[lnevo]

You'll be fine without the harness. I believe it just converts the pwm signal to analog and/or 5V to 10V

Just make sure your drivers match your reefangel you'll be fine

[wolffman64]

You'll be fine without the harness. I believe it just converts the pwm signal to analog and/or 5V to 10V

Just make sure your drivers match your reefangel you'll be fine

Sorry for my complete lack of knowledge, but how do I check that they match, and what am I looking for? Also, any idea how you connect them to the dimming expansion, and do I still plug the power into the relay?

Thanks for all your help!

[Sacohen]

The power does not need to be plugged into the Relay because the dimming port will be controlling the lights.
I'm not familiar with the Steve's LED light put the dimming module has 6 positive screw downs and 3 negative screw downs, just connect the positive to the positive and the negative to the negative.

To see if they match you need to know what the Steve's LED lights are set up for 0-10 analog, 0-10 PWM, 0-5 analog or 0-5 PWM.

It should not matter though, if you bought your dimming expansion module in the last 6 months or so they have been re-worked to be able to work with any of the above configurations.

The way to tell which dimming module you have is to open it up and see if there are jumpers inside for the setting.

Here is a link to the manual that explains the jumper settings.

http://www.reefangel.com/files/Dimming% ... _1.4.2.pdf

[wolffman64]

Yipeeee! Got the big box with all my stuff last night, and started to tinker with it until 1.30 am...

Managed to upload the initial memory, but after that all uploads ended up with errors. Very frustrated, until I realised that I hadn't pushed the cable in properly into the RA! Doh! After that everything worked OK. Need to try and get some calibration fluids today for the PH probe. Have a coupe of questions:

1) Can you calibrate the salinity probe with something else than 35ppm solution? I have a calibration fluid that is 1.023.
2) Holders and placements of probes. Since there are no holders for any of the temperature, PH and salinity probes or for the water level sensors (which I fully understand why it's not included), but do you guys by these holders or make them yourselves?

[Sacohen]

For the probe holders I bought a 4 hole holder from BRS I think.

For the Water Level and ATO switches I made some out of PVC.

Cut a slit in a PVC T or Elbow the thickness of your sump wall.
Set it over the Sump wall and drill out the stop on a T that keeps the pipe from going all the way thru





For the ATO switches.

Slot an Elbow.
Put in a length of pipe including an end cap or plug (I haven't tried a plug yet) to get you close to the water level you want the float switch at.
Drill a hole in the end cap big enough for the stem of the float switch.
Feed the wire and stem of the float switch through the hole, pipe and out the end cap.
Don't forget to put the nut on the stem of the float switch.

What I actually did was drill the hole for the float switch stem a bit smaller then the stem and then found a screw or bolt with the same thread pattern as the float switch steam and us it to tap out the hole. then you can screw the float switch directly into the end cap. You also have the ability to fine tune the level of the switch because you can screw it in further or not as much in the end cap.

I'll try to get a picture of it.

Also if you are using it for the ATO high you will have to flip the float around or use you ATO Reverse code.

Code: Select all

ATO_LOW_REVERSE,ReefAngel.ReverseATOLow,Reverse ATO Low
ATO_HIGH_REVERSE,ReefAngel.ReverseATOHigh,Reverse ATO High

[wolffman64]

Cheers, very clever!!! Love the creativity and end result!

[Sacohen]

Thanks.

I've seen similar ideas for tube holders.
Here is a tip from Mr. Saltwater TV based on the same premise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... E4RWozFh5k

[wolffman64]

More questions: I want to place all my relay/RA and extension boxes in my cabinet beside the tank instead of "in" the sump. Since almost all cables provided are way too short (apart from the long temperature probe), unless you want to place the relay and the RA box above the sump (which will not work well with sw):

a) Can you swap the mini-to-full USB cables for longer ones, or use USB extension cables (for connections between Relay and expansion modules), without problems with the signal?

b) Can you extend the PH and Salinity probe cables (with extension cables) without signal degradation?

If you can't, how has other people solved this?

[wolffman64]

I found that they sell extension leads on the RA website for the PH/Salinity probes, but I can't order them from there, since it will take way too long to ship and shipping will cost more than the cables. Roberto, can you tell me the specifics on the extension cables so that I can try and find it locally?