Thinking of buying a used RA

rickztahone · Post by **rickztahone** » Mon Jul 11, 2016 1:48 pm

I am getting a good deal on a RA w/ 2x 8 plug ports ORP/Temp/pH and wifi module.

I am the least techy guy but have been thinking of possibly getting an RA for some time for the sheer amount of stuff you can seemingly do on it.

With all of this said, when dealing with purchasing a used unit, are there things I should look out for for? Can the code be erased that is currently on it since it is used?

The person has a euro looking 8 port that I asked about. He assured me that US plugs fit in there. I was hesitant about that since i've never seen anything like this, but he assured me that he has been doing it this way for a while.

Any advice anyone would care to share?

Are there specific links I can follow to read up on coding and such?

Lastly, how do you sub for specific threads? I couldn't seem to find the option in a thread where I wanted to save it for later reading.

Thank you.

lnevo · Post by **lnevo** » Mon Jul 11, 2016 7:28 pm

It'll be easy and the best way to generate new code. You can download the installer and play with the wizard and start working on the code as soon as you like. The plugs sound right, it was always US plugs with adapters for other regions.

The wifi module is a must have, you should just find out if it's a standard or plus. The standard is outdated but the good news is that you can upgrade it to the plus pretty cheaply.

I'm not sure on the thread question.

Good luck and welcome to the club.

cosmith71 · Post by **cosmith71** » Tue Jul 12, 2016 3:00 am

I think the new Universal Relay Expansion boxes have those kinds of plugs. Look under "Order" for a picture.

Lee is correct on coding, let the Wizard do the initial hard work for you. You can also check out this post for some basic info.

http://forum.reefangel.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3353

--Colin

rickztahone · Post by **rickztahone** » Tue Jul 12, 2016 2:41 pm

lnevo wrote:It'll be easy and the best way to generate new code. You can download the installer and play with the wizard and start working on the code as soon as you like. The plugs sound right, it was always US plugs with adapters for other regions.

The wifi module is a must have, you should just find out if it's a standard or plus. The standard is outdated but the good news is that you can upgrade it to the plus pretty cheaply.

I'm not sure on the thread question.

Good luck and welcome to the club.

Thank you for the info. I would be buying:
Head unit
2 plug units
2 temp probes
Wifi adapt
Orp unit and probe
Ph probe

all for $150. I'm assuming that is a good deal even if it is a standard one?

I watched a few videos on coding yesterday and while it does some time conducive, I am sure I can adapt.

Thank you again for the info.

lnevo · Post by **lnevo** » Tue Jul 12, 2016 2:52 pm

Yeah thats a sweet deal. I think the wifi alone is close to that price.

rickztahone · Post by **rickztahone** » Tue Jul 12, 2016 3:26 pm

lnevo wrote:Yeah thats a sweet deal. I think the wifi alone is close to that price.

Well great. That is good to know. I'm assuming there is some kind of reset option on the unit? It is used after all and don't want to run whatever it was that this person was running prior. Is there a way to find out if it is a standard/plus without opening it? Is it marked somewhere?

lnevo · Post by **lnevo** » Tue Jul 12, 2016 6:00 pm

Just download the installer and start playing with the wizard. Look at other peoples code and see if you can follow. Once you get it just upload your code and you'll be good to go

rickztahone · Post by **rickztahone** » Wed Jul 13, 2016 11:31 am

lnevo wrote:Just download the installer and start playing with the wizard. Look at other peoples code and see if you can follow. Once you get it just upload your code and you'll be good to go

Thank you. I have been reading up on Arduino for beginners and it has given me a better grasp of coding. Not overly so, but enough that I think this might actually be doable by someone that doesn't know anything about coding. The wizard seems to be the key here rather than hard code everything from scratch.

Thank you all for your help.

rickztahone · Post by **rickztahone** » Wed Jul 13, 2016 11:45 am

lnevo wrote:It'll be easy and the best way to generate new code. You can download the installer and play with the wizard and start working on the code as soon as you like. The plugs sound right, it was always US plugs with adapters for other regions.

The wifi module is a must have, you should just find out if it's a standard or plus. The standard is outdated but the good news is that you can upgrade it to the plus pretty cheaply.

I'm not sure on the thread question.

Good luck and welcome to the club.

btw, I found out that the unit he is selling is the plus

cosmith71 · Post by **cosmith71** » Wed Jul 13, 2016 12:15 pm

Definitely start with the Wizard. It will set up all the necessary structures that you can then customize if you want.

rickztahone · Post by **rickztahone** » Wed Jul 13, 2016 12:33 pm

cosmith71 wrote:Definitely start with the Wizard. It will set up all the necessary structures that you can then customize if you want.

I am trying to find the Wizard to play around with before I actually buy it from this person but am not succeeding.

rimai · Post by **rimai** » Wed Jul 13, 2016 12:40 pm

Download the RA installer fromthe website, install it and go to menu tools

rickztahone · Post by **rickztahone** » Wed Jul 13, 2016 12:50 pm

rimai wrote:Download the RA installer fromthe website, install it and go to menu tools

Got it, thank you Roberto

rickztahone · Post by **rickztahone** » Sun Jul 17, 2016 5:15 pm

So I was able to purchase the Reef Angel used locally as I had mentioned before. Came with a whole lot of stuff except for a USB TTL cable. Is there any way to connect to my computer without having that cable?

It came with the wifi module but even after downloading from this website, I am not able to run anything without that cable. Help?

Reef Angel by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

I did also get an ORP probe and pH probe which are not pictured. They are both staying wet atm.

cosmith71 · Post by **cosmith71** » Sun Jul 17, 2016 5:18 pm

You will need the USB-TTL cable, or a bluetooth module.

rickztahone · Post by **rickztahone** » Sun Jul 17, 2016 5:24 pm

cosmith71 wrote:You will need the USB-TTL cable, or a bluetooth module.

Thanks. I asked the original owner if he had it and am waiting to hear back from him. If not, I'll just buy it from RA directly. Everything else seems to be there however. Not too fond of one of the ports being so bulky. I may end up just buying one similar to the smaller one. That wouldn't be a problem right?

rickztahone · Post by **rickztahone** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 7:13 am

So, I am at the point where I can load code in to my RA unit. However, I cannot for the life of me get the wifi module to work. I have read the instructions and I believe am doing everything right but still get an error code when I try to connect wirelessly. I got an IP address from the RA itself (don't remember how I got that), but then something mentioned about port forwarding? Not sure what that is.

At one point I was connecting the USB-TTL from the computer USB directly to the wireless unit but it was not turning on. Was I doing that wrong?

I need help and if anyone can provide it, I would be greatly appreciated.

P.S., I ran the wizard and when I ran the code and tried to upload it, it said that some of the text wasn't recognized? I got the code directly from the wizard and it generated its own code. Could this code generating be out of date and the RA is not recognizing it any longer? Help.

cosmith71 · Post by **cosmith71** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 7:21 am

Post your code, along with the error messages. Let's get that working before we tackle the WiFi.

rickztahone · Post by **rickztahone** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 7:46 am

"dup" please delete

rickztahone · Post by **rickztahone** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 7:59 am

cosmith71 wrote:Post your code, along with the error messages. Let's get that working before we tackle the WiFi.

I switched from "within the code" to internal memory and the generated code from the wizard uploaded successfully.

I am moving on to the wifi setup and getting stuck at this step:
"3 Modify the settings to match your own wifi authentication "
I tried using the wifi utility but I keep getting an error and chose to move on to the second way of connecting.

I have my SSID
IP address
DNS
Pre-shared key

What else do I need?

cosmith71 · Post by **cosmith71** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 5:03 pm

I'm not good enough with the networking aspect to troubleshoot it, so I'll defer to someone else.

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