Red Sea Max 500

[rimai]

The RA+ with PWM dimming would work nicely for you.
The dimmable moonlight is about 3 feet.

[rimai]

Sorry, forgot to add the Relay expansion module.

[modulok]

So if I want to extend the moonlight wire I need the dimming port lead wire? It looks its just a two wire part with the 2 pin connectors. How does anyone just get away with having 3 feet of wire when its connected to the relay box?

[lnevo]

I just spliced in more wire...

[modulok]

So I placed my order last week and I am waiting for the shipment.

I was thinking, could the RA trigger a Wifi enabled thermostat? There are a few different brands and models that are wifi, and a DIY thermostat (you build it yourself with their instructions and components) called Android Thermostat.

How cool would it be for the RA to turn your heat up, or AC down. Or maybe just turn the HVAC fans to circulate air in your home.

If the thermostat can be controlled via wifi or website, can RA send those commands as well?

[rimai]

Not so easily.
The current wifi attachment can only send commands to a single device/server and it is currently setup for refangel.com server.

[modulok]

So that means if my internet is down I will not be able to use phone app to control RA?

[rimai]

You can connect and control RA still using the internal wifi network, but the controller would not send any data to the server when your internet is down.

[modulok]

OK, I got my RA+ today.

I got the Wifi Attachment hooked up with the Wifi Wizard, did the port forward and set static lease on the router.

Next I tried to send the WifiTestCode to the RA. Error Uploading! I have tried a few times, unplugging the USB power cable and USB TTL cables from the head unit.

This is the first upload attempt.

Code: Select all

The following features were automatically added:
Watchdog Timer
Version Menu

The following features were detected:
Wifi Attachment
Simple Menu
Binary sketch size: 25,564 bytes (of a 32,256 byte maximum)
C:\Program Files (x86)\Reef Angel Controller\hardware/tools/avr/bin/avrdude -CC:\Program Files (x86)\Reef Angel Controller\hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf -v -v -v -v -patmega328p -carduino -P\\.\COM3 -b115200 -D -Uflash:w:C:\Users\mikef\AppData\Local\Temp\build7790201597931592166.tmp\WifiTestCode.cpp.hex:i 

avrdude: Version 6.0, compiled on Apr  6 2012 at 19:29:19
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2009 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Reef Angel Controller\hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf"

         Using Port                    : \\.\COM3
         Using Programmer              : arduino
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 115200
Rebooting Reef Angel Controller
avrdude: Send: 0 [30]   [20] 
avrdude: Send: 0 [30]   [20] 
avrdude: Send: 0 [30]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: 
avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x64

avrdude done.  Thank you.

[modulok]

Found it.

Tools > Board > Reef Angel Plus Controller

Hope that's somewhere in a PDF that I skipped.

[modulok]

OK, got my program loaded.

I did the labeling for the Portal and got my 2nd relay there as well.

One thing I noticed is that the heater ports are not on. I set them to be on from 60.0 and off at 77.6 on the code. But when I look at portal (or phone) the numbers are on from 76.6 and off at 77. I do have two heaters setup, one on each relay box. One in the sump is set to go off at 76.

I am planning to have a temp probe in both the display and sump, along with the heaters. How can I set each heater to use their separate probes?

Code: Select all

ReefAngel.StandardHeater( Port6,600,776 );
ReefAngel.StandardHeater( Box1_Port6,600,760 );

[lnevo]

That range is too high...

It means you want your temp between 60-76 degrees...meaning you dont want your heater on.

At 59.9 your heater will turn on until it reaches 76 and then it will go off. You will have huge temp swings with that setting.

You want the range around .5-2 degrees i believe. I'll let others chime in.

My target temp is 80, and my range is set for 79.5 to 80.5, so my heater comes back on if my temp drops below 79.5 and goes off it it goes over 80.5

Make sense now?

[modulok]

OK, I was thinking that if the temp was out of the range, heaters would be off. I will update it with new temp range.

What about the two heaters and temp probes?

[binder]

OK, I was thinking that if the temp was out of the range, heaters would be off. I will update it with new temp range.

What about the two heaters and temp probes?

in order to use 2 separate probes, you can use the default function for one probe and you will need a duplicate or custom function for the second one. you will simply need to duplicate the standardheater function and have it use the other probe. i will provide a code sample later when i am at a computer.

[binder]

Here is the example that I was talking about. Add this function at the end of your INO file (outside of the loop()).

Code: Select all

void StandardHeater2(byte HeaterRelay, int LowTemp, int HighTemp)
{
    if (Params.Temp[T2_PROBE] == 0) return;  // Don't turn the heater on if the temp is reading 0
    if (Params.Temp[T2_PROBE] <= LowTemp && Params.Temp[T2_PROBE] > 0) Relay.On(HeaterRelay);  // If sensor temperature <= LowTemp - turn on heater
    if (Params.Temp[T2_PROBE] >= HighTemp) Relay.Off(HeaterRelay);  // If sensor temperature >= HighTemp - turn off heater
}

Inside of your loop function, right after your StandardHeater function, use this:

Code: Select all

// on below 76.6 and off after 77.0
ReefAngel.StandardHeater( Port6,766,770 );
StandardHeater2( Box1_Port6,766,770 );

Or use whatever values you want for the temperatures. But that's the code that you can use to have them work independently from each other based on 2 different probes.

[modulok]

Awesome, thank you for the code. I will try it later.

[modulok]

If I use the 'In the code" settings option, can I use the internal memory via my phone app?

I tried the Wizard with the Internal Memory selected and the time schedule options don't seem as flexible. For instance, I have 3 T5 light fixtures:

With In the Code:
center fixture = 10a-8p
front fixture = 11a-6p
back fixture = 12p-7p
Full Moon Lights = 7p-10p
Sump Light = 12a-8a

With Internal Memory:
center fixture = 10a-8p (actinic)
front fixture = 11a-7p (daylight)
back fixture = 11a-7p (daylight)
Full Moon Light = 7p-11a (moon/fuge)
Sump Light = 7p-11a (moon/fuge)

[rimai]

You should be able to accomplish your schedule with internal memory too.
Set the daylight schedule to 11-7, actinic with 60 minutes offset.

[modulok]

But I couldn't make the front and back fixtures differ by one hour. Also, the moonlights and sump light wouldn't be how I want them.

[rimai]

I'm sorry.... I misread your settings...
You are correct. Internal memory only offers one schedule and one offset.
If you want to accomplish what you want with internal memory, you can still do, but you would have to use custom memory locations.
For example:
Center fixture start hour - memory location 100
Center fixture start minute - memory location 101
Center fixture end hour - memory location 102
Center fixture end minute - memory location 103
And so on.

[modulok]

Thanks for the clarification. No sense in making it complicated when I won't be really gaining anything.

[modulok]

ok, I am getting some errors with the 2nd heater and temp probe code. Should I comment out the two heater lines the wizard generated? (basically there standardheater and standardheater2 lines are duplicated)

When trying to upload I am getting the error msg: Params was not delcared in this scope

Here is the example that I was talking about. Add this function at the end of your INO file (outside of the loop()).

Code: Select all

void StandardHeater2(byte HeaterRelay, int LowTemp, int HighTemp)
{
    if (Params.Temp[T2_PROBE] == 0) return;  // Don't turn the heater on if the temp is reading 0
    if (Params.Temp[T2_PROBE] <= LowTemp && Params.Temp[T2_PROBE] > 0) Relay.On(HeaterRelay);  // If sensor temperature <= LowTemp - turn on heater
    if (Params.Temp[T2_PROBE] >= HighTemp) Relay.Off(HeaterRelay);  // If sensor temperature >= HighTemp - turn off heater
}

Inside of your loop function, right after your StandardHeater function, use this:

Code: Select all

// on below 76.6 and off after 77.0
ReefAngel.StandardHeater( Port6,766,770 );
StandardHeater2( Box1_Port6,766,770 );

Or use whatever values you want for the temperatures. But that's the code that you can use to have them work independently from each other based on 2 different probes.

[binder]

ah. i made an error with the code. wherever it says "Params", it should really say "ReefAngel.Params". if you change all the code in the standardheater2 function to be like that, that will fix your problem.

[modulok]

ok, I got it to upload.

Had to add ReefAngel. to both the params and relay.on/off

Also, I am using the 2 dimmable moonlights. I have them set to moonphase, and so far they haven't changed from 15%. Any ideas why?

[lnevo]

Because thats what phase the moon is in. as we approach a full moon, it will get brighter.

[modulok]

ok, I was thinking what a coincidence it would be that the moonphase was in fact 15%, the same as the initial low setting when I was testing the slope and parabola settings.

[modulok]

OK, moonlights are at 31% now. Looks like they are working. I also added a few feet of length to the moonlights.

With the 2nd relay box, both of the pwm connections work, but it looks like the brightness is just 100%. Any chance those can be controlled, so I could have 4 moonlights without the expansion?

Also, on the Portal, is there a way to remove modules that I do not have?

[modulok]

Does everyone just leave dimmable moonlights (set to moonphase) on all the time? I think I would like to leave them off except from 10PM to 10AM.

[rimai]

Use this:

Code: Select all

  if (hour()>=22 || hour()<=10) // Turn Moonlights on/off
  {
    ReefAngel.PWM.SetActinic(MoonPhase());
    ReefAngel.PWM.SetDaylight(MoonPhase());
  }
  else
  {
    ReefAngel.PWM.SetActinic(0);
    ReefAngel.PWM.SetDaylight(0);
  }

[modulok]

Awesome, thank you Roberto!