# Arduino Control project



## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

Getting back into darts, lifes busy + I work late often... All my aquariums are arduino controlled... So the Viv's going that way too come heck or high water 

Here I go again with this project... Open source, everything should be cheap and easy to find, any idiot (ie me) with a soldering iron, should be able to replicate it and adjust to his needs.

Shopping list (ok well I have a lot of this lying around) - links are generally to my local geek shop (yeah I said it). You can find them on ebay, sparkfun, any number of other retailers, I just happen to know this site better 

Freeduino - brains of the unit 28920 - SB-Freeduino « Products « Solarbotics - you can go with any of the thousand varieties of arduino, just know you're going to want memory, so get the atmega328 at minimum. If you want a multi tank setup, you're going to want one of the MEGAs
Humidity sensor- Sparkfun HIH-4030 50664 - Humidity Sensor - HIH-4030 Breakout « Products « Solarbotics
Temp - DS18B20's in my case, likely you'll be sourcing DS18S20's 35040 - DS18B20+ Temperature Sensor « Products « Solarbotics
Light Dependant resistor - I always run these, there's many days I leave before lights on, and return after lights off... It's nice to have warning, if the lights didn't come on, and it's easy to dump the # to flash - so once output drops 30%, I get a warning to order bulbs... 
CDS - CdS Light Sensitive Resistor « Products « Solarbotics
Solid state relays -you'll want one of these for every device you want to control (heater/pumps/lights/nightlights etc) Look for a 5vdc control circuit and size appropriately for amps (don't worry on voltage for the other side, most are 240vac, just do not exceed). Usually cost about 5$ each

So that'll make a functional controller (with a few other odds and ends... Get to those in a bit) But what good is a controller without some interfaces? 

2x16 lcd - I wont be using this, I'll be running an ebay one (backlit blue 2x16 off ebay - 3$ vs 50+ ) but they are essentially the same... HD44780 compatible is pretty much all you need; this is where you can pick your preference, they run from 1x8 all the way out to 4x40 
21410 - Parallax 2x16 Backlit LCD Module « Products « Solarbotics

And of course, need to have some input for adjustments
4x4 keypad -http://www.solarbotics.com/cad/products/31000/

Usually I build this all on a protoshield 16090 - Freeduino SB-Protoshield « Products « Solarbotics , with the exception of the relays - usually I put those in one of these American Audio PC-100A 8 Switch On/Off Power Center [AA PC-100A] : AVShop.ca, Canada's Pro Audio, Video and DJ Store - However I'll be doing some shopping this time, man have these gotten expensive, used to get them for about 20$. 

I'll see if I can have a nice kicad project file available by the weekend with schematics, full parts lists, board layouts the works... 

I was thinking I'd just modify one of the reef controller projects' programs for this; this is what takes me forever, *I'm TERRIBLE at programming  Anyone want to help?*

Basics:

Temp sensors are I2c - 1 wire technology, If I recall, you can connect 64 1-wire sensors to this line... Tech details are here Arduino playground - OneWire

Humidity sensor - simple analog device. Arduino Forum - HIH-4030 Humidity Sensor and Arduino example code? (now if you're doing multiple tanks, you MIGHT want to consider an arduino mega, Could get short on analogs if you want tons of these)

Light dependant resistor - again as above simple analog device How to use photocells, LDRs, CdS cells, photoresistors!

LCD is an HD44780, only problem with it is it chews up pins, so we'll go to i2c, for a port expander - a PCF8574. Library and schematics are over Arduino Forum - My most beloved topic - the PCF8574 with a HD44780

I'm going to try to keep the PWM pins open for dc motor control (ie cooling or ventilation fans)

Code I use on my aquarium controllers - is over here: Code - Reef Projects We almost built these side by side; and worked off eachothers ideas in many cases... Even for a non programmer like me - relatively easy to figure out and modify... There's a ton of stuff in here that can be deleted... 

Here's his (much prettier than mine) american dj power center:







I usually go the ratsnest method and stuff my (much smaller) SSRs in between the switches and plugs... But I hear the new versions have less space... 

About all that I see that might be left, are float switches for top off/water features/overflow prevention... While those are analog switches, we should be able to implement them on either analog or digital pins, very easily... 

Now... I've never been big on internet connectivity for my tanks... But I know some of you are, and you're probably noticing that I haven't really accomodated datalogging (I think a daily min/max is good enough). I know there's enough memory left on my reef's arduinos (which have way more code and sensors) to handle either a ethernet, wifi or bluetooth connections; I know there are ethernet wifi and bluetooth shields already designed and sold... This is where I get back to that whole - I'm no programmer  The way to communicate is designed, just needs someone to come up with a plan on implementation... Be it web apps, emails, whatever... The shields are there, I'll design the control shield so that one can stack a comms shield on top (and work to see if we can't accomodate any pins it might need)


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## motydesign (Feb 27, 2011)

AHHH you saw my thread as well! 
so it all comes down to software, hardware design is stupid simple with these things. i really could care less about controlling anything with, but thats just me. Its the notification viv SMS that i really want.


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## VicSkimmr (Jan 24, 2006)

I really wanted to do this with my tank, but I just couldn't find a good enough looking display for it all. I'm definitely interested to see what you come up with


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

Not so much based off yours, I've got 2 reefs and a FW planted aquarium that are run by arduino's... Though your post did make me think, since it's not documented - might as well post it up as I go... I'm not a big fan of these stupid expensive commercial units, that aren't expandable, use proprietary hardware and software... 

Wow, arduino development has come a long way in the past two years; was just noticing all the shield available - including one that would almost be plug n play for our needs (arduarium - basic is about 120$) but its so badly documented... If one wanted, you could stack a couple shields and have virtually everything, for still less than a commercial control unit...

Just noticing some of the new i2c chips since last time, wow - they keypad controller looks nice


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

VicSkimmr said:


> I really wanted to do this with my tank, but I just couldn't find a good enough looking display for it all. I'm definitely interested to see what you come up with


What? I thought for sure you had one? Must be confusing my n-r'ers...

are you talking a project box, or a pretty little lcd display? I'm all about function over form, mine get stuffed in rubbermaids  If it's the LCD - ebay hd44780 - if you can't find something there you like.. lol


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## motydesign (Feb 27, 2011)

i think if i get software figured out this is what ill end up using.
Arduino Uno MCU Board - Arduino | DigiKey


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

Yup, just make sure you don't get an older board with one of the old atmega chips..

One of those things on my todo list, is an idea I stole (that seems to have gone nowhere by it's originator)... A LED Driver shield - drivers so you can power the high power LEDs directly off the arduino, so you end up with full control of intensity, color/spectrum, pwm driving, etc etc etc and build in monitoring (ie one led in the array fails, arduino adjusts the array to avoid burning out the rest (and sends email preferably)). Knowing how much buckpucks run - for the price of 2 buckpucks, one could build one hell of a arduino shield...


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/pa...urce-tanknet-monitoring-devices-software.html 

Still haven't gotten it installed. Waiting on some spare patience to put an LCD on the main unit. I totally cheated and had someone else put it together though.


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## motydesign (Feb 27, 2011)

why did you use the Mega2560?


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

A lot of people went to them for the atmega328 - more memory; but often because they wanted additional i/o pins... There are ways around that, adc's and port expanders... I mentioned it in my initial post - if you're going multiple complex tanks, probably want the mega, but 99% of the time the basic arduino is plenty...


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

PaulS on the arduino forum suggested it. I wanted one system to monitor lots of tanks (in theory).


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

Basics - if one was smrt they wouldn't send it off to a chinese board builder/assembler yet  I'll go chase down some PCF8574 port expanders hopefully later today and start breadboarding... 

BTW if anyone wants the kicad project files, pm me your email and I'll happily share.


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## EvilLost (Jan 10, 2011)

andyl said:


> Getting back into darts, lifes busy + I work late often... All my aquariums are arduino controlled... So the Viv's going that way too come heck or high water
> 
> Here I go again with this project... Open source, everything should be cheap and easy to find, any idiot (ie me) with a soldering iron, should be able to replicate it and adjust to his needs.
> 
> ...



Are you kidding me! ? THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT IVE BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT !!!!!

thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

well couldn't find any pcf8574's local today... have some coming from digikey, and I know I have at least one here - I just can't put my hands on it... so testing might have to wait until next week...


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## VicSkimmr (Jan 24, 2006)

andyl said:


> What? I thought for sure you had one? Must be confusing my n-r'ers...
> 
> are you talking a project box, or a pretty little lcd display? I'm all about function over form, mine get stuffed in rubbermaids  If it's the LCD - ebay hd44780 - if you can't find something there you like.. lol


I ended up going with a fancy fan controller. I'm heavily biased towards form over function.


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

VicSkimmr said:


> I ended up going with a fancy fan controller. I'm heavily biased towards form over function.


Ah, I thought I remembered you working on one... 

How's this for pretty?  
















vancouver reefr on RC - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1726936

I LOVE this:







even better than the american dj unit... 

He's used:
Front Panel Express:*Front Panel Design Software and CAD Conversion Service


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## EvilLost (Jan 10, 2011)

@andyl: thanks for those links....this whole thread has saved me countless hours of research time


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## *Self_DeFenCe* (Jun 12, 2010)

Nice project! A friend of mine showed me those Arduino and it was the first I had in mind; make a controller for vivs. 
I don't have enough skills yet but maybe one day. Keep us updated!
Julien


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

Since I'm a big fan of cheating... anyone wanna made an LCD work on mine

That's an insane reef controller!


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

OK, since I'm a dart noob... help me out... what controls do you guys actually want?

Lighting timer is obvious, but this gets more involved - any desire for sunrise/sunset effects (ie an additional output for a lower wattage/redder light?) Moonlights? Can go two ways our enjoyment or its easy to handle moon phases too...

Temperature? I'll probably be the only one controlling, from what I read... any desires for control? Anyone wanting ability to control chillers or a/c units?

Air circulation, internal for moving air through the enclosure, I'm going to build these in as 5 or 12vdc PC style fans, full variable pwm speed control. Also external - summer cooling via ventilation and semi-regular air turnover (if I'm going to have control over temp & humidity anyway - this isn't an issue)

Humidity, via mister or fogger. Foggers interesting, they're 12vdc devices and dirt freaking cheap on eBay, why was I going to spend a ton of cash again? Yes I know you guys prefer misters, but I'm going to run the fogger as well to make some air circulation possible in my arid environment.

Any need for topoff/pumps/filters/??? Sorry haven't figured out a vacation mode ff feeder yet  but could be possible (think those circular office doors on buildings, culture below, spin a simple stepper motor 180°...)

I have kinda wrapped my head around the wifi/Ethernet, shields are pretty simple - so the hardware is plug and play... should be able to run Apache (web server), maybe even a webcam... but what stats/info are people interested in? Current conditions or daily/weekly averages or? 

Help me understand the needs/desires...


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

*Lighting timer is obvious, but this gets more involved - any desire for sunrise/sunset effects (ie an additional output for a lower wattage/redder light?) Moonlights? Can go two ways our enjoyment or its easy to handle moon phases too...*

Just additional timing features. This way it could be set by the user.

*Temperature? I'll probably be the only one controlling, from what I read... any desires for control? Anyone wanting ability to control chillers or a/c units? *

Canopy/light fan triggers. A lot of people use clip on fans to cool lights. Temperature alarm/SMS/e-mail maybe?

*Air circulation, internal for moving air through the enclosure, I'm going to build these in as 5 or 12vdc PC style fans, full variable pwm speed control. Also external - summer cooling via ventilation and semi-regular air turnover (if I'm going to have control over temp & humidity anyway - this isn't an issue) *

Base fan % power on RH & temp.

*Humidity, via mister or fogger. Foggers interesting, they're 12vdc devices and dirt freaking cheap on eBay, why was I going to spend a ton of cash again? Yes I know you guys prefer misters, but I'm going to run the fogger as well to make some air circulation possible in my arid environment.*

Misting systems are much more common than ultrasonic humidifiers - they can be run easily to multiple tanks whereas there is usually only enough room for external humidifiers which have a limited output. The plants like misting too.

*Any need for topoff/pumps/filters/??? Sorry haven't figured out a vacation mode ff feeder yet  but could be possible (think those circular office doors on buildings, culture below, spin a simple stepper motor 180°...)* 

Vacation mode FF feeder = microfauna or a banana that's been in the tank a week, or an old barely producing culture. Topoffs etc. would be useful in a paludarium setup (w/sump) or if you plumbed a RO system directly into the misting resevoir.

*I have kinda wrapped my head around the wifi/Ethernet, shields are pretty simple - so the hardware is plug and play... should be able to run Apache (web server), maybe even a webcam... but what stats/info are people interested in? Current conditions or daily/weekly averages or? * 

XBee works nice in my house + program = works with SQL server. Mainly just current temp/RH. Anything else is just nerding out on numbers (which isn't bad).

*Help me understand the needs/desires...*

I think that the most basic need would be a way to sample RH/temp in multiple vivs as efficiently/cheaply as possible with either an audible alarm and or some sort of instant notification in case things overheat or there is a power outage. 

If you have a room full of vivs - let's say 40 total - on 10 racks you would at the minimum need to sample from one viv on one rack or from each shelf on that rack. The basic unit for temp/rh monitoring should be able to at least control the lighting/misting/logging/alarm functions for 4 racks(assuming 2 shelves containing vivs per 48in bakers rack). So 4-8 sensors[of course some people would want/need less], 8-16 lights, 1 misting system, and emergency fans.

I think that the only way to make the cost of such a control system easier to take, is as an insurance policy on thousands of dollars worth of frogs.

Also the more I think of this, the more it becomes a nightmarish tangle of extension cords and ethernet cable... 

I think that systems like the Herpkeeper fail because of their limited expandability and high additional module cost. I think the main unit can only sample 2 probes and 1 power strip.

Arduino Forum - Engineer/Programmer for Prototype temp/RH logging

^this was back in March (or so) of last year. When the switched the forum it screwed up the dates.

I know that that was a long ass post and I hope I didn't just ramble on and not make any sense, but hopefully me not being able to sleep all night helps forgive me a bit.


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## EvilLost (Jan 10, 2011)

well, i'm undertaking this for my chameleon free-range and I plan to control the following (might come up with more but so far this is what i got):

1) Temperature control linked to dimmable heat lamps 

2) Humidity control linked to a humidifier (although I doubt I will ever actually use anything but monitoring for humidity)

3) sunrise/sunset; considering the red led addition but just a normal dim is good enough for me

4) seasonal day length changes / weather changes (Ideally I want to set it so I can somehow interface with the web and input a location [that the animal is from] and have the controller pull the relevant daily high/low and sunrise/sunset and probably humidity values from some source/website)

5) Misting controls with "random" rain lenghts/times (I want to be able to select the VOLUME of water dispersed per day, but have the time and duration of the actual misting be randomized so that they total the volume of water set)

6) Waterfall pumps digitally controlled; this one is purely an aesthetic feature, but I want to make so that every time my mister goes off, about 20 seconds later a "waterfall" starts and about 20 seconds after the misting ends the "waterfall" stops (to simulate the water that begins running down a hillside during rain); I'd like to use this to both start/stop "runoff falls" and to lower/raise the volume of water flowing through my waterfall based on "rain"(misting)....this would be especially nice if combined with #5

7) Alarms for everything; preferably linked wifi but personally this will be out of my ability for a good while I think...

8) Moonlight controls with relative dimming as per the moon cycle (could maybe pull this data at same time as #4)

9) Overflow protection on drain bucket / auto-shutoff if pump becomes dry / etc

10) Misting system auto-topoff / Drain bucket auto-drain 

11) WEBCAM or cheap digital camera to take motion-sensed video (with the focus on the basking spot or somewhere good) and/or to take time-lapse pictures every x seconds (not necessary at all, but I like toying with this idea...more useful for monitoring my birds in their nest during incubation/hatchlings)

12) Automatic FEEDER. For my chameleons I am working on a large tupperware design linked by a gated tube that will be open/closed by the detector using a motion-sensor to count the number of crickets that pass through (still workin on the fine points; i imagine i will have difficulty getting the crickets to go and preventing double-counts...hopefully i can get some sort of 1way tunnel). For frogs, this would probably be far easier....just a container where you can literally drop the standard 32oz cup (minus the lid) and then it automatically opens/closes to allow X number of flies through per day....counting flies (accurately) may be difficult based on accuracy of the detector

13) Along with #12, AUTOMATED DUSTING for feeders. After they get into the tube, but before they are allowed out, some dust should be applied to the feeders (from the appropriate source; for chameleons i use calcium daily, cal+d3 and multivitamins on alternating sundays)

...I can't think of much else I would want to control.....

MAYBE:
-water temperature? (tadpoles/etc I dont know how important it is I don't breed frogs) could be useful for paludariums too
-UV/solarmeter under the UV light with warning when time to change bulb (probably too pricy to get a good UV or UVB meter just for this though...)
-maybe some way to link directly to the feeder breeding bin and further automate feeder monitoring/feeding (i'm just planning to have a "loading chamber" where i put like 50 crickets at a time and just refill it weekly or so)


thats all I got for now!


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

I think any automatic feeding/dusting contraption that vibrates and has actuators and it's own dedicated PC to analyze cricket silhouettes might be a bit much. 

You can't really regulate the volume of water (other than through time) that runs though a standard MistKing system (125 psi pump) because of the pump and the nozzles. 

I've thought of the locale specific day/night cycle, but I don't think that it's at all necessary. Especially when it's 5:30 PM in Madagascar right now and 8:30 AM where I am - and the opposite seasons would be a bit wonky as well. You could just go with local time (for lighting) and use a stored temperature setting that matches up with our season.

I'm not trying to rain all over your parade, just trying to be constructive.


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

The length of day is easy - same with moon cycles, its little more than longish equation... it might not be common in dendrobates but it is in greenhouses and aquariums - some species are genetically looking for specific triggers for procreation... one can adjust by swapping equinoxes to link up summers, and local time is local time, doesn't mean suddenly swapping night for day...

I have a theory on the misting issue, need to find some parts, I think there could be a way to meter volume fairly accurately. For me - I'm having a heck of a time getting the new viv above 60% RH, so the ultrasonic humidifier had to go in...

I was rethinking the feeder this morning, there's an easier way to do it... airflow, a little venturi could be added for dusting, not sure how you'd count ffs though lol. (Wouldn't require its own controller, more just a little circuit and some code off the existing)

Controllers were a thing for the zoos in the reef community even going back 4 years, now they're almost commonplace... were not talking about a 5k system here, were talking well under 500$, one could be put together a basic system for under 100$ with some careful shopping (and leaving out the pretty/fancy) my fw tank controller ran me 85$ including Ph probe...


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## EvilLost (Jan 10, 2011)

stevenhman said:


> You can't really regulate the volume of water (other than through time) that runs though a standard MistKing system (125 psi pump) because of the pump and the nozzles.
> 
> Well that is all you really need. As long as the pumps flow rate is constant, we can get volume very easily. And on a Mistking, I'm going to guess it is (or its more than close enough for my purposes)
> 
> ...


It is helpful, it forces us to make sure we have thought of everything


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## EvilLost (Jan 10, 2011)

andyl said:


> The length of day is easy - same with moon cycles, its little more than longish equation... it might not be common in dendrobates but it is in greenhouses and aquariums - some species are genetically looking for specific triggers for procreation... one can adjust by swapping equinoxes to link up summers, and local time is local time, doesn't mean suddenly swapping night for day...
> 
> I have a theory on the misting issue, need to find some parts, I think there could be a way to meter volume fairly accurately. For me - I'm having a heck of a time getting the new viv above 60% RH, so the ultrasonic humidifier had to go in...
> 
> ...


Not to mention the amount of stuff you learn in the process!


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

bit pricey, but this would do the trick 

Digital Flowmeter - Hall Type 1.5 - 25 l/Minute - Jaycar Electronics

Less capacity, but 20$ method... http://labs.teague.com/?p=722

Some gate/knife valves could be added to add/remove tanks... most expensive part of that would be the knife valves themselves...

Co2 sensors? Cheaper than the control box with the usual co2 systems sensor is 8$, wiring the same as ldr... analog output...

I'm pondering this one, knowing what's under the false bottom... 50662 - SparkFun Liquid Level Sensor « Products « Solarbotics


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## motydesign (Feb 27, 2011)

Andyl, those flow meters are a bit out of the range of what youll be measuring if you anticipate using it on a misting system. you need to be able to read a low flow (.016gpm per head) then on top of that the unit should be rated for 120 psi min.


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

You sure on those numbers? That's less than a 1/4cup per minute...


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## motydesign (Feb 27, 2011)

yup im 100% positive. and thats why we like it! a fine mist in a closed glass box with low flow is perfect. 

the flow was provided by marty at mist king while i was designing my basement.


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

Not arguing, just verifying - 60ml/min seemed low, especially when it's being used in 5sec bursts... But does make sense... 

Down for the day again, this damn flu bug turned into pneumonia... Guess it's a good day to do some more design tweaks and see if I can't get the hardware part largely squared away; already found 3-4 errors in that last schematic...

Trying to finalize what I want to build onto the primary circuit - intended to cover the majority of of needs (leaving out the simple turn device on/off scenarios) 

So on the base board - I'm thinking
- LCD & Keypad
- RJ11 (telephone plug) - 1wire bus for sensors (largely temp, but you can get humidity, pressure and many others) you'll be able to run up to 64 of these as needed. 
- Plug in for the Humidity sensor Honeywell HIH-4030 (this is probably the cheapest easiest option for a single tank setup)
- 3 variable speed fan controls
- Going to throw a small i2c eeprom on for data logging
- Break out the I2C bus (probably RJ11 also) so if you're running a multiple tank scenario, you can expand as needed for additional input/outputs etc (5 more devices, which if one used 16bit port expanders - that's 80 more digital i/o's or analog devices or...)
- Rest of the digital I/O's will be broken out on RJ45 (ethernet) jacks to handle on/off controls.


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

Just dumping this on here for later use  I'll be hunting for this after the main circuit is done... 

My DIY Cree LED fixture w/ Arduino Microcontroller


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

Gah, I can't let that led driver go... especially since they have design implications...

Those cat4101's use a pwm input, the arduino only has 6 outputs to begin with (3 currently planned for fan control) - most people are going to want at least 4 arrays... more if uvb is contemplated... So thinking pca9635 need a to be interwoven, its another i2c port expander - 16 individual, groupable outputs. Sweet! Takes an arseload of work off the CPU too, tell it what power level and it holds it until you tell it different.

Only glitch - and there always is one... the chips are all surface mount, not so easy to DIY... but at the same time, hard to ignore, up to 16 drivers (buckpucks) on a sub 100$ assembled shield... Connect your power supply, LEDs and go...

Where's the drool smiley? Have you guys seen this monster? Cool White (5650K), 7 LED 40mm Round Assembly 2240 lumens at 1amp? My 22" T5HO are only each putting out 1700ish...


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## EvilLost (Jan 10, 2011)

@andyl: where do you live? I'd be down to possibly buy 2x of everything together to save on shipping if possible, it seems we are basically doing the same project (and you know way more than me about hardware! )


The LED is compact in terms of space, but otherwise not that impressive I don't think....

http://www.cree.com/products/pdf/XLampXM-L.pdf

they put out ~300lumens @ 1A (but they can be run @ 3A to put out ~825 lumens!); pricewise you can get 6 of them for the price of 1 of those.

even at 1A you'd get slightly better lumen output, but with a little more juice I think the CREE XM-L's give more bang for the buck no?


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

I'm up north of the 49th

Not sure about saving on shipping, but on PCBs it'll help... l'll throw that led driver design together this weekend, that'll have to go through batchpcb or similar, just not something one is really going to breadboard...

Still pondering the design of that, pondering digital resistors, better to have a programable output, dip switches or having to solder on resistors....

Yeah but youre missing the nice pre assembled factor, 7 LEDS, thermister, 2 wire hookup... designed to work with optics (lens) you can always find newer stronger leds, bit sometimes you need proven too


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

Hey evil,

Since it seems to be mostly you and me in here...

What do you think about swapping to... BeagleBoard.org - bone price wise its double the arduino, but comes with more power, memory, onboard Ethernet, USB support, have to look into it - but looks like its meant to handle a graphical LCD...

Might be a better base and cheaper in the long run than the arduino


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## MA70Snowman (May 18, 2010)

Hey Andyl, have you been following the Hydra on the reef forums? I've got a working Controller based of Arduinos. I've been over this subject a number of times. Awhile back, the reef Forum, did a push on a project called HYDRA. In it's simplest form it's a controller, geared more towards reefs, but w/ some basic modifications to code and hardware easily adaptable to dendros/herps. They even covered the apache webserver, and netbased issues. last I saw the thread was pushing 60 pages.. and a good solid 80% of the posts were information regarding development, but trust me, almost ALL information you could possibly want is located in there somewhere. When i can focus more on this I might jump in. but I just quickly scanned the last four pages. Btw very nice start you got going, I personally went w/ the DJ outlet for control w/ a serial cable wired up to the controller this allows my controll unit to be remote from the power block. Honetly these controllers are only really limited by the power of the chip you use and the speed. I poll the sensors in each of my tank, every second. (i.e. Second1/tank 1, second2/tank2, second3/tank3 etc.) and make adjustments off that (fan controll, humidity control, light control etc) I don't get into the whole sun phase/moon phase i just feel mysetup doesn't warant it/need it. .. well this is more then i intended to post, but here's a link to they hydra. If interested I have an extra board and kit available (just solder) from a group purchase I did during early stages of development. 

Must-haves for EASY DIY controller? - Page 18 - Reef Central Online Community


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

Hadn't followed in a good year, but I'm really starting to rethink the arduino base, my freeduino is atmel328, but between the newer options, beaglebone and the netduino+ are hard to ignore, beagles got the power... but netduino+ has Microsoft .net visual programming and arduino compatibility, etc etc etc...

I've been running the American DJ power strip since my first reef controller, usually connected by serial cable... but I like that custom one better...


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## EvilLost (Jan 10, 2011)

I hadn't seen that thread either but I definitely will now.

@andy: as for the board; unfortunately I cannot say. My current hardware experience is literally limited to my DIY LED fixture...I know theoretical physics and cursory programming, but thats about it.

As soon as I finish the actual construction of this build I'm going to put full focus towards the controller, but I have just begun finalizing plant locations....will probably be another week until I have finished planting and setup.

I promise to be more helpful in a week or two


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## Rasmus (Sep 13, 2011)

If you're, like me, a little intimidated by the combination of high current, water, and lack of skills and don't want to do the relay thing a rather cheap and convenient solution is to use a "light relay". The ones you use for lighting your garden at night for example. Just remove the light sensitive resistor and hook up your arduino there. Here is an example where I start a pump when the water level is too high.
The good thing is that these units cost about 7$ and also contains fuses and stuff that makes it a bit safer.


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

Digested my way through the hydra design... man did she get big... basically combined two arduinos onto one board for adequate power/expandability...

Still working my way through the beagleboard, its not documented like arduinos that's for sure... can do 1wire but can't - 1wire has to be converted to 3.3v from 5... while everything looks possible, its handled different, and some things that were easy as pie on an arduino suddenly get complicated - but the inverse is also true... kinda nice to be able to plug a PSP 4.3" touch screen in pretty much directly... of course its the nice toys that are easier, and basic functions that are harder...


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## MA70Snowman (May 18, 2010)

Rasmus said:


> If you're, like me, a little intimidated by the combination of high current, water, and lack of skills and don't want to do the relay thing a rather cheap and convenient solution is to use a "light relay". The ones you use for lighting your garden at night for example. Just remove the light sensitive resistor and hook up your arduino there. Here is an example where I start a pump when the water level is too high.
> The good thing is that these units cost about 7$ and also contains fuses and stuff that makes it a bit safer.


That's actually pretty nice setup there, and cheap/effective!



andyl said:


> Digested my way through the hydra design... man did she get big... basically combined two arduinos onto one board for adequate power/expandability...
> 
> Still working my way through the beagleboard, its not documented like arduinos that's for sure... can do 1wire but can't - 1wire has to be converted to 3.3v from 5... while everything looks possible, its handled different, and some things that were easy as pie on an arduino suddenly get complicated - but the inverse is also true... kinda nice to be able to plug a PSP 4.3" touch screen in pretty much directly... of course its the nice toys that are easier, and basic functions that are harder...


Yeah the project went really good. slaving a 2nd atmega really helped push a lot of the processing off and freed up memory. the primary intent was to have the 2nd chip control ethernet functions. The hydra has been working good for me, of course w/ modifications etc and some personal coding to tailor to my specific needs. Honestlyhavent looked to much into the beagleboards so not to sure how they are. honestly the arduino has been working fine for me w/o sacrificing much if anything imo.


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

No the arduinos have been working fine for me as well, they're been extremely reliable and Bombproof for me (with only the exception of the first, that succumbed to some salt creep in a badly located project box).

But, it has its limits, it is still in a basic sense still an 8086 CPU... we can slave in additional processors to work around its limitations, or we can look at something more modern that can natively handle the more modern amenities, that many expect... 

Running a beagleboard seems to make more sense to me at the moment, when you start needing a second arduino to handle the Ethernet - its covered its cost right there... running a PSP LCD and touch screen - at basically the same cost as a 4x20 hd44780 and keypad... that could be done with an arduino - but with great difficulty...

Yeah my old commodore 64 still works, and its good at what it does, but that doesn't mean this android tablet isn't more appropriate for day to day use...


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## singhm29 (Jun 28, 2009)

Rasmus said:


> If you're, like me, a little intimidated by the combination of high current, water, and lack of skills and don't want to do the relay thing a rather cheap and convenient solution is to use a "light relay". The ones you use for lighting your garden at night for example. Just remove the light sensitive resistor and hook up your arduino there. Here is an example where I start a pump when the water level is too high.
> The good thing is that these units cost about 7$ and also contains fuses and stuff that makes it a bit safer.



I am a bit confused about the photo. So basically instead of the photo-resistor triggering the on/off your controlling it via a signal supplied from the arduino correct? The pump is connected to the "light relay" which is connected to a wallwart? And lastly how are you determining that the water level is too high? Who thought an image could stir so many questions!


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## Rasmus (Sep 13, 2011)

Exactly. I just use a relay controlled by the arduino instead of the LDR. The detector is equally simple, I just measure the resistance over two wires that are connected to the arduino and positioned over the tank. When the water rises too high current can flow between them and the resistance drops. This means I'm electrocuting my fish, but it's only 0.5 V and I have never seen them react to it. You could also use a float switch with exactly the same setup.


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## Rasmus (Sep 13, 2011)

Btw, the picture shows how it's connected directly to a float switch with no arduino controlling it. That works equally well, but I use the arduino for more timing stuff and measuring at multiple points (if the water is lower than expected the pump should also been turned of, as there might be a leak).


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

Well, bringing this back up a bit... Yup I haven't done much, received my beaglebone this week, got one of the bad batch with ethernet issues apparently, so it's headed back - waiting on a replacement... 

It should be a much better environment - arduino's great - but once you want displays ethernet etc - turns into a bit of a mess, as it just doesn't have the memory and processing power. But it's fairly different in circuit handling, and want to test the circuits before I post em, before I lead anyone astray...


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## JB_orchidguy (Jan 14, 2012)

This is a great idea. Been wanting to have my Greenhouse automated for a long time. I just don't have the technical know how to build my own system. I want to automate my viva too. I love the idea of daylight lengths being different just like outside. Would love to have a temp sensor that would tell the fans to come on or cooling pump to pump cold water through a radiator to cool a planned cool viva. Then Leo be able to control a heater if needed. I like the idea of mister controls but also love fog from
A fogged to also maintain humidity of 90% or greater. Max min temp logging with alarms for extreams sent via sms preferably or audible alarm. Web check in would be great. Would be nice to pickup a tablet and log in via web and see current stats for connected give. Preferably be able to connect to web via wifi. My router is far away from my viv. 

Those controls are basically what I need for my GH minus the need for lights.

I am subbing to this thread.


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## MA70Snowman (May 18, 2010)

JB_orchidguy said:


> This is a great idea. Been wanting to have my Greenhouse automated for a long time. I just don't have the technical know how to build my own system. I want to automate my viva too. I love the idea of daylight lengths being different just like outside. Would love to have a temp sensor that would tell the fans to come on or cooling pump to pump cold water through a radiator to cool a planned cool viva. Then Leo be able to control a heater if needed. I like the idea of mister controls but also love fog from
> A fogged to also maintain humidity of 90% or greater. Max min temp logging with alarms for extreams sent via sms preferably or audible alarm. Web check in would be great. Would be nice to pickup a tablet and log in via web and see current stats for connected give. Preferably be able to connect to web via wifi. My router is far away from my viv.
> 
> Those controls are basically what I need for my GH minus the need for lights.
> ...


as I mentioned all this has been pioneered on the reef forum I linked. The Hydra was a huge sucess and very flexible for personal needs. I'd love to stick w/ this thread but due to leaving soon I wish you all the best of luck. Just my .02 cents.. don't re-invent the wheel. not knocking the beagle board, I am just unfamiliar w/ it. But the Arduino is VERY noob friendly as long as you have some fashion of IQ (you're keeping frogs or plants so I think you qual lol) it's pretty easy to work with and most code is pretty cut and paste w/ slight modifications. Everything you're asking for Orchidguy is already out there. again I urge you to dig through the 40-50 pages of that reef thread as that's exactly what the Hydra does.. Logs/tracks/alarms/manipulates all based upon inputs, they use pH detection a lot which I just modified for humidity sensors. After that it's just telling the Board what actions to take. My current setup up does all the below. 

The below is not ALL arduino based, there is Computer based software integrated, as well as multiple third party apps. 

Monitors: 
* Temp/relative humidity in multiple tanks, and some tanks multiple spots (like my Tall verts)
* Monitors Temps above tanks that have MH or multiple CFLs close to glass. 
* Monitors multiple fan speeds

Logs: Records temp/RH at 5 min intervals and dumps it to a webserver via Wifi. 

Alarms: 
* notifies via SMS if any of my parameters are out of norm. 
* Audible alarm. 

Manipulates: 
* Turns on my lights at a random time w/in -/+ 10 mins of a set time.
* Turns on my Metal Halid Lights 2.5hrs after my CFL's are turned on. 
* Turns off lights in reverse order w/ CFLs again -/+ 10 mins. 
* Turns on my Mistking 3 times daily for 2 different durations. (13 seconds in the morning and evening and 30 seconds mid day)
* Turns on Fans w/in one of my Vivs (experimental) 
* Turns on/off Fans above tanks w/ MH lights/multiple CFLs at set temperatures, using Pulse Width modulation to control fan speeds. (Higher temps = higher fan speeds) 
* Turns on Misters for 6 seconds if RH falls below set value, then will repeat again in 30 mins if RH is still not w/in params. (50% RH) 

WebServer: 
*For data logging and error reporting. 

I never implemented variable lighting (day light savings etc.) as that's never been a turn on for me, and I don't keep advanced plants that require it, nor am i into advanced breeding. I experimented w/ it as well as weather simulation, but chose not to pursue. (it is easily possible) 

Honestly I was hesitant to divulge all my info as this was a proto-type and was contemplating marketing. But was proto-typed about the same time reef-keeper announced it's intent for the herp-keeper, unfortunately they released WAY before I was near a completed product (it was expected) but their form/functionality and modularity was very close to my intent and for the prices they were offering, it was a turn off towards marketing, so I've been silently enjoying my own prototype. There's a couple other secrets and capabilities which I'll keep for myself mostly due to the experimental nature. 

Disclaimer: I had no prior programming knowledge and very little in micro-electronics prior to this, I was very comfortable w/the theory of electricity and soldering. 

Feel free to e-mail me IRT any of the above as I'm very willing to help out the community, however I"m only readily available for a short while longer before I deploy. 

-Steve


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

I never said it hadn't been done before... but the hydra is way beyond the requirements of any herp keeper... it also gets away from the open source and easily sourced 'build at home' nature I'd like to stick with...

The hydras a perfect example off what I'm trying to stay away from... 'slave avr' useless parts, limited sourcing options, etc...

The parts to slave an avr, and add internet connectivity - push an arduino above the price of a beaglebone...the ability to use standard USB devices - means wifi for 20$ not 150ish.

I'm not knocking arduino, I've been using them for years now, but that doesn't mean they're the most appropriate...


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## singhm29 (Jun 28, 2009)

To my understanding hydra is a diy controller isnt it? Or has it been marketed after being developed by the reef community? Regardless MA70 has a point when it comes to not reinventing the wheel. Yes the hydra may have features that are overkill but it also has alot of features that have been coded and proven to work that will be the same or slightly different in your proposed design. The tradeoff to not use arduino is cost vs time and effort. The beagleboard might save you a considerable chunk of money but it is likely to cost you alot more in the time department since like youve said programming isnt your strong point. Either way you dont need to be a programmer/embedded systems designer in order todo this just like you dont need to be a zoo curator to design a beautiful viv as weve seen from this community.


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## andyl (Jan 4, 2012)

Hydra's open source community project. It's still in development, but mostly worked out... 

While there's no reason one couldn't take a hydra and rework the code and use it - it's going to be more expensive, and be less expandable in the future... 

Building a hydra will be more expensive than this project... Simple reality, you're buying dozens of parts you don't need/want... 

The thing that makes the beaglebone attractive to me, is it's got a 700mhz CPU & 256mb of ram, it has pinouts like the arduino, but it also accepts standard USB devices. So if you want wifi, plug in a 10$ dongle, want a webcam - plug it in (albeit you need linux drivers; but that's not a big issue for much hardware now). It has the power to run a webserver, webcam, all the IOs and has tons of CPU time to spare... 

Call me crazy, but I'd rather start with something that'll work long term and meet your (and my) expansion needs and desires, than start out with something that isn't powerful enough and you're going to have to start slaving additional arduino's to make it work...


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## MA70Snowman (May 18, 2010)

andyl said:


> I never said it hadn't been done before... but the hydra is way beyond the requirements of any herp keeper... it also gets away from the open source and easily sourced 'build at home' nature I'd like to stick with...
> 
> The hydras a perfect example off what I'm trying to stay away from... 'slave avr' useless parts, limited sourcing options, etc...
> 
> ...


wasn't directed at you, was directed towards orchidguy, being he was relatively unfamiliar w/ this territory.


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## JB_orchidguy (Jan 14, 2012)

I am unfamiliar with all aspects. Doesn't mean I cannot figure it out. I Unser to hack dish and direct till it got too time consuming and risky. I don't have time to read and sift through 40-50 pages and rework code. Yes call me lazy. I don't believe that is the case. If someone is willing to go through the workouts and do a how to I can follow relatively short simple and sweet, I'm going to take advantage of it. Like I said I don't have the free time needed. I am a dad with three kids. 8-5-1. I also work 12 hr shifts 4+ days a week. I have to take care of my GH, and house stuff as kids are too young to be unsupervised. Lots of different reasons. I only get online in short increments. So when he asked for what I would like I gave him my desires. So maybe in the future a toutorial will be done and I can follow it to implement. 

Again I'm not lazy, just not enough time in the day at my house for me to figure it out. I have contemplated a controller like herp keeper and others. I would like to save money and if I can do it myself all the better. 

Thanks again.


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## moore40 (Jan 29, 2008)

i know this is a year old thread but what has happened? Did anyone get this figured out? I am very interested in the possibilities of this.


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