[fietsenrex]

So far still no succes with the dosing pumps..
2 different battery's same problem.
Charged them a bit over 12v,
as soon as I hook up the 7A battery to the shield it drops to about 10v.
With the 4A battery it drops to about 8V and goes up to about 10v in about a minute.
Voltage on the battery does change as I press the test button on the dosing screen using the 4A battery
nothing changes using the 7A battery..

Think this rules out my power supply?

Don't know what to do next to be honest.
Is it possible to use a transistor (PNP) to switch on the dosing pump?

Or do I still need a bigger capacitor?

 

[MrMan]

So far still no succes with the dosing pumps..
2 different battery's same problem.
Charged them a bit over 12v,
as soon as I hook up the 7A battery to the shield it drops to about 10v.
With the 4A battery it drops to about 8V and goes up to about 10v in about a minute.
Voltage on the battery does change as I press the test button on the dosing screen using the 4A battery
nothing changes using the 7A battery..

Think this rules out my power supply?

Don't know what to do next to be honest.
Is it possible to use a transistor (PNP) to switch on the dosing pump?

Or do I still need a bigger capacitor?

A good battery shouldn't drop that much unless you're really overloading it (ie more than a couple amps), but most of the stuff runs on 3.3/5V so should be ok for this test.

You say the voltage changes when you press the test button, how much? Assuming the pump is connected did you measure the voltage at both pins when it's "running"?

You could use a transistor to turn the pumps on, but you'd want an NPN, not PNP. Although the ULN chip is just an npn transistor array so that should already be what you have.

 

[fietsenrex]

Thanks.

Well the battery's are over 10 years old..
Old lead based battery's
Only other thing I have is 7.4v NIMH or 7.4v lipo..

The controller behaves the same way with the battery.
Just under a 2v drop messured on the pump terminals with the pump fitted.

I'll check if I can get my hands on a DMM that can messure amps..

This isn't working with just volts and ohms..

 

[Matchless]

Thanks.

Well the battery's are over 10 years old..
Old lead based battery's

10Years for lead battery's is way too much. They are ready for the " milieu-park"

 

[fietsenrex]

Yup, but it is the only thing I have..
Used a fluke 111 now to try and messure the current draw.
But it doesn't show a thing..
Got the positive lead in de A so it should be good to go, set it to DC Amps and tried to messure on the power plug (the one powering the shield)
Or do I need to hook up the fluke in series on one of the power leads?

 

[MrMan]

Yup, but it is the only thing I have..
Used a fluke 111 now to try and messure the current draw.
But it doesn't show a thing..
Got the positive lead in de A so it should be good to go, set it to DC Amps and tried to messure on the power plug (the one powering the shield)
Or do I need to hook up the fluke in series on one of the power leads?

Yes, you need to hook up the DMM in series with the source to measure current.

Source+ to DMM+
DMM- to Controller+
Controller- to Source-

 

[AgMa]

Hi MrMan, thank you for your answer.

Another question :
In your last source code (2.5.1), you write this in the first lines of function setup():

pinMode(48,OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(48,HIGH);

What do you plug on pin 48 ?

@MrMan..

 

[MrMan]

@MrMan..

Pin 48 isn't used, on my shield it's connected to one of the temp sensor headers but there's no code to use it. Don't remember why it was set high now, probably for debugging something.

 

[fietsenrex]

Yes, you need to hook up the DMM in series with the source to measure current.

Source+ to DMM+
DMM- to Controller+
Controller- to Source-

Got it hooked up.
The controller is running on 0,2A
When i press the test button on the dosingpump it goes up to 0.35A and then drops back to 0.2A

So something is liming the current to the dosingpumps i guess.

Behaviour is the same when using the (old) batterys..

 

[NguyenVu]

can i used this module 12V is the same picture?
Thanks

 

[MrMan]

can i used this module 12V is the same picture?
Thanks

That's the same one I'm using.

 

[engi]

Hi,

I'm using MrMan last source code version with a Mega board, a TFT screen shield and 3.2 tft lcd (with sdcard reader).
What pins are reserved to screen, to screen shield, and sdcard ?

TIA,
Nicolas

 

[AgMa]

@MrMan

You say that you have disable auto brightness because it never worked well for you, but I can't find anything commented in the code for auto brightness.
How you have disable it?

 

[Cuco]

Really enjoying this thread.
A few years back beat my head to get the ColdTears Shield, Font IC, SD, 5" and 7" SSD1963 800X480 LCDs and Arduino DUE (similar to MEGA, but ARM3MX8E based with 3.3v I/O) to build a beautiful front end for my project. Looks like Graham over at Arduino.cc has picked up a few forgotten efforts and nailed allot of this for you all.

I'll be borrowing portions of what you guys are doing here...but with the components I have (Due, 5" LCD, etc..)

My device will not be a controller per se.... Not yet. I'm focused on doing Temp (several), pH, Conductivity, TDS, Salinity, ORP, Dissolved Oxygen, CO2, CO2 dose pressure, Tank Level, Sump Level, Pump Flow, Water Color, Ambient Air Temp / Humid. Basically allot of measuring and analysis. I have all the pieces.. Just need to get going... Enabling wired Ethernet and WiFi will be important ingredients.

Really like the Wide Landscape format someone created for the screen.. Can't remember where I found this example.
Below is my small aluminum enclosure with various pieces parts...

Hi! ODwyerPW!
Do you found a landscape format code?
I was thinking to use Jarduino, then I have prepared a acrillyc case to my reef using landscape format! Now I found iAqua project and need to adapt this!

Thanks.

 

[MrMan]

@MrMan

You say that you have disable auto brightness because it never worked well for you, but I can't find anything commented in the code for auto brightness.
How you have disable it?

If you look at the screen settings screen it should say (0=OFF) under auto-dim level. Although my latest version removed it completely and now dims after no button presses after a certain time period.

 

[AgMa]

If you look at the screen settings screen it should say (0=OFF) under auto-dim level. Although my latest version removed it completely and now dims after no button presses after a certain time period.

So if I readd it, will it be working again?
Of course with the right hardware.
Do I have to change anything else from the screen menu (for example dim level when touch or autodim seconds)?

 

[Le Gui]

Thanks...

Hi everybody!

I'm Guillaume, a french guy that love computers, electronic, and... shrimps!
(sorry for my poor english...)

I have found this thread 2 month ago, what amazing work :icon_eek: !

While I wanted to build a similar project, I decided to try to adapt iAqua to my tank, so....

Thanks Dan Cunningham (AnotherHobby), thanks robsworld78, thanks Ryan Truss (MrAqua) and all the others contributors!

I started with the v2.5.1 of MrAqua (thanks again), this code is pretty cool! :wink2:

I've made my own shield to fit my need (do you think it looks like MrAqua's one? It's normal, I was inspired by it!):
There are 6 outputs with optocouplers for the LED PWM signals


Bottom view (with the PCA9685 SMD):


A view with Arduino Mega:


My mess... 0 :


First launch (dates in french (library modification) and hour in 24h format):


LED WRGB ramp (home made):


I have redraw all the icons to make the texts uniform (note the added MISC button):


For the moment, only 1 more parameter : the possibility to change the PWM frequency in the interface.
Before, PWM freq was "hard stored" in the code (120Hz) and my fish and shrimp were "blinking" on fast movements.
Now, all is visually fixed :smile2: :


The code is working, but I have some graphic improvements to do...

Now I have to debug 2-3 things, and add new stuff to fit perfectly my needs...



Once again, THANK YOU GUYS FOR THIS WORK !!! roud:roud:roud:

 

[fietsenrex]

WoW the adjustable PWM is really a nice touch.
I can understand why you want to change it, had some issues with humming LDD's...
Changing the frequency silinced them

 

[MrMan]

Hi everybody!

I'm Guillaume, a french guy that love computers, electronic, and... shrimps!
(sorry for my poor english...)

I have found this thread 2 month ago, what amazing work :icon_eek: !

While I wanted to build a similar project, I decided to try to adapt iAqua to my tank, so....

Thanks Dan Cunningham (AnotherHobby), thanks robsworld78, thanks Ryan Truss (MrAqua) and all the others contributors!

I started with the v2.5.1 of MrAqua (thanks again), this code is pretty cool! :wink2:


I have redraw all the icons to make the texts uniform (note the added MISC button):

Looks good! I never even noticed that the text on the icons were different, the last few I did myself with my stellar Paint skills, so no surprise they're different. I think you should change the font of the home screen dock to match your icons, and then upload them all so I can use them :grin2:

 

[AgMa]

My modded version: