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Alsipian Reef Arduino Controller


Endevor

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Ok, as some of you know, I've been working on this project for several months now. I have built a custom stand in which I am adding in a total environmental control system based on the Arduino. Now I know this has been done before and there are several projects out there that deal with all sorts of aspects of a reef tank as well as professional setups. My goal is to create the simplest, cheapest, and most user friendly system I can. On top of that, I'd like to make it open source so you guys can enjoy the fun as well.

Without further blah blah, here's my project in a nutshell:

 

First, here's the original "working" version:


I had this up and going at the beginning of the year, then tragedy struck when the tank I had actually broke. Since then, I've managed to rebuild the tank, but the controller has gone back to the drawing board, especially since I've discovered how to design circuits.

 

The current controller has four main components:

  1. The Brain
  2. The Sun
  3. The Power
  4. The Nutrients

These are all currently integrated into my stand, but as this project continues on, I want to break down the components individually so they can be easily inserted into most other stands. It may take a while, but I'm sure eventually it'll reach that point.

THE BRAIN

 

So this is the main controller for the entire system. In my stand it all is housed in a drawer underneath the tank in the stand. This houses the power supply to convert AC to DC, the Arduino Mega, and my major contribution: the motherboard. Everything connects to here so the Arduino can easily control them and the user in turn can easily control their tank. The two main ports on this board are for the lighting(The Sun) and peripherals. The peripheral port branches off into a Rat-Tail style of a cable that connects to The Power and The Nutrients as well as a float switch and Atlas probes. Other connectors include two ports for fans (Mostly for the power supply and lighting) and two "One-Wire" ports mainly intended for temperature probes, though a PAR sensor could be easily adapted to it. A RGB LED gives the user a general idea of what's going on or what they need to do to their tank. Lastly, it houses a Tiny RTC to help the Arduino keep track of time as well as keep your time if ever the power goes out.

 

THE SUN

 

This is something that's more tank specific. I built mine on my own using parts from RapidLED (Minus the drivers). The system is primarily designed for those who have DIY lighting in mind, not really "professional" lighting. There are 8 channels ranging the whole spectrum:

  • Cool White
  • Natural White
  • Ultra-Violet
  • Royal Blue
  • Blue
  • Green
  • Amber
  • Red

They run off 10 different phases:

  • Dawn
  • Sunrise
  • Morning
  • Midday
  • Afternoon
  • Evening
  • Sunset
  • Dusk
  • Midnight
  • Darkness

For now, the system simply runs on a 12 hour day, sunrise starting at 0700 and sunset starting at 1900. I'm currently developing the code to use the current date to determine the actual sunrise and sunset and run off that. After that I'd like to add a spectrum sensor inside the tank to feed data to the Arduino. This would allow it to maintain the PAR desired for corals while giving the user liberty to alter the color of the tank.

I.E. I'd like my midday phase to be bluer. So, as I increase the blue leds, the other leds dim accordingly so I don't burn my corals, but at the same time, they still get appropriate light.

 

But sadly, those are future developments which require some sort of UI. Once I get a touch screen to work, it'll definitely help.

 

The Power

 

I think this part specifically helps a lot of users. It's a simple box with 10 outlets, 8 of which are controlled by the Arduino. The outlets turn on and off via a solid state relay board making it very easy to plug in a powerhead and program a wavemaker. Other outlets are used for lighting a refugium or even a mini-light for the stand to see your products better. You can also plug in filters and have the ability to turn them on and off, or simply hide all your wires in the stand and have only one wire leaving the stand.

 

The Nutrients

 

This is the dosing system. This is based on the fact that you have containers to hold your supplements that you want to does. It has 4 small dosing pumps that for me dosed:

  • Magnesium
  • Calcium
  • Strontium
  • Alkalinity Booster

​For now, it simply doses daily based on recommendations on the bottles as well as my monitoring.

 

The Future!

 

I'm currently on the quest to perfect my motherboard. This has put a lot of other things on hold since I need to get a solid Brain to program before I can develop the software more.

Plans include giving the Brain a touchscreen for a slick UI and a buzzer for an audible alarm. There will most likely be a refining in the peripheral connection to make it more universal. I also look to add more connections for more sensors to attach easily. I'm also thinking of separating the Atlas Probe connections to make those easier to handle as well. The biggest thing will be the AI. I want to set it up so that it learns from the user on how to care for the tank. My biggest example is that it will ask the user, probably weekly, for them to do a water test and feed it the results. It will then react accordingly, especially with the Doser (Calcium and Alkalinity are a biggie) to lower or raise its dosage accordingly. Testing with a PAR probe will let me also program it to be smarter about the lighting and at the same time allow the user to change colors freely without having to worry about burning or not giving their coral enough light.

 

Current State

 

I just received my first prototype of the motherboard from OSHPark. Good news is my lighting signals work, but bad news is my minor components don't. It's amazing how many careless mistakes you can make on something like this even after going over it several times for weeks. Some of the holes were a little off, but nothing to the point I still can't attach things. I'm going to have to test my peripheral connections later after I build my new rat-tail cable. The picture of my board should be in the attachments.

Problems:

  1. Tiny RTC for some reason isn't keeping time. I can set it fine without any errors, but it never keeps that time. I don't think it's an error on my board, but an error with the RTC component itself. I'll try a different one later.
  2. The piezo buzzer is not loud at all. I should've done some more research and realized that simply plugging a buzzer to the Arduino wasn't going to be loud enough to alert someone. Shouldn't be a hard fix though. I'll probably just send the 12v current through it and have the Arduino just turn it on or off.
  3. I definitely need to figure out this common ground issue. My indicator LED won't work because I think I sent it's common to the wrong spot. It may also be messing with the RTC, but I'll be doing some more testing tomorrow to figure out what the real problems are.

I'm going to develop another version for sure, but I have a question for you all:

Should I:

  1. Keep the motherboard and Arduino separate? This may allow the user to add custom shields.
  2. Attach female headers to the motherboard so it itself acts more like an Arduino shield? May make it easier to add a touchscreen.
  3. Try to embed an Arduino into the motherboard to make it stand alone? May infringe on some copyright stuff.

Just some thoughts for me to work to.

 

Stuff You Don't Want to Hear

 

Some of you probably think this is cool, some may say I have too much time on my hands. I've gotten this far and I enjoy it enough to keep going. The software side is simply a matter of sitting down and doing it (which will take a while in of itself), but what's really holding me back at this point is the hardware, specifically the cost. I'm looking to start something like a kickstarter, but I have no clue how much my goal should be or the rewards I should give for how much. I'm thinking if I can make something out of this to look into putting the hardware somewhere you guys can buy it and keep the software opensource. So for now, I'm going along at a snail's pace till I can overcome this hump. Till then, all help is welcome, especially if you know anything about the technical aspects, please send me a PM!

And almost done!

 

Hope you guys think it's a cool project and I'm wide open to any advice or suggestions as well as feel free to ask my anything! I'm a pretty open guy. I'll try to keep this topic updated as things develop. With testing going on this week, I'll probably have a few more posts coming at least. Hope you all enjoy!

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As a total newbie on all this tech. I say WOW!, this is amazing, do you have any future plans to sell this as a complete kit, with lights stand and the tanks (nano) similar to the one in your video. and how much you think that will cost. I'm sure people like me who are new comers to this hobby and has no knowledge on programing and all that will be interested.

 

I'm definitely following this setup.

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I actually had an idea instead of designing just the controller, to design a series of stands (that include the controller) to fit standardized tanks. So all you had to do was buy the stand according to how big a tank you wanted, and then pick up any tank from 10 to 55g at your local store and just go. If I did do something like that, I'd definitely need some help with funding, developing, and all the business stuff. I've been talking to a few people/companies, but haven't heard a whole lot on how to move forward. I'm great on the technical and construction side, but business and law jargon are definitely not my field.

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interesting stuff..

 

are you looking to mass produce these at some point? I might be interested in a controller down the road and this sounds interesting..

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Production would be nice, but it still has a ways to go before I have a finished product. I feel I could probably knock out the hardware side by or during the summer, but software will be a while.

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So a minor update:

I'm currently working on a revision board to work out all the bugs. In doing so, I've also been able the size of the light connector from a 25 d sub to a high density 15 d sub. At the same time, I integrated a voltage reducer into the board itself instead of using a separate mini-board which greatly freed up some space. This also let me fix my common plane issue, so now the board has a common plane. Components should be coming in this week, but I'll be doing some breadboard testing before I order another set of boards. For now this will be a v1.1 instead of a 2.0 since not too much is being changed.

I'm currently working with a ~14 gallon system including a sump so I'm designing my system around that. Leaves me curious those of you with larger systems need. Now that I have some room, I'm trying to decide what new connections I want to add, though I may take the space to make some open connections so you can add whatever you want, maybe 3 with a 5v supply for temp, PAR, etc and 3 with a 12v supply mostly for fans. What do you guys think?

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Kickstarter update:

So I have one about halfway done, but it's requiring me to create a business website. Basically it's going to end up being too much work for me to be able to handle right now. If anyone's got any advice, that would be great, but otherwise, this project will have to move at the pace it is now. On the upside, I believe I've made a break through with my board design and hope to be ordering my next set in the next week or so.

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Well good luck with your progress.

I want to ask you if the non-return air valves where ok with the dosing pumps...

I want to use some on mine too but I cant find out if they work with fluids like mag,calcium,sodium bicarb.or they are just for air.

Thanks in advance.

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I ended up taking them off. They ended up messing up with exact measurements when dosing. I never really had a problem with it returning water back to my chemical container. It worked, but not as well as I would've liked. I'd suggest seeing if your system can work without them.

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Update:
I've ordered another set of boards. This time I went with SeeedStudio as I should've done by MeepNand's advice in the first place. OSHPark does excellent work, but the bigger the board, the more expensive it is to prototype through them. I also shrunk the size of the board which dropped the price as well. I'm getting 5 boards from Seed for about half the price for 3 from OSHPark, so I think I found myself a decent company to work with for prototyping. Downside is China vs American, Quantity vs Quality, and Shipping time. I've seen some pictures/reviews of Seedstudio and you basically get what you pay for, a cheap PCB that's great for testing. Can't account for their premium service though, mey have to research into that. OSHPark on the other hand was generally cheaper than most other companies, but still delivered high quality boards, and I really liked the signature purple finish. Anyway, enough about reviewing fabrication companies.

This is actually the second revision since my first order of PCBs. Like I said, I made the board smaller, so it's exactly 10cm x 15cm. Before it was 15.8cm x 11.4cm so just enough to bump me into the next level of pricing... hence why I shrunk the board. I took out some of the modular parts like the voltage converter and Atlas Serial Port Extender since I didn't really see a lot of people caring if those parts were modular or not. That allowed me to shrink the board. I left the RTC as a modular part because on my last prototype, the RTC actually had a problem. (I really need to avoid ordering from Sainsmart) Embedding the voltage step down into the board also allowed me to add a common plane which is what I was trying to do before. The next modification is I reduced the lighting port from a 25 sub d to a high density 15 sub d. I'm using the housing as one of the ground signals so I can get "16 signals" out of the cable. It should work fine, there was little resistance when I tested it on its own. Lastly, I fixed the buzzer so it works off a transistor instead of relying on voltage from the Arduino. Sorry if you wanted to play a little tune for your alerts, but at least you can hear it now. It simply just turns it on and off. That should be enough to give you an audible alarm if you want. RGB LED however still runs off the Arduino pin voltage. It works well on a breadboard, we'll have to see how well it works when the Arduino is running everything else as well...Probably change that too in a later revision.

All in all, we'll have to see when it arrives. I have no idea how long that will take, but I did spend an extra few bucks to ship via USPS instead of whatever China's 30 day service was. Hopefully that'll reduce the wait time a bit. I'll keep you guys posted and post some pictures when it arrives. If it works, I may pawn off the other 4 boards. If not, I'll try to hammer out another revision.

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Just so you know, Seedstudio is not fast. I would contact them and bug them for a shipping number.

The boards look super nice. What's this about a kickstarter?

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I have most of a kickstarter filled out, but in order to complete it I have to have an Amazon business account which in turn requires me to have a business, or at least a business website. With schooling, army, graduation all coming up, I don't really have time to start a business even just online thought maybe in the future. For now, I may "manufacture" on my own and sell on ebay or something. I've been talking to a company that assists in production of a product, but I'm not sure yet if I'm going to go through with them at the moment. For now, it's simply an idea I'm prototyping. If there is any major production, it'll be after I graduate.

 

On another note, I just ordered some coral, SPS and Zoanthids. The controller should be able to handle these fine. The real test I want to do is put a Bubble Tip in an 8 gallon and have it thrive with minimal maintenance, but I won't be introducing one till I have a full system running. Right now, the only control I have is the lighting. Everything is manual until I have a working board.

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Just so you know, Seedstudio is not fast. I would contact them and bug them for a shipping number.

 

Well, I just got a notification that says the boards were shipped. I ordered it on the 27th so in theory that was a very quick turn over time. I'm shipping via USPS which claims 3-5 days international, but I haven't gotten a shipping number. Their policy says up to 2 business days for a trace number, so I'll give them till Wednesday to start bugging them. Regardless, if everything is going smoothly, this will be the quickest PCB order I've seen.

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So I did get the trace number on Wednesday actually... Although, I shipped with USPS which was probably a mistake since it takes them forever to update status's if they update it at all... Spring Break is next week for me and being the geek that I am, I'm staying home instead of Fratting out at some beach, so hopefully I'll get them in soon so I have something to work on. I'll keep you guys posted, I'm doing some work now on making my own relay boards for the power strip and doser as to package everything together in a small box as well as add some fuses for a little more protection just too keep me occupied while I wait for the controller to come in.

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Good news everyone!

953490-fard.jpg

 

The boards came in, and I must say for 50$, I'm quite impressed. I spend my day soldering on the components and testing the circuit, and whaddya know, everything works. Only thing left to do is fine tune everything and that's where I want some opinions. Before that, here's what it does and the kinks:

 

Works:

  • RTC is reading properly. Turned out the last RTC I was using had issues with it, so thankfully it wasn't my wiring.
  • Buzzer (Can't control pitch, simply whether it's on or off... but at least you can hear it now)
  • Added multiplexer is picking up signals from at least one of the Atlat Probes
  • Connections to the 25 sub d for peripheral components are simply straight forward traces, so I didn't fully test them. I need to build a proper wire before I can do that. Otherwise they should work.
  • Lighting works... mostly... will explain later.

Kinks:

  • I added a LED to the buzzer so when the buzzer goes off, the LED does too. Should probably add a resistor to that though.
  • The pins for the RTC are slightly off. They were last time as well and I thought I fixed it, but apparently not. Seems not to conform to a normal breadboard layout, but it shouldn't be too hard to fix.
  • Biggest issue is the power input connector. It sparks whenever you plug it in which isn't exactly ideal. I'm going to change it to a coaxial power connector as normal to most applications. It would also make it more universal for power adapters.

So here's the plan:

I want to decide to either keep the Arduino separate or combine it in one. I'm leaning toward keeping it separate because it's easier to add shields if you want. It may also make it easier to add a touchscreen to the system. I don't think I'll be able to to fully determine that until I test out using it with a touch screen. If I do keep them separate, I may end up designing a shield for the Arduino so you can easily connect to the controller as well as a touchscreen.

 

A lighting issue rose with this build in the lighting system in switching to the 15 sub-d connector. Since 8 channels of LEDs require 16 connections, I was using the shield as one of the connections. Sadly, that doesn't work with a normal cable you can pick up at the store which was my goal. So now I'm looking to RJ45 connectors. This can be accomplished with 2 8 signal connectors. This could be nice for those who don't want all 8 channels since 1 cable will control 4 channels. Should be an easy fix.

 

For now, please ask about anything and suggest anything or any features you would like to see added.

 

Also! I'm looking for a new name to call this. Open to anything creative!

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Alsipian Reef Controller sounds good to me.

You might want to replace the RTC board with discrete chips to save cost. As long as there is a socket it is easy to replace.

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I agree. The deeper I get into it, the more I'm pushing towards embedding ICs than making them modular like I originally intended. There was about an hour's worth of arguing with the LDDs when I tried to use them sockets instead of soldering them straight in.

 

I picked up a couple of these to play around with

http://www.ebay.com/itm/310725255033?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

 

I also want to embed the controllers for the probes as well as make them more universal so you don't have to go through Atlas. Atlas makes good stuff and all, but their $100+ for each probe which isn't very cost effective. You know how to wire a probe? Or at least a controller?

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Has any of you used the LDD-L Series? The only difference I can tell is they can take up to 36V instead of 56. At half the size and since there's 8 drivers anyway, I'm thinking of switching the drivers to the LDD-L instead of the LDD-H. Thoughts?

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Let me see if I can address all this. I love the suggestions!

 

Do your own led drivers on board?Have it compatible with upto 1500ma LEDs.

 

Hmm... design my own LED drivers... That's an idea. Definitely something I'd have to learn though, but could get me off relying on LDD drivers. I'll add that into my exploration of making my own probe sensor drivers.

 

 

Could you program the current of each of the channels, so that the user has the flexibility to change the current of each channel.

 

How so, like potentiometer on the board or with software through the Arduino? I think it would depend on how much would it rely on the Arduino. Considering I've never designed a LED driver before, I guess I'll see how it goes.

 

 

Built in replace-able fuse for each channel on board.

 

Safety is always awesome especially if you can easily fix an explosion than having to buy a new board. I'll be incorporating these especially if I make my own LED driver.

 

 

Circuits for PWM fans, maybe temperature probe controlled. A fan for itself, fan for heatsink.

 

There are two connections for 2x 12v fans though they don't have any signal for the PWM pins on the Arduino. On my build, I was using one for the power supply for the controller and second was for the heat sink on the LEDs. They were so quiet that I didn't really care for a PWM signal, but it's not hard to add. Temp probe controlled, I'll look into... It may be a little too much since the controller shouldn't be generating as much heat as say a desktop. If it's simple to add and cheap, might as well.

 

 

Another NRer posted this the other day, great find.
http://www.polycase.com/
Not only with CNC but also 4 color printing on the case, down to 1 unit. IP68 enclosures.

 

Excellent find! I was actually starting to think about how to enclose this when it's done. Just need to finalize how big this will be. A thought that actually just passed my mind was adding its own power supply to simply plug into the wall instead of buying a separate PSU for the controller... Don't know how complicated that will be or how much it would add to the cost... Something to look at though.

 

An enclosure would also go well with your temp sensor controlled fan idea. It'll definitely generate more heat if enclosed and it would be nice not to worry about it.

 

 

I still think a PAR meter probe option should be in any arduino based LED controller. A reefer then has the option for $135 probe instead of a $400 meter. The programming can't be all that hard, it's a simple math computation of millivolts to PAR conversion.

 

I completely agree and I really would like to add a PAR connection to my system. The one I looked at seems to work of a one wire system so I should actually be able to plug one into the "temp connectors". I might as well go ahead and order one to play with.

 

 

I would use Molex Microfit3 connectors instead of the rs232 or dsub style connectors.

 

I've been looking to get away from the sub-d connectors. The only reason I started out with them is because they were easy to pick up at RadioShack for easy connections. I actually have some ideas for that area. For lighting, I was thinking 2x RJ45 connectors. Benefit I'm thinking is for people with longer tanks to be able to split 4 channels to two lighting systems... I would aim for 4 connectors to split for 2 channels each, but I think that may just take up too much room on the board for too little yield. I'd have to look into how much power a ethernet cable can handle. Based off LEDGroupBuy, I should probably be looking into taking in up to 48V, though with 8 channels of LEDs that has the potential of handling up to 128 3v LEDs... Hmm... I'd definitely want some suggestions on how much power the average user requires for their LEDs.

 

As far as the 25 pin sub d for the peripheral connectors, I like the molex idea. I'm also thinking of adding some multiplexers for the relay channels for the power and dosing system thus reducing the pins required for the Arduino. I should've thought of that before hand, but eh, hindsight is 20-20.

 

So, what is next...

 

It'll probably be a little while till I order another board or do any physical testing. For now I'm going to see what I can do with what I have, and start focusing more on the software aspect. I'll also start redesigning in Eagle again and see what I can come up with. I'm also thinking of starting a website for this so I can maybe do a kickstarter or something. This is probably going to turn into a summer project with classes piling up at this point. To the more specifics:

 

  • Look into designing my own LED drivers
  • Design my own sensor drivers
  • Embed RTC
  • Refine peripheral connector with multiplexers and different connectors
  • Research into how much power the controller, specifically the LED system should handle and how to provide it
  • Continue looking into a touch screen
  • Get into developing the software side more

Keep the suggestions and advice coming, they're very helpful! PM or post on the topic, being only one guy I can use all the help I can get. I'll keep hammering at this as I get the time. I'm excited for the way this is going.

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Here, take a look:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzU34PeNVT0QVWNWVVU0S3ZmbXM&usp=sharing

 

Eagle files for a ton of micro-sized led drivers. Most can do up to 24v and cost <$4, but one is a 40v 3a max boost led driver. All drivers have the parts listed from digikey.

The AP8802 led driver is a 48v max Vin buck led driver like the LDDs, and can do 1a max output. Apart from that, your best bet for >1a led driver is one with and external MOSFET, like the LM3421. That one can go up to 95% efficiency and has low voltage and high voltage protections. You can remove the protections to save space, but the high voltage one I would leave alone.

 

EDIT: The LM3421 file and LM3429 file list the output as 1a max. The output is actually as high as you want it, depending on the big MOSFET. They are also missing a parts list, but the names (RSET, CIN, etc.) correspond to the circuit diagrams on the datasheets.

 

I meant for the RTC to have everything but the IC soldered in the PCB. The IC could go into a DIP-8 socket so it can be switched out.

 

For fans, a simple transistor. mosfet in line with the ground on the fan and wired to a PWM port on the Mega will do.

Speaking of PWM, there are a ton of 10-bit PWM controllers like that on the Storm X, that are wasy to interface with with an Arduino.

Your controller, unless it has a touchscreen, should be able to easily handle the amount of power you are putting through it if you use a standard Arduino Mega. A plug-in touchscreen actually sucks a ton of power though.

 

pH sensor circuits are quite easy to build. It's just an op-amp and a probe. Also, take a look at this page:

https://sites.google.com/site/chipstein/home-page/building-the-amplifier-2

It's a little overkill (the AD620 is super accurate), but definitely worth it. You can get the AD620 on ebay for around $2 each, and the page also describes circuit on how to use a single op-amp to use just one battery/ voltage source to get a reading.

 

Also, tip: Get a multiplexer. If you ever decide to make the leap to LCD or touchscreen, you will appreciate the extra pin space that a multiplecer will get you.

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Another idea is to add a bluetooth module, or just some sort of network interface that would work with Android/iOS devices to bypass the costs of LCD drivers and the LCD/touch screen it self. Most people have smart phones these days, or if it's a network interface you could even have it work through a web browser for people that don't. Just might be a way to keep costs down but giving the nice control you're looking for.

 

I like a lot of the idea's here though. I love the idea of a built in par meter as well as PH meters and LED Drivers and what not. It's like a DIY'ers dream.

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I'm on mobile right now so I'll try to dress up this response later when I get home.

 

Thanks MeepNand! I'll definitely be looking in that library for some goodies. I'm still curious as to what would be best. I know at least for my situation, I don't need much power since I'm running a ridiculously small tank, but it looks like someone like farkwar needs more. I'll look into that a little more and see what I can come up with.

 

For the RTC, how often do these things go out? I originally had it set up that everything could be exchanged, but I ended up on the last go around soldering in the LDDs because of bad socket connections. Maybe I was using too cheap of sockets. In your opinion, what would you like to be able to exchange on the board? Another thing I was looking at was changing a lot of things to SMD to start shrinking the size of the board. The more components I design myself, the smaller, and thus cheaper I can make it.

 

I'm still toying with the idea of a touchscreen shield. I want an interface of some sort and thought that would be the neatest. Would you think a simple LCD display would be sufficient? Another thing I'm looking at on either embedding a Arduino architecture in the controller or keeping the Arduino separate. I guess like you said, play with some multiplexers and see what I can do. The controller and Arduino are powered separately so the only thing being drawn from the Arduino would be the signals and any shields you might add.

 

I have seen some simple looking circuits for PH. I'll have to do some research to see if I can do all of them.

 

On to Hdale85,

That's actually a good idea. I'd still want to put some sort of display on the board for quick reference. Maybe just a cheap serial LCD screen. It would relieve a lot of stress on the board to simply have an app on android/iOS for a nicer interface. I would have to brush up on my Objective C. Sorry Mac users, but I'm a Android programmer. Shoot, at this rate I'm going to need a crew haha. I was thinking in the beginning of wireless capabilities. Bluetooth would probably be easier to program and use, but wireless would let you be able to see what's going on outside your home. Heck, why not both? I'll see what I can come up with when I get there.

 

I love these suggestions, keep them coming!

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I think the wireless shield for the arduino and what not usually has a bluetooth and wifi radio. So that's certainly possible. Heck later on some of the modules and accessories could be embedded into say the lights and what not and connect via bluetooth. I'd say things like that would be a late stretch goal. And yeah a 2 line LCD of some sort might be nice for a status display.

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Ooo Bluetooth lights, that could be cool. Only problem is that every module would need its own power source so there may end up being more cables if it were Bluetooth instead. It'll definitely be a later development.

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