optical sensor help

[jsweir]

Bought some optical sensors from DF robot. Tried plugging it into the 3 opto extension with no luck. pins are 1 &2 gnd, 3 vcc and 4 signal out. they also ave a 4 wire to 3 output board. Will these work with the robo deluxe?

[Rob F]

Those sensors should work but the pin out doesn't sound correct. This is how they should be.

   

In reef-pi go to the connector for sensor port 4, 5 or 6 and tick the "reverse" option, this needs to be set accordingly.

[jsweir]

got the pinout from their website
https://wiki.dfrobot.com/Liquid_Level_Se...U__SEN0205

[Rob F]

Oh wow, that's a shocker, I thought they were all the same. I see by the image the wires are aligned the same so I don't know what to think. Looking at their schematic for adapter board they have a 390 ohm resistor on the VCC but I have it on the ground. With my testing if that resistor isn't inline on Ground sensor is destroyed.


I guess based on that don't plug the sensor in directly, you'll have to use the adapter and connect to the main sensor ports on controller. Set the pluggable jumpers for sensor port to "other" and "P-D".

[Rob F]

Here's the diagram I used to setup my board.

https://www.google.com/search?q=optical+...maU3gnvmTM

You can see most show this and it works, I just noticed now some show the 390 ohm resistor inline on either ground or VCC so maybe it can be one or other but don't know what to think about white wire being signal.

[Rob F]

If you already plugged a sensor directly in, try it again but change that "reverse" option for the connector, that does need to be done or it won't work.

[jsweir]

if I put the jumpers on other and p-d do I still need to reverse it?

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still no luck I may be frying the sensors

[Rob F]

If you plug the sensor in directly it could be damaged, if you use the adapter board they send it'll be ok no matter how those jumpers are set. The p-d and p-u changes the resistor from pulldown to pullup. Optical require pull down and needs to be reversed. Sorry I should have mentioned, after you change the reverse option on connector you need to go to "admin" tab and press the "reload" button so reef-pi can apply the changes.

[jsweir]

No luck with it using their board and plugged into sensor 1

[Rob F]

I just noticed on their board they have a pullup resistor so use no jumper on P-U / P-D side, but set other jumper to "other". Also with pullup I would think the reverse option shouldn't be ticked, try it with both settings.

[jsweir]

Still nothing - going to give up on this solution for an ato - the float switch only seems to work once, then I have to turn the equipment (pump) off and on again for it to work. Need something reliable, so going back to using the robo as a monitor only.

[Rob F]

Sorry it's not going easy. What port are you trying to control? Can you share some pictures showing the settings in reef-pi? Maybe work with the float switch so reef-pi can be setup then work on getting the optical sensor working. If you setup an ATO sensor but don't setup control for a port it'll appear the sensor doesn't work as the graph for ATO won't update. This has confused a few people. I would like to help get it working, no reason it shouldn't.

[jsweir]

Don't worry - I have it controlling DC port 3 going to a tunze pump. Both the float and optical control the ato pump (equipment). I knew the reef-pi had problems going in, just thought an ato might work, but with a few grand in coral - I can't risk using it. Still will use it for my use as an extra monitor with temp and ph.

[Rob F]

Reef-pi is actually pretty stable but does have some quarks or things not the most intuitive but I understand the feeling when something doesn't work as expected from the get go. If you've made up your mind that's fine but a couple more things. If you do go with another solution you could still use reef-pi as an additional backup system, no system is truly fail safe.

DC 3 does have that backup float port, sounds like you are using it. If that backup float isn't closed DC3 will get no power no matter what reef-pi says to do so it's important the float remains in the correct position during normal use.

There's also a "check frequency" option for the ATO, default is 120 seconds but I recommend setting to 1 second so the sensor is continually checked, maybe that was missed.

[jsweir]

I'll try it and yes - I'd like to use it as a backup level indicator also

[Rob F]

Sounds good, let me know how it goes.

[jsweir]

disconnected the float to take it out of the equation, optical still didn't work. Going to put it on the shelf for now. Thanks for all the help!

[Rob F]

If no float is used a jumpers required on the backup port, without this no power will go to the pump. If you like try with DC port 4 or add a jumper to screw terminal connector like this.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vko1...=h.3j2qqm3