Robo-Tank v6.0 is Ready - Now v6.5

[pwest]

OK, I made the SD according to instructions and all installed w/out any glitches.

Now, I'm trying to log into the web interface.  The text below the login button sez:
Default username and password = Robo-Tank
But that's not working for me.  I type that in for both username and password, click the 'Login' button and nothing happens except the Password input box clears.

Is this the correct uname and pwd?

Thanks,
Phil

[Rob F]

Oh no, it seems like it's not reading the database, if you use a wrong username or password it will prompt but no prompt if it can't read database.

If you add /phpmyadmin to the end of your IP address like this.

http://192.168.1.43/phpmyadmin

Then login in using user root password robotank

Then on the left side click on the "robotank" link and click on the "users" table.

Username should be Robo-Tank and then a bunch of character for password.

---

This is what you should see on the left side when you log into phpMyAdmin. When you click on "robotank" at the bottom of list it will expand and you'll see the "users" table. Maybe you don't have the robotank database.

[sjlesq99]

This morning, my probes were not reading. I had to reboot and everything is working again. Not a big deal. Just thought I’d let you know.

[pwest]

That all works, except there is no 'users' table under 'robotank'. There is a list of 23 tables starting with '3c01..._C' and ending with 'scheduleType'.
-Phil

[Rob F]

This morning, my probes were not reading.  I had to reboot and everything is working again.  Not a big deal.  Just thought I’d let you know.

That's not cool, pH or temps? Honestly running this thing almost a year sensors have never stopped, very disappointing, thanks for letting me know, let me know if it happens again, in the meantime I will go over things.

That all works, except there is no 'users' table under 'robotank'.  There is a list of 23 tables starting with '3c01..._C' and ending with 'scheduleType'.
-Phil

Brutal, that's not the full database, just checked the file that creates the database and there's a missing comma. I added an extra field to a table and when I updated this file I copied and pasted the line but didn't add the comma so it stopped from there.

Try the following commands in the Pi terminal, this should fix it.

sudo rm Robo-Tank_v6_1.zip

sudo systemctl stop robotank.service

sudo wget -c https://www.robo-tank.ca/app/releases/Robo-Tank_v6_1.zip

sudo unzip -o Robo-Tank_v6_1.zip -d /boot/

sudo mysql --user=root --password=robotank < /boot/robotank/install/robotank_database.sql

sudo rm Robo-Tank_v6_1.zip

sudo rm -r /boot/robotank/

sudo systemctl start robotank.service

[pwest]

I'm in!!!

Thanks for all the help with this!

-Phil

[Rob F]

Good to hear, sorry it's been bumpy road. I did just discover another small issue that shouldn't be on port assign page. Run these commands and you'll be set.

I'm completely redoing the light modes, aside from being buggy I've discovered what I thought made sense isn't making sense to others so I need a different approach. So you'll likely have issues with them.

sudo rm Robo-Tank_v6_1.zip

sudo systemctl stop robotank.service

sudo wget -c https://www.robo-tank.ca/app/releases/Robo-Tank_v6_1.zip

sudo unzip -o Robo-Tank_v6_1.zip -d /boot/

sudo cp -r /boot/robotank/* /var/www/html

sudo chown -R pi:www-data /var/www/html/

sudo chmod 755 /var/www/html/cpp/startup

sudo rm Robo-Tank_v6_1.zip

sudo rm -r /boot/robotank/

sudo systemctl start robotank.service

[pwest]

I applied your update, but I think I need a bit of a tutorial here. This is how I had my lighting setup on my previous controllers

One wire, in this case GPIO 0, controlling the lights on a diurnal program using PWM. Becasue at 0% PWM the lights don't always go completely off, the AC for these lights is also plugged into an AC switch controlled by DC Port 1, GPIO 15.

So, my lighting program would specify a diurnal program via PWM starting at 14:00 and ending at 23:59, and the AC power would be enabled during the same interval.

I'm having trouble understanding how this should be set up.

With my initial attempt, the lights are not on, a notification on the home screen sez: "Lights starting in 20:00 hrs". My thinking is that they should be ON now, off in 6 hrs, and back on in 20 hrs...

Any guidance would be appreciated.
-Phil

[Rob F]

That should be possible but most are having issues with lights not fading.

Could you post a picture of each light mode you setup expanded so I can see sliders as well.

I just want to make sure they are setup correctly and we can go from there.

---

Also don't confused GPIO on Pi with GPIO on pca9685. If you use "advance tab" to set them you'll see the pins for PI and pca9685. The DC ports uses pca9685 pins.

[pwest]

I think I need the 'tutorial' first. I don't feel like I have anything set up right. Let's start simple and bypass the AC on/off feature and the dimming feature and just have the controller turn the lights on during a particular interval.

To configure my control port I did:
Configure Ports-> Click on PWM 1/Analog Port 1 -> Name = Main Lighting, Function = Light, Enabled = yes
and I set the icon to look like a hanging light.
Odd, I think, that there is no way for me to tell the program if this is PWM or Analog. So, I click on Advanced and click the edit icon for GPIO 0, but find nothing about PWM or Analog here, either.

Now, from the home screen, I click on the Lights icon and add a Main Lighting mode to come on at 14:00 and end at 23:59, but I see no way to specify ramp/diurnal/etc, nor do I see a way to connect the light mode with the port that I just configured.


In short, I don't understand the conceptual model for setting this up.

-Phil

[Rob F]

Ok you have the port setup correctly. The PWM vs Analog is a hardware thing, no setting is required for that, just need the jumpers on the controller in correct position.

The lights are confusing people, I'm going to see what else I can come up with but for now this is how it works.

To see the sliders for the channels you assign you click on a mode row and it'll expand. It's important to close all modes before leaving the page otherwise it'll be in a manual mode, this is one major point of confusion.

You need a minimum of two modes. The top mode is the start of the day, the last mode is the end of the day.

The last mode as it's the end of day should be set how you want the light levels during the night, 0 usually.

The first mode time is when it'll start fading from the last mode levels so you set this to the levels you want, the end time is when it will reach those levels and the start time is when that will happen.

Here's an example.

Mode #0
Start = 10:00am, End = 11:00am LED slider level 500.

Mode #1
Start = 1:00pm, End = 2:00pm LED slider level 2000.

Mode #2
Start = 5:00pm, End = 6:00pm LED slider level 4095

Mode #3
Start = 7:00pm, End = 8:00pm LED slider level 2000

Mode #4
Start = 9:00pm, End = 10:00pm LED slider level 0

That would start the day at 0 and at 10:00am it would ramp up to 500 level by 11:00am, then it would stay at that level until 1:00pm and start ramping up to 2000 level by 2:00pm and continue until the end, then repeat.

[Rob F]

Maybe this helps some, I wrote it quite a while ago.

Light Modes

You can run up to 50 light modes, can be more though. When you add a mode it appears in the widget list where you can set the slider values. The sliders automatically show based on number of ports you have assigned. As you move the slider the light will respond instantly, once you release it the value will be saved. You can also type in a value from 0 - 4095, later will be an option to show 0-100% instead. When you hover an icon a text appears telling you what the button is.

The checkmarks are obvious, they indicate the days the mode is set for, the checkbox with an orange icon is the next schedule and the green checkbox is the current light mode. 

The green toggle switch allows you to disable the light mode. If you disable "morn" based on image below the orange checkbox will move to "test" mode as that's now the next schedule.

The pencil is to edit the light mode, it pops up the same screen used to add the mode.

The X deletes the light mode.

The up and down icons move the position of the light mode. Note the backend doesn't care what order you put these in, it takes all modes and sorts them based on time / day so you can have day before morn and it wouldn't make a difference. It's only so you can view order you prefer.

You expand a light mode by clicking on it, the sliders will appear for that mode and the lights will automatically switch to those settings. When you toggle the mode closed the light will resume back to the current light mode settings. 

There are no temporary modes yet but technically you can create a light mode with no days selected so it never runs and when you want to view just toggle open and lights will change. When finished close mode and it'll go back to schedule.

The current mode is just something I was getting carried away with, in the end I want visual effects for everything, the beams on the tank will grow/shrink based on light and tank grows based on channels assigned in system. I would love to have an automated tank running with the lights filling it. Also have plans to have a sun moving across the sky, user can switch view they like. So much fun to be had but I need to stay focused. :)

Later I plan for more flexibility with the scheduling but this is a good start.

[pwest]

What associates the I/O port to Mode #0 .. #4?

[Rob F]

On the configure ports, when you set a pin function to "light" it will appear in all light modes.

For example, if you go to configure ports, simple view, click an LED port or DC port assign as a "light" then go back to light modes and expand one you'll see a new slider. Then go back and disable that DC port and it will be removed from all light modes.

[pwest]

Your pictures help a lot, mainly because they don't look like what I've been seeing (via chrome on linux).

I've attached screenshots of how I have Port 1 configured,  what the lighting modes look like, with one of them opened up, and how I set up the Main Lighting #1 mode.

[Rob F]

Sorry those images were from the old layout.

There should be a slider there, try deleting the modes, disable the LED port, enable the LED port, recreate the modes.

[Rob F]

Oh, just a minute, I see a problem, the health meter is low and last pic red plug meaning the program isn't running. Maybe try unplugging power from controller and power back up. I don't think any settings you are changing are making it to the backend.

[pwest]

I did all of those things (deleting the modes, disable the LED port, enable the LED port, recreate the modes) over the course of the day, including several full pull-the-plug power down reboots. Right now, I've moved back to reef-pi for the evening, but will try to get back on this tomorrow.

The program definitely is running as I can add, remove, and reorder 'modes' and change port names. That said, it absolutely seems to be running very slow.

-Phil

[Rob F]

Yeah something is up, the meter should be in the green and the green plug shouldn't turn red. If you play with it again maybe start with a fresh install with Pi imager. I rolled those other updates in so it should go without hiccup this time. Sorry you didn't get anywhere.

Best chance is try and create modes in the order you want them, don't use the reorder arrows.

[pwest]

Hi: this morning I started from scratch using a new SD card.  I used this install script from the top of this thread:
sudo wget -c https://www.robo-tank.ca/app/releases/Ro...k_v6_1.zip &> /dev/null && sudo unzip -o Robo-Tank_v6_1.zip -d /boot/ &> /dev/null && sudo bash /boot/robotank/install_robotank.sh
and the process completed w/no errors or warnings.  The robo-tank login came up as expected, but gave the same behavior as on my original attempt yesterday where it would not log me in.  I then did the phpAdmin login and see not only that there is no 'users' table, but that there is no robotank schema at all.