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ONE PROBLEM BEING ADDRESSED –H2O SCALE August 21, 2022

Posted by rik94566 in agponics.com, aquaponic devices, aquaponic issues, aquaponic systems, aquaponics, auqaponics automation, DIY aquaponics.
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As the water situation becomes much more extreme in Northern California water quality changes depending upon the source of water supply. Water hardness has changed many, many times over the last 5 years and I have had to be more careful with pH and hardness when doing water changes or water additions in the fish tanks and monitoring much more and I still end up with this. So I have now developed a plan on what needs to take place and starting to put the plan into action and will be talking about the efforts now as well as other interesting things I am tracking and working at getting put into place in my grow area. Once I have cleaned up the scale issues I can move on to misting systems and use of some more advanced technology to get me to the next level in my efforts.

HOME ASSISTANT — NODE-RED August 31, 2020

Posted by rik94566 in agponics.com, aquaponic automation, aquaponic systems, aquaponics, auqaponics automation, Controlled Environment Agriculture, DIY aquaponics, indoor aquaponics, internet of farming, Internet-of-Farming, Uncategorized.
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Researching how best to start learning Node-Red I spent a lot of time on YouTube watching what Node-Red is and how people learned how to use it. As always a lot of YouTuber’s put out content and some are clearly better at actually helping people understand concepts and produce valuable content that can be put to use by a non-computer programmer type person.
So I developed my list of people that were best for me to follow and start the process of learning this new skill set. Many of the ones I like were talking about the use of Node-Red with Home Assistant.
I had looked at Home Assistant some years ago and at the time it seemed Home Assistant was for very advanced users that are very good at the command prompt and with a lot of system knowledge. Way above my level at the time.
Then my research turned up this reference and changed my perspective on using Home Assistant.

This was, just what I was looking for.

DS18B20 – Resistor Module – parts defined November 4, 2019

Posted by rik94566 in 1-wire, agponics.com, aquaponic devices, aquaponics electronics, auqaponics automation, DIY aquaponics, DS18B20, ds18b20, Electronic Componets, indoor aquaponics, internet of farming, Internet-of-Farming, IoT aquaponics, One-wire, rik kretzinger, rik.diy.IOT, rik94566.
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Working with the resistor module is making things much easier and a lot less work on my part.  I am liking what I am seeing from a development standpoint and can see a real time savings that will deliver consistent results.  First step is understanding what is found on the board and which end goes with which connection.

DS18B20-RESISTOR MODULE-BREAKOUT-led2

Been looking for a better way – DS18B20 October 15, 2019

Posted by rik94566 in 1-wire, agponics.com, aquaponic devices, aquaponics electronics, arduino, auqaponics automation, Balcony aquaponics, Balcony Garden, Controlled Environment Agriculture, DIY aquaponics, DS18B20, ds18b20, Electronic Componets, internet of farming, Internet-of-Farming, IoT aquaponics, rik kretzinger, rik.diy.IOT, rik94566, sensor, Stainless Steel Temp Probe, Temperature Probe.
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I was doing some research on a totally different subject and this popped up.

Sensor Module – DS18B20

ds18b20 -resistor board

Why this one?

Well easy answer – I have been making my own 4.7 pull-up resistor connectors for sometime now.  Problem for me is that they take a lot of time and are very bulky and hard to work with.  For a little more cost a dollar or so I get a board that will allow easy connections to many (so I think) DS18B20 sensors using one resistor.  The order came and now I can start testing my idea.  Having a solution this turn key will save a lot of time and perform better, time will tell now.

I will be posting how the testing goes and what will be needed to get top performance out of this module.

Miniature Test Leads – which ones work best for my projects July 20, 2019

Posted by rik94566 in adafruit, agponics.com, aquaponic automation, aquaponic systems, DIY aquaponics, indoor aquaponics, Instructables, internet of farming, Internet-of-Farming, IoT aquaponics, rik kretzinger, rik.diy.IOT, rik94566.
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I wanted to move away from alligator clips because they were much large when working with small gauge wire.  They did not work for me in very small areas.  So was looking for a better solution.  Found this miniature test leads at Jameco Electronics when I was picking up an order, they were a good solution for me.

TEST LEADS - JAMECO

When first using these miniature test leads they worked very well.  But after a little time using these leads and problems surfaced.  The problem was that they were cheaply made.  The connection of the wire and the metal insert probe would break off without much stress placed on them.  One or two is understandable, but 5 out of 10 was not the experience I was looking for.

When doing a search for a new product on the Adafruit site I found these test leads

Test Leads – Adafruit

TEST LEADS - adafruit

These leads are a little larger than the Jameco test leads, but still were small enough for my use.  Construction and connections were of high quality and work perfectly and held up with repeated use.  So these are my new go to test leads for my development efforts.  They will be seen in a number of up coming Instructables that I am working on and all my testing of sensors and connectors.

 

Started a new YOU TUBE channel — rik.dyi.IOT July 13, 2019

Posted by rik94566 in agponics.com, aquaponic automation, aquaponics, aquaponics electronics, arduino, auqaponics automation, Balcony aquaponics, Balcony Garden, BSF - Black Solider Fly.
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rik.diy.IOT

Be a maker – change your world

Being that I have been working on a lot of content in a number of different areas over the past two years, I need a better brand than what I had been using (which was really nothing).  So, to support this effort I decided to re-brand with a new logo and more descriptive caption as to my actual efforts and interests.  My focus has not changed over all and still is AQUAPONICS, but there are so many other areas that impact the full scope of Aquaponics in todays world.  Aquaponics is no longer just about PLANTS – FISH – WATER which is being shared   —  in my mind.

Here is the link to my new YOU TUBE channel and I will be building it out as I finish off content that supports my AQUAPONICS efforts to expand my development of some RADICAL new concepts that I have been thinking about and working on deployment of.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcsDV2kS2vE_snRF5OlKL_A

 

Arduino IDE running on RPi using 5″ HDMI 800 X 480 display March 30, 2017

Posted by rik94566 in 800 X 480 display, adafruit, agponics.com, arduino, DIY aquaponics, Instructables, IoT aquaponics, Raspberry PI, rik kretzinger, rik94566, Uncategorized.
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Since the problem with using a 5″ HDMI display was worked with the Raspberry Pi.  A new problem developed that needed to be addressed.  Running Arduino IDE on Raspberry Pi using the 5″ HDMI display at 800 X 480 resolution.  The problem is that the Arduino IDE bleeds off the edges of the display (see picture below).  The issue is that the Arduino IDE cannot be moved around to get access to the menu options.  So there is no way to check libraries or setting to insure sketches are being up-loaded correctly.  No new sketches can be opened either.  Major pain.

IDE issue800X480

 

After some research and a little time solving the Raspberry Pi – Jessie with Pixel display issue I found a solution that resolves this issue as well.

I wrote an Instructable to document what is needed, so check it out if this is a issue for you.

Window size issue with Arduino IDE and RPi

Here are the results:

arduino size change

 

Temboo — aquaponic “HELLO WORLD” equivalent June 1, 2015

Posted by rik94566 in agponics.com, aquaponic automation, aquaponics, aquaponics electronics, Balcony aquaponics, internet of farming, Internet-of-Farming, rik94566.
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With the help of Temboo – my aquaponic Balcony Unit generated its first TEXT Message:

SMS

MESSAGE IS:

aquaponic Balcony Unit grow bed now filling.

TOWER SYSTEM – set-up at Maker Faire 2014 May 22, 2014

Posted by rik94566 in adafruit, agponics.com, arduino, DIY aquaponics, DS18B20, Electronic Componets, indoor aquaponics, indoor gardens, indoor growing, Internet-of-Farming, IoT aquaponics, One-wire, Raspberry PI, Tower System, Tower Tubes.
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Maker Faire - 2014

EDITOR’S CHOICE – not once – but 3 times @ Maker Faire – WOW May 21, 2014

Posted by rik94566 in agponics.com, aquaponic automation, aquaponics, aquaponics electronics, arduino, DIY aquaponics, indoor aquaponics, indoor gardens, indoor growing, Internet-of-Farming, IoT aquaponics, Raspberry PI, sensor, Tower System.
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Very few displays achieve 3 EDITOR CHOICE AWARDS —

MAKER FAIRE - AWARD