Howto: 0-10v Control Return Pump

[Lasse]

Here is the diagrams for the DCA smart pumps

But is not only the head that is intressent, also the size of pipes, pipe length. pipe bends (type of - sharp bend or soft bend), connections and valves

Can you comeback with a sketch how the pipe system from pump to outlet looks like. Can you change the pressure pipe to around 1 1/4 ? Normally for these low pressure´pumps - the diameter off return make a huge differences. You have one overflow - it means that it is very difficult to avoid air in the overflow pipe, hence it will be limited flow.

I have a DCA 4000 return pump and 1 1/4 retur pipe system with 4 sharp 90 degrees bends, one 45 degree bend and one valve. With a program I have - i have calculate the max flow in this system to be around 2000 L/hour. With 6000 - I get aroun 3000 L/h. At the moment I run my pump on 50% - it is 1200 L/h - the aquarium is 310 L

With your 3/4 it will be around 1700 l/h with a 4000 - - a stronger pump will give you to fast flow in the pipes - IMO.

This is only calculations between the index finger and the thumb - but they are not guessed

Sincerely Lasse

 

[sylvius]

That’s very helpful, thank you. My return is very simple, about 1.35 m from the sump straight up a 3/4” line (short section of silicone tube for vibration isolation then to PVC) through a glued 3/4” bulkhead with on 90 degree elbow at the top to a 15 cm piece of 3/4” loc-line. Right now I have a Sicce Syncra SDC 6.0 at 100%. My guess is it’s close to 2000L/hr (and should have a flow meter hopefully next week to be able to measure it) and theoretical limit for the single 1” overflow is about 2200L/hr. The bulkhead is limited to 3/4” and I’d really prefer to avoid an external return line. I wonder if fluid dynamics are such that I would get better performance upsizing the pump on both sides of the bulkhead and just having a short constriction.

 

[HuneyBear]

There are multiple ways to convert 0-10v cables to work with ghl. Since most are setup to run with apex they have rj45 ends. Ghl uses rj12.
Ghl recommends you cut the ends off and use their S-port L-port box.

each side of it can run 2 different controls. Switch 1 would use terminal 2+ and terminal 3 Gnd. Switch 2 would use terminal 5+ and terminal 3 Gnd.
this is also possible using a simple breakout as well such as this

If you are comfortable wiringyou can also go about it by not cutting the apex compatible cable by making a converter like I made.

the apex cables use separate grounds through the cable and can be combined in the conversion.

take above and convert to the Ghl below and you have the ability to run apex compatible anything 0-10v without cutting plugs off. I have made a few of these.

the hardest part to source is really the rj12 keystone terminal. I’ve found that Home Depot carry’s them in store.

 

[Lasse]

Connecting the new Coral Box DCA smart pumps to Profilux 1-10 V

Coral Box brand have released a line of return pumps as Coral Box DCA smart pumps. The line include pumps from 4000 l/h to 12 000 l/h. This pumps have a new controller that can directly be connected to an APEX computer with a separate cable - allowing 2 pumps be managing. I have test this...

www.reef2reef.com

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Tristren]

I have several Tunze pumps that spend a fair bit of time off using 0-10v control. They are plugged into to a regular power bar.

Tony

 

[sylvius]

Connecting the new Coral Box DCA smart pumps to Profilux 1-10 V

Coral Box brand have released a line of return pumps as Coral Box DCA smart pumps. The line include pumps from 4000 l/h to 12 000 l/h. This pumps have a new controller that can directly be connected to an APEX computer with a separate cable - allowing 2 pumps be managing. I have test this...

www.reef2reef.com

Sincerely Lasse

@Lasse thank you for the recommendation, I got one of the coral box pumps to test. Quick question: when the controller is set to 1-10V control do you know what is the behavior of the pump should profilux fail/disconnect/etc? Would it then default to 0V and be off? That is the one thing I worry about as I’d like to have a way to have it fail with flow.

 

[Macca_75]

I bought a 3.5mm audio cable from the local electronics store (5m long) and cut one end off.

Bought a RJ12 6pin plug and wired pin2 (from the left with the clip facing down) to DIM+ and pin3 to DIM- (ground) - sorry for the bad MSPAINT pic below)

I had an issue getting the audio cable wire into the RJ12 plug so I used 2 x CAT5 strands into the RJ12 connector and then put 2 x MOLEX connectors (female) on the CAT5 wires. 2 x Male MOLEX connectors on the audio cable and then put heat shrink over the entire wiring (to ensure it can't wiggle loose). Using this method it would be easy enough to add a second tail onto the same plug. I wanted to avoid the breakout box as it's easier to run a cable that is not fixed to a box for me.

Plugged it into the L port on the Profilux and it works like a dream for the Reef Octopus Various pump.

The only gotcha for me was I am using a L4 expansion card and expected it to auto assign L5-L8 (I have L1-L4 in use for other pumps). The Profilux assigned L9-L12 due to the expansion port I used.

 

[Lasse]

Would it then default to 0V and be off?

Yes it will

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Jgoal55]

Hi all, read through this thread today and it was very helpful so thanks to all have contributed. That said, I have a question about an RD3 connected to the RE 0-10v interface I did not see answered, but may have missed it.

I am trying to leave my return pump constant 24/7 regardless of day/night/feed, etc. To that end, I set all percentages of my return pump to 30% in the appropriate Stream Group.

Still, throughout the day I will see the wattage on the RE controller continues to fluctuate. I want the wattage that goes to the pump to be set at 40w. I have the U min./ U max. at 1.5 - 5 and that has the pumps wattage at 38 which works fine, but again, a few times it's jumped to 36w or 40w. One time I saw it at 42w.

I plan to connect my skimmer the same way and these fluctuations concern me since a change in a skimmer pumps flow rate can cause an overflow of the skimmer cup.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Lasse]

I normally use an illumination channel when I want a pump to go steady at - as an example 30%. Make it dimmable and connect it to the Lx socket your pump use.

I want the wattage that goes to the pump to be set at 40w.

My bold. IMO - The wattage is not anything that goes to the pump - it is something that the pump takes. It does not need to means that the flow will go up and down automatically. If the Watt will go down or up (in these small variations) can be caused of variation in friction in the pump or the pipes. The 1-10 V signal is in princip a way of speed regulation and if the friction (at certain rpm) increases or decreases - the watt consumed must increases or decreases in the same way in order to have a constant rpm as I understand it.

I have my skimmer pump connected to a ill channel with no problems

Sincerely Lasse

 

[KStatefan]

Hi all, read through this thread today and it was very helpful so thanks to all have contributed. That said, I have a question about an RD3 connected to the RE 0-10v interface I did not see answered, but may have missed it.

I am trying to leave my return pump constant 24/7 regardless of day/night/feed, etc. To that end, I set all percentages of my return pump to 30% in the appropriate Stream Group.

Still, throughout the day I will see the wattage on the RE controller continues to fluctuate. I want the wattage that goes to the pump to be set at 40w. I have the U min./ U max. at 1.5 - 5 and that has the pumps wattage at 38 which works fine, but again, a few times it's jumped to 36w or 40w. One time I saw it at 42w.

I plan to connect my skimmer the same way and these fluctuations concern me since a change in a skimmer pumps flow rate can cause an overflow of the skimmer cup.

Thanks in advance for the help.

If you are going to run at a constant speed why connect it to the profiled?

 

[Jgoal55]

I normally use an illumination channel when I want a pump to go steady at - as an example 30%. Make it dimmable and connect it to the Lx socket your pump use.



My bold. IMO - The wattage is not anything that goes to the pump - it is something that the pump takes. It does not need to means that the flow will go up and down automatically. If the Watt will go down or up (in these small variations) can be caused of variation in friction in the pump or the pipes. The 1-10 V signal is in princip a way of speed regulation and if the friction (at certain rpm) increases or decreases - the watt consumed must increases or decreases in the same way in order to have a constant rpm as I understand it.

I have my skimmer pump connected to a ill channel with no problems

Sincerely Lasse

Interesting suggestion to use an illumination function. I will try that tomorrow.

thanks for clarifying how the wattage works and that makes perfect sense. That being the case though, those small fluctuations may still occur even with the illumination function, right?

If you are going to run at a constant speed why connect it to the profiled?

So the main reason I got the interfaces, was to be able to Power on/off the red dragon pumps by reducing voltage as opposed to completely cutting their power by switching the socket on/off.

As I understand it, that can be pretty damaging to these DC pumps.

Doing so also can free up two outlets on my PB6 though I haven’t taken advantage of that just yet.

Eventually I’ll add some variable speeds to my return pump, but overall I’m not a fan of what it does to my water level in the sump and the noise level in my overflow when the speeds change too much so it’s something I have to think about.

 

[Lasse]

Eventually I’ll add some variable speeds to my return pump, but overall I’m not a fan of what it does to my water level in the sump and the noise level in my overflow when the speeds change too much so it’s something I have to think about.

That´s the reason why I do not change my speed. However - I have a 4000 L pump to my 310 L and I only run it around 2500 l/h - I calculate with a longer life span in this case.

That being the case though, those small fluctuations may still occur even with the illumination function, right?

Maybe - but I have never seen that this had make my skimmer to overflow - I do not think that the flow will alter so much. If you want to be 100 safe that its a constant flow - get a flow meter and connect to the 1-10 V channel with constant flow.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Jgoal55]

Thank you @Lasse

Do you have any images of how you set up the illumination channel for the return pump? I tried today but when I play around with the percentages on the dimmer, it does not affect the wattage on the RE controller.

Also, how do you set the hours to Always on?

last night when I went to bed, the wattage on my RE controller was 38, today during the day it’s been at 46. This is on the current setting using the 0-10v interface and stream pump function.

 

[Jgoal55]

Bump

 

[Lasse]

Sorry - I miss You have to chose your own channels, 1-10 V and socket

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Jgoal55]

No worries at all! Thank you.

I will give those settings a try tomorrow. Thank you!

 

[Jgoal55]

Ok, finally got around to looking at this today and it looks like I had everything set up correctly, except when I adjusted the brightness the first time I did this, I didn’t click save which is why the change on the RE controller didn’t reflect. Silly mistake.

Interestingly, my brightness at 15% is how I am able to get the RE controller to display 40w, which is where I would like it to stay permanently. With the stream function the setting was 30%.

One question I still have: looking at my settings, I have start time at 12am. But the second entry doesn’t also let me use 12am. So I entered 11:59pm. But doesn’t that mean my pump will shut off for one minute each day?

On another note, when using the Stream function, I noticed that the wattage was stable throughout the entire day, but at exactly 11pm is when a drop would occur on the RE controller from 46w to 36-38w. But, I do not have nocturnal decline enabled.

Also, below are are my settings from the stream function to see if I’m missing anything. I find it odd that it decreases exactly at 11pm.

 

[Jgoal55]

So I stayed up long enough to observe the tank at 11:59pm and the return pump did not switch off.

However, after switching my return pump to the illumination function, I tested a maintenance mode I had setup and while it did shut off the return pump (to 0w), once restarted, it did not turn back on and instead gave me an error code: “SP.”

any ideas?

 

[Lasse]

Did you shut of the socket or the 1-10 V

Sincerely Lasse