Tired of AC bricks? Try the DCBuddy

[theatrus]

Edit: I didn’t actually do this. Pinouts were correct. I measured wrong.

—-
I did end up transposing the CAN and 24V pairs left to right on the 1Link/4 wire ports. Oops. Something had to happen.

Not a big deal when I'm making the cables, but annoying if you're wanting to use a pre-made cable.

 

[theatrus]

Quick case. Top snaps together.

 

[theatrus]

Quick coat in conformal coat…

 

[_AV]

Nice! what are you using for conformal coating?

 

[Mark Gray]

Looks good I have both my Cor pumps running off 1 24v supply, one went out and me not being smart didn't have one. But it did have a large 24v supply,bso fixed the one left for my job overseas and when I came back I removed the other Cor brick. I would sort of like to get rid of my lighting bricks I can't remember their amp draw.

 

[theatrus]

Nice! what are you using for conformal coating?

Tech Spray Turbo-Coat Acrylic. The bottle I have lasts for basically ever (probably years expired by now), goes on quick, and seems to hold up well enough plus you can pretty much burn through it with hot air or an iron if you do need to rework.

 

[theatrus]

Looks good I have both my Cor pumps running off 1 24v supply, one went out and me not being smart didn't have one. But it did have a large 24v supply,bso fixed the one left for my job overseas and when I came back I removed the other Cor brick. I would sort of like to get rid of my lighting bricks I can't remember their amp draw.

Lights could be 100W-200W each brick. I wouldn't run it with this exact design but the concept scaled up a bit would work just fine. For example, I'm not running my temporary Radions through this, just the circulation and skimmer pumps (and ATO and etc)

 

[Mark Gray]

Lights could be 100W-200W each brick. I wouldn't run it with this exact design but the concept scaled up a bit would work just fine. For example, I'm not running my temporary Radions through this, just the circulation and skimmer pumps (and ATO and etc)

Are you selling them? I'm not at home right now and I really won't have time to look or mess with this until the 4th of November, my wife is having a major surgery on the 1st the will release her the 3rd or the 4th so I will be home for awhile. What is the amp draw for your Radios?

 

[rsumner]

It's an intriguing idea. I had to think about it for a bit.

Here are my initial thoughts:
- Apex controlled switching may be useful, but if the goal is to power the units that already have their own controllers, the value of having them on a relay may be diminished.
- Current sensing per outlet, integrated with Apex, would have been a really nice feature though. But this requires an MCU and some very creative use of aquabuslib.

Really cool project @theatrus !

@_AV I think it would be extremely useful to have a modular EB832-clone that simply provides switching and power/load sensing of external DIN-based DC power supplies and external AC relays. It would be something similar to the GHL Powerhub-6D-PAB, but the relays would be external (for easy replacements) and would need to have some sort of hall sensors.

I've been white boarding an industrial power control system to replace my EB832's but haven't found an option that would give me the relays and power/load sensing into a single unit. I would be happy if it only supported MQTT and I could use NodeRed to integrate with Apex Fusion. It's been a huge learning curve since I don't have industrial/mechanical power supply design experience

I've got a box full of brand new ESP32's, but lack the EE skills to make much use of them either. Anybody want to collaborate, I'd be willing to share/fund the endeavor.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

This is one cool project to follow!

 

[_AV]

@_AV I think it would be extremely useful to have a modular EB832-clone that simply provides switching and power/load sensing of external DIN-based DC power supplies and external AC relays. It would be something similar to the GHL Powerhub-6D-PAB, but the relays would be external (for easy replacements) and would need to have some sort of hall sensors.

This is the second time I'm hearing about DIN implementation, but I'm still not convinced that the user base is significant for this. Seeing a DIN module implemented by GHL was interesting though, thank you.

I do dig current sensing and external relays for easy swapping though. But again, with more and more hardware being released with their own controllers, I think it's becoming more about how to have them all managed from a single source. Manufacturers are certainly resisting this idea as they want you to buy into their own proprietary ecosystem.

Say there is a DIN module which emulates an EB832, can be controlled by Apex, does current sensing per outlet and can connect to up to 8 external AC relays (also DIN). What type of devices would you want connected to those relays? Due to EB832 limitations, they would all have to be 120v AC for proper current monitoring. Or any AC/DC devices w/o current monitoring.

 

[_AV]

Tech Spray Turbo-Coat Acrylic. The bottle I have lasts for basically ever (probably years expired by now), goes on quick, and seems to hold up well enough plus you can pretty much burn through it with hot air or an iron if you do need to rework.

Acrylic is good. Silicone on Kessils is a major pita to rework.

 

[theatrus]

Are you selling them? I'm not at home right now and I really won't have time to look or mess with this until the 4th of November, my wife is having a major surgery on the 1st the will release her the 3rd or the 4th so I will be home for awhile. What is the amp draw for your Radios?

Not currently the plan, at least for this version. I've learned my inhouse builds aren't scalable, but its worth making a V2 and seeing what the build cost would be from an offshore CM for 20-50 units. If I simplify enough a few of the quicker turn folks may be able to do it, but note that there is a large import tax for western components which makes pricing all screwy.

 

[theatrus]

Thinking of a DCBuddy-JS (just switched) model, without the onboard DC/DC adapters, for some higher power loads. There are some nice load switches from TI which can do both switching, fault detection and limits, as well as current monitoring (not precision, but thats ok). Maybe I'll find time this weekend for brainstorming this further:

Lower max amps:

TPS27S100 data sheet, product information and support | TI.com

TI’s TPS27S100 is a 40-V, 80-mΩ, 4-A, 1-ch, Industrial high-side switch with adjustable current limit. Find parameters, ordering and quality information

www.ti.com

New part with 6A (10A fault):

https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tps281c30.pdf

 

[rsumner]

This is the second time I'm hearing about DIN implementation, but I'm still not convinced that the user base is significant for this. Seeing a DIN module implemented by GHL was interesting though, thank you.

I do dig current sensing and external relays for easy swapping though. But again, with more and more hardware being released with their own controllers, I think it's becoming more about how to have them all managed from a single source. Manufacturers are certainly resisting this idea as they want you to buy into their own proprietary ecosystem.

Say there is a DIN module which emulates an EB832, can be controlled by Apex, does current sensing per outlet and can connect to up to 8 external AC relays (also DIN). What type of devices would you want connected to those relays? Due to EB832 limitations, they would all have to be 120v AC for proper current monitoring. Or any AC/DC devices w/o current monitoring.

I agree the market is probably slim for a DIN-based implementation but I blame that on the proprietary nature the manufacturers in this industry push the consumers into as you echoed above.

Personally, I like to do current sensing/metering on every device (AC or DC) and dislike the fact the EB832 doesn't support it on their 24V accessory or 1LINK ports. Even if we built a EB832-clone that did have the hardware in it to support current sensing for the DC ports, I bet the EB832 protocol doesn't support pushing that back to the Apex.

I've got about 30 devices that I want full power control over (switching and sensing) with only 7 of them being 120v AC-based. "Power Brick Hell" is part of the problem, but I don't want to lose control, metrics, or quality with changing to a new solution to manage power. I'd rather spend $1000 on a high-end industrial-grade power management solution vs than buying 3 more EB832s.

 

[theatrus]

I agree the market is probably slim for a DIN-based implementation but I blame that on the proprietary nature the manufacturers in this industry push the consumers into as you echoed above.

Personally, I like to do current sensing/metering on every device (AC or DC) and dislike the fact the EB832 doesn't support it on their 24V accessory or 1LINK ports. Even if we built a EB832-clone that did have the hardware in it to support current sensing for the DC ports, I bet the EB832 protocol doesn't support pushing that back to the Apex.

I've got about 30 devices that I want full power control over (switching and sensing) with only 7 of them being 120v AC-based. "Power Brick Hell" is part of the problem, but I don't want to lose control, metrics, or quality with changing to a new solution to manage power. I'd rather spend $1000 on a high-end industrial-grade power management solution vs than buying 3 more EB832s.

I do have to remind myself the EB832 is a pretty expensive chunk of plastic...

 

[_AV]

Thinking of a DCBuddy-JS (just switched) model, without the onboard DC/DC adapters, for some higher power loads. There are some nice load switches from TI which can do both switching, fault detection and limits, as well as current monitoring (not precision, but thats ok). Maybe I'll find time this weekend for brainstorming this further:

Lower max amps:

TPS27S100 data sheet, product information and support | TI.com

TI’s TPS27S100 is a 40-V, 80-mΩ, 4-A, 1-ch, Industrial high-side switch with adjustable current limit. Find parameters, ordering and quality information

www.ti.com

New part with 6A (10A fault):

https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tps281c30.pdf

I like TI stuff and these new switches look really cool. My only gripe with this type of ICs is about the reparability. Once they put that fet inside the IC and it goes, the whole thing would need to be replaced and you are locked into their specific footprint, model, EOL, etc. An external mosfet is easy to replace and there is a hundred options from multiple manufacturers.

 

[_AV]

I agree the market is probably slim for a DIN-based implementation but I blame that on the proprietary nature the manufacturers in this industry push the consumers into as you echoed above.

Personally, I like to do current sensing/metering on every device (AC or DC) and dislike the fact the EB832 doesn't support it on their 24V accessory or 1LINK ports. Even if we built a EB832-clone that did have the hardware in it to support current sensing for the DC ports, I bet the EB832 protocol doesn't support pushing that back to the Apex.

I've got about 30 devices that I want full power control over (switching and sensing) with only 7 of them being 120v AC-based. "Power Brick Hell" is part of the problem, but I don't want to lose control, metrics, or quality with changing to a new solution to manage power. I'd rather spend $1000 on a high-end industrial-grade power management solution vs than buying 3 more EB832s.

I agree on all points. EB832 won't support current reporting for anything but the 8 AC outlets. It might be possible to apply some math to get the current reading right for DC instead of AC, but the head unit will likely mess it up anyway.

 

[Asthix]

Really cool project @theatrus !

@_AV I think it would be extremely useful to have a modular EB832-clone that simply provides switching and power/load sensing of external DIN-based DC power supplies and external AC relays. It would be something similar to the GHL Powerhub-6D-PAB, but the relays would be external (for easy replacements) and would need to have some sort of hall sensors.

I've been white boarding an industrial power control system to replace my EB832's but haven't found an option that would give me the relays and power/load sensing into a single unit. I would be happy if it only supported MQTT and I could use NodeRed to integrate with Apex Fusion. It's been a huge learning curve since I don't have industrial/mechanical power supply design experience

I've got a box full of brand new ESP32's, but lack the EE skills to make much use of them either. Anybody want to collaborate, I'd be willing to share/fund the endeavor.

Not to hijack the post but see what I did :

Dual PSU for 24V and 12V wired with a redundancy module that switches between each in case of failure,missing the PAB at that time.
Only the 2 MP40 are backup with a simple 12V battery as we really rarely have power outage, never more than a hour since the last 10 year
My tank consume less I assume from the much better efficiency of the PSU

 

[theatrus]

Not to hijack the post but see what I did :

Dual PSU for 24V and 12V wired with a redundancy module that switches between each in case of failure,missing the PAB at that time.
Only the 2 MP40 are backup with a simple 12V battery as we really rarely have power outage, never more than a hour since the last 10 year
My tank consume less I assume from the much better efficiency of the PSU

Very neat and totally in line with the thread. Love the DIN rail mounts!