Tired of AC bricks? Try the DCBuddy

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Sure thing!

Step 1: Plug in 200W power supply, plug in to the DCBuddy.
Step 2: Unplug all your VorTech, Gyre, DC skimmer, etc power supplies and put them in storage. The main use case is 24V equipment - most DC pumps and power heads run on 24V.
Step 3: Plug the VorTech, Gyres, etc (any 24V equipment) into the DCBuddy.
Step 4: Enjoy all the space and outlets you got back.

Step 5-N: If you use Home Assistant, get current monitoring and on/off control from the HA UI. Or browse to the local web page and get the same. Or just ignore this function entirely!

Coming soon is redundant power supplies, 12V output, and battery backup.

Tyvm!

 

[Adamc13o3]

When can we buy this?

 

[MikeTheNewbie]

@theatrus, kudos on so many levels!

• it is amazing to see the speed at which your project is progressing. You have gone from concept to prototype in just a few days.
• Your progress posts are educational and very entertaining
• The way you accept feedback and don't engage in arguments when someone suggests a different approach
• Your open source and community spirit is commendable

I noticed you have a site where you might be selling these. I wish you success and I hope you continue working on this project.
I think there is a market for this , especially among people that can see the evolution of the project or want to support open source.
I wish this project split in two, an even more feature-packed, over engineered and exciting flagship for halo effect and a cost optimized one for mass adoption. (If anything in reefing can be considered mass adoption).
Cheers!

 

[MikeTheNewbie]

Some teasers, as the prototypes showed up today:

Btw, that is some serious electronics equipment. Are you at school? Maker space? Work :O ?

 

[Adamc13o3]

@theatrus, kudos on so many levels!

• it is amazing to see the speed at which your project is progressing. You have gone from concept to prototype in just a few days.
• Your progress posts are educational and very entertaining
• The way you accept feedback and don't engage in arguments when someone suggests a different approach
• Your open source and community spirit is commendable

I noticed you have a site where you might be selling these. I wish you success and I hope you continue working on this project.
I think there is a market for this , especially among people that can see the evolution of the project or want to support open source.
I wish this project split in two, an even more feature-packed, over engineered and exciting flagship for halo effect and a cost optimized one for mass adoption. (If anything in reefing can be considered mass adoption).
Cheers!

What’s the site? I read the entire thread and must have missed it.

 

[braaap]

What’s the site? I read the entire thread and must have missed it.

blueAcro - ReefVolt Control

Custom and open source hardware aquarium and reef control products, Designed in California.

blueacro.com

 

[theatrus]

When can we buy this?

I need to do a few more tests and re-review the pricing sheet, but from this first batch I'll make a few early access units available soon, and then a larger lot will fast follow. I'll add you to my ping list when I enable buying.

Btw, that is some serious electronics equipment. Are you at school? Maker space? Work :O ?

Garage-turned-lab-space "office". Gotta test to have confidence, though if you asked me if I would buy a new tank+s worth of electronic loads a few months ago I'd have also questioned my own sanity as well.

blueAcro - ReefVolt Control

Custom and open source hardware aquarium and reef control products, Designed in California.

blueacro.com

Also going to post user guides at https://reefvolt.com - both getting updates in the following weeks.

 

[theatrus]

@theatrus, kudos on so many levels!

• it is amazing to see the speed at which your project is progressing. You have gone from concept to prototype in just a few days.
• Your progress posts are educational and very entertaining
• The way you accept feedback and don't engage in arguments when someone suggests a different approach
• Your open source and community spirit is commendable

I noticed you have a site where you might be selling these. I wish you success and I hope you continue working on this project.
I think there is a market for this , especially among people that can see the evolution of the project or want to support open source.
I wish this project split in two, an even more feature-packed, over engineered and exciting flagship for halo effect and a cost optimized one for mass adoption. (If anything in reefing can be considered mass adoption).
Cheers!

Thanks for the kind words! I'm lucky enough to not be purely profit focused and would rather have good products and understand what we are doing. If someone can scale this better than I can (possible!) I'm more than happy to work with them or let them run at it - since its probably going to happen anyway. More competition is good, but I'd rather make sure everything can work with everything else.

I agree on different tiers, but there is a floor thats safe here. The simplest model is just a bunch of wires with an input and a bunch of outputs, but electronics are designed with the AC brick they are shipped with as well. If you attach a much larger supply, and something goes wrong in a pump controller, its probably designed to handle a fault which is matched to its power brick. For example, it can survive not melting down and expects the power brick to limit it to 5A. If you suddenly give it 20A and it faults, a lot more bad things can happen.

This safety concern sets the floor for this type of product - it needs over-current protection at a reasonable current level in order to match the expectations of what you're plugging into it.

 

[theatrus]

One more teaser:

Less fun fact: did you know these display boards don't have consistent pinouts? Me neither, or didn't catch it. Some have VCC/GND reversed

 

[Memoreefs]

This is really unique. I am guessing it's similar to the Hydro's system that supports multiple 24v outputs. May reefers use power output 36v on power pumps, wavemakers, etc. It would be nice if we can indeed eliminate multiple 36V power bricks.

 

[theatrus]

This is really unique. I am guessing it's similar to the Hydro's system that supports multiple 24v outputs. May reefers use power output 36v on power pumps, wavemakers, etc. It would be nice if we can indeed eliminate multiple 36V power bricks.

With a 36V supply the current DCBuddy will still operate and provide full functionality for some 36V loads. There is a per port power limit here which means some of the larger pumps won't be suitable, but on my roadmap is a higher per-port power option. I'd like to consolidate some Vectra pumps myself

 

[Minifoot77]

With a 36V supply the current DCBuddy will still operate and provide full functionality for some 36V loads. There is a per port power limit here which means some of the larger pumps won't be suitable, but on my roadmap is a higher per-port power option. I'd like to consolidate some Vectra pumps myself

I think all the ai lights are 36v as well 90w or so...

 

[theatrus]

I think all the ai lights are 36v as well 90w or so...

Lights start pushing the boundary of usefulness, as the main supply starts getting really large. Many also use different voltages (48V, 54V, etc) but as you said some are on 36V. I think this is a diminishing return especially for more powerful lights, but worth keeping in mind.

 

[Minifoot77]

Lights start pushing the boundary of usefulness, as the main supply starts getting really large. Many also use different voltages (48V, 54V, etc) but as you said some are on 36V. I think this is a diminishing return especially for more powerful lights, but worth keeping in mind.

I use the ai hydra 26hds...

 

[theatrus]

Iterating on the case and display. I still need to validate the CAN bus…

 

[MikeTheNewbie]

Garage-turned-lab-space "office". Gotta test to have confidence, though if you asked me if I would buy a new tank+s worth of electronic loads a few months ago I'd have also questioned my own sanity as well.

LOL, a hobby within a hobby. I know what you mean. I got a little tinker lab too, light on the electronics but went crazy on the 3D printers. Got 5 so far. Anyone would think I have a business around that.

 

[MikeTheNewbie]

Hey @theatrus sign me up for the early builds too I have a space that would greatly benefit from some streamlining.

2 of the Vortechs are currently plugged to a lead acid deep cycle battery with a trickle charger. I'd love to integrate that too. Did you say the battery back up you were planning was an add on module or was it for a future version?

 

[theatrus]

Hey @theatrus sign me up for the early builds too I have a space that would greatly benefit from some streamlining.

2 of the Vortechs are currently plugged to a lead acid deep cycle battery with a trickle charger. I'd love to integrate that too. Did you say the battery back up you were planning was an add on module or was it for a future version?

Will ping you in a day or two with details . Two lots are being planned, a few weeks apart in availability.

The battery module is an add-on and being worked on. There are some firmware changes needed to use it especially with the Vortech 12V support - each outlet has a battery mode and allowable voltage range, letting some outlets power up at 12V, or run the battery at 24V and only turn on critical outlets. This should be updateable OTA or worst case over USB.

 

[theatrus]

(double post removed)

 

[biznatch]

Any possibility of adding per port float valve shut offs similar to robotank? That is a great feature to physically cut power in case of chip/sensor failure.