Sicce SDC 7.0 Pump connection to Kraken Force Port 24v

[johnadouglas]

Sorry to hear they are dead. I suspect your meter needs to be told whether its measuring AC or DC current. When you measure again while it's connected try pressing the orange button upper left - that may get it to switch to DC and show 24V.

Also in general connect Black first, then Red when connecting to power, and the reverse when disconnecting power (disconnect Red, then Black) - that makes sure power can get to ground and has less of a chance to fry things. I always power my Collectives down completely before I plug anything in or unplug anything just to be safe. I once had an engineer send me a prototype circuit board where he reversed the 5V traces but left the markings as intended for positive and negative. Even connecting it to a 5V LiPo started smoking my bench and heating up VERY fast. The prototypes we replaced, along with the engineer.

DC Polarity matters, shorts can fry a lot of things very quickly, and then of course occasionally there are just surges that cause damage. My only suggestion would be to have the new Kraken operate isolated (not connected to any other Hydros equipment) until you are satisfied with the power it is supplying and things are stable - true it means additional setup, but something just doesn't sound right about what you're seeing. Fingers crossed - did Michael suggest anything regarding the Varios connection since that was the only thing that changed?

 

[KenS]

Sorry to hear they are dead. I suspect your meter needs to be told whether its measuring AC or DC current. When you measure again while it's connected try pressing the orange button upper left - that may get it to switch to DC and show 24V.

Also in general connect Black first, then Red when connecting to power, and the reverse when disconnecting power (disconnect Red, then Black) - that makes sure power can get to ground and has less of a chance to fry things. I always power my Collectives down completely before I plug anything in or unplug anything just to be safe. I once had an engineer send me a prototype circuit board where he reversed the 5V traces but left the markings as intended for positive and negative. Even connecting it to a 5V LiPo started smoking my bench and heating up VERY fast. The prototypes we replaced, along with the engineer.

DC Polarity matters, shorts can fry a lot of things very quickly, and then of course occasionally there are just surges that cause damage. My only suggestion would be to have the new Kraken operate isolated (not connected to any other Hydros equipment) until you are satisfied with the power it is supplying and things are stable - true it means additional setup, but something just doesn't sound right about what you're seeing. Fingers crossed - did Michael suggest anything regarding the Varios connection since that was the only thing that changed?

Thank you for all of this input John. CV is kind enough to let me try again with Kraken. Another one is enroute as we speak & I disconnected & unmounted the Dead X3/Dead Kraken & shipped those to the CV engineer. Michael says their engineer is chomping at the bit to look at these & figure this out.

I also just dropped over $400 on the surge protectors in the photo, 4 of them. Every single thing tank related will be plugged in to these hopefully by end of the day tomorrow.

I am beat, one hell of a day. I will try to get some readings again tomorrow from that meter. I still have the Meanwell, I only shipped back the Kraken head unit.

And I am wondering if I can ask a favor? Is there any way to test the connectors I made? Aside from hooking them up to Kraken to run the pumps? I'm wondering, if I paid shipping both ways, if you would be willing to take a look at them? I am confident they are done well & correctly. But Michael told me if I am doubting them even a tiny bit, don't use them. And right now, I'm doubting everything I would just like to 1000% eliminate those as being the cause of all this mess. It's a shame not to get these Sicce pumps powered with Kraken as those are the main reasons I bought it!

 

[johnadouglas]

Ken - those a great surge protectors - I use the same ones (varying number of outlets) on tanks and a variety of equipment for my business.
In answer to your question, connectors *can* be tested and I am happy to take a look at your connectors and test them the way I tested those I use for my Sicce pumps - but let me add some caveats:

1. If your system ultimately fails again I very much do not want you to feel that I am to blame. I am not an EE but I have designed circuits/sensors and I have a full bench with latest Hakko soldering equipment, diagnostics, etc, but that does not mean I am without faults Assuming you are ok with this I will do my absolute best.
2. I cannot promise that all 24v Sicce pumps use the same wiring scheme - only Sicce can answer that although it would make sense that in general they would for economy / interchangeability sake. In my case I ran continuity tests on the power supply, followed by voltage and polarity testing to identify which pins did what - or nothing. I can test the cables assuming they are intended to mimic the same Sicce power supplies I have. If you can send me a picture of one of your power supplies (descriptive side) I can compare against those I have to confirm they *should* be the same.
3. If I determine that the cables are incorrect in some way, if you approve, I will repair them to the best of my ability based on above.

Let me know how you feel about this, I'm happy to help.

 

[KenS]

Absolutely agree with everything you said. I would be very appreciative if you have a look, need to make any repairs, and you would have zero liability in all of this. I will get you pics of the Power supplies, controllers, pump body, everything you would need. If you want to DM your address I can get try to them out today & I'll buy a return label when I'm at FedEx or UPS & have that inside the box for you. I am very confident my connectors are correct, but I would just like another opinion. I did use shrink tubing on them. You can still see which wires are connected to which pins when you take apart the connectors but if you do need to change anything you'll likely need to cut the shrink tubing off & start from scratch. I am OK with whatever you need to do & no liability on your part whatsoever. These are screw type connectors but if you want to solder, I'm OK with that too I'd think soldering is better way to go. Thank you so much for helping!

 

[KenS]

Hi John, here are photos of the Sicce pump controllers & the power supply. Please let me know if I can provide anything else.

FYI I tried texting these to your phone but it won't go through for some reason

Thank you for the help!
Ken

 

[KenS]

Forgot to attach!

 

[johnadouglas]

Got them - all good thx

 

[KenS]

My mess. It's ugly. Once it's all in I'll go back & do some cable management.

Ok! 3rd Kraken installed. Seems fine, but I posted a Pic of the status screen. Does anyone see anything amiss? It currently has only 1 FP in used running the Varios 4 skimmer pump.

X4 added too. Connected my two return flow meters, see under the wall receptacle on the left.

The Kraken Meanwell & one of the Tripp Lite surge protectors above the Co2 scrubber. Launch & the Meanwell are plugged into that, and it is plugged into the GFCI.

Then the Hydros modules under the shelf.

Another Tripp Lite plugged into the GFCI over to the right with the Sicce bricks plugged into it. And my Versa doser, which I may add back to the Kraken. Or I may FINALLY try to get my X10 going for my dosing. Also have an XP8 & 3 Soles for AWC.

 

[johnadouglas]

Ken, after receiving your Force Port cables you will be pleased to learn that both your cables checked out with no shorts or incorrect pins by my understanding and use of the Sicce 24v power supplies (I am driving SDC 1200 PSK pumps in particular) - your cables match my cables without shorts or incorrect pins (again as far as my use and understanding of similar Sicce equipment). I added solder to the screw holes of the three pins that are used to reinforce them, I closed them up and then re-tested. Pictures of your original connectors and after soldering are as follows.



FWIW I do not believe these cables were your issue - unless there were unexpected load issues which would not be a cable issue per se
My 2 cents.

 

[KenS]

John, huge relief! I was confident they were correct but after everything I went through I was questioning everything. Thanks so much for the solder job too, looks great!

 

[johnadouglas]

My mess. It's ugly. Once it's all in I'll go back & do some cable management.

Ok! 3rd Kraken installed. Seems fine, but I posted a Pic of the status screen. Does anyone see anything amiss? It currently has only 1 FP in used running the Varios 4 skimmer pump.

X4 added too. Connected my two return flow meters, see under the wall receptacle on the left.

The Kraken Meanwell & one of the Tripp Lite surge protectors above the Co2 scrubber. Launch & the Meanwell are plugged into that, and it is plugged into the GFCI.

Then the Hydros modules under the shelf.

Another Tripp Lite plugged into the GFCI over to the right with the Sicce bricks plugged into it. And my Versa doser, which I may add back to the Kraken. Or I may FINALLY try to get my X10 going for my dosing. Also have an XP8 & 3 Soles for AWC.

Nice! I don't see anything that looks off to my eyes. Here are both my Krakens detail metrics.

 

[KenS]

Got the connectors back! The moment of truth! I'm hooking them up now.

Powering everything down.

Pray for me!

 

[KenS]

The prayers did not work. I think I just fried everything. The X4 is the only thing that will come on. Just wow. I guess I'm out of Hydros.