Collective Power Requirements

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kd_howard

kd_howard

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I have an XP8 and an X3 in my collective. How many controller may be added using a power/data cable before it is necessary to add another power supply and connect with a data only cable?
 
kd_howard said:
I have an XP8 and an X3 in my collective. How many controller may be added using a power/data cable before it is necessary to add another power supply and connect with a data only cable?
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I have had as many as 5 hooked to the same power source before if you include the one that is giving the power, My guess is it would depend on what output ports are on those controllers and what kind of load those outputs had on them. I have an X4, XS and 2 X2 along with the controller that is the power giver so that adds up to 5. They are even in my garage where there is no heating or cooling so the temp can be between 40 to 110 depending on time of day and time of year. It has been setup like this well over a years. Below is a screenshot with the 4 controllers that draw power from the fifth controller. It show the buss current each are drawing from the buss at the time of the screenshot.

B8469D86-12B8-4CCE-B154-0253C11E1BDD.png
 
Thanks for the info and the screen capture which begs the question, why is one of my devices showing a negative bus current?
Screenshot_20230320-180014.png
 
The XP8 with the negative buss current is not drawing as much as it is giving to the buss. If I remember correctly you can add all the other current draw up and subtract that negative number to get the current used by the current giver which is 30ma. If you have more than one current giver you would get the total current draw the current givers instead of the single in you case.
 
I did have the power supply for the X3 plugged in at one time and everything seemed okay. I think I remember reading somewhere that was a big no so when I moved my controllers over the weekend I did not use the X3 power.
 
kd_howard said:
I did have the power supply for the X3 plugged in at one time and everything seemed okay. I think I remember reading somewhere that was a big no so when I moved my controllers over the weekend I did not use the X3 power.
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Do not use any of the power packs that connect directly to a command buss connector if there is another power source since they have no isolation circuits in them. The XP8, Wave Engines and XD all have isolation circuits that prevent power from going back into the power supply. You only want it to flow from the power source and not back into it. If you need to use one of those supplies then make sure and use a data only cable between it and the other power sources.
 
Here is a screenshot of the controllers at my tank. There are three controllers that are capable of giving power to the buss of the 5 controllers at the tank. The WEv2, XD and XP8 are all power givers but the WEv2 is using power from the buss along with the XS and X3. The XP8 is giving the most and the XD is giving some. The WEv2 has the power supply going through a IceCap battery backup so that may drop the voltage just enough so the other two have a slightly higher voltage output. If there were a power outage the 12 volts instead of the normal 24v would be supplied through the WEv2 to all the other controllers at the tank.

BB9C5539-C581-47EE-B4ED-1A69E06770F2.png
 
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