Hydros 5v output stability

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

KWolfe81

KWolfe81

Active member
Joined
Nov 26, 2021
Messages
124
Reaction score
26
Location
Issaquah, WA
Does anyone know how stable the 5v output voltage is from hydros devices? Is it already regulated? Should it be on downstream devices/peripherals? I haven't scoped it yet (my electronics lab and hydros system are in different rooms) but would love any sort of spec if anyone's got one.
 
I think it is for the sensors that are connected to the sense ports are on 0-10v port. I doubt it will supply much current though. I use it on my button boxes with resistors to get the voltage I need for the particular switch. My guess is that there is some regulation on it since I don't have an issue with the input detecting the right voltage when pressing a switch.
 
"I doubt it will supply much current though"

Yup. There's the note that the supply is limited to 150mA total across all ports. I'm aiming to consume ~30mA for a custom sensor and I'm shooting for as much precision as possible. I'm within the power budget, but any supply ripple will directly impact said precision. For general purposes things like a button box, a 75mV supply ripple isn't going to make a difference. I'll probably just regulate the supply anyways.

But you do bring up a really interesting consideration. If I develop this thing for other people who have who-knows-what also using the same supply, they could potentially brown out my sensor with poor wiring/circuits.
 
Someone causing issues with the 5v supply would also affect the temp sensor, water level sensors and TDS sensors that are on the same controller since they all use the 5v. The temp sensor is a IC chip that uses the digital input on the sense port and it uses the 5v supply. The water level sensor is optical. The TDS is probably on the digital input also like the temp sensor.
 
The 5 volt output on the sense port is regulated and should be pretty accurate. However as has been pointed out it is deliberately current limited. There is only 100 mA available which is shared between the sense ports and 0-10V I/O on a given device. None of the Hydros sense accessories use more than 10 mA.
 
Thanks Don! Really helpful info and confirmation. Sounds like I should be targeting 10mA too ;-)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top