Low Power Mode/Prime Power Loss Detection w/o Icecap Battery (or WE/WELE)

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Anybody doing the USB method AND using a button box for mode controls? My button box has pass through so I can connect a quad cable passing one of the unused voltages as my Low Power Input Voltage. Only issue is it'll require an input for the USB, pass-through input to my mode button box and an output referencing the USB as an input and outputing the selected 0-10V voltage. Thinking of trying to recognize prime power loss with Kraken AND an ats/inverter powering one of my XP8s. Kraken and the ats/inverter would be attached to same battery bank
 
I am trying to set up a low power mode using the USB method but having a bit of trouble. I believe I have everything set up correctly, but I am running into an issue with the voltage trigger. I have the 0-10v quad cable hooked to a 3.5mm to usb (this one Amazon.ca) and plugged into a hydros wifi strip usb port set up to always on. When plugged in it sits at 2.48 volts (not 5 volts as I would have expected). When I unplug the power strip to simulate a power outage it only drops to 2.05 volts. Since you can't pick a fractional voltage to trigger low power, I am running into a problem with it activating my low power mode correctly. Is there a simple solution to have a more noticeable increase/drop in voltage when power is on/off for the hydros strip?
 
Ryley_GC said:
I am trying to set up a low power mode using the USB method but having a bit of trouble. I believe I have everything set up correctly, but I am running into an issue with the voltage trigger. I have the 0-10v quad cable hooked to a 3.5mm to usb (this one Amazon.ca) and plugged into a hydros wifi strip usb port set up to always on. When plugged in it sits at 2.48 volts (not 5 volts as I would have expected). When I unplug the power strip to simulate a power outage it only drops to 2.05 volts. Since you can't pick a fractional voltage to trigger low power, I am running into a problem with it activating my low power mode correctly. Is there a simple solution to have a more noticeable increase/drop in voltage when power is on/off for the hydros strip?
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do you have an output setup for the USB ports on the wifi strip? use the constant output type and make sure it is setup so those are on. I think it is output 5.
 
Yes, I have output 5 set up as constant. When I plug the usb into it, I get 2.48 volts. When I unplug the USB, it drops to 2.05 volts. I am thinking maybe the cable I have purchased could potentially be the issue.
 
Ryley_GC said:
Yes, I have output 5 set up as constant. When I plug the usb into it, I get 2.48 volts. When I unplug the USB, it drops to 2.05 volts. I am thinking maybe the cable I have purchased could potentially be the issue.
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Do you have a USB device you can try to make sure it will work in one of the USB ports. It should be 5v if I remember correctly.
 
Danny said:
Do you have a USB device you can try to make sure it will work in one of the USB ports. It should be 5v if I remember correctly.
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Seems to be supply enough power to charge a phone. I don't think I have any devices that would specifically require 5v though. It seems the cable i bought is for audio, so I am guessing it just doesn't transfer power as I had hoped. I'll have to search for another option, i was just trying to avoid the splicing route.
 
Ryley_GC said:
Seems to be supply enough power to charge a phone. I don't think I have any devices that would specifically require 5v though. It seems the cable i bought is for audio, so I am guessing it just doesn't transfer power as I had hoped. I'll have to search for another option, i was just trying to avoid the splicing route.
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I got some at Mouser that had the standard USB connector on one end and 4 wires on the other. Mouser # 562-3021017-10 I was using them to power some Lighted globes. Not sure how I connected the wires it has bee so long since I did it. I ended up with an extra one so I still had the package with the number on it. The wires are red, white, green and black. I would think that red would be the +5v and ground would be black. I would look up the USB pinout before using one. I think those are also on Amazon and other online places.
 
Danny said:
I got some at Mouser that had the standard USB connector on one end and 4 wires on the other. Mouser # 562-3021017-10 I was using them to power some Lighted globes. Not sure how I connected the wires it has bee so long since I did it. I ended up with an extra one so I still had the package with the number on it. The wires are red, white, green and black. I would think that red would be the +5v and ground would be black. I would look up the USB pinout before using one. I think those are also on Amazon and other online places.
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I think I will pick up this Amazon.ca and connect it to either this Amazon.ca or this Amazon.ca. I think based on what I've read in the 0-10v guide, both options should work.
 
Ryley_GC said:
Yes, I have output 5 set up as constant. When I plug the usb into it, I get 2.48 volts. When I unplug the USB, it drops to 2.05 volts. I am thinking maybe the cable I have purchased could potentially be the issue.
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Stupid question but are you seeing 2.5W and confusing watts with volts? A USB 2.0 cable would output 5V 2.5W.


It's not working because with rounding 2.48 and 2.05 are both 2. There is nothing distinguishing on and off. Nor do your observed voltages make sense because your control should float somewhere in the 2.5V range with nothing connected. USB powered output should be 5V. Half wondering if you have the wires reversed. @JeffB418 thoughts?
 
thom_smith said:
Stupid question but are you seeing 2.5W and confusing watts with volts? A USB 2.0 cable would output 5V 2.5W.


It's not working because with rounding 2.48 and 2.05 are both 2. There is nothing distinguishing on and off. Nor do your observed voltages make sense because your control should float somewhere in the 2.5V range with nothing connected. USB powered output should be 5V. Half wondering if you have the wires reversed. @JeffB418 thoughts?
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The adapter I purchased turned out to be audio only and I was only seeing ~2.5v. With everything unplugged, I am still seeing ~2.5v as you mentioned. I have ordered some different cables which should arrive later today, so I'll report back to confirm whether I am seeing the expected 5v once they have been connected.
 
I've soldered together the cables I linked in a previous post and everything appears to be functioning correctly now. I am getting ~5v when under power and it drops to ~1v when the wifi strip is unplugged from the wall. I have set up my low power mode to trigger when it sees 1v, and it appears to be function as planned.
 
I am new to the Hydros system but one of my goals was to have a low power mode off of a UPS. I went the USB route and it switches to the Low power mode I created, however it switches right back to normal. Within a second or two. Any ideas why or what I could check? Also, what tells hydros to switch back to normal once power is restored?
 
Brown_nik said:
I am new to the Hydros system but one of my goals was to have a low power mode off of a UPS. I went the USB route and it switches to the Low power mode I created, however it switches right back to normal. Within a second or two. Any ideas why or what I could check? Also, what tells hydros to switch back to normal once power is restored?
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Normally the drop in command bus voltage from 24v to 12v triggers the low power mode but with a UPS that will not happen. You will need a different method to trigger the low power mode using a UPS which I think has been discussed here. I have a Kraken and a WE with battery backup on both so I use the standard mode and do not have an issue with it going into low power mode.
 
Brown_nik said:
I am new to the Hydros system but one of my goals was to have a low power mode off of a UPS. I went the USB route and it switches to the Low power mode I created, however it switches right back to normal. Within a second or two. Any ideas why or what I could check? Also, what tells hydros to switch back to normal once power is restored?
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What are your Mode Timeout and Exit Delay settings. Guessing you may have a misconfig with Mode Timeout. Leave this at 00:00:00. Exit Delay then determines how long it waits after power is restored to transition back to Normal mode. Typically command bus voltage determines entry and exit from low power mode. With usb method it is slightly different with the usb power source acting like a switch.
 
thom_smith said:
What are your Mode Timeout and Exit Delay settings. Guessing you may have a misconfig with Mode Timeout. Leave this at 00:00:00. Exit Delay then determines how long it waits after power is restored to transition back to Normal mode. Typically command bus voltage determines entry and exit from low power mode. With usb method it is slightly different with the usb power source acting like a switch.
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Thanks for the response. I figured it out though. I had the trigger voltage set to 3 so it would switch but would immediately switch back when the input voltage dropped down to 2.2v. I dropped the trigger to 2 volts and is now working perfectly.
 
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