Multiple WaveEngines without a Hydros Controller
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scolson
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Just following up on this thread. I finished my back up battery setup last weekend and for the most part it works pretty well.
Rather than use the included 24V power bricks, I'm using two MW 24V/10A power supplies that are installed in the top of the dry side of my stand. Each of these power supplies powers a 24 volt bus that I use to my two WE controllers and associated collective.
The battery is a 16S 200AH battery that runs around 53 volts when fully charged. If either power supply drops off, a relay associated with that power supply deenergizes and powers up a 24V/10A buck converter (installed on the opposite side of the circuit breakers pictured). When the buck converter powers up, it energizes a separate relay that transfers the loads on the 24v bus, including the WE, to the buck converter power.
I also installed a 1500W inverter and relay to power up my backup heater through a transfer relay (to the left of the Ink Bird controllers). The inverter is turned on by a drive port on one of my controllers and an associated power relay, when the water temp drops too low.
I ran this setup through a 24 hour test cycle over the weekend and it only consumed about 25% of the battery, keeping all return pumps, the skimmer, and 4 flow pumps running at normal speeds. However, I kept lights and UV on during this test so water temperature did not drop as much as it would in a real loss of power situation.
I am having a problem with the WE because they don't recovery cleanly in a power sharing collective but I'm going to open a separate thread to work through that.
Rather than use the included 24V power bricks, I'm using two MW 24V/10A power supplies that are installed in the top of the dry side of my stand. Each of these power supplies powers a 24 volt bus that I use to my two WE controllers and associated collective.
The battery is a 16S 200AH battery that runs around 53 volts when fully charged. If either power supply drops off, a relay associated with that power supply deenergizes and powers up a 24V/10A buck converter (installed on the opposite side of the circuit breakers pictured). When the buck converter powers up, it energizes a separate relay that transfers the loads on the 24v bus, including the WE, to the buck converter power.
I also installed a 1500W inverter and relay to power up my backup heater through a transfer relay (to the left of the Ink Bird controllers). The inverter is turned on by a drive port on one of my controllers and an associated power relay, when the water temp drops too low.
I ran this setup through a 24 hour test cycle over the weekend and it only consumed about 25% of the battery, keeping all return pumps, the skimmer, and 4 flow pumps running at normal speeds. However, I kept lights and UV on during this test so water temperature did not drop as much as it would in a real loss of power situation.
I am having a problem with the WE because they don't recovery cleanly in a power sharing collective but I'm going to open a separate thread to work through that.
scolson
Member
Follow up on this post for those that are interested in the battery backup. I continued to have issues with the delay in cutover when the relays were energizing and de-energizing so I modified the system to remove all the relays.
Rather than having relays power up the two 24V buck converters when their corresponding main power supply goes off, I now keep the two 24V buck converters powered all the time because I've determined the power draw with them in standby is minimal and does not affect the battery charge.
I substituted ideal-diode switching modules (LTC4416 PowerPath Load Sharing Controller PCB Ideal Diode Module High Power 10A+ | eBay) for the relays that switched the load from the power supplies to the buck converters. These modules basically share the load between two sources, but by adjusting the output voltage of the main 24V power supply so it is 0.1 volts above the output voltage of the buck converters I can keep buck converters unloaded.
Now the switchover when power is lost or restored is almost instantaneous (measured in microseconds according to the chip datasheet) and all the controllers and connected pumps hum along without knowing that the main power is offline.
I also added some simple resistor dividers on each power supply output to produce a voltage within the range of 0-10V and use a spared 0-10V input port on my controller to monitor the power supply and bus voltages so that I have a way to tell the collective that it should switch into a low power mode.
Rather than having relays power up the two 24V buck converters when their corresponding main power supply goes off, I now keep the two 24V buck converters powered all the time because I've determined the power draw with them in standby is minimal and does not affect the battery charge.
I substituted ideal-diode switching modules (LTC4416 PowerPath Load Sharing Controller PCB Ideal Diode Module High Power 10A+ | eBay) for the relays that switched the load from the power supplies to the buck converters. These modules basically share the load between two sources, but by adjusting the output voltage of the main 24V power supply so it is 0.1 volts above the output voltage of the buck converters I can keep buck converters unloaded.
Now the switchover when power is lost or restored is almost instantaneous (measured in microseconds according to the chip datasheet) and all the controllers and connected pumps hum along without knowing that the main power is offline.
I also added some simple resistor dividers on each power supply output to produce a voltage within the range of 0-10V and use a spared 0-10V input port on my controller to monitor the power supply and bus voltages so that I have a way to tell the collective that it should switch into a low power mode.
KWolfe81
Active member
Those modules are pretty slick... as is your whole setup. My stand/tank matches much of what you're doing (t-slot stand, LiFePO batteries, WEs) but without the professional touch yours has. Bainbridge isn't too far from me, maybe I'll need to make a field trip sometime in the future
