Controlling Jebao DP4-S
- Thread starter Michael Lane
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Carlo Rios
New Member
My advice is do it. It is the best decision I have made. My tank is running mutch better and stable since. Here I. REEF 2 REEF you would have infinite help from everyone who has a built or even have a different type of controller. And Ranjib, Michael Lane and all the other including me would do our best to help out.
Carlo Rios
New Member
I would suggest to to get this it is fully supported by reef pi and it would make life mutch easier.
ML reef-pi hat goby by ML Reefkeeping on Tindie
ML reef-pi breakout hat for aquariums (goby)
www.tindie.com
Ratherbeflyen
Well-Known Member
I would suggest to to get this it is fully supported by reef pi and it would make life mutch easier.
ML reef-pi hat goby by ML Reefkeeping on Tindie
ML reef-pi breakout hat for aquariums (goby)
I'll check it out, thanks.
Hi I have the ml reef-pi hat and just received this jebao dosing adapter. The adapter has 5 pins, but the reef-pi hat has 4 pins for the dosing header. How are these supposed to be connected?
Carlo Rios
New Member
I did the same and it work like magic after I figured out how to set the diver for PCA9685 for the goby hat .
ariellemermaid
Well-Known Member
I have one of these on the way (just the DP4 not the slave) and I just started to look into reef-pi. Specifically, reef pi on top of a Robo Tank. Two noob questions.
1) How does your controller actually plug into the DP4? The slave port on the slave model?
2) The Robo Tank has outputs for both 12v on/off as well as 0-5v or 0-10v PWM ports. Would it be possible you think to just wire the 12v on/off ports directly to each of the 4 motors and control them that way, bypassing all internal components?
If I wanted to use the 0-10v PWM ports, would I be able to wire those directly to the motors as well, or would I need to invent a controller to convert that signal into some other signal to make the motors work? The PWM ports would be ideal because it seems those work natively with the “Dosing Pump” tab/features as “jacks” if I’m reading the manual correctly. It doesn’t look like I’d be able to treat the 12v “output” ports as native Dosing Pumps but I haven’t messed around the the reef pi software at all yet.
1) How does your controller actually plug into the DP4? The slave port on the slave model?
2) The Robo Tank has outputs for both 12v on/off as well as 0-5v or 0-10v PWM ports. Would it be possible you think to just wire the 12v on/off ports directly to each of the 4 motors and control them that way, bypassing all internal components?
If I wanted to use the 0-10v PWM ports, would I be able to wire those directly to the motors as well, or would I need to invent a controller to convert that signal into some other signal to make the motors work? The PWM ports would be ideal because it seems those work natively with the “Dosing Pump” tab/features as “jacks” if I’m reading the manual correctly. It doesn’t look like I’d be able to treat the 12v “output” ports as native Dosing Pumps but I haven’t messed around the the reef pi software at all yet.
ariellemermaid
Well-Known Member
Actually, it looks like the 12v DC ports can be on/off or PWM controllable depending if added as a DC “Outputs” or as a “Jacks.” The 0-10V analog ports are different altogether. So I guess the question is simply whether these 12v DC ports whether on/off or PWM could simply be hardwired to the DP4 motors.
https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1uFP4NfZ3-OAwox8C0ugJvecOuEv3tKm3/mobilebasic#h.3j2qqm3
https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1uFP4NfZ3-OAwox8C0ugJvecOuEv3tKm3/mobilebasic#h.3j2qqm3
OP
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I don't think the DP4 master control unit can easily be controlled with reef-pi. The port on the DP4 unit is a driven output, so I would not recommend connecting it to your rpi since it can push a fairly decent amount of current at 12v.
I don't know exactly what's in the Robo Tank, but you generally wouldn't want to run pumps directly from this kind of board since they are usually designed for signal control instead of actually pushing any significant current.
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ariellemermaid
Well-Known Member
I guess I’ll have to look into this a bit more. I’ve assumed a 12v DC motor is a 12v DC motor. And the 12v ports are intended to drive 12v motors including dosing pumps (and ATO pumps, 12v LED light strips, etc.). I suppose I can try to measure the native current of the DP4 at the motor and compare it to the output from the board. Thanks!
OP
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Yeah. I agree that most 12v DC motors are just 12v DC motors, and the motors in the dosing pumps really are nothing special. These pulled up to 150mA when I tested out my set, but there is a little more to it than just volts. It has to be able to handle the amount of power too.
Sometimes I think about it like a bridge. The voltage is how up the bridge is. You can have a flimsy bridge over a creek and it would be just fine for people to cross, but it would collapse if you drive a semi truck over it. Current (amps, milliamps) is kind of like that. Voltage is part of it, but it also has to be beefy enough to transport the current.
If you have schematic, I'd be happy to take a look to see what kind of current capacity your board has. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't damage your pumps, but it may damage your board. There's also another detail for motors (and relays, and anything that's basically a curled up wire). They go a bit crazy when they are turned off, kind of like dropping a gate into a stream. Voltage sloshes up for a moment, and that could also cause damage.
Hey Michael.
I’m just getting around to setting this up. I’m trying to plug it into my “robotank” which has selectable 0-5v PWM, 0-10v PWM or analog of 5 and 10v also.
will this adapter work with 0-5v? I know in the first post it says 0-3.3v.... hoping this won’t fry it....
I’m just getting around to setting this up. I’m trying to plug it into my “robotank” which has selectable 0-5v PWM, 0-10v PWM or analog of 5 and 10v also.
will this adapter work with 0-5v? I know in the first post it says 0-3.3v.... hoping this won’t fry it....
OP
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The dosing adapter is 5v tolerant. No worries there. Good luck with your build!
Someone just brought this to my attention as they wanted to know so I will follow up.
Sounds like you understand, Robo-Tank does have 7, 12v DC ports, these are good for up to 1.5amps each or a total of 3 amps, more if the device is not on longer than a few minutes. If heat sinks were added you can get much more out them. The +12v pin is hot all the time and the Ground for each port is controlled via a PWM signal so you do get variable voltage if you add port as a Jack in reef-pi, so yeah connecting 12v dosing pumps are no problem.
The feeder port is also based on the same design however it can only handle 300ma, the Data pin is actually a Ground that gets switched.
You are correct the 8 selectable PWM/Analog ports are completely different and only handle very low loads, they are for things like LED drivers, other 0-10v controllable equipment and addons like Michael Lanes Jebao extension. Even though you can connect those dosing pumps directly the extension is nice as it has the matching connector for the DP-4s and no guessing. I'm actually going to be adding one of those connectors on the controller, the others will remain and a person can use either or.
Hi Michael, do you have anymore of the jebao doser adapters?
SHARK_2
New Member
Sorry for digging up an old topic, but Jebao DP4 can be moded (in different way) aswell. It is using 74HC595 to control DC motors, and time to set dosing volume.
To do this, You have to add esp32 (nothing else) to control it from reef-pi. Unfortunately, after this procedure, the original controls and screen stop working. But they are also no longer needed. Thanks to this mod, I finally have dosing control from reef-pi.
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