Tired of AC bricks? Try the DCBuddy

[theatrus]

================================
Important Information

- Documentation site: https://reefvolt.com/

- Documentation and open hardware/firmware files are on GitHub:

GitHub - blueacro/reefvolt-dcbuddy: Various DC power accessories for the aquarium market

Various DC power accessories for the aquarium market - blueacro/reefvolt-dcbuddy

github.com

- Ready to use boards are now in early access! DM me for details.

- Latest update:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tired-of-ac-bricks-try-the-dcbuddy.1009642/post-12509646

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Start of the development blog! See above for quick links ^^^
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I'm building out a nano aquarium and my under-stand real estate is sparse. One of the big contributors to bloat is the infinite numbers of AC/DC bricks which come with every device (and most devices are now DC powered). All the Vortechs have one. The skimmer DC pump has one. The top-off pump has one. The list goes on. You're swimming in AC outlets and cords and bricks and cable management nightmares...

You could just use one power brick, but you risk losing everything if that brick fails. And you still will have different devices at different voltages. And you don't want one bad device to take down everything...

Enter the DCBuddy!

I whipped up the DCBuddy to solve my problems of:

- Accepting 2 power supplies in and use an Ideal-Diode OR to use both supplies. Input is barrel jack, DIN-4 (see: Meanwell OWA-120U-24), or 4 pin Microfit (see: APEX 1Link).
- Distribute 24V power from the input to multiple outputs.
- Step down 24V to 12V, on multiple outputs. 5A total.
- Step down 24V to 5V, on multiple outputs. 5A total.
- Accept the Neptune Apex 1Link power input from an EB32 (CAN+24V), distribute the CAN bus to the other 24V ports.

Each outlet is also short circuit protected, up to about 2.3A (enough for most smaller pumps, 50W for 24V). The 5V power is supplied on USB A outlets (no resistor setting, no data, just power), each port there is limited to 2A (run a Raspberry Pi).

Boards ordered, lets see how well it works!

 

[Andrews_aquarium]

Woah! excited to see this

 

[Royal_pudding]

Awesome. I was just thinking how i can gwt rid of some bricks.
This solution seems a little too tech-savvy for me but maybe I'll use the opportubity and ask.
Do you know of any ready made solution that can run 2
-3 jebao dc pumps from the same brick?
Electricity is so foreign to me that i have a hard time explaining what i mean

 

[iLMaRiO]

You could just use one power brick, but you risk losing everything if that brick fails. And you still will have different devices at different voltages. And you don't want one bad device to take down everything...

Interesting but you are moving the SPOF from the single power supply to the dcbuddy... if dcbuddy breaks (power overvoltage due to thunders, or anything similiar) , you'll loose everything.

 

[masterofstuff124]

I like the idea of trading multiple bricks for one reliable meanwell. does can bus mean these outlets are controllable? is that apex only? I dont think reefpi has CANbus support. Im assuming this might make wiring up a battery back up simpler.

 

[oreo54]

Awesome. I was just thinking how i can gwt rid of some bricks.
This solution seems a little too tech-savvy for me but maybe I'll use the opportubity and ask.
Do you know of any ready made solution that can run 2
-3 jebao dc pumps from the same brick?
Electricity is so foreign to me that i have a hard time explaining what i mean

What does each supply say for output?
Normally I'd suggest just getting one large ps with the same voltage and 2-3X (2 or 3 pumps) greater current or more .
Not sure if there are any "gotchas" regarding pumps and electrical "back wash".
all wired in parallel of course.

EXAMPLE only based on best guess atm..a bit pricey .

https://www.trcelectronics.com/View/Mean-Well/SE-450-24.shtml?utm_term=&utm_campaign=Sales-Performance+Max-4&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=9805199880&hsa_cam=20355717806&hsa_grp=&hsa_ad=&hsa_src=x&hsa_tgt=&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw38SoBhB6EiwA8EQVLl7dWde9IPdq3mFOHgvMWVaMIE9haaEvsYqBIg1Xvg_Vo1KZtistjhoCTq4QAvD_BwE

https://www.trcelectronics.com/ecomm/pdf/se450.pdf

note I'm at best a "tinkerer" not an EE.. so keep that in mind.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

What does each supply say for output?
Normally I'd suggest just getting one large ps with the same voltage and 2-3X (2 or 3 pumps) greater current or more .
Not sure if there are any "gotchas" regarding pumps and electrical "back wash".
all wired in parallel of course.

EXAMPLE only based on best guess atm..a bit pricey .

https://www.trcelectronics.com/View/Mean-Well/SE-450-24.shtml?utm_term=&utm_campaign=Sales-Performance+Max-4&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=9805199880&hsa_cam=20355717806&hsa_grp=&hsa_ad=&hsa_src=x&hsa_tgt=&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw38SoBhB6EiwA8EQVLl7dWde9IPdq3mFOHgvMWVaMIE9haaEvsYqBIg1Xvg_Vo1KZtistjhoCTq4QAvD_BwE

https://www.trcelectronics.com/ecomm/pdf/se450.pdf

note I'm at best a "tinkerer" not an EE.. so keep that in mind.

This. I run both jebao gyres and my return pump off of one 24vdc power supply. Just calculate max output for each device and see if you can go 'off the rack' for the higher amperage power supply, I suggest 10% over max values needed but of course YMMV.

 

[theatrus]

I like the idea of trading multiple bricks for one reliable meanwell. does can bus mean these outlets are controllable? is that apex only? I dont think reefpi has CANbus support. Im assuming this might make wiring up a battery back up simpler.

They are not - I intentionally left off any MCU control. The Rohm load controllers used here can be switched on and off (and report status, currently wired to some LEDs), so there is a lot of room for adding it, but I didn't need it. Same for the TI USB load controllers.

The CAN channel is simply passively wired through to the 1Link compatible connectors, nothing on the board does anything with the signals. Maybe if @_AV wants a collab it could mimic a EB32

As for battery backup, its currently two independent Diode-OR channels (so both load share) based on the LM5050-1. The LM5050s also have on/off control, so a little logic can totally be used to do A/B switching to not run on the battery all the time. Maybe a V2? At that point might as well integrate a LiFePO4 charge controller

Interesting but you are moving the SPOF from the single power supply to the dcbuddy... if dcbuddy breaks (power overvoltage due to thunders, or anything similiar) , you'll loose everything.

Correct - the actual board is fairly dumb, and each output channel has its own load controller, but the 12V and 5V channels are only served by a single DC/DC converter each and don't have redundancy if that fails.

If you have a large power transient event, you're cooking all the downstream electronics anyway. The part selection here is good for 48VDC, but if your 24V supply suffers a fault and large over voltage situation, the pump controllers are toast too.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

So I will take 3?

 

[_AV]

It's an intriguing idea. I had to think about it for a bit.

Here are my initial thoughts:
- Neptune made an attempt at addressing this very issue with their EB832 and 1Link ports. However, they've done it for their own ecosystem, provided 24v and 12v power output and made the 12v power output relatively weak. This unit gives you better control over the power source, redundancy, more outlets, stronger and more reliable output and extra 5v outlets.
- Adding some LEDs to show power status per outlet would be very helpful for a handful of reasons.
- I really like the use of microfit connectors instead of regular barrel jacks. Helps with corrosion issues.
- Apex controlled switching may be useful, but if the goal is to power the units that already have their own controllers, the value of having them on a relay may be diminished.
- Current sensing per outlet, integrated with Apex, would have been a really nice feature though. But this requires an MCU and some very creative use of aquabuslib.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

following

 

[iLMaRiO]

Correct - the actual board is fairly dumb, and each output channel has its own load controller, but the 12V and 5V channels are only served by a single DC/DC converter each and don't have redundancy if that fails.

If you have a large power transient event, you're cooking all the downstream electronics anyway. The part selection here is good for 48VDC, but if your 24V supply suffers a fault and large over voltage situation, the pump controllers are toast too.

not exactly (and not Always) . during the year, i've fried Arduino/esp/similiar board multiple times, probably because the PCB is very compact and tracks are small and very close to themself that a power spike could fry the board but not the connected load. simple example: Shelly devices with 2 indipendent relay. i've replaced not less than 20 devices in my house, office, friends, my tank (i have 10 shelly 2.5 in my tank) for many reasons, all fried in both relay, but never had a single issue on the connected device. a burn capacitor that burn the nearest track and any other reason could break the board, but not automatically fry the load.

another example: my previous 3d printer board: a faulty stepper driver fried the 12v line up to the power supply, with both 3v3 and 5v lines down to (mosfet failure on both line). power supply and stepper motor was intact (and i'm still using them)

 

[theatrus]

\

- Adding some LEDs to show power status per outlet would be very helpful for a handful of reasons.

There are some! Now, if they'll be visible when I print up a case for this, is another matter entirely. Didn't particularly plan for this.

- Apex controlled switching may be useful, but if the goal is to power the units that already have their own controllers, the value of having them on a relay may be diminished.

Agree, switching is ... meh? Maybe at most I want to turn off my 12V skimmer pump, but not the Vortechs.

- Current sensing per outlet, integrated with Apex, would have been a really nice feature though. But this requires an MCU and some very creative use of aquabuslib.

I considered this - absolutely increases the BOM cost, but would be cool. For my uses, having something report back into Home Assistant would be more than enough (its where all the Apex data also goes in the end). I don't know the limits of what data values Aquabus can report for current and voltage - current could be fine, but it may reject the use of 24V reporting. If you only cared about power, things could be scaled...

 

[bishoptf]

I'm building out a nano aquarium and my under-stand real estate is sparse. One of the big contributors to bloat is the infinite numbers of AC/DC bricks which come with every device (and most devices are now DC powered). All the Vortechs have one. The skimmer DC pump has one. The top-off pump has one. The list goes on. You're swimming in AC outlets and cords and bricks and cable management nightmares...

You could just use one power brick, but you risk losing everything if that brick fails. And you still will have different devices at different voltages. And you don't want one bad device to take down everything...

Enter the DCBuddy!

I whipped up the DCBuddy to solve my problems of:

- Accepting 2 power supplies in and use an Ideal-Diode OR to use both supplies. Input is barrel jack, DIN-4 (see: Meanwell OWA-120U-24), or 4 pin Microfit (see: APEX 1Link).
- Distribute 24V power from the input to multiple outputs.
- Step down 24V to 12V, on multiple outputs. 5A total.
- Step down 24V to 5V, on multiple outputs. 5A total.
- Accept the Neptune Apex 1Link power input from an EB32 (CAN+24V), distribute the CAN bus to the other 24V ports.

Each outlet is also short circuit protected, up to about 2.3A (enough for most smaller pumps, 50W for 24V). The 5V power is supplied on USB A outlets (no resistor setting, no data, just power), each port there is limited to 2A (run a Raspberry Pi).

Boards ordered, lets see how well it works!

I mean I have no idea what you are talking about, I mean I thought all those bricks were to help heat the house up in the winter...*sarcasm*

My question is how would we interface with this to control the output with reef-pi. This would be awesome if you are still able to control each output but more channels is better IMHO, I have a lot of bricks. If you need someone to test or anything let me know, I would love to be able to use something like this to de-clutter if I can interface with reef-pi.

**update, now that I read through things I understand what the focus of this is and I still think it would be nice but I like macros on reef-pi and being able to shut stuff off for various reasons. I love to have something like this combined with relays or someway to turn things on/off. Still cool and will follow along, in one of my display tanks each light has a brick and they are controlled via PWM with reef-pi so I could use it there etc and I also have some stuff that runs off 5v usb like the rpi so this would clean up the clutter for sure, following.

 

[theatrus]

On a somewhat related note, looks like the RPi5 launched today, and with a USB-C PD input. Might be interesting to support a proper USB-C PD port, as its more of a single chip solution these days to do that (something like a https://www.ti.com/product/TPS25762-Q1 )

As for controlling the ports, once I'm through the initial validation its interesting enough to spin up something with per-port control and at least input power monitoring (vs per output port monitoring).

 

[CoralB]

Following

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Sign me up for product testing development!

 

[theatrus]

Quick sneak peak. Promising it fires up the first time. Yes, my silk screen went all zalgo on me - haven’t even checked if the gerbers are at fault.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Very nice, smt this time... even better

 

[theatrus]

Very nice, smt this time... even better

It's what I usually go for, I'm much faster for personal stuff doing lots of SMT with a stencil even hand placing.

So far:

- 5V supply validated. Have not validated over current limits. It runs a RPI3 just fine though
- 12V supply validated to 5A. Will happily go beyond, just haven't stressed it yet. The DC/DC is very cool running.
- 12V/24V current limits validated. They work, I just don't love the Rohm part I used here. It has a pretty high RdsOn so its actually the toastiest part of the whole board. It will limit above 3.3A or so, and will reset back at < 300mA. However, when its limiting its in a chopping state at the audible frequency range. It does do the job though...

Working on making a case for this now.