Hydros Control 2 , Control 4 and accessories question and answer thread.

[reefiniteasy]

The Control XS is now available to order on the CoralVue website. I ordered one with the command bus cable and terminator so I can connect it to my Control 4. I plan to add a level sensor to my ato reservoir and leak puck under my aquarium stand.

 

[JeffB418]

I wrote up a nice tutorial on my website on how to use voltage triggers (from an external switch box or similar design) on a single 0-10V input channel to trigger Modes and Inputs/Outputs on the Hydros Control 4. This type of hardware interface has been detailed out on the DIY Hydros Forum here: (https://forum.coralvuehydros.com/threads/diy-0-10v-input-switch-box-5-switches.316/)

Full Tutorial: https://www.jbaquaticsllc.com/hydros-0-5v-button-box

Also possible to use these types of boxes to trigger Modes on the Wave Engine using its 0-10V Input as well. Here are instructions specifically for the Wave Engine: https://www.jbaquaticsllc.com/wave-engine-2-button-box

 

[meinekebob]

nice tutorial. i have a question. on the control 4 box could you hook up both the control 4 and the wave engine, since there are 2 control ports on the 5 button box, so that when you press button 1 it sends 1volt to both the control4 and wave engine at the same time? since the wave engine is not in the collective yet, i have a return pump dcp 10k jebao that does not go to the wave engine. i would like to trigger a feed mode to shut the wifi outlet on the pump to off and the wave engine to go into feed mode at the same time. could this be done?

 

[JeffB418]

nice tutorial. i have a question. on the control 4 box could you hook up both the control 4 and the wave engine, since there are 2 control ports on the 5 button box, so that when you press button 1 it sends 1volt to both the control4 and wave engine at the same time? since the wave engine is not in the collective yet, i have a return pump dcp 10k jebao that does not go to the wave engine. i would like to trigger a feed mode to shut the wifi outlet on the pump to off and the wave engine to go into feed mode at the same time. could this be done?

Unfortunately no you can’t do this with the standard box. Both the wave engine and control 4 would be driving the button box with their 5V supplies and could damage one or the other. It might be possible if you disconnect one of the 5V pins on one of the 2 GX12-6 cables. That way only 1 device is sourcing the 5V to the resistor circuit. But there might be issues due to parallel impedance of 2 separate inputs, since the resistor tree is designed specifically to the hydros 0-10V input structure. If you leave a hydros 0-10v disconnected you’ll notice it reads 2.48V, this is due to an input bias/protection circuit on the input. And the resistor values used in this design were specifically picked based on that input circuit.

so after talking this through I don’t think it would work.

What you could do is connect this button box to your hydros control 4 0-10v input port. Then buy 2 hydros APX cables. Connect one to your hydros control 0-10V output and the other to your wave engine 0-10V input. Then get a RJ45 coupler from Amazon and connect the 2 APX adapters together. Then setup an output on your Hydros Control 4 to output 10V when a mode is activated by the button box. Then on the wave engine set up your feed mode to trigger on a 10V input. It’s a round about way but it’s one way to link a control 4 to a wave engine. You could also use a direct GX12-6 female to female cable (like I sell with my box) but again you have to disconnect the 5V wire between them to prevent the driving issue above).

 

[JeffB418]

Unfortunately no you can’t do this with the standard box. Both the wave engine and control 4 would be driving the button box with their 5V supplies and could damage one or the other. It might be possible if you disconnect one of the 5V pins on one of the 2 GX12-6 cables. That way only 1 device is sourcing the 5V to the resistor circuit. But there might be issues due to parallel impedance of 2 separate inputs, since the resistor tree is designed specifically to the hydros 0-10V input structure. If you leave a hydros 0-10v disconnected you’ll notice it reads 2.48V, this is due to an input bias/protection circuit on the input. And the resistor values used in this design were specifically picked based on that input circuit.

so after talking this through I don’t think it would work.

What you could do is connect this button box to your hydros control 4 0-10v input port. Then buy 2 hydros APX cables. Connect one to your hydros control 0-10V output and the other to your wave engine 0-10V input. Then get a RJ45 coupler from Amazon and connect the 2 APX adapters together. Then setup an output on your Hydros Control 4 to output 10V when a mode is activated by the button box. Then on the wave engine set up your feed mode to trigger on a 10V input. It’s a round about way but it’s one way to link a control 4 to a wave engine. You could also use a direct GX12-6 female to female cable (like I sell with my box) but again you have to disconnect the 5V wire between them to prevent the driving issue above).

That being said. A lot of people are asking for WE and Control modes to be linked so that functionality hopefully is coming soon.

 

[meinekebob]

thanks, figured there wasn't an easy solution. probably better off waiting till they can talk to each other.

 

[n2585722]

If you are good at DIY you can get a DPST momentary push button switch. That is basically two switches in one button. Wire one side to the Control unit and the other side to the Wave Engine.

 

[MartinM]

+1 to the list of those waiting for dosing pump connections!

 

[meinekebob]

Unfortunately no you can’t do this with the standard box. Both the wave engine and control 4 would be driving the button box with their 5V supplies and could damage one or the other. It might be possible if you disconnect one of the 5V pins on one of the 2 GX12-6 cables. That way only 1 device is sourcing the 5V to the resistor circuit. But there might be issues due to parallel impedance of 2 separate inputs, since the resistor tree is designed specifically to the hydros 0-10V input structure. If you leave a hydros 0-10v disconnected you’ll notice it reads 2.48V, this is due to an input bias/protection circuit on the input. And the resistor values used in this design were specifically picked based on that input circuit.

so after talking this through I don’t think it would work.

What you could do is connect this button box to your hydros control 4 0-10v input port. Then buy 2 hydros APX cables. Connect one to your hydros control 0-10V output and the other to your wave engine 0-10V input. Then get a RJ45 coupler from Amazon and connect the 2 APX adapters together. Then setup an output on your Hydros Control 4 to output 10V when a mode is activated by the button box. Then on the wave engine set up your feed mode to trigger on a 10V input. It’s a round about way but it’s one way to link a control 4 to a wave engine. You could also use a direct GX12-6 female to female cable (like I sell with my box) but again you have to disconnect the 5V wire between them to prevent the driving issue above).

 

[meinekebob]

Jeff, i bought the 2 button for the Wave, looks great and really as plug and play as you could get. Thanks.
Question tho, have A hooked up for feed mode, easy, but was wondering if there was a way to use B to only shut off 1 pump. I know the preset for water change would turn off all pumps, but cannot find a configuration in the wave engine to make a preset with only 1 pump, or change the water change preset. If not Ill post it in the hydros wave forum and ask coralvue.
thanks

 

[jafoca11]

I got and set up a Control 2 over this past weekend and initial impressions were good - setup was easy for my basic needs (temperature monitoring, return pump on/off for feeding, and fuge light control). I am wishing I had known about the XS though because the drive plugs do not seem useful to me.

That said - I woke up at 5AM this morning to the controller beeping. I did not have any notifications from it on my phone, nor e-mail. After I checked the app, I noticed that the temperature was out of my parameters slightly, so temp was causing the alarm...

That said, here are my questions:
- Is there a way to silence the alarm once it is going off?
- Are there known issues with alerts not firing? I verified my settings look correct and that I can get alerts (it notified me that the tank was offline after I unplugged the controller, see above...)
- Is it a known issue that the graphing is not working on Android? I saw the recent 'heater controller workshop' video from Coralvue and they showed graphing that is nothing like what I have in my app right now.

Thanks!

 

[n2585722]

I have been getting alerts by text and email. On the graphs I usually leave it in tile mode until I want to see the graphs. If I leave it in graphs sometimes the graphs won't populate When the app opens.

 

[Viva'sReef]

I got and set up a Control 2 over this past weekend and initial impressions were good - setup was easy for my basic needs (temperature monitoring, return pump on/off for feeding, and fuge light control). I am wishing I had known about the XS though because the drive plugs do not seem useful to me.

That said - I woke up at 5AM this morning to the controller beeping. I did not have any notifications from it on my phone, nor e-mail. After I checked the app, I noticed that the temperature was out of my parameters slightly, so temp was causing the alarm...

That said, here are my questions:
- Is there a way to silence the alarm once it is going off?
- Are there known issues with alerts not firing? I verified my settings look correct and that I can get alerts (it notified me that the tank was offline after I unplugged the controller, see above...)
- Is it a known issue that the graphing is not working on Android? I saw the recent 'heater controller workshop' video from Coralvue and they showed graphing that is nothing like what I have in my app right now.

Thanks!

What alert color did you have set? Red will absolutely blow up your phone and email and the unit will beep.

 

[JeffB418]

Jeff, i bought the 2 button for the Wave, looks great and really as plug and play as you could get. Thanks.
Question tho, have A hooked up for feed mode, easy, but was wondering if there was a way to use B to only shut off 1 pump. I know the preset for water change would turn off all pumps, but cannot find a configuration in the wave engine to make a preset with only 1 pump, or change the water change preset. If not Ill post it in the hydros wave forum and ask coralvue.
thanks

You can only use buttons to trigger modes. Just a quick look I think you could do it this way:
- make a new mode that triggers off 1V (B button)
- make a new trigger that is activated by the new mode above.
- move the 1 pump you want off over to it’s own group. You can only control pumps by groups. Not single pumps. Use this new group in the above trigger
- make a preset that is basically an off state and call it in the above trigger
- if the one pump you put in it’s own group was part of another trigger/group previously and you want it to revert to that function when not off, you will need to make a copy of the org trigger and assign that new group to the same preset. This is due since you can’t assign multiple groups to a single trigger

 

[120reefkeeper]

I got and set up a Control 2 over this past weekend and initial impressions were good - setup was easy for my basic needs (temperature monitoring, return pump on/off for feeding, and fuge light control). I am wishing I had known about the XS though because the drive plugs do not seem useful to me.

That said - I woke up at 5AM this morning to the controller beeping. I did not have any notifications from it on my phone, nor e-mail. After I checked the app, I noticed that the temperature was out of my parameters slightly, so temp was causing the alarm...

That said, here are my questions:
- Is there a way to silence the alarm once it is going off?
- Are there known issues with alerts not firing? I verified my settings look correct and that I can get alerts (it notified me that the tank was offline after I unplugged the controller, see above...)
- Is it a known issue that the graphing is not working on Android? I saw the recent 'heater controller workshop' video from Coralvue and they showed graphing that is nothing like what I have in my app right now.

Thanks!

Hey great thread choice !
If you need more in-depth information you can always google Coralvue Hydros Forum, or even look for Original Coralvue Hydros community group on Facebook.

 

[jafoca11]

What alert color did you have set? Red will absolutely blow up your phone and email and the unit will beep.

I had it set to Orange. Per my settings, I had the notifications set up to fire for all alert levels, all types of notifications. I got none except for the offline / rejoin notifications - which did come via both SMS and email...

Also - is anyone aware of any small return pumps / power heads that can be used with the drive ports? It would be nice to run my BioCube's return off of it both for the controllability AND potential energy savings of a DC power head.

 

[jafoca11]

Oh - and this is what my graph looks like when viewed via the web app and Android app. It looks like it is showing my 'ok temp range' but no data points about current/past temps.

 

[Viva'sReef]

I had it set to Orange. Per my settings, I had the notifications set up to fire for all alert levels, all types of notifications. I got none except for the offline / rejoin notifications - which did come via both SMS and email...

Also - is anyone aware of any small return pumps / power heads that can be used with the drive ports? It would be nice to run my BioCube's return off of it both for the controllability AND potential energy savings of a DC power head.

Hmm that is weird. I haven't had any notifications fail on me so far and I've had a few.

I have my Varios 4 return pump driven directly off of a drive port. Works flawlessly

 

[jafoca11]

Hmm that is weird. I haven't had any notifications fail on me so far and I've had a few.

I have my Varios 4 return pump driven directly off of a drive port. Works flawlessly

I looked a bit at the Varios 2 - and I think it would fit in my Biocube 32's return chamber, but at $285 - that is well more than I paid for the actual tank! Also overkill at 1.5-2x the flow I really need, so I have been looking at what Jeabo pumps might be an option...

 

[meinekebob]

You can only use buttons to trigger modes. Just a quick look I think you could do it this way:
- make a new mode that triggers off 1V (B button)
- make a new trigger that is activated by the new mode above.
- move the 1 pump you want off over to it’s own group. You can only control pumps by groups. Not single pumps. Use this new group in the above trigger
- make a preset that is basically an off state and call it in the above trigger
- if the one pump you put in it’s own group was part of another trigger/group previously and you want it to revert to that function when not off, you will need to make a copy of the org trigger and assign that new group to the same preset. This is due since you can’t assign multiple groups to a single trigger

thought about putting it in a different group, but then, i would think, that the opposite side pumps would not be synced to the main pump. could be wrong on that. thanks for the reply