So some information on the Collective. There is a lot here, and I deep dive into some items that you need to understand for bigger systems. Coralvue is working on a comprehensive instruction for all this stuff that will be ready soon, but I wanted to clear up some questions ahead of time.
- IF you want to share input/output control/status between Control 2/4 and Sense modules, you MUST have them hardwired using command bus cables. This is because they use the dedicated CanBus to share and control that info. You can run Hydros devices separately but can't share input/outputs. You can access all devices with 1 account and in the app, just have to tab to each device.
- IF you have more than 1 device in a Collective, it provides redundancy in case of a module failure. By default you will get wifi/connection and programming redundancy. Based on notes below, you can also get power redundancy.
- I'm 90% sure about this, but I believe you can only wire devices in a Collective in a series/straight configuration. I do not believe it supports start topologies. I may be wrong on this, so I'll have to check with Coralvue engineering.
- For Collectives to properly and reliability communicate there MUST be at least 1 Communication Bus terminator installed at either end of your collective. For example if you have the following 3 devices in your collective with normal Command Bus cables (data and power), install the terminator at the end of your chain. Terminators should come with any command bus cables you buy (I've been told).
- If you have multiple devices connected with normal Command Bus cables (Data and Power), you CAN NOT have 2 power supplies connected at the same time. Both will be driving the system and one will likely burn out. If you would like redundancy in power, see the next bullet.
- Powered command bus is limited to 15 ft between devices, so if you have the following scenario where you are going more than 15 ft and using a Data Only Command Bus Cable (Data only, no power), this can also be used in systems where you want to run multiple power supplies to have redundancy as well. Also since the power supply is taking up the last port on both ends, and the system requires at least 1 terminator at the end, you must use a power supply that has an integrated terminator. I'm being told at some point all newer supplies will have this, but older ones might need to be modified. Contact Coralvue Support if you need this terminated power supply (if you don't have an updated version).
- Another option for powering your Hydros devices is using the Wave Engine. Currently Wave Engines can't be in a collective (coming in the future) but it can be connected via the Command Bus for power. So in the case below you have an extra port to put the standard terminator on the wave engine since power is supplied via a dedicated port. Also no need to use a power supply on the left with a terminator since you have at least 1 on either end.
- You can also connect Hydros devices up with Command Bus cables if you just want to share power. You are not required to make a Collective. You can still have any, or all devices run as independent controllers if you wish, you just don't have the abilities to share inputs/outputs and have wifi redundancy.
- As of right now now there is only 1 cable available from Coralvue for Command Bus. They are currently selling a 6ft Command Bus (Data and Power). I've been told a Data Only Command Bus cable is coming. As for custom length cables, you might be able to contact Coralvue Support and have custom lengths made up, but I'm not 100% on that. If you want to DIY your own, you can either buy the cable from Coralvue and cut it and splice in ethernet cable to make it longer. Again contact Coralvue Support and they can tell you what pins must be connected for Data Only cables. You could also splice on female ethernet connectors to a Command Bus cable cut in half and then just use ethernet cables for any length Data Bus only cable you'd like. There are alot of DIY options here. Coralvue has told me they will be releasing more lengths/types in the future.
- As for multiple Wave Engines on the same Hydros command bus, I am unsure you can connect 2 together with a standard Command Bus cable (data + power). I am looking into this now, but for now I would assume you'd have to use a data only cable.
So you may ask why do I know so much about this? Well I am currently installing the following Hydros setup on a bunch of my setups. It's going to be nuts =)
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