Koralia Wavemaker

[plutoniumJoe]

I have been playing around with Arduinos for a couple of years now and have big plans for building some type of aquarium controller that is web enabled. These plans usually surface at night over a couple of beers and fade by morning but this little one stuck, probably because it was easy.

*** Disclaimer -- This project deals with electricity and if you are foolish enough to try it you accept all consequences.

I used the following instructables to get the basic idea. http://www.instructables.com/id/Yet-Another-Arduino-110v-Power-Controller/


The pictures are actually of my Wavemaker -- Doser combined but for this DIY I will explain just the Wavemaker portion.

List of ingredients:
Arduino - Mine is a duemilanove but anyone will due.
1 Deep receptacle box. Rona or HD
Face Plate
1 Receptacle
1 5v Relay (Lee's Electronics on Main)
Wire - I used cat5
2 Koralia Evolution Power Heads

I ended up taking all the pictures once the project was done as I didn't think to share until I was about finished and thought "I wonder if anyone else would want to do this?"

[plutoniumJoe]

The first thing I did was mount the receptacle onto the faceplate then I removed the tab on the receptacle that joins the brass hot posts.

http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu72/jgalat/DIY%20Projects/tab.jpg
The picture shows two receptacles with 3 relays but you only need the one of each for this project.

The next step was to mount using 5 minute epoxy the 5v Relay on the back of the receptacle.

[plutoniumJoe]

Attach the common wire or white wire from your cord to the silver posts on the receptacle this tab should be intact or else you have to connect the white to both silver posts.

Attach the black wire from your cord to the Comm post on the Relay(you will need to solder this wire on). Top arrow. On the relay there will two other posts labeled NO(normally Open) and NC(normally Closed). You need to attach a short 14-16 gage wire from each post to one of the brass hot posts on the receptacle. This way when the relay is off the Normally closed will supply power and when the relay is active the normally open will supply power, alternating between the two. The wire that you use needs to be capable of supplying power to the power heads which consume less than 100w 14 gage is overkill but better safe than on fire.

http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu72/jgalat/DIY%20Projects/back.jpg

You also need to attach your control wires for the relay at this time. I used Cat5 and attached one of the pairs to the two posts for the coil on the relay. These reside on each side of the common and have a coil icon to denote them. These are the wires that will turn the relay on and off. White and light blue in the bottom picture.

http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu72/jgalat/DIY%20Projects/closeRelay.jpg

[Cameron]

nice.....keep going.

[plutoniumJoe]

As I stated earlier this will also control my dosing system so it has more than you need for this project but....

http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu72/jgalat/DIY%20Projects/inaction.jpg

To make it all work I used the Arduino Digital Blink Program.

/*
Blink
Turns on an LED on for one second, then off for one second, repeatedly.

This example code is in the public domain.
*/

void setup() {
// initialize the digital pin as an output.
// Pin 13 has an LED connected on most Arduino boards:
pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
digitalWrite(13, HIGH); // set the LED on
delay(1000); // wait for a second
digitalWrite(13, LOW); // set the LED off
delay(1000); // wait for a second
}

According to this code the arduino will send a signal to the digital pin 13 to turn it on and off every 1000 milliseconds (1 sec) I modified it to every 15000 milliseconds for our purposes. You will need to connect one of the wires from your relay to the 5v spot on the arduino and the other to the digital pin denoted in your program. Every 15seconds the arduino will turn on the pin and complete the circuit which will activate the relay. When the relay is active the power will be given to the NO wire on the receptacle and when the pin is off (relay off) the power will be given to the NC wire giving you alternating pulses to your power heads.

I ended up getting a nice little 1" wave in my tank and my frogspawn moved to and fro. One of the koralia is loud so I need to look at that but oveall I am rather happy. Now on to the dosing side of it all.

[overhal]

Did this burn any of your powerheads?
How long have you been running it?

Thank you!

[plutoniumJoe]

Both power heads are still running great. I found that if I make the cycle loop about 5seconds I get some very nice wave action but normally I leave it on about 15 seconds.

[phi delt reefer]

are you using the 120v Korila powerheads or the 12v controllable ones?

[plutoniumJoe]

I am using the 120v evolution ones.

BTW my Grandfather(Ohio State) and Father(Miami of Ohio) are both PhiDelts.

[phi delt reefer]

I am using the 120v evolution ones.

BTW my Grandfather(Ohio State) and Father(Miami of Ohio) are both PhiDelts.


NICE :) - I was brought in under the University of Western Ontario Chapter back in '06. Though our chapter is closed we still continue our Alumni events amoungst ourselves.

The issue with the AC pumps is the backwards spinning that may occur during constant switching and the nature of AC. The EVO pumps have bungs on the front grill that stop the reverse motion but owners are advising that those bungs are starting to "crack" off the grill - allowing reverse starts.

There were some attempts made by others to replicate the hydor controller for their DC pump line (the pumps are cheap but the controller is super expensive) - but i have yet to see one that is cost effecient. I think i saw a video for one on youtube but it didnt look like it was any cheaper to build than buying the original from Hydor.

[plutoniumJoe]

The issue with the AC pumps is the backwards spinning that may occur during constant switching and the nature of AC. The EVO pumps have bungs on the front grill that stop the reverse motion but owners are advising that those bungs are starting to "crack" off the grill - allowing reverse starts.

There were some attempts made by others to replicate the hydor controller for their DC pump line (the pumps are cheap but the controller is super expensive) - but i have yet to see one that is cost effecient. I think i saw a video for one on youtube but it didnt look like it was any cheaper to build than buying the original from Hydor.

I originally had the first Generation Evolution pumps and the had a problem with the bearing slipping and the pump starting backwards. The bumper at the front could also fall off. I found these pumps to be too load and the bearing a pain. I tried gluing the bearing and it worked well, I still am using that pump. I replaced my other pump with the newer generation Evolution and it seems much quieter and no backwards starting.

Excluding the price of the arduino which I am going to use for other things I would guess that the box etc cost under $15 with relay.

Right now the only way to change the delay is to re-program the arduino but one day when I have time I might run the delay of a pot so that you can dial the delay.

[roblarss]

Thats an interesting project your doing. Im working on a similar arduino project. Currently I have the arduino controlling the temp of my tank, turning my diy leds on/off, with high temp failsafes, turn pumps off for a feed mode and run a ph meter with auto calibration built in.

In the future im looking at making some random flows with solenoids on my closed loop pump.
I love the versatility of these controllers.