Wes888
Reef enthusiast
I moved the "director" for my power head to use. I don't like it for the christmas/halloween shows since the director is a bit restictive for my liking.
Power Heads and Wave Makers
- Thread starter Wes888
- Start date
project5k
Reef enthusiast
yea, there are some limiting factors, but, i have to admit, i prolly would have never thought about using LOR to run my tank, but now that the idea is seeded in my brain... guess i'll be ordering more units.. hehehehe, matter of fact, i have a LOR unit on the workbench now being soldered up..
Wes888
Reef enthusiast
hehe. nice!
I got this extra unit from last year's annual pre-seaon sales. I didn't see a sale this year or I might have missed it.
I got this extra unit from last year's annual pre-seaon sales. I didn't see a sale this year or I might have missed it.
project5k
Reef enthusiast
i got this one during this year's april-may kinda timeframe sale... its my first.. but i've been collecting up strings of lights for 5-6 years now, i think i'm about to join the 100k bulb club.
project5k
Reef enthusiast
just looked and LOR has thier units on sale NOW..if your interested...
Wes888
Reef enthusiast
nice! Got an email about it as well. I'll probably get a 16 chan one for a new mega tree. Not sure if I want to do mega tree yet. It takes up a bit too many channels.
bjohanson1234
.........
Yes voltage is absolute. However, there are ways of ramping up and down motors without changing the voltage. You can change the frequency of the signal. From lower to higher Hz. So it is possible that the Seio does it this way. This would not work very well with christmas lights since you would see them flickering rapidly or even see them get brighter and dimmer as the sine wave goes up and down.
Brian
Wes888
Reef enthusiast
I thought about that as well, since that's how switching power supply down convert the voltage. However, that would be a very risky way to do for motors since the motor's magnetic force vs the power provided by the coil has to be in a certain cycle/timing. Any faster or slower would cause the motor spinning backward. I seriously doubt seio would use pulse modulation or frequency modulation to control the voltage.
project5k
Reef enthusiast
they could also just as easily control the current allowed to flow...
and changing the drive freq wouldnt nessicarily cause the motor to spin backwards, we use variable freq drives on the spindles of our CNC machines all the time.
and changing the drive freq wouldnt nessicarily cause the motor to spin backwards, we use variable freq drives on the spindles of our CNC machines all the time.
bjohanson1234
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they are used alot in comercial fans and pumps also. Used to ramp them up to avoid the large inrush currents. Or to increase or decrease torque or speed, There are tons of things that can be done with freq drives
Wes888
Reef enthusiast
I'm not familiar with the term "drive freq" or "freq drives". Are you talking about freq modulation switching power output control or pulse modulation?
bjohanson1234
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freq is just a short hand way of saying frequency. sorry about that.
when I get home from work, I will try to look up some graphics on how they work to post. It is kinda hard to describe
Brian
when I get home from work, I will try to look up some graphics on how they work to post. It is kinda hard to describe
Brian
project5k
Reef enthusiast
its actually called a variable frequiency drive. its used in applications where using a DC motor just isnt practicle, but a variable motor speed is needed. Generally used in larger motor applications(in my experience) like spindle motors on milling machines, and lathes, big stuff like that...
bjohanson1234
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thanks project, you beat me to it
i did find this on google
Electrician's Technical Reference ... - Google Books
page 51 has a simplified output waveform for the freq drive. It pretty much is PWM but the width of the pulse changes along the sine wave. So the motor would be getting full voltage, enough to drive it, but not for 100% of the time. That would solve the problem of the voltage being too low to drive the pump.
Hope it helps. Like I said it is hard to explain and as project said, it is generally used in industrial settings.
Another thing that I just thought of while typing this is that the pumps are and inductive load while christmas lights are a resistive load. The Christmas light machine and the Seio could be designed differently and the inductive load might not react the same way on both the peices of equipment
Brian
i did find this on google
Electrician's Technical Reference ... - Google Books
page 51 has a simplified output waveform for the freq drive. It pretty much is PWM but the width of the pulse changes along the sine wave. So the motor would be getting full voltage, enough to drive it, but not for 100% of the time. That would solve the problem of the voltage being too low to drive the pump.
Hope it helps. Like I said it is hard to explain and as project said, it is generally used in industrial settings.
Another thing that I just thought of while typing this is that the pumps are and inductive load while christmas lights are a resistive load. The Christmas light machine and the Seio could be designed differently and the inductive load might not react the same way on both the peices of equipment
Brian
