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Sculpin 
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 Topic: DIY Koralia Wave Maker?
Posted: October 22 2008 at 9:37pm |
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I've got an idea and just wanted to see if it is possible.
I have a pair of Koralia's in my tank right now and love them. I want to do make a wave maker for them but when you shut them off and on they make an awful rattling noise.
So my thought is, what if we can find a rheostat that automatically lowers and raises the voltage? It sounds a little crazy but it would be something similar too Christmas Lights. They dim and they get brighter but never shut off. If you were to apply the same type of thing to a Koralia, would it work?
Just an thought.
Sculpin
Edited by Sculpin - October 23 2008 at 1:27am
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vbg
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Posted: October 22 2008 at 9:45pm |
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Hmmm interesting thought. That would be cool if it did but would it be worth it to try to rig together? I know a diy wavemaker with maxijets is pretty cheap but I agree I like the koralias better.
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Aaron Ferre
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Cameron
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Posted: October 22 2008 at 9:57pm |
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I think that would work great man. It is ok on them if ya just power them down slowly. good idea brotha
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: October 22 2008 at 10:07pm |
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It's definitely worth trying.
Of course there are also stream pump mod kits for MJ's.
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Sculpin
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Posted: October 23 2008 at 1:43am |
I've decided to cast a wider net and posted it on RC to see if anyone with electronic experience can help me out on this project. I just don't know where I can get what I'm looking for. I really think it has potential but who knows. It's probably something that could actually be marketed if it works.
Sculpin
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snoyce
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Posted: October 23 2008 at 7:21am |
This is a good idea, I think the rheostat would work or be worth a try. I looked around for a good rheostat a while back for another project, not aquarium related, but had a hard time finding one. I ended up using this
which worked for my project, this will slow down any AC motor, which I believe the original Koralia have. The biggest hurdle I would think is automating the system, I have not seen any rheostats with any kind of electronic control which would mean you would need some kind of motor to move the rheostat control up and down. Anyway good luck, I will watch this thread and hope something works and affordable comes out of it
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dew2loud1
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Posted: October 23 2008 at 8:58am |
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Rheostats or dimmers will not work with an Ac motor, only with DC, the only viable controller for any AC, (mj's, koralias seios etc) is the SEIO controller, in fact many thread have come up over the years with very minimal success being led by engineers etc.... Pretty much everyone has come to the conclusion that if you want a true controller just buy a seio.
Your idea works on DC motors as their speed is directly driven by the amount of current they receive, ie tunzes.
Even the new DC koralias that are out don't function on true DC,they convert AC to DC with there controller, mainly a feature that forces you to buy their 200 dollar control box....
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Sculpin
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Posted: October 23 2008 at 11:21am |
Well after some more research I think your right Dew2loud1, but still that just sucks. I guess if it was as simple and easy as just a dimmer switch it would of been done already.Â
However, I did hear about a mod you can make with a small rubber hose to make the Koralia's not rattle! I could do that and the poor mans wave maker instead. I would of liked my idea better but hey, at least it's something right?
Sculpin
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IdahoReef
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Posted: October 24 2008 at 7:25am |
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I have been researching this for some time. I think it is possible...
Economical?
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bgreenlee
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Posted: November 03 2008 at 10:00pm |
The only viable way to run an ac motor at lower speeds is to lower the frequency of the input. You can slow them down with voltage, but it generates heat and will burn the motor up. From a cost to do properly standpoint, its cheaper to buy premade products like the seio controller, or the new koralia kit.
My personal preference is the tunze powerheads with the aquacontroller running an aquasurf.
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chk4tix
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Posted: November 04 2008 at 2:36am |
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I have used the seio controller with K3's and from personal experience it only slightly worked. When the seio controller lowered the frequency to slow the speed of the K3's, they had a reoccurring problem of the propeller stopping. when they ramped up the power again, the k3's would spin backwards. It got really annoying. I have had better luck using modded maxi-jets.
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RockStarFish
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Posted: November 04 2008 at 5:55am |
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Mike Sanches
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dew2loud1
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Posted: November 04 2008 at 5:02pm |
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The koralia controller will only work with the new pumps not with any older pumps, so you would have to upgrade all of your pumps as well, the new pumps are about the same as the old in price though.
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bannshy
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Posted: November 04 2008 at 5:06pm |
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