DIY Wavebox Tutorial from start to finish!

That'd be great. What would the photo cell do, turn the waves off? You'd need a way to control the speed if you just wanted to make the wave smaller and I haven't seen that in this thread (though I'd wonder if it was controlled by the other 2 pins?) as once the frequency is set, there isn't much reason to change it, is there?
 
what photo cell does is to adjust the wave strength based on the lighting. It can be achieved by the pin that controls the pump (so the pump will be less powerful when lights are off), or slightly adjusting the oscillate cycle of the output signal to be off the resonance frequency of the tank.

I had not studied the circuit and not sure how it worked.
 
So it'd be necessary to figure out which pins control pump speed to override the white dial on the side of the driver box. As far as I know the circuit as provided here only allows for adjust the pump's on/off interval and not the max speed of the pump. By controlling the speed on the side of the box you can change the wave height. I don't have the tools or knowledge to do that but it shouldn't be that hard. At that point you should be able to totally replicate the controller that comes with the wavebox (though don't know if it'd be worth it $$$). Is that controller sold separately, or only with the wavebox?
 
My bad, the controller from Tunze doesn't control speed. The 6091 allows for master/slave and still only controls the pulse interval, and allows for a photocell attachment (don't know if it slows the speed or turns the pumps off or what). Looks to be available from Tunze for $97, actually not bad IMO.
 
hi guys

ive redone mine - old one broke

i have taken the lead from the tunze and it is able to power a 555 astable

i have a 6000 tunze - the 555 is still on breadboard and i have connected each of the 5 feeder cables to a terminal on the breadboard

but no matter what one i connect to the control to (pin 3) it wont work :(

any ideas guys
 
Hi Guys love the build
So i though i would have a go my self at building a unit.
But after all my effort i cant get the thing to work all i get is a solid light and the pump just says on with no wave action :( has anyone else had this problem and manages to sort it out ?
ps i went from the first post and got a 1uf and not the 10uf but read later in the thead that it dosnt matter any help.
Thxs Luke
 
Problem

Problem

Hi Guys

Im hoping that some of you out there might be able to assist me with this problem.I have a 3500 litre tank
I built 4 waveboxes each fitted with a 6100 Tunze pump.
I then fitted the new Tunze 7096 controller to them and set the controler to pulse the pumps,they worked like a bomb!! I was able to adjust the controller via my notebook to milliseconds so it was very accuarte and easy to get the sweet spot
I have never seen such a big wave in my system.

A few weeks later the problems started.
The drivers started to give up one by one.The back of the drivers got very hot and the drivers siren went off causing the pumps to stop.
I had them repaired by a friend who has a PHD in electronics and he refitted them with new mossets that could handle more variance in the input voltage.(I asked the expert who fixed them for me and he said that the curret mossets in the driver had probably blown due to the input voltage not being exactly 220 volts but possible slightly off,he then told me that the Tunze equipment should have fuses built into their hardware to prevent this but they dont.The new mossets worked well and the drivers did not blow once repaired.

Now I am sitting with a new problem,the pumps are malfunctioning,at the moment I have two out of the four not operational.They seem to make the drivers alarm go off and stop working.I currently have the same guy looking at them but he does not hold out much hope as they are sealed units and as a result cannot accessed to be fixed.

Does anyone have ANY advice for me?
 
For those that are using 6100's etc in their tank, could you not forego a DIY controller and use tunze's latest controller the 7096. It can control a wavebox as well as 3 streams. So if I have this right all you would need to do is build the box and supply the pump.
 
Oops, flappy, didn't see your post about using the 7096. Looks like it can work fine. Are you sure the impeller assemblies are clean and free.
 
Yes Bryan,the impellors are free from dirt,first thing I checked.
You can use the 7096 it works very well,just set the pumps to the pulse setting,anyone with advice on my previous post?
 
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I'm just going to throw something out there for you flappy but I'm not sure if that might be the case. I just finished building my own box and I was then trying to figure out the mechanism behind it and I realized I've made some mistake. The box is suppose to drive all the water above the pump out of the box and create extra volume of water into your tank. If your pump is not installed at the bottom of your wavebox, you will not be able to push any water below the pump. AND your pump might push too much water out of the WB and exposed itself above waterline. That is where it gets dangerous. If the impeller is exposed in the air, it'll have to try to spine itself up breaking into the water every cycle. That is a lot of resistance and could cause your pump to burn out. I could think of a few senario where this could happen.

1. your wavebox dimension is too small, not enough volume inside the wavebox
2. your controller timing is off, may be the intervals are too long which all water in your wavebox got driven out.
3. your pump model is too efficient and pushed all water out of the wavebox
4. you did what I did, installed the pump in the middle of the wavebox instead of the bottom.

Check your other ones that is working to see if the impeller / top of your pump is exposed to air in action.
Steven
 
JaredWaites said:
Ok I figured it out...for those who wanted to know here is a list of Stream 2 pumps that are controllable.

6105
6205
6305

Apparently they are all compatible with the Single controller (7091) and the Mutlicontroller (7095) or the (7096).
Click to expand...

Has anyone built one of these using these pumps? If so, is the wiring exactly the same as with the 6000, 6100, etc.
 
A friend of mine made me a 4way wavebox with the led and potmeter.
all pumps in syncronus mode could not make the wave occur.
that being said my thank is probably a bit unusual, its 160Lx70WX100H cm.
4 pumps (6101's) are distributed at one short end in a stone wall.
A couple of days ago after reading all 23 pages I made my own wavebox and put on the other short wall, THAT made a difference, and I certainly see movement with one 6101 in this box.
My box is 300x200x200 ( I got this precut for just a bit more than nothing, witch explain the measures). the pump is of course at the bottom of this box.
I now got, say... 1/2 inch movement each direction at maximum speed and the right timing.

Problem : the deeper I get, less movement of water. I got some movement at the bottom, but really not enought. I NEED more. 4 inches from the top I see macro algea waving beatuifully, 4 inches from the bottom up I see Xenia barely swaying. at sand level, no nada zip nothing nix nope

Now to some of the questions/comments at hand:
The level of the pump/box inside the tank has something to do with this, yes?
The force of the pump is also to blame.
When I start up this the waterlevel will drop rapidly and then stableize some 2 inches further down in the box, I cannot fill this, it will drop down to this level, why?
seems like the wave movement stops at around 60cm, some limitation of pump or height of pump.?.

There is some solutions to my problem and I want to know what you think is cheapest and what is the best. I got no problem doing it the right way, but this is a test for my new tank witch will be implemented in the tank wall, and I need to know where to put the holes in that wall.
The way I figured it, I could take a acrylic (I like to watch the waterheight compared to the speed of the pump) tube, glue shut the bottom and stick a pump inside it and test different heights. But if there is just to much water this would not make much of a difference.
Change the pump to a 6201 or bigger and do the same with this one?
or just put a new pump in the already finished housing.
So whos got the physics right?
 
glad to see someone asking the right questions. Anyone know the dimensions of the tunze wavebox, and where the hole is placed? Does the tunze wavebox have movement at the bottom?
 
the only thing different from tunzes and mine is the width and length of the box, and the pump, the height is the same and placement of pump is the same to.
A friend got the large tunze and was model for mine.
I wanted the extra water the my box added (in case of **** happens and adjustments...), should not matter at all, displacement is the key, right?

So would the larger pump do it... or is the height of the box within the tank to get the pump further down? What got the most effect?
 
Yup. If you look on Youtube, there are some DIY nano's using a 6055 with the controller being discussed in this thread.

Also, the nano wavebox doesn't have to be pointed along the length of the tank. I hope to have my DIY controller in a few days and depending on how I like it with my 6100, I may just splurge and get the nano wavebox.
 
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