VDM Module Help

[nuclearheli]

Does anyone have a real working pin out for V1/V2 V3/V4 on the VDM? I have spent hours on this last night and can't get it to work. I also have seen over 14 volts on these control lines. I thought it only put out 0 - 10 volts?

I have actually shut the ports off and the lights on the right and left side of the jack went off and I still measure voltage on the pins.

This thing is driving me crazy and doesn't seem to work. Anyone having any luck with this?

Thank You

 

[nuclearheli]

Here's an update for anyone from Neptune systems listening. Your VDM module went out of it's mind and over shot my driver causing a current surge blowing out the first 9 Blue LED's in my rig. At any given time I measured up to 15 volts from the "0 - 10" volt signal lines.

So I took the apex module out and tested it. At any given time it is putting out anywhere from 9 to 15 volts. I plugged it into my main Apex module.

Here is a shot of the VDM with V1 and V2 on. You can see the two green lights next to the cable as it enters the module. Notice the multimeter!!!

Now here is yet another kicker, again a shot of the module but this time V1 and V2 are off. Notice no green lights next to the plug however take note of the multimeter anyway.

So, my fixture is a little banged up but no big deal, it will be easy to fix. My worry now is what is wrong and how can I prevent this from happening again. Apparently, and this is only a guess, over driving the 0 to 10 Volt signal caused a current surge which went through 9 LED's before shutting the Blues down. Fortunately my patience paid off because I was testing only one string at a time so my whites were not even powered up.

Questions:

1. How did this happen.
2. What's wrong with the Apex? Which brings to light a second question, why since yesterday am I getting an Email error every single hour with this error:

Alarm Statement: If Power Apex Off 000 Then ON

I have no idea why this is also happening to the Apex and no idea how to fix it. I will get into this tomorrow with support at Neptune, I hope.

3. What necessary circuitry do I need to install to make sure that I cannot get this type of surge again, even though it technically should not have happened anyway.

 

[aquamanic]

1. I think you have the wrong wires. There are 2 (and I don't recall off the top of my head which ones they are) that deliver a solid 14vdc, not a variable 0 - 10vdc.

2. Your alarm statement most likely is caused by having the supplemental power option enabled and not having 12v supplemental power. So to the controller, the supplemental power ("apex") is off and thus the alarm condition. You can disable this in the Setup menu on the controller.

3. See #1. I don't think it was a surge. I think the 14vdc is always there.

 

[nuclearheli]

1. I think you have the wrong wires. There are 2 (and I don't recall off the top of my head which ones they are) that deliver a solid 14vdc, not a variable 0 - 10vdc.

2. Your alarm statement most likely is caused by having the supplemental power option enabled and not having 12v supplemental power. So to the controller, the supplemental power ("apex") is off and thus the alarm condition. You can disable this in the Setup menu on the controller.

3. See #1. I don't think it was a surge. I think the 14vdc is always there.

Thanks for the reply. I don't think I have the wrong ones for the following reasons.

1. I wired the cable according to the best visual reference I found on the web so far. http://reefledlights.net/neptun-apex-setup-programing/

2. We took the same cable and plugged it into V1/V2 on the Apex controller, not the VDM. On the Apex Controller I did get 10 Volts on, and it turned off properly. The cable and control work on the Apex controller but have a totally different effect on the VDM.

Thank you for the supplemental power suggestion. I am going to give that a try.

 

[aquamanic]

That's a good picture and if it's working correct on the base module, I suppose it's possible you have a faulty VDM. The pinouts are identical between the VDM and the base module. Just for shlitz and giggles, did you test the other pin pairs just to see if you get 10vdc on any of the other ones (for example, working right to left in that picture)?

 

[nuclearheli]

My son and I are going to try that tomorrow. We are going to make up a cable with matching pairs 1 - 8 and test each pair to find out what is on each pair. But he swears that we had this working with this very same cable yesterday then it went out to lunch. Frankly we made up so many cables at this point I can't even remember.

 

[Aflac01]

I have the exact same thing happening with my VDM Ports 1 and 2 are close to normal operation, both showing 9.8 volts when on and aprox 100mv when off, the base module's
ports all 10.0 volts when on so 9.8 is slightly low, but i would imagine
within tolerances, port 3 reads aprox 3 volts and port 4 15 volts
regardless of if they are switched on or not, i contacted neptune and they have asked me to send it back to them for testing.

 

[nuclearheli]

Received an RMA number to send back the VDM. Neptune say's it is probably "fried". That could be caused by shorting it out with high voltage. Of course there was no HV connected anywhere near this system. Hopefully I will get a new one soon and get into operation.