jason the filter freak April 18, 2019 Share April 18, 2019 I have a waterbug WB-200 system but im all out of space to plug in a 12volt power supply. In theory Aquabus puts out 12V DC any reason (aside from voiding warranties) I couldnt use the power carrier wires of a USB cord to provide 12V DC to the waterbug? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak April 21, 2019 Author Share April 21, 2019 Someone with an electrical background must have some idea if this would work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Lazar April 21, 2019 Share April 21, 2019 IIRC, the Aquabus 12v power has very low amperage and is only capable of carrying a signal; not powering a device. Neptune goes to great lengths warning people not to plug their USB devices into the Aquabus port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak April 21, 2019 Author Share April 21, 2019 2 hours ago, Jon Lazar said: IIRC, the Aquabus 12v power has very low amperage and is only capable of carrying a signal; not powering a device. Neptune goes to great lengths warning people not to plug their USB devices into the Aquabus port. To my understanding the reason for the warning about plugging USB devices is specifically because USB devices are around 5-6v native so you'd fry them with 12v. The Aquabus must carry some sort of amperage because an orange box Apex can run 29 modules without a 12v power supply for the brain. Something like the waterbug wb-200 requires 35 miliamps (.035 Amps) to run. Something like a wxm transmitting wirelessly or A FMM monitoring 4 flow monitors has to draw at least that many miliamps? Again my electrical engineering knowledge is just enough to get me though installing light sockets and switches and small diy electronics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM April 21, 2019 Share April 21, 2019 The Neptune forums are a good place to ask how much current you can draw from one of your aquabus connections on what I assume is an Apex classic. I know I have seen it answered a few times. 35mA does seem extreme to me. Why not just get your voltmeter to see which of the 4 pins have 12v on them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak April 21, 2019 Author Share April 21, 2019 Yes it's a classic realized orange lable wasn't overly specific. I checked the forums for a while and couldn't find a decent answer but plenty of mods giving the generic "nothing goes in the aquabus bus but Neptune stuff" but they also still insist that aquabus cables are special vs quality USB cables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM April 22, 2019 Share April 22, 2019 I used a normal 25 foot USB cable for aquabus to connect the AutoFeeder upstairs to the apex downstairs. It works with any USB cable, I think, but not USB device voltage, as you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak April 22, 2019 Author Share April 22, 2019 Posted this on the Neptune forums and now i cant find it. I think they deleted my post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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