DMX512 Small Fountain Water Pump
Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes
BLDC PUMP’s DMX512 fountain pump is the first small DC water pump that could be directly controlled by the DMX512 signal in China. It doesn’t need an additional DMX512 signal decoder. It saves costs and, more importantly, eliminates the uncertainty in the control process.
DMX512 Small Fountain Water Pump is a low voltage 24v (the voltage can be customized) electric DC water pump that can directly be controlled by DMX512 signal. No need additional DMX512 signal decoder. So far, we are the first and only manufacturer that produces small DC water pumps perfectly matched with the DMX512 control system in China.
DMX512 low voltage fountain water pump is perfect for public places that allow people to enter. Such as small indoor water fountains, small outdoor water fountains, small garden fountains, square music fountains, children’s paddling pools, water show stages, etc. One of the advantages of using a low voltage DC water pump is absolute safety.
While other pumps need a signal decoder to convert DMX512 signal to other signals that could control pumps, as an innovative type of fountain water pump, the DMX512 fountain pump could receive DMX512 signal directly and then control the pump’s water column. It saves costs and, more importantly, eliminates the uncertainty in the control process.
Standard DMX512 Fountain Pumps by BLDC PUMP:
1. What is DMX512 and how does it work?
DMX512 is a general digital communication protocol used to control lighting effects with music. After its appearance, it quickly became the primary method for linking controllers (such as a lighting console) to dimmers and special effects devices such as fog machines and intelligent lights, replacing various incompatible proprietary protocols. At present, almost all lighting and stage equipment manufacturers support this control protocol.
When the control console receives audio signal input, on the one hand, it transmits the signal to the speaker for playback. And, at the same time, it converts audio signals into DMX digital signals through processing programs (hardware or software), such as DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). Then control your lighting fixtures.
2. What if I want to control the fountain pumps with DMX512?
The music or dancing water fountain is an animated fountain that can change in sync with the music. The corresponding lights are configured to illuminate the active fountain to create a gorgeous dynamic scene. So what if I want to control my fountain with the lights together by DMX512 signal?
Usually, most water pumps cannot directly receive the DMX512 signal. Therefore, you will need a DMX512 signal decoder to convert it to a PWM or analog signal or other signals that pumps can receive directly.
The use of decoders will cause two problems. The first is to significantly increase the complexity and uncertainty of the system and increase the difficulty of construction. The second is to increase the cost greatly.
3. Why did we develop the DMX512 fountain water pump?
At present, the music fountain mainly exists in the open-air square as a large fountain in the urban landscape. Its installation is generally large scale, employing hundreds of water jets and lights and costly.
With the progress of society, people’s spiritual culture has higher demands. More and more cultural and recreational places begin to need colorful small or medium-sized musical fountains. This kind of occasion requires a reliable and straightforward but with powerful functions control system.
One decoder can only control a small number of water pumps, which means that we need to use many decoders. This significantly reduces the system’s reliability and increases the complexity and difficulty of building the system. In the past years, we received more and more requests for pumps that can directly receive DMX512 signals.
4. How do our pumps work with DMX512 directly?
Our pump (BLDC Pump) was initially named because of brushless DC motors that are different from conventional brush motors. The magnetic driven and circuit control are the main features of this kind of pump. Due to the fundamental characteristics of the “Microcontroller Unit,” a brushless DC pump has excellent scalability. Therefore, adding some complex control programs to the pump became feasible.
Before developing the DMX512 fountain pump, we already have a variety of pumps that PWM signals or 0-5v analog signals can control. In addition, some old customers often bought our pumps controlled by PWM to use with DMX512 decoders.
To meet more and more demands in this field on the market, we have developed this pump that can be directly controlled by DMX512 signal. So you don’t need the DMX512 decoder anymore after using our pumps.
The principle of our DMX512 water pump is straightforward: modify the control program that the pump already has, let it recognize the DMX512 signal directly. So it integrates the function of the decoder into our pumps but does not require any additional hardware. So it will not increase any other costs while reducing the uncertainty in the control process, making the system more stable.
When setting up our DMX512 fountain pumps for a music fountain, you need to assign an address to each pump by a DMX512 encoder to distinguish different pumps.
The wiring of the DMX512 pump is straightforward. There are five cables from the pump:
- Brown is the pump power(+).
- Blue is the pump power(-).
- Red is the DMX data(+).
- Yellow is the DMX data(-).
- Black is ground.
5. Safety – advantage of our small water fountain pumps
We can group fountain pumps into submersible and external pumps, but we can also group them by different power supplies: AC electricity, low voltage DC electricity, solar power, or others.
Submersible water pumps are designed to be submerged in the water. Therefore, they are easy to install and operate quietly. The submersible water pump is perfect for small fountains, while the external water pump is more suitable for large fountains. So we mainly discuss submersible fountain pumps here.
As a pump used submerged in water, you’ll have to make sure the pump is high-quality and well insulated to avoid accidents. Because sometimes people will interact with the fountains, especially in public places such as bars, KTVs, concert venues, theaters, hotels, musicals, etc. Security has become more and more critical.
As low voltage DC water pumps, BLDC Pumps use 12v, 24v, 36v power supplies to ensure absolute safety. But it can also provide pressure and head far exceeding other DC pumps of the same size.
6. What fountain pump do I need?
How to select the correct size small water fountain pump? After confirming the control principle and safety, how to choose a suitable water pump in size and performance? Generally, we want a smaller and easily installed pump for a small or medium water fountain, but with enough performance for our needs. Here are some tips for following.
6.1 Figure out the definition of “max flow rate” and “max head”
The “max flow rate” and the “max head” are two critical parameters of every pump.
The “max flow rate” represents the number of liters per unit of time that a water pump can pressure immediately from itself without any need to travel up and through the pipework.
The “max head” refers to a pump’s capability to push water upwards (also known as ‘vertical lift’). So, for example, a pump that states ‘Max Head: 15m means the pump will be able to push water flow up to 15 meters high from the water surface in a pipeline. But note that at 15 meters lift, the pump will deliver zero flow!
6.2 Consider the “max head” at first
This is because if the pump can’t deliver the fluid to the desired height, the flow rate is meaningless. At meanwhile, the “max head” will affect the actual flow rate the pump can provide.
Since the maximum rotating speed of the AC water pump is only 3000 RPM, and the top speed of the DC water pump can reach 8000 RPM, so for the same size and power consumption, DC water pump usually can provide a much higher “max head” than AC water pump.
Therefore, besides being safe, the DC pump as a small fountain pump gets a second advantage: higher pressure to achieve your desired fountain effect.
6.3 How To Choose Fountain Nozzles
In addition to the pump’s performance, the nozzle is another key player that can affect the fountain effect. You can use different nozzles to customize the water flow effect and change the aspect of your fountain in a breeze.
The video below showed some kinds of nozzles on the market from different materials and shapes. But please note that not all types of nozzles are included here. Also, you can customize any effect nozzle according to your needs.
6.4 The max head is not equal to the maximum water column height
Then the last but most important, you should know, the max head is not equal to the maximum water column height. This is obvious, but many people will still be confused.
As mentioned above, the maximum head refers to the ability of the pump to push water up in the pipeline. It should be in the pipeline. Without the channel, the spray height of the water will be much lower than its maximum lift. How high can a water pump spray the water? You can’t find out the answer from the pump nameplate. So we are doing it for you now.
In our DMX512 fountain pumps catalog below, you can get accurate data of the spray water column according to different nozzles and pump models based on our actual testing.
7. Using Tips for DMX512 small water fountain pump
7.1 Prevent impurities from entering the pump
Impurities will damage the impeller and permanent magnet rotor. Therefore, we recommend using protective devices, such as a filter cover and cleaning fountain pipes regularly.
7.2 Is not self-priming water pump and dry running is forbidden
Before starting the pump, make sure there is water in the pump chamber. Otherwise, the pump will burn out because of the heat generated by dry friction that cannot be dissipated.
7.3 Use the correct power supply
Overvoltage running will lead to water pump burn-out.
8. Prospects of DMX512 Small Water Fountain Pump
The fountain is an excellent way to beautify the environment and add fun to life. In the past few decades, fountain waterscapes have been mainly used in the urban landscape, providing a good place for people to relax after a meal. But more and more small or medium-sized fountains have appeared in various scenes in recent years.
At the same time, monotonous and simple fountains can no longer meet people’s needs. Instead, people are looking for fountains that can be synchronized with music and lighting to create various gorgeous effects.
DMX512 fountain is the most straightforward fountain to fulfill people’s requirements. It is easy to build and can even be DIYed by private individuals. It is relatively small, but at the same time, it can be combined to form an enormous fountain.
Since our DMX512 fountain pump came out, it has been quickly and widely used in bars, KTVs, concert venues, theaters, hotels, restaurants, musicals, and other public places. We believe that it will eventually replace more and more traditional fountains successfully.
9. DMX512 Fountain Water Pump Manufacturer
BLDC PUMP Co., Ltd. is a DMX512 small water fountain pump manufacturer specialized in developing and manufacturing small electric water pumps for more than ten years. Our high-quality brushless DC pumps are primarily used in various types of equipment as an essential component. It has high efficiency & high durability with a compact size and is very quiet.
We are located in Shenzhen of China, and export our products all over the world. While most of our competitors pursue low costs to win at a price, we insist on providing the best quality products and comprehensive solutions to help our clients push their business forward.
Our competitive benefit lies in our offer of growth insights for an easy, flexible, and professional DMX512 fountain pump solution to power revenues and profits for your business. We want to serve as a stepping stone in helping start-ups grow from “Zero to One.”
10. Conclusion
In conclusion, our DMX512 fountain pump solves three problems:
1. Directly receive DMX512 signals without a decoder, reducing the uncertainty in the control process and the cost.
2. The low-voltage 24v DC water pump is absolutely safe and suitable for more scenarios.
3. We provide accurate testing data of the height of the jet water column for you to choose a more suitable pump model.
