# Tesla Water Pump wiring



## swoozle (Nov 13, 2011)

Megatron451 said:


> So I bought the tesla water pump to run coolant through my motor and controller. It was my understanding that I only need to run power and ground to it to make it run full power. However, it only runs for like half a second and then shuts back off. Does anyone know what needs to be done? Do I have to run Pulse Width Modulation just to get it to run at all?
> View attachment 122641


Yes, it's supposed to run full power. I clearly remember mine doing that on power and ground only (it's on PWM now). Maybe this (attached) will help with trouble-shooting.


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## Megatron451 (Oct 9, 2020)

swoozle said:


> Yes, it's supposed to run full power. I clearly remember mine doing that on power and ground only (it's on PWM now). Maybe this (attached) will help with trouble-shooting.


Thank you. I really appreciate your response. I was using the same manual. I picked up a cheap PWM off of amazon this weekend and I'm going to try to use with with the pump this week to see if that works. I'll report back my findings just incase someone searches this in the future.


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## oudevolvo (Mar 10, 2015)

How does the back side of your pump look like?
There are versions with and without cooling ribs. If my understanding is correct, the document applies to the version with cooling ribs. The model without could be different. I ordered one of those to test and investigate and compare with the ones with ribs but have not found time yet.


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## Megatron451 (Oct 9, 2020)

oudevolvo said:


> How does the back side of your pump look like?
> There are versions with and without cooling ribs. If my understanding is correct, the document applies to the version with cooling ribs. The model without could be different. I ordered one of those to test and investigate and compare with the ones with ribs but have not found time yet.


That's a great point. My pump does not have the metal cooling ribs, that might be part of the problem. Hopefully the cheap PWM I purchased on Amazon will do the trick.


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## remy_martian (Feb 4, 2019)

Megatron451 said:


> So I bought the tesla water pump to run coolant through my motor and controller. It was my understanding that I only need to run power and ground to it to make it run full power. However, it only runs for like half a second and then shuts back off. Does anyone know what needs to be done? Do I have to run Pulse Width Modulation just to get it to run at all?
> View attachment 122641


 Yes. According to the manual, you have to provide a 20-80% TTL (0-5V) PWM signal for it to run. 

You also are supposed to read fault conditions on the outgoing PWM...


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## Megatron451 (Oct 9, 2020)

So most of my problem was that, the pump will not run dry. Didn't find that anywhere in the instructions, but figured it out while look for a different one. 

Never could get the PWM to work, but it does work at 100% (almost 4 amps), and it sure it loud.


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## sifawangiaEV (Jan 1, 2021)

Megatron451 said:


> So most of my problem was that, the pump will not run dry. Didn't find that anywhere in the instructions, but figured it out while look for a different one.
> 
> Never could get the PWM to work, but it does work at 100% (almost 4 amps), and it sure it loud.


Can you send a link of the PWM you purchased? Sometimes the frequency is an issue with these not working.


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## Megatron451 (Oct 9, 2020)

sifawangiaEV said:


> Can you send a link of the PWM you purchased? Sometimes the frequency is an issue with these not working.


Sure. The two I tried are:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07P6NM81C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

HiLetgo 12V~40V 10A PWM DC Motor Speed Control Switch Controller Voltage Regulator Dimmer for Arduino: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific


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## swoozle (Nov 13, 2011)

Megatron451 said:


> Sure. The two I tried are:
> 
> 5V-28V Dc Motor Pwm Speed Controller Governor Speed LED Switch Dimmer Speed Control Module Volt Regulator - - Amazon.com
> 
> HiLetgo 12V~40V 10A PWM DC Motor Speed Control Switch Controller Voltage Regulator Dimmer for Arduino: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific


Yup, that's the problem. Those are 13khz and 20khz. The pump wants a 2 hz PWM signal.


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## Megatron451 (Oct 9, 2020)

swoozle said:


> Yup, that's the problem. Those are 13khz and 20khz. The pump wants a 2 hz PWM signal.


I really appreciate your response. That helps me greatly with understanding more of what I need. I tried searching but came up a little short.

Does anybody know where I can by 5v 2Hz Pulse Width Modulator? I was hoping amazon but I am open to others.


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## swoozle (Nov 13, 2011)

Megatron451 said:


> I really appreciate your response. That helps me greatly with understanding more of what I need. I tried searching but came up a little short.
> 
> Does anybody know where I can by 5v 2Hz Pulse Width Modulator? I was hoping amazon but I am open to others.


I realize you're looking for a ready-made solution but 2hz PWM might be impossible to find. That's really slow.
If you're into these kinds of things and only need it to always run at the same speed, this would be dead simple to do with a Pi (or an esp32 or any other microcontroller) and a couple of resistors (voltage splitter). 2hz is so slow it doesn't even require using a PWM generating pin/library as some of these have. I control mine with a Pi just because I have it doing other things as well.


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## Jb24601 (Aug 29, 2019)

This worked perfectly with my Tesla pump (w/ cooling fins). Some range of speed control. Absolutely silent. I believe these are rated at about 5gpm and pushing through six modules and quite a few ninety degree elbows I can do 3 gpm easy.
DC Motor Speed Controller, 9-60V DC 20A High Power PWM DC Motor Speed Regulator Stepless Variable Speed Regulator Switch Board with Button Switch and Metal Shell


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## Megatron451 (Oct 9, 2020)

Jb24601 said:


> This worked perfectly with my Tesla pump (w/ cooling fins). Some range of speed control. Absolutely silent. I believe these are rated at about 5gpm and pushing through six modules and quite a few ninety degree elbows I can do 3 gpm easy.
> DC Motor Speed Controller, 9-60V DC 20A High Power PWM DC Motor Speed Regulator Stepless Variable Speed Regulator Switch Board with Button Switch and Metal Shell


Are you running +12V through it? I thought it had to be 5V, but if it's 12 that would make things a lot simplier.


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## Jb24601 (Aug 29, 2019)

12V. 5V may be the minimum. It takes a bit of juice to get it to spin.


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## swoozle (Nov 13, 2011)

Jb24601 said:


> This worked perfectly with my Tesla pump (w/ cooling fins). Some range of speed control. Absolutely silent. I believe these are rated at about 5gpm and pushing through six modules and quite a few ninety degree elbows I can do 3 gpm easy.
> DC Motor Speed Controller, 9-60V DC 20A High Power PWM DC Motor Speed Regulator Stepless Variable Speed Regulator Switch Board with Button Switch and Metal Shell


Interesting. The manual does say that the pump has an 8-16v range so this makes some kind of sense. And you left the PWM input pin disconnected, I assume?


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## Jb24601 (Aug 29, 2019)

I only used two wires, batt and gnd.
Here is a wiring diagram under "cooling".
DIY Guide - HAWKEYE INNOVATIONS LLC
I bought my pump (with cooling fins) from here. Adam is knowledgeable and super helpful.


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## sifawangiaEV (Jan 1, 2021)

Jb24601 said:


> I only used two wires, batt and gnd.
> Here is a wiring diagram under "cooling".
> DIY Guide - HAWKEYE INNOVATIONS LLC
> I bought my pump (with cooling fins) from here. Adam is knowledgeable and super helpful.


I checked out the website you mentioned and read a bit more into the pump and found info about it from this: Connector Kit for Tesla Coolant Pump. The description of this connector said, "You really only need 2 pins and 2 seals (+12v and Ground to power the pump), but we include all 4 just in case you want to use the PWM pins as well for more advanced projects."

Before reading this, I thought that the pump could only run with a PWM, and couldn't run otherwise. But it turns out that it can run on 2 pins: ground and +12v at one speed.

@Megatron451 maybe you should try to run your pump with coolant (aka not dry)? Maybe that's why it wasn't working. Someone correct me if I'm mistaken here.


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## Megatron451 (Oct 9, 2020)

sifawangiaEV said:


> I checked out the website you mentioned and read a bit more into the pump and found info about it from this: Connector Kit for Tesla Coolant Pump. The description of this connector said, "You really only need 2 pins and 2 seals (+12v and Ground to power the pump), but we include all 4 just in case you want to use the PWM pins as well for more advanced projects."
> 
> Before reading this, I thought that the pump could only run with a PWM, and couldn't run otherwise. But it turns out that it can run on 2 pins: ground and +12v at one speed.
> 
> @Megatron451 maybe you should try to run your pump with coolant (aka not dry)? Maybe that's why it wasn't working. Someone correct me if I'm mistaken here.


You are 100% correct. I hooked it up dry first and I couldn't get it to work. I finially figured out it had to be "wet", so I added water and it works full speed. But for some reason, it is louder than I thought it was going to be, so I am still hoping to figure out a way to make it adjustable speed. I have now ordered two more PWM to see if I can adjust the speed. I will update this post on my findings, but it probably won't be quickly as I live in AZ and it is just too hot lately to work in my non-air conditioned garage.


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