How to power the InteliHive and connect sensors, actuators, and communication buses.
Electrical work must be done by a licensed electrician, with all power isolated and locked out. Read Electrical Safety first. The relay boards and switches the controller drives are fed from their own circuits and can be live even when the controller is unpowered.
The InteliHive runs on 24 V DC, supplied either through the barrel jack or the input terminals.
Size the supply for the controller plus everything it powers — Modbus peripherals, IO-Link sensors, and any device drawing its supply from the controller. Then add headroom.
Undersized supplies are the most common cause of Error 600 — Power Fault. A supply that measures a healthy 24 V unloaded can sag below the 18 V fault threshold once peripherals draw current. The fault cuts Modbus port power, so the first symptom is usually peripherals dropping out rather than an obvious power problem.
The controller monitors its input against a hardware threshold of roughly 18 V, chosen because many smart sensors become unreliable below that. Design for 24 V at the terminals under full load, not just at idle — the margin between 24 V and 18 V is what absorbs inrush when a pump or valve fires.
The USB port powers the board for bench work and firmware updates. It does not power the Modbus port or peripherals, so a device running on USB alone cannot drive a full system.
The InteliHive has no relays of its own. It switches pumps, solenoids, and blowdown valves through output devices, and those carry the load:
| Output device | Connects by | Load wiring |
|---|---|---|
| Legacy Relay Device 6 | The Modbus bus | Six relays on the board |
| Wireless Relay Expander | WiFi | Two switched outlets, on its own mains supply |
| Wireless Relay Strip | WiFi | Three or six switched outlets |
| NextStep pump | The Modbus bus | Switched directly — no separate relay |
Wire each load to its output device per that device’s manufacturer, not to the controller. See Modbus RTU devices and Wireless devices.
The controller actuates on its own schedule. Before working on connected equipment, disable the control mode or physically isolate the actuator — software interlocks are not personnel protection.
Then continue to Starting Up Your Controller.