210 Upgrade Build with LED Build

I will try to get a wiring diagram up shortly.

Today's progress. As you already know I made this thing to be modular so the bottom part of the light can be removed and easily separated from the canopy and the top electronics tray.

The bottom part of the light is completely finished. Here is what everything looks like.

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You can see the new moonlight's added in the center. That is the Neptune Apex Moonlight module I added.

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And this is hanging. Now it's easier to work on it hanging from the basement beams. Will also be easier to test.

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And from underneath

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And the top view.

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More in a few minutes.
 
I built an electronics tray out of the same framing members I used for the bottom and I also put the extra piece of Acrylic in the middle. The Acrylic was inserted into the framing member's grooves. I took the plastic filler I purchased to dress up the bottom frame, turned them around and inserted the Acrylic. Makes the acrylic nice and tight. Then bolted the frame together. The Acrylic still has the protective coating on it. I have some holes and stuff to drill.

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This is what it looks like lowered into the canopy on top.

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Again, this is modular so the only "hard" connection between the top and bottom of the light will be a ground strap on the framing members. Otherwise everything plugs into wire harnesses (shown earlier). Even the power can be disconnected easily.
 
So I am working on the electrical connections now. Here is a few views of my proposed layout.

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The blue Pomona box in the middle is going to serve as my junction point. I put a 12 lug "Touch Safe" strip in this box and potted it in the epoxy. At first I was going to make all my connections with connectors and not have any junction points. I changed my mind when I tried to figure out how to test everything. The touch safe strip will make it very easy to test all my wiring while it's running.

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I have two AC powered fans which will be controlled with the industrial temperature controller shown below. I choose the AC powered fans because they have excellent power and are extremely quiet. The thermostat control was picked up at my local HVAC place. I am going to pot the temperature probe in one of the grooves of the bottom fixture. Keeping with a true modular design the temperature controller will be the only device mounted on top of the light rails. The temperature sensor cannot be disconnected but the power will be.

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your attention to detail is phenomenal. I can tell that this is going to be an extremely clean build. Keep supplying us with pictures.
 
I am tagging along to.
I am so late, but. If you used a mix of 75% Cool White and 25% Warm white, you would have better colors on your reds, oranges, and yellows.
Great looking..... well everything.
When you get it all wired up show your connections and how you wired up the drivers, dimmers, and fans please.
I may be doing a LED fixture for our 90g and I think I will really fallow this build for the info.
 
Ok Folks here it is. In case you didn't want to read to the end, it fired first time out of the box. Looks awesome. Very intense light. Will have to keep the dimmer settings low while testing.

So, Here are pictures of the electronics bridge installed after wiring.

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Several notable configuration changes. First of all I was not able to connect my Apex to the system today. Not enough time. I have the rapidled.com 10V variable white/blue 0-10 Volt manual dimmer. I connected that to a plug exactly like my Apex plug to manually dim the lights.

Also, the moon lights are not yet working, they need the Apex to run.

Lastly I have a control center panel I am building for the back of the unit. It will let me plug in a line cord, like your computer. have three switches (one for the main power, two for the two drivers), and I will permanentlyLet mount the rapidLED.com dimmer control for a backup to the Apex. That is also not yet installed.

Let there be light !!!! :celeb3:

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Still doing testing, can't actually take a decent picture with them turned up, very bright.

Tested all voltages, everything is perfect. At high power the drivers output 735 mA. Total string voltage, Whites 211 vDC, Blues 235 vDC. All test points checked, no stray voltage, you can handle the fixture safely.

Been running over an hour and the temperature controller reads < 65 on the bars. I can hold them without any discomfort.

Lots more testing to do, light is a little low hanging in the basement so coverage is tough to determine but everything looks good.

We also took video of the final testing and power up. When my son gets that on youtube.com I will post it.
 
It's high power DC and IT'S ALIVE! Very nice looking. Very clean look that a lot of builds seem to lack. Everybody knows the saying if you are going to do it, do it right the first time. You certainly did it right the first time.
 
Congrats! Looks awesome. From start to finish this is a pure example of care, thought and logic going into a project. Can't say much more except I look forward to it on the tank!
 
Alright!!! I can't wait to see them on the tank as well. If you don't mind, please share with us the total price of just the lighting.

Thanks
 
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