8' ATI Dimmable Sunpower Aurora Puck Hybrid

[AZRippster]

So as the battle rages on between LED’ers, Halide’ers, T5’ers, and Hybrid’ers, I found myself also seeking the best solution for my tank. After almost 5 years of being on LED exclusively, I found after migrating to a 450G 8’ long tank, the LEDs were not cutting it. This past November ’15, my wife and I decided to pull the LEDs and go back to something I’ve used since the ‘80s, Halide. To say the very least , the change has been dramatic for the good. I firmly believe coverage is a crucial component to successful LED implementations and even more so on larger tanks. Looking at old pictures, our 180G had much better coverage due to LED spacing and density likely leading to that tank’s success. Although the MH/T5 solution we implemented in Nov ’15 has been fantastic, admittedly it’s HOT and uses a significant amount of juice. This, compounded by Arizona summer weather, got me to thinking that a T5/LED solution may be a good option for at least our hot months.

So I was staring at a box of dual Rapid LED Aurora pucks thinking, “Why don’t I just build one based off of these and the successful ATI Sunpower series”? Then the next thought was, “The tank is 8’ long and it would be nice to have everything controlled as one unit”.

So here it is, an 8’ ATI Dimmable Sunpower Aurora Puck Hybrid. I learned quite a bit by working my way through this, so if anyone has questions, fire away. There are many ways to do things, some better than others, this just happens to be the way I decided to eat this elephant.

To begin with, I purchased a 48” 8 Lamp ATI Dimmable Sunpower and a Non-Dimmable Sunpower. At the same time I ordered 2 additional Dimmable HEP ballasts. I’m not fond of rapid or instant start ballasts, so I figured I would pull the Programmed Start ones from the Non-Dimmable Sunpower, migrate those to our MH/T5 fixture (uses rapid start), pull 1 ballast from the Dimmable Sunpower and migrate it along with the 2 I purchased to the Non-Dimmable outfitting it with all dimmable ballast. Remember, 2 lamps will be sacrificed in each fixture to accommodate the LED heat sinks. This facilitated this shell game to be possible.

Here were a few of the requirements I placed upon myself in the design:
1. Retain full native ATI controller functionality to include temperature sensing for T5 lamps
2. Retain original ATI fixture dimensions, no external components
3. Utilize a single power cable/cord on each fixture
4. Operate both fixtures as a single unit
5. Capability to break fixtures apart and at least operate the master as an autonomous unit
6. Fully dimmable from zero to full on both T5 and LED without Apex controlled power outlet
7. PWM dimming for LEDs to include Fan control
8. Lunar cycle moonlights
9. Have this done before it starts warming up, which this year is early, meaning now!

So after these considerations, I decided to go with a full BlueFish controller for the LEDs due to a limitation on LDD drivers with the Mini. As far as the T5 and ATI fan control, I was only concerned about ensuring enough juice to an additional 3 fans and getting the power and control signals to the slave fixture. To do this I kicked up the power supply ATI provides to a Mean Well APV-25-12.

So without being any more verbose (my apologies), I’ll just stick up some pics instead of a thousand words.

Both component trays with everything installed and wired up:

Shots during functionality testing:

This is the main LED control layout. The slave side is identical minus the BlueFish controller. Power for the BlueFish is tapped off of a 48V line coming in from one of the Mean Well power supplies for the Mean Well LDD drivers. This power is stepped down to 12.5V and provided to the BlueFish controller and MOSFET switches that drive the heat sink fans and moonlights.

In order to get the control signals and ATI fan power from the master to the slave unit I decided to go with good ol’ DB25 jacks. The master and slave are connected by a short DB25 M/M patch cable.

Another challenge was cooling. With the addition of the LEDs, I knew I would likely need additional fans for the heat sinks. Utilization of vents other than what were designed into the ATI fixture could improperly redirect airflow degrading the cooling performance of the design. Secondly, I wanted to stick with a fan that was close to the original CFM specs provided by Rapid LED for the Aurora Pucks which were way too thick to work within the fixture. The solution was the Scythe KAZE JYU Slim 100mm SY1012SL12M 2000RPM fans. These are only 12mm thick, essentially the same as the Delta EFB0612MA fans used by ATI. They are extremely quiet and readily available.

As a comparison:

Another consideration was how to hang these now that there is additional weight from the added heat sinks. My solution was to add in a 1/2” x 1/8” flat steel bar to the end caps. These would be #10 tapped in the same locations the OEM hanging kit attach but will now be capable of having a #10 eye bolts installed.

 

[AZRippster]

8' ATI Dimmable Sunpower Aurora Puck Hybrid - Cont.

8' ATI Dimmable Sunpower Aurora Puck Hybrid - Cont.

So here are some final shots as the master fixture came together. The slave is the same except orientation reversed and minus the ATI Controller.

So once fully assembled and running both fixture in concert, it looks something like this. The first shows them running with the slave's reflectors off followed by them being installed.

So there you have it. If you've been considering doing something like this, hopefully it gave you some ideas and even considerations for possibly ways to better suit your needs. After running all T5 and LED at 100% for about an hour, the internal temperature is right at 37C.

 

[danrobberg]

How high above the tank will the lights be suspended?

 

[AZRippster]

How high above the tank will the lights be suspended?

I'm going to start them out at 7" and go from there.

 

[AZRippster]

Two last shots:

 

[Zacktosterone]

Thar thing is a beast

 

[Jeremy257]

Do the T-5s overpower the glimmer lines that the LEDs produce?

 

[AZRippster]

Do the T-5s overpower the glimmer lines that the LEDs produce?

Jeremy,

Not sure yet, I haven't hung the fixture. If all goes well, it should get hung by next weekend. I honestly don't think it will happen (loss of shimmer), but I will let you know.

 

[biecacka]

Looks great. I have the pucks too and have considered something like this. What do you anticipate your photo period being for each type of light?

Corey

 

[AZRippster]

Hey Corey,

At this point I don't have that down yet other than I know I'll be using the LED pretty much through the entire period. Once I get them over the tank and take some PAR measurements, I'll figure out the actual period for each. Right now I have the T5s in the Cebu Suns cycling on and then off in reverse order for the entire day's cycle. The 400W MH are only run for 5 hours per day in the mid-day zone. Once I have the measurements, I'll be able to establish something.

 

[Jeremy257]

Jeremy,

Not sure yet, I haven't hung the fixture. If all goes well, it should get hung by next weekend. I honestly don't think it will happen (loss of shimmer), but I will let you know.

It will be interesting. LED / T5 is something I'm also look at for my new tank. After watching YouTube videos with this type of hybrid it's my theory that if you were to only use B+ (or similar) for the T5 and get all <= 16K light from your LED then the shimmer will persist.. but if you start using C+ etc in the T5 it will erase the shimmer.

 

[AZRippster]

Well, I'll be able to confirm that soon. Our T5 layout for each of the 48" fixtures is 1 C+ and 1 P+. The Remaining lamps are all B+. So in total there will be 8 B+, 2 C+, and 2 P+.

 

[rgulrich]

Nice job, Russ!

 

[AZRippster]

Thanks Ray, didn't realize you had posted to this thread. I just replied to your PM. Catcha later...

 

[AZRippster]

Because I received a question about how the fixtures are powered, here is what I did.

I purchased 2 NEMA enclosures. Each hold 2 Mean Well SE-350-48 power supplies. In order to keep to a single cord to each fixture, I used 18/7 cable (18 Gauge 7 Conductor). Both DC +/- and AC Line/Neutral/Ground power are passed through this cable to the fixtures.

 

[Halo_003]

Uhm, wow. Nice job. I thought I was cool for build a simple LED fixture for my nano but this is way beyond that.

 

[AZRippster]

Thanks for the compliment. I've got an older Current MH/T5/LED Moonlight fixture. The moonlights are a total joke, so I'm going to give that a whirl next. I'm going to remove the 3 moonlight "Pucks" and replace them with 3 4-Channel multi-LED chips. It's 3' and will be over a frag tank. Should be interesting having a MH/T5/LED solution. I'll primarily run the T5/LED but for a burst of mid-day sun, the two 150W 14K MH will kick in for a couple of hours.

 

[Jeremy257]

Uhm, wow. Nice job. I thought I was cool for build a simple LED fixture for my nano but this is way beyond that.

Agree completely. That thing is nicer than an ATI LED Powermodule. If I end up going T5 / LED I'll do a DIY because the above mentioned is crazy expensive. But I'll look to put mine into a thin, suspended hood.. to hide my craftsmanship.

 

[Jeremy257]

AZRippster, I've got a question. The Aurora Pucks are 4 channel. You are running two pucks off each set of four LDD drivers. The bluefish controller is a 6 channel controller. How do you connect the 4 sets of LDDs to the 6 channel controller? In parallel or series on each of the channels? If this is the case are you using the other two channels and if so, for what? Thanks in advance.

 

[AZRippster]

Take a gander at the photo here. The BlueFish uses simple 1/8" Stereo M/M cables for its signaling. What I did to make things serviceable and easier for my purposes, was to cut these stereo cables and run them to a terminal block (The little green blocks in the photo). From here there they are run to each channel of the Rapid LED LDD 4-Up boards. This photo only shows 2 of the 4-Up boards, which is one half of the overall dual 48" fixture. You have to "splice" the lines (parallel) so that each channel receives the same signal for that channel. In other words, Channel #1 out of the BlueFish is "split or spliced" to the Blue channel of All the 4-Up LDD boards. Then Channel #2 is done the same way to the Color channel and so on.

IMPORTANT - The Mini BlueFish can only be split off of each channel to 3 LDD (3.4V limitation). I needed it to split 4 ways, so I had to go with the full BlueFish controller, otherwise the Mini would have done it for me. The Full version can provide 5V PWM signals.

As far as the final two Channels of the BlueFish, I use one to control my Moonlights and the other my LED fans.

Hope this helps, if not, ask again and I'll try to clear up the fuzzy.