Just an update on my part of things. My kit showed up yesterday, I plastered the led's to the heatsink last night and I'm making through-holes for all my wiring to the led's for a cleaner look. Will have to get some plexi and a few other goodies for my fixture setup, but I may hopefully be testing some things and getting definitive answers tonight, or possibly tomorrow at the latest.
Aquastyleonline.com LED questions.
- Thread starter RotaryGeek
- Start date
00Warpig00
New member
Well the only testing that got done today was clicking each string to a driver to make sure they work. All is good and the heatsinks and led assemblies are finished. I can honestly say, I'm amazed at how bright these are. I currently have 2 150w MH and 4 54w t5's over the tank in an outer orbit fixture, and with one heatsink shining one half of the tank and the orbit fixture doing the other, there is absolutely no comparision and I don't even have the optics on yet.
Starting the morning off with tig welding the hanger assembly so I can use the same mounting system from my current usa fixture, and then final wiring of the drivers and all and putting it in position. I probably won't skin it tomorrow, but once it's in a state ready to hang I can finish testing all the drivers to figure out exactly what they're looking for.
AlexRSM130
New member
Awesome I ll be following this thread too!Very intrested in a controller for my led project.
So Im over on NR and a local Toronto forum - and Ive been watching this thread here to see if the DIM4 could be made to work with the Maxwellen Drivers.
Had to sign up so I could communicate with a few of you!
I too plastered my 24 DIY Kit (12 White, 10 Blue, 10 UV) and soldered up the whole thing, also hooked up the drivers and took some readings, the pots wont dim the lights all the way to "zero light" but I took a volt reading across and it came up at 0.66Volts through the dimmer wires and as the resistance is turned up the voltage goes to 0.01Volts at max resistance on the included pots. Also it looks like there is 560mA when the lights are turned up.
So would the DIM4 be capable of 0.7-0V reverse dimming?
(Im a 6/10 electrical and 10/10 software+firmware)
My Current tank - 6G Nano - http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28571
My Next build - 25G Cube - http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29714
Had to sign up so I could communicate with a few of you!
I too plastered my 24 DIY Kit (12 White, 10 Blue, 10 UV) and soldered up the whole thing, also hooked up the drivers and took some readings, the pots wont dim the lights all the way to "zero light" but I took a volt reading across and it came up at 0.66Volts through the dimmer wires and as the resistance is turned up the voltage goes to 0.01Volts at max resistance on the included pots. Also it looks like there is 560mA when the lights are turned up.
So would the DIM4 be capable of 0.7-0V reverse dimming?
(Im a 6/10 electrical and 10/10 software+firmware)
My Current tank - 6G Nano - http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28571
My Next build - 25G Cube - http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29714
AD87
Active member
rrasco
New member
I emailed Ray mid December and never got a response.
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The whites and blues do drown them out.. they are at all stages about 20% the brightness of the Blues or Whites
MADtanks
Stix Anyone?
Whats up guys, looks like i have missed quite a bit of convo here, glad everyone is setting up their rigs, and have success.
In the past 3 months that i have been using the BL LED's on my 210(72X24X27) I have so far had great success.
A lot of these Corals, went through a nasty little storm(lost power for 6days and ran on generator 8hrs on 4hrs off causing a lot of swings in temp(65 - 72*) about 2 months ago, and all bleached or lost ....
Clams Happy, SPS coloring up, Ecrusting, and showing new growth.
Was completely bleached, and had no encrusting
Was bleached as well
no idea what it is lol)
was bleached white, then turned brown, and now all new growth including encrusting is White/purple, and base green. (ORA Valida)
Bleached to Neon Green(Great recovery!):
Purple Monster, still recoverying, but was in fact, all bleached, i thought it was not going to make it:
Unfortunately my camera skills are no good, and this picture is under exposed.... the others were over exposed! lol i need to play around with exposure but just for reference the Monster, almost at the bottom of the tank, will eventually move it up to the top when it looks healthy enough.
Trust me when i say its a lot brighter than it looks.... and I have rigged the setup to take 2 60" T5s as well.... just for that "POP".... I am going to change out all the red led's over to blue(giving me 54RB and 6B(2 on each heatsink)) then use an Aquablue Special, or something similar for a little extra pop. Maybe try the new Coral bulb from ATI, as well as pickup some Blue+ just to play around with the color spectrum. I was going to add 4 60" T5's but really feel like it may be too much light and will start burning corals.
Another note is remember that the PAR meter does not read the Blue's very well and although you may see only 120 - 180 PAR at the sandbed but you actually have tons of light down there.... I will be borrowing a PAR meter, in the next few days and will determine if i am going to switch out to 80* optics or not.
In the past 3 months that i have been using the BL LED's on my 210(72X24X27) I have so far had great success.
A lot of these Corals, went through a nasty little storm(lost power for 6days and ran on generator 8hrs on 4hrs off causing a lot of swings in temp(65 - 72*) about 2 months ago, and all bleached or lost ....
Clams Happy, SPS coloring up, Ecrusting, and showing new growth.
Was completely bleached, and had no encrusting
Was bleached as well
no idea what it is lol)
was bleached white, then turned brown, and now all new growth including encrusting is White/purple, and base green. (ORA Valida)
Bleached to Neon Green(Great recovery!):
Purple Monster, still recoverying, but was in fact, all bleached, i thought it was not going to make it:
Unfortunately my camera skills are no good, and this picture is under exposed.... the others were over exposed! lol i need to play around with exposure but just for reference the Monster, almost at the bottom of the tank, will eventually move it up to the top when it looks healthy enough.
Trust me when i say its a lot brighter than it looks.... and I have rigged the setup to take 2 60" T5s as well.... just for that "POP".... I am going to change out all the red led's over to blue(giving me 54RB and 6B(2 on each heatsink)) then use an Aquablue Special, or something similar for a little extra pop. Maybe try the new Coral bulb from ATI, as well as pickup some Blue+ just to play around with the color spectrum. I was going to add 4 60" T5's but really feel like it may be too much light and will start burning corals.
Another note is remember that the PAR meter does not read the Blue's very well and although you may see only 120 - 180 PAR at the sandbed but you actually have tons of light down there.... I will be borrowing a PAR meter, in the next few days and will determine if i am going to switch out to 80* optics or not.
In regards to par I've already read multiple sources that it's not so much PAR that we're interested in, it's really PUR, which the PAR meter doesn't read. I've seen multiple sources state that led's put out less par but more useable pur then metal halides.
I really don't know of all the specifics on that, or hell what the difference really even is
I really don't know of all the specifics on that, or hell what the difference really even is
MADtanks
Stix Anyone?
Your absolutely right PUR is what we want, but the reason we use the PAR meter is simply for Reference, or to see if the bulb is going south. So for comparison sake, MH PAR Vs. LED PAR and this way make sure we are on Par with old or better.
Wether its usable or not, well thats diff story, and in my case(in the shaded area in the tank) it is.
Wether its usable or not, well thats diff story, and in my case(in the shaded area in the tank) it is
.I dug into it more. LED's only put out a specific wavelength generally, compared to a bulb which outputs all spectrums. PUR is in reality PAR of a useable spectrum, i.e. the blues since red/yellow/green get filtered in the water the further you go. You may get 200 par on a metal halide/t5 setup and only 150 on an led, however all par is basically pur with led's, compared to losses to other spectrums with other lighting.
As to an update on me, I got work dead early tomorrow, and I'm still trying a few more things out. I need to get my hands on a dc amp meter that can read at least 2a to read the output of the driver (my $800 meter only does 400ma lol, but generally anytime I need current it's AC and in the range of 1000+ amps through a clamp).
With that said, hopefully tomorrow I can put the nail in the coffin on what this driver is looking for externally. I need to test it before I even mention it as I don't want people blowing up drivers because of a thought I had
As to an update on me, I got work dead early tomorrow, and I'm still trying a few more things out. I need to get my hands on a dc amp meter that can read at least 2a to read the output of the driver (my $800 meter only does 400ma lol, but generally anytime I need current it's AC and in the range of 1000+ amps through a clamp).
With that said, hopefully tomorrow I can put the nail in the coffin on what this driver is looking for externally. I need to test it before I even mention it as I don't want people blowing up drivers because of a thought I had
you can easily spot which ones are the UVs
Dread240 - hoping you find out more on if the DIM4 can serve us.. if not Im debating
option 1 - Arduino + 10k 1024 step digital pot + Relay
option 3 - DIM4 + Meanwell D + Relay
option 2 - apex jr + Meanwell D
MADtanks
Stix Anyone?
Thats sounds exactly right Dread, and on the multimeter, DAYIUM 1000+ A!!!!
My old Meanwell D series, were going up to 1400 and change ma when I was testing the max, I have actually been considering them and running 6 of them(2 for each heatsink) then they can be used with the controllers of your choice. I use to run my with my APEX, for Ramping up, and rampign down, worked really well. I jsut remember them flashing at the end of the ramping cycles, I know there was a solution but never bothered looking into it.
My old Meanwell D series, were going up to 1400 and change ma when I was testing the max, I have actually been considering them and running 6 of them(2 for each heatsink) then they can be used with the controllers of your choice. I use to run my with my APEX, for Ramping up, and rampign down, worked really well. I jsut remember them flashing at the end of the ramping cycles, I know there was a solution but never bothered looking into it.
Heh, 1000 amps is the low side, and that's generally at 480v 3phase too. I work for Cummins Power Systems, industrial power gen, so we routinely have sites with anywhere from 3 to 30 (yes thirty) 2.7 megawatt and higher generators in parallel with utility. Hell we have a qsk120 coming soon which is a 120 liter diesel motor generating 4.5MW of power on it's own. roughly 5400 amps out of one unit at a .8 power factor
EDIT 2: Had a few minutes before heading back out so I tried it real quick. All I had laying around was like a 635ohm resistor and one of the pots giving me a 0 - .1v dc, but it showed no change on the output of the driver at all. so we can scratch that possibility off the list as swell too. That kinda rules out the dim4 from what I've seen completely and leaves an arduino with a digital pot as the only form of control on a maxwellen driver
Once again though I've been stuck at work late and unable to really look into this more. If somebody has the resistors laying around, what I really want to try is to use the 3v led test thingamajig (that's the technical term from here on out). I haven't calculated exactly what you'll need to get that down to a 0-1v signal with the pot and a resistor, but basically, hot lead to pot to resistor to ground lead. You should be able to make a 0-1v or at least .1-1v dc circuit there, and just tap the dimmer wire to it. I think it will be the wire that shows as the negative when you check for voltage as a dc circuit across those sense leads.
That may turn out to be a possibility of overdriving these drivers for even more output if it can take up to a 1v signal. Pretty sure I had read it as .750v when tested. How well they'll hold up, your guess is as good as mine. It shouldn't damage the driver in anyway as the current is actually flowing through the 3v led test thingamajig (again technical term) and you're just referencing the voltage on the line.
Whatever you do though, make sure you've got a pot and resistor between those leads before you hook them up, I don't want anybody explodering batteries tonight if they try it
Edit: I forgot to mention that you'll tap the sense wire in between the resistor and the pot. You're basically just going to use the pot as a variable for a voltage divider off a 3v circuit
EDIT 2: Had a few minutes before heading back out so I tried it real quick. All I had laying around was like a 635ohm resistor and one of the pots giving me a 0 - .1v dc, but it showed no change on the output of the driver at all. so we can scratch that possibility off the list as swell too. That kinda rules out the dim4 from what I've seen completely and leaves an arduino with a digital pot as the only form of control on a maxwellen driver
Once again though I've been stuck at work late and unable to really look into this more. If somebody has the resistors laying around, what I really want to try is to use the 3v led test thingamajig (that's the technical term from here on out). I haven't calculated exactly what you'll need to get that down to a 0-1v signal with the pot and a resistor, but basically, hot lead to pot to resistor to ground lead. You should be able to make a 0-1v or at least .1-1v dc circuit there, and just tap the dimmer wire to it. I think it will be the wire that shows as the negative when you check for voltage as a dc circuit across those sense leads.
That may turn out to be a possibility of overdriving these drivers for even more output if it can take up to a 1v signal. Pretty sure I had read it as .750v when tested. How well they'll hold up, your guess is as good as mine. It shouldn't damage the driver in anyway as the current is actually flowing through the 3v led test thingamajig (again technical term) and you're just referencing the voltage on the line.
Whatever you do though, make sure you've got a pot and resistor between those leads before you hook them up, I don't want anybody explodering batteries tonight if they try it
Edit: I forgot to mention that you'll tap the sense wire in between the resistor and the pot. You're basically just going to use the pot as a variable for a voltage divider off a 3v circuit
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well itsru, the arduino is an absolute sure win, and you could build an uno or decewhatever for cheaper then you could replace drivers with meanwells I'd think.
It's just killing me because I really want to finish this light, but the whole rest of this week is looking like it's gonna be a nightmare for me
It's just killing me because I really want to finish this light, but the whole rest of this week is looking like it's gonna be a nightmare for me
00Warpig00
New member
That may turn out to be a possibility of overdriving these drivers for even more output if it can take up to a 1v signal. Pretty sure I had read it as .750v when tested. How well they'll hold up, your guess is as good as mine. It shouldn't damage the driver in anyway as the current is actually flowing through the 3v led test thingamajig (again technical term) and you're just referencing the voltage on the line.
Whatever you do though, make sure you've got a pot and resistor between those leads before you hook them up, I don't want anybody explodering batteries tonight if they try it
Edit: I forgot to mention that you'll tap the sense wire in between the resistor and the pot. You're basically just going to use the pot as a variable for a voltage divider off a 3v circuit
I was reading -0.6v I could easily buy getting -0.7v as well. I have been thinking of a voltage divider concept myself for testing to verify a variable voltage from 0v - ~-0.7v would work. I expect it will but I don't have the parts laying around to test that. Also interested in the Arduino solution you mention. Wouldn't mind doing an arduino project although I have to admit I was trying to avoid that. I know what will happen if I buy an arduino and start messing around. It will end up taking me two years to do a light controller because I will end up building an entire reef controller that does anything and EVERYTHING. lol I still don't want to put that kind of time in. lol.
Nick
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http://www.micronor.com/products.php?category=Potentiometers - Motorized and Manual&offset=0
Was just a quick browse, but it seems you can get motorized pots that take 0-10v inputs. Those ones are on the bigger side, and no clue on how expensive they are, but if you find a cheap motorized potentiometer that takes a 0-10v analog signal to run the servo then bam, you could hook the dimmer circuit to the wiper and a leg and control it that way, and that would be with a dim4.
Again, I'm not sure how it pans out cost wise against just meanwells, or building an arduino, but it's worth looking into.
I'm kinda tempted to start an arduino project for these drivers just to help out, but I definitely gotta finish the light fixture first... Mine will likely go up just using my dc8 and a 120v relay to break the dimmer circuit for moonlighting though at first
http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/SPIDigitalPot
And there's an arduino sketch for a digital pot (6 channel digitial pot at that)
Was just a quick browse, but it seems you can get motorized pots that take 0-10v inputs
. Those ones are on the bigger side, and no clue on how expensive they are, but if you find a cheap motorized potentiometer that takes a 0-10v analog signal to run the servo then bam, you could hook the dimmer circuit to the wiper and a leg and control it that way, and that would be with a dim4.Again, I'm not sure how it pans out cost wise against just meanwells, or building an arduino, but it's worth looking into.
I'm kinda tempted to start an arduino project for these drivers just to help out, but I definitely gotta finish the light fixture first... Mine will likely go up just using my dc8 and a 120v relay to break the dimmer circuit for moonlighting though at first
http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/SPIDigitalPot
And there's an arduino sketch for a digital pot (6 channel digitial pot at that)
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