Aquastyleonline.com LED questions.

lol. at 0.7V voltage will not be a limiting factor of the traces unless they were very very long and introduced a voltage drop. Now if we were talking in thousands of volts you could have arcing issues with traces close enough together but no, not in low voltage stuff.

I cant wait to see how this works out. :)

Nick
 
well sparkfun hasn't gotten back to me yet on what current those boards can handle. If I do in fact need to do transistors or something I need to do some research with them. One of the problems I see is that generally the transistor would be directing current from the same overall power supply, and basically just adds it's signal to the current already flowing.

After I thought about that for a few minutes, we have 2 seperate isolated dc circuits involved. A positive current from one circuit will not flow to the ground of the other... know what I mean? That basically means the transistor never closes.

However, instead of transistors we may just need to look at micro-relays, which I'm digging around into now looking at available specifications and pricing. Least the micro-relay will give us a bare set of contacts to pass the dimmer circuit through.

Edit for total brain fart: Nobody said the common had to be sourced from the arduino :p We can actually sink whatever current the transistor needs back to the negative dimmer wire by simply tapping off the negative and bringing it to the common pin of the multiplex switch
 
Last edited:
00Warpig00 said:
NICE! this looks very promising. Your info above about the actual current vs resistances makes the idea I was thinking through a non starter as it looks like much of the magic happens in the less than 10 ohm resistance realm which my idea cannot produce. i took a quick look at your links. looks like a great idea. Also looks like if someone wanted to build a longer string of resistors and use two of the breakout boards at a cost of 4 more digital pins on the arduino they could have 32 steps of resistance and an even more fine control. I also love the idea that you can leave the dimmer wires open (the ~10ma) this would allow me myself to use an entire string of my blues in 10ma mode as a moonlight.

Alright alright... I'm almost convinced to order an arduino mega. :)

Thanks for all your work on this Dread.

Nick
Click to expand...

Heh, I missed this part about using an entire string as moonlights. I'm already doing that with a relay. I picked up a cheap spdt relay from radio shack, 120vac coil and 2 sets of contacts. 3 power cords, 1 for all my whites, 1 for a single blue driver, and 1 for the other blue driver. 1 driver stays powered 24 hours a day, that the dimmer wires go through the normally open contacts of the relay. When I'm ready for full actinic, i turn on the 2nd driver, which the ac power from that is tapped and brought over to the coil of the relay. Closes the relay on the first driver so it's now connected to the dimmer pot and walla, they're all up to full power :p
 
Just got my 90 leds in for my 75g display and 20L macro-garden. Wondering if the macro garden needs the blue LEDs or should it be a mainly white?

Waiting til today to go out and get the c-channels and angle to build the frame for the 75, still debating on if I want to do 1 4' frame or a pair of 18" frames (have about 22" between outer frame and center brace).
 
I haven't forgotten about you guys by any means, I've just been super busy with work and other things going on (we had our frag swap, friend had to tear down his tank, various other things). Plus my main meter had to go back to fluke for calibration (we have to calibrate them once a year or they're not allowed to be used for work).

Doing research has pointed me towards n-channel mosfets, and there are 2 options of trying to use them. One is gauranteed by using the dimmer circuit to actually trigger the mosfets, but it makes the wiring a bit trickier for the resistors (i.e. where to tap for the mosfet and how to tie it all in together)

The other, which talking to a buddy of mine said will work, is that by using an arduino source to build the gate in the mosfet, the current from the dimmer circuit can flow through it as well too. With it being a seperate dc source compared to the arduino, they should just run parallel and not interfere with each other. That would make things stupid easy as for wiring, which is what I'm hoping for. I'm hoping to have it done sometime this week. If not, I think I'll take everything to MN with me when I head there for work. I'll probably have time to kill, although I can say TCMAS (Twin Cities Marine Aquaria Society) is definitely giving me some good options for keeping me occupied for the 3 weeks I'll be out there.
 
Looking for LED recomendations for a 90gallon - 48X18X24
Will have SPS. LPS, Zoas - basicly it all...

can someone give me a brake down of what i should order from a-z..

aka which aquastyle kit + rails and such?

Thanks

Chris
 
BlueChip said:
Looking for LED recomendations for a 90gallon - 48X18X24
Will have SPS. LPS, Zoas - basicly it all...

can someone give me a brake down of what i should order from a-z..

aka which aquastyle kit + rails and such?

Thanks

Chris
Click to expand...

I would start with 2 of these-Aquarium 24 LEDs DIY Dimmable Kit with the 15 inch heatsinks which will leave you with 6 inches on each side.

or go with a 72 led kit and order 5 4ft channels from speedy metals
http://www.speedymetals.com/pc-2531-8348-1-14-x-1-14-x-18-channel-6063-t52-aluminum-extruded.aspx

why 72 over 48 like stated above? since you are using channels, you are going to need a little more to get good coverage and intensity. with heatsinks, the leds are closer together and pack a good punch.

if you go with the 2 x 24 and you feel you need more light for coverage, you will have to get a smaller heatsink to fill the gap, but i doubt you will have too.

for good spread try hanging the leds at diff heights. as for the drivers, you can stick with the maxwellens or upgrade to meanwells, but those will require more work in terms of wiring up.

***side note*** if you order a kit with heatsinks, ray at aquastyle will assemble the kit for you for a small fee -$10 is the last quote i got, not sure if it went up*****
 
i had an email a couple days ago from him, my drivers are giving me problems. some blinking issue with both drivers.
 
I should receive my order this week it shipped within 5 days of being placed and my emails to Ray have always been answered the next day.
 
nemosworld said:
I would start with 2 of these-Aquarium 24 LEDs DIY Dimmable Kit with the 15 inch heatsinks which will leave you with 6 inches on each side.

or go with a 72 led kit and order 5 4ft channels from speedy metals
http://www.speedymetals.com/pc-2531-8348-1-14-x-1-14-x-18-channel-6063-t52-aluminum-extruded.aspx

why 72 over 48 like stated above? since you are using channels, you are going to need a little more to get good coverage and intensity. with heatsinks, the leds are closer together and pack a good punch.

if you go with the 2 x 24 and you feel you need more light for coverage, you will have to get a smaller heatsink to fill the gap, but i doubt you will have too.

for good spread try hanging the leds at diff heights. as for the drivers, you can stick with the maxwellens or upgrade to meanwells, but those will require more work in terms of wiring up.

***side note*** if you order a kit with heatsinks, ray at aquastyle will assemble the kit for you for a small fee -$10 is the last quote i got, not sure if it went up*****
Click to expand...

I have the same 90 gallon tank and am not sure which of these two options will work best. Also I plan to upgrade to a 180 gallon long (72" long x 24" wide x 24" high) in the next 6-12 months so which of these two would be the better option to move to the new tank once i upgrade. I am thinking i should just do the 2 sets of 24 with heatsinks and then I can add another 1-2 of the same setups to the 180 but i was not sure.

Thanks in advance!
 
Ray didn't reply to any of my emails until i made an order yesterday and he reply in like few hrs. I think he is swamp by all the questions and i think he taking priority on people who already made orders and want to customize it.
 
kuro said:
Ray didn't reply to any of my emails until i made an order yesterday and he reply in like few hrs. I think he is swamp by all the questions and i think he taking priority on people who already made orders and want to customize it.
Click to expand...

Same thing here.

I got my setup yesterday, took about a week from order to front door. :)
 
He might find he would receive more orders from those with questions as well if he would just answer all emails. I refuse to order until he answers my questions that I have emailed 4 times over the past 3 weeks. Very poor customer service if you ask me and I was a returning pleased customer from my last transaction.
 
I don't want the customary kits they have listed. I ordered my last two sets through him. I can't order what I want through the web site.
 
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