LED Full Spectrum Controller based on Mega2560 board

[theatrus]

I've played with frequency.
It is possible to change it, but drivers become very noisy.
Visually no difference.

Visually, probably not. It bugs me when camera shutter speeds see into the blank spot of the lighting interval though

The LDD drivers are unfortunately limited to about 1KHz input. It would be nice if they supported a higher switch speed to allow a higher PWM frequency.

 

[kapelan]

I disagree. It is obviously less obvious as the levels increase (difference between 254 and 255 is invisible) but the difference between low values is quite noticeable made even more so if you run lots of LEDs. On my 3' tank i have quite a few LEDs that get used for evening light and as it fades off, even on 12bit dimming the steps are very visible. I hate to think what it would be like with 8bit dimming!

The effect would be less noticeable with less LEDs (obviously) but it still surprised me how visible it is on mine.

Tim

simple test to increase LED level

//set LED pin here:
byte Pin_LED= 13; 
int LightLevel = 0;

void setup()
{
    pinMode(Pin_LED, OUTPUT);   // set the pin as output
}

void  loop(){  
  analogWrite(Pin_LED, LightLevel);
  delay(1000);  
  LightLevel = LightLevel+1;
  if (LightLevel>254)
    {LightLevel=0;}
}

from your device steps are visible because of another reason.

 

[kapelan]

Visually, probably not. It bugs me when camera shutter speeds see into the blank spot of the lighting interval though

The LDD drivers are unfortunately limited to about 1KHz input. It would be nice if they supported a higher switch speed to allow a higher PWM frequency.

yes,
That's the key of the problem: camera
Human eyes cannot see the difference.
And another key: frequency limit from driver
Trying to increase frequency from arduino cause a nasty noise from driver.

 

[perkint]

Tim, how are your LED's set up? into clusters or spread along a heatsink?

8 clusters of 16 LEDs spread over 4 heat sinks.

from your device steps are visible because of another reason.

Yes, visible because the difference of even 1/4096 is visible at low levels when changing lots of LEDs

Tim

 

[LulaNord]

Hi...i want to know You wire the PWM signal coming out of the chip to the PWM input of the led driver; you don't use it to drive the leds directly.
The TLC5940 is what I'm thinking of. AdaFruit sells a board for it.

 

[kapelan]

Hi...i want to know You wire the PWM signal coming out of the chip to the PWM input of the led driver; you don't use it to drive the leds directly.
The TLC5940 is what I'm thinking of. AdaFruit sells a board for it.

120mA - waist of time and money

 

[perkint]

120mA - waist of time and money

Agreed - for reef tank usage, I prefer the PCA9685 which is I2C so you can daisy chain as many as you like (within reason).

LulaNord - you ask if you drive the LEDs directly from the chip or feed the drivers from the PWM signal. As the chip you ask about is constant current it isn't really suitable for feeding to drivers, but can run LEDs directly. But only to a max of 120mA which is a *very* low drive current for the sort of LEDs usually used in reef tanks. The one i mention (PCA9685) gives a constant voltage output and works perfectly for controlling things like the mean well LDDs.

Tim

 

[Touchme]

Touch Screen Monitors.

Touch Screen Monitors.

8 Channels LED controller based on Arduino Mega2560 with 3.2" TFT touch screen panel.
Always was thinking to control spectrum of the light to avoid algae problem.
With LED it's easy to do.
This device was designed for full LED spectrum control. Level of each channel can be adjusted 0-100% of LED power.
One of the target was "as cheap as possible", and it looks like it is, please see bellow.
The box version of the device is on the picture.
Box has everything in it, please see the specification bellow.
It requires only AC power (110V-220V, Euro/America) and LEDs.
provides about 180W LED light.

Video of working controller

Software: loader and .hex file for arduino

Details:
Inside the box two 24V 5A power supplies.
Motherboard basically is a TFT Mega2560 shield with drivers on board.
Used drivers: NCL30160
Each driver works up to 40V 1A.
Total up to 240W.
---------------------
Average cost of the project:
Arduino Mega2560 = $20
TFT 3.2" = $15
Motherboard PCB = $10
Drivers 8x$5 = $40
Power Supply = $35
Connectors, let's say = $10
Box (this is probably most expensive part) = $30
Total about $150
--------------------

Great specifications and quality I say. I may have shifted my allegiance into https://comparily.com/best-touch-screen-monitor/ but I must admit that I greatly admire its full LED spectrum control. The 3.2" TFT touch screen panel is superb. All the same, I ever discovered some shortcomings that are greatly minimal with the ones at comparily.com.

 

[oreo57]

Anyway someone can upload the pictures? I cant stand when internet noobs upload pics to forums via photobucket like sites because 80% of the links die

Photobucket problems is photobuckets fault.
Decided to charge for everything and thus "blacked out" all free images..

 

[perkint]

And (unless it's changed since the PhotoBucket change?) RC don't actually host images so you have to link to them off site. Not an "internet noob" action at all!

Tim

 

[kapelan]

Images updated.
Will try to create a video how it work with corals.

 

[kapelan]

video

video

video
https://youtu.be/TjtvJr6B_kE

 

[kapelan]

Will this touch screen work 3.2 Inch 320 X 480 TFT LCD Display based on the IC: ILI9481 driver?

ILI9481 supported.

 

[kapelan]

Thanks and the higher resolution is ok I assume?

Not sure what you mean.
This TFT has only one resolution: 240x320

 

[kapelan]

TFT drivers

TFT drivers

 

[kapelan]

open a case, get money back?

 

[kapelan]

v 2.17

v 2.17

version 2.17 has a quick fix to support touch screen with Y-axis reversed:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B42ZJMUnbPuWNktMcGNfR0E4QkU
Before loading controller software please run on Arduino this script:

#include <EEPROM.h>

void setup()
{
  EEPROM.write(274,2);
}
void  loop(){  
}

 

[kapelan]

Unfortunately library from ds3231 not backward compatible to ds1307

 

[muelpaul]

One wire bus for temperature sensor DS1820: A3
Timer DS1307 rtc( 42,43)
LED pins: 13,12,11,10,9,8,44,45
Cooler for LED: 46
PH: A1
ORP: A0
Power lines: A8,A9,A10,A11,A12,A13,A14,A15
To contact sensors (overflow): A4,A5,A6,A7

Hello kapelan,
using your sketch for the first time this evening and like very much how it is thought out.

The led lights work using LDD-1000H and 700H drivers.

The DS1307 is keeping and saving time as it's supposed to do.

however the DS18B20 that is connected to A3 is not found, it did work using an example sketch from the DallasTemperature library before I loaded your sketch.

There is an AVC 120MM 4pin fan connected to pin 46 through a Coralox ver 1.5 fan controller board - it runs when the lights are on but at full speed.
Does this controller identify pin 46 as a fan specifically?

I will be doing more testing with this tomorrow, but did want to let you know how well thought out this was and so easy to load!

 

[kapelan]

The system supports 4 temperature sensors.
to find sensor please use button "Find" and then "Save"
pin 46 is used for LED: if any LED ON then fan ON